Integral Yoga
THEME/S
"Remember and Offer. "
The Mother
Constant aspiration
In the beginning of the Yoga you are apt to forget the Divine very often. But by constant aspiration you increase your remembrance and you diminish the forgetfulness. But this should not be done as a severe discipline or a duty; it must be a movement of love and joy. Then very soon a stage will come when, if you do not feel the presence of the Divine at every moment and whatever you are doing, you feel at once lonely and sad and miserable.
The psychic self-control
The psychic selfcontrol that is desirable in these surroundings and in the midst of discussion would mean among other things:
1. Not to allow the impulse of speech to assert itself too much or say anything without reflection, but to speak always with a conscious control and only what is necessary and helpful.
2. To avoid all debate, dispute or too animated discussion and simply say what has to be said and leave it there. There should also be no insistence that you are right and the others wrong, but what is said should be thrown in as contribution to the consideration of the truth of the matter.
3. To keep the tone of speech and the wording very quiet and calm and uninsistent.
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4. Not to mind at all if others are heated and dispute, but remain quiet and undisturbed and yourself speak only what can help things to be smooth again.
5. If there is gossip about others and harsh criticism (especially about sadhaks), not to join for these things are helpful in no way and only lower the consciousness from its higher level.
6. To avoid all that would hurt or wound others.
Sri Aurobindo
A prayer
Glory to Thee, O Lord, who triumphest over every obstacle.
Grant that nothing in us shall be an obstacle in Thy work.
How best to serve Thee
Every morning may our thought rise fervently towards Thee, asking Thee how we can manifest and serve Thee best.
Stepping back
Even if you are in a hurry to do something, step back for a while and you will discover to your surprise how much sooner and with what greater success your work can be done.
Cultivating the instrument
If you said to yourself, my children, "We want to be
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as perfect instruments as possible to express the divine Will in the world", then for this instrument to be perfect, it must be cultivated, educated, trained. It must not be left like a shapeless piece of stone. When you want to build with a stone you chisel it; when you want to make a formless block into a beautiful diamond, you chisel it. Well, it is the same thing. When with your brain and body you want to make a beautiful instrument for the Divine, you must cultivate it, sharpen it, refine it, complete what is missing, perfect what is there.
Gaining time
When you work, if you are able to concentrate, you can do absolutely in ten minutes what would otherwise take you one hour. If you want to gain time, learn to concentrate. It is through attention that one can do things quickly and one does them much better.
Everything becomes interesting
Can one study for the Divine and not for oneself, prepare oneself for the divine work?
Yes, if you study with the feeling that you must develop yourselves to become instruments. But truly, it is done in a very different spirit, isn't it? very different. To begin with, there are no longer subjects you like and those you don't, no longer any classes which bore you and those which don't, no longer any difficult things and things not difficult, no longer any
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teachers who are pleasant or any who are not all that disappears immediately. One enters a state in which, whatever happens one takes as an opportunity to learn to prepare oneself for the divine work, and everything becomes interesting. Naturally, if one is doing that, it is quite all right.
Sure means of progress
Let us offer our work to the Divine; this is the sure means of progressing.
Steps to follow
What are the steps to follow for ( 1) sadhana and (2) silence of the mind?
1. Do work as sadhana. You offer to the Divine the work you do to the best of your capacities and you leave the result to the Divine.
2. Try to become conscious first above your head, keeping the brain as silent as possible.
If you succeed and the work is done in that condition, then it will become perfect.
True joy
When you are interested in what you do, you enjoy doing it.
To be interested in what you do, you must try to do it better and better.
In progress lies true joy.
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Patient effort
Perfection in the work must be the aim, but it is only by a very patient effort that this can be obtained.
Offer
"Remember and Offer."
Open yourself
Open yourself more and more to the Divine's force and your work will progress steadily towards perfection.
Organisation
Organisation: indispensable for all good work.
Regularity
Regularity: indispensable for all serious accomplishment.
