CWTVKS Volume 2

2) Right Attitude—Openness

Right Attitude

Do not concentrate upon and pray for the removal of your defects, bad qualities; pray for the rise and growth of good qualities. Positive gains will displace negative elements which will simply drop off.

28 December 1948

It is more towards acquiring real strength than on the exercise of it that our effort must be directed.

18 September 1948

Amidst all the currents and cross currents, agitations and excitements keep firm to the central principle that is to govern your life. Do not compromise on that; stick to it whatever the jerks and pulls.

10 January 1949

Do not be carried away by every movement that comes by; watch it from aside and then decide instead of allowing it to sweep you away in its flood.

5 March 1951

Whatever the surroundings, ‘Mind your business’ is an ideal motto for the seeker. Have an eye fixed constantly on the inner progress; clear the being of every dross and make room for the Light to enter and live and spread.

1 October 1948

When you tend to worry yourself over the welfare of others and kindred matters, even after taking to spiritual life, it is better to ask yourself: would not things go on if I were to die today? Surely they will. Then let me treat these things as such and concentrate on the life I have chosen.

13 February 1949

To keep one's promise, to act up to the given word is not merely Moral. It touches the spiritual being also. Not to keep to the word weakens the tongue-power, vak, and diminishes man's inner stature.

6 March 1949

The sincerity with which you approach determines the results. This is the law of the subtle workings of Nature.

9 April 1951

Few start the spiritual life with complete sincerity. But as they progress, as the stress of the original mixed motives lessens, the modicum of sincerity gets a chance to grow and spread itself gradually.

The question one ought to ask oneself is not ‘Do people respect me, do they think of me as great?’ But ‘Do I deserve what people are charitable enough to grant me?' If one has genuine stuff in him, he cares little whether it is recognised or not. It is there all the same and he is conscious of it.

25 December 1948

The one aim of the seeker must be to achieve a constant jyotirlila, play of Light, within. The Saktilila may follow afterward. He does not worry whether this play of Power is there or not once the uninterrupted reign of the Light is aglow within. Concentrate towards this end and do all that helps this Jnanodaya, Dawn of Knowledge.

9 December 1948

Not to force but allow things to grow naturally is the safest and most fruitful rule in spiritual life.

12 December 1948

To learn to wait is an essential part of yoga. It is in waiting that the usual restlessness dies down and the being gets ready to open to a higher calm and peace.

The patience of God is infinite. He watches and watches the whirl of millions rushing about, each individual trying to outreach the other and waits calmly for the most developed soul to turn to Him when ready.

28 May 1949

To try to coerce the Divine is foolish. Do your part and wait upon the Grace in utter humility and surrender. There is a story of a boy who was somehow left behind in the temple of Kali at night. Nobody should be allowed to remain in the sanctum of Kali; the reason, it would seem, is that there is a sport going on with the Deva Kanyas and no mortal should be present there. Now the father of the boy came near the prakara and entreated the Devi to somehow let out the boy. He was asked by Her to return home quietly and told that the boy was and would return safe. But he was not content. He continued to entreat and importune. The Devi got exasperated and with a loud ‘take it’ cut asunder the body of the boy into two and threw it over the wall to the poor parent. The moral of the story is evident. The Divine knows what is good for the devotee and it is not for him to tell the Divine what to grant and when.

25 March 1950

To ask of God, constantly, gifts—spiritual or material—is beggarly mentality which repels the approach of the Lord. He is ever awake, watchful with hosts of gods ready to serve, ready to pour his untold riches in you if only you would consent to let them enter into you. The ego is the main bar. Surrender of the ego and of all that you imagine yourself to be, to the Almighty, throws open all the doors of your being. The inrush of the riches is spontaneous. Within, the Occupant spreads Himself more and more nearer the surface and emerges as the rightful monarch to whom all the gods of the universe pay homage. Rightly does the Upanishad say:

madhye vamanamasinam sarve devah upasate.

30 October 1948

It is useless to try to anticipate, intelligently or otherwise, what is behind the veil in matters such as the Ashram, its future etc. Each one must increase his own inner concentration