CWTVKS Volume 2

1) Preparation

The main thing is to feel the drive of the need in the soul and earnestly set out on the inward path. The choice of the Teaching comes only next, depending on the temperament and intellectual mould of the aspirant.

11 March 1949

To make a true beginning in spiritual life, learn to separate yourself, your being, the purusha from the movement of the prakriti, the universal Nature. As long as you identify yourself with its movements you are bound up with it. But when you begin to stand aloof, it becomes possible to get a poise above the operations of the prakriti and set the inner being free to come into its own.

18 October 1950

Each one carries a world of his own with him. His thoughts, his movements, his world. God stands on high, on a tower as it were, gazing down at millions of human beings moving about below. They give an appearance of so many small ants crawling round. Each is full to his brim with his own things. God who carries his Plenty to give, finds none or few to receive. It is only if we care to unburden ourselves of our thoughts and prepossessions that there will be room to receive and contain what God is ready, indeed, waiting to shower. So it is always a first rule in sadhana to empty oneself

It is never too late to take up spiritual life and succeed in it. Neither age nor infirmity matters. What is important is a sustained effort, abhyasa.

2 November 1949

In spiritual life it is the earnestness that is of greatest importance. People, no doubt, begin with a considerable earnestness; they must maintain it and strive to increase it.

Learn to be open to a higher Calm, a Silence; that can be effected either by a strong aspiration or by the Grace of the Guru. Once you begin to feel the Calm settling into you—no matter for howsoever short a time—the way is found. To call for that Calm, to give it room to settle into yourself—in the mind, in the nerves, in the body, by cultivating a habit of sitting for longer and longer periods, is the next step. By this means a continuing relation between the Higher Power and the system is established. And though in the beginning it is the seeker who has to strive and hold the Calm etc. as things progress, it is the Calm itself that begins to take hold him and carry him forth as it were. Ways are opened as if from nowhere and the seeker is put on the Royal Road. This Calm, this Silence is, so to say, one end of the Divine Being. If that end is firmly established in one the rest of the Divine is certain to pour in the vessel. With.one end firmly caught, it is a matter of course before the other End’ is rendered accessible.¹⁹

A certain mental and moral elevation, some samskar, is indispensable for safe and sure progress in spiritual life. That is why the ancients attached so much importance to yama and niyama. Reflection on the moral and mental level cannot be attained all at once, hence the need to start with at least some elevation. Without it, one either stops after a few steps or goes astray.

30 September 1948

Order, neatness, harmony—this discipline is necessary. That shall be sadhana for you now. This external purification is enough; you do not need inner purification. Most people do not need it.

21 January 1951

Be in a constant state of receptivity, That is best done by aspiring for and achieving a settled calm within and around yourself.

6 March 1949

God is within, God is without, God is above. But first you must realise Him within before seeking to realise Him elsewhere.

17 March 1951

To have an ideal is meaningless unless effort is made to mould one's life according to it.

17 January 1950