Doing things carefully
Whatever you do, do it always carefully.
Doing something well
It is better to do well than to do quickly. .
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The Divine's work
If people could stop speaking of the work as their work it would put an end to a lot of trouble. Here, all work is the Divine's.
Planning
Faultless planning of work cannot be obtained except with the consciousness of the Divine.
Boundless capacity for work
When the instruments of work - hands, eyes, etc.- become conscious and the attention is controlled, the capacity for work seems to have no bounds.
A work well done
Skilful hands, a clear vision, a concentrated attention, an untiring patience, and what one does is well done.
The present
For work the present is the most important thing: the past must not come in the way and the future must not pull you away.
Working, speaking, reading, writing
All should be done quietly from within - working,
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speaking, reading, writing as part of the real consciousness - not with the dispersed and unquiet movement of the ordinary consciousness.
Being sincere in the work
Be sincere in the work you have undertaken and the Grace will always be there to help you.
Concentrating on the work
Concentrate on your work it is that that gives you strength.
Speaking less
When there is some work to do, the less one speaks of it the better it is.
Talking or working
Talk as little as possible.
Work as much as you can.
Thought, heart and body
With your thought, give your thoughts.
With your heart, give your feelings.
With your body, give your work.
Words and action
Speak less, act more.
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Knowing and doing
Before acting, know what you have to do.
Knowledge
...the work is not the sole thing that matters; the knowledge in which we do works makes an immense spiritual difference.
Equanimity and joy
It is not that you have to do what you dislike, but that you have to cease to dislike. To do only what you like is to indulge the vital and maintain its domination over the nature - for that is the very principle of the untransformed nature, to be governed by its likes and dislikes. To be able to do anything with equanimity is the principle of Karmayoga and to do with joy because it is done for the Mother is the true psychic and vital condition in this yoga.
Welcoming criticism
But learn to welcome criticism and the pointing out of imperfections - the more you do so, the more rapidly you will advance.
A resolution
A resolution means the will to try to get a thing done by the given time. It is not a binding "promise" that
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the thing will be done by that time. Even if it is not, the endeavour will have to continue, just as if no date had been fixed.
Living in the world
When one is living in the world, one cannot do as in an Ashram - one has to mix with others and keep up outwardly at least ordinary relations with others. The important thing is to keep the inner consciousness open to the Divine and grow in it. As one does that, more or less rapidly according to the inner intensity of the sadhana, the attitude towards others will change. All will be seen more and more in the Divine and the feelings, actions, etc. will more and more be determined, not by the old external reactions, but by the growing consciousness within you.
To persevere
Work as if the ideal had to be fulfilled swiftly and in thy life-time; persevere as if thou knewest it not to be unless purchased by a thousand years yet of labour. That which thou darest not expect till the fifth millennium, may bloom out with tomorrow's dawning and that which thou hopest and lustest after now, may have been fixed for thee in thy hundredth advent.
Success and unsuccess
Go forward calmly and firmly, not attached to success,
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not disturbed by unsuccess; my divine help will then never fail you.
A little exercise
How can one know whether the surrender is total or not?
This does not seem to me difficult. One may try out a little exercise. One may say, "Let me see, I surrender to the Divine, I want Him to decide everything in my life." This is your starting point. A little exercise: the Divine is going to decide that such and such a thing happens, precisely something in contradiction with your feeling. Then one tells oneself, "Well, and if the Divine tells me, 'you are going to give that up'" - you will see quite easily, immediately, what the reaction is; if it causes a little prick like this, inside, you may tell yourself, "The surrender is not perfect" - it pricks, it pricks....
Vagabonding thoughts
That is why work is a good means of discipline, for if you want to do the work properly, you must become the work instead of being someone who works, otherwise you will never do it well. If you remain "someone who works" and, besides, if your thoughts go vagabonding, then you may be sure that if you are handling fragile things they will break, if you are cooking, you will burn something, or if you are playing a game, you will miss all the balls! It is here, in this, that work is a great discipline. For if truly you want
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to do it well, this is the only way of doing it.
Not duty but love for Him
That day will come when everything that is now done out of a sense of duty towards the Divine will be done out of love for Him.
The starting-point
When one is united with one's psychic being and conscious of the divine Presence, and receives the impulses for one's action from this divine Presence, and when the will has become a conscious collaborator with the divine Will - that is the starting-point.
Our effort of every day
Let our effort of every day and all time be to know You better and to serve You better.
Good taste
To do good work one must have good taste.
Taste can be educated by study and the help of those who have good taste.
To learn, it is necessary to feel first that one does not know.
Overcoming the ego
This work of overcoming the ego is long, slow and
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difficult; it demands constant alertness and sustained effort. This effort is easier for some and more difficult for others.
Developing the different parts of the being
To develop your intelligence read regularly and very attentively the teachings of Sri Aurobindo. To develop and master your vital, observe attentively your movements and reactions with the will to overcome desires, and aspire to find your psychic being and unite yourself with it. Physically, continue to do as you are doing, develop and control your body methodically, make yourself useful by working in the Playground and in the place you work, and try to do it in as selfless a way as possible.
Doing the right thing
Pray to the Divine Grace to make you do always the right thing in the right way.
Doing the best
Always do what you know to be the best even if it is the most difficult thing to do.
Good deed
A good deed is sweeter to the heart than a sweet in the mouth.
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A day spent without doing a good deed is a day without a soul.
To be yogis
The aim must be the Divine and the work can only be a means. The use of poetry etc. is to keep one in contact with one's inner being and that helps to prepare for the direct contact with the inmost, but one must not stop with that, one must go on to the real thing. If one thinks of being a literary man or a poet or a painter as things worthwhile for their own sake, then it is no longer the yogic spirit. That is why I have sometimes to say that our business is to be yogis, not merely poets, painters, etc.
A shoemaker or a king
There is nothing small in God's eyes; let there be nothing small in thine. He bestows as much labour of divine energy on the formation of a shell as on the building of an empire. For thyself it is greater to be a good shoemaker than a luxurious and incompetent king.
Joy of being good
Do good for the love of good and not in hope of a reward. Be good for the joy of being good and not for the gratefulness of others.
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Working silently
For the sake of sadhana and for the sake of work, it is always better to work silently.
Renunciation
The renunciation of attachment to the work and its fruit is the beginning of a wide movement towards an absolute equality in the mind and soul which must become allenveloping if we are to be perfect in the spirit. For the worship of the Master of works demands a clear recognition and glad acknowledgment of him in ourselves, in all things and in all happenings. Equality is the sign of this adoration; it is the soul's ground on which true sacrifice and worship can be done.
Man's greatness
Man's greatness is not in what he is, but in what he makes possible.
Thy Master is waiting for thee
Stride swiftly, for the goal is far; rest not unduly, for thy Master is waiting for thee at the end of thy journey.
Remembering the Divine
If you can't as yet remember the Divine all the time
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you are working, it does not greatly matter. To remember and dedicate at the beginning and give thanks at the end ought to be enough for the present. Or at the most to remember too when there is a pause.
Keeping in touch with the presence
Always keep in touch with the divine presence, try to bring it down and the very best will always take place.
Inner quietude
I said once that, to speak usefully for ten minutes, you should remain silent for ten days. I could add that, to act usefully for one day, you should keep quiet for a year! Of course, I am not speaking of the ordinary day-to-day acts that are needed for the common external life, but of those who have or believe that they have something to do for the world. And the silence I speak of is the inner quietude that those alone have who can act without being identified with their action, merged into it and blinded and deafened by the noise and form of their own movement. Stand back from your action and rise into an outlook above these temporal motions; enter into the consciousness of Eternity. Then only you will know what true action is.
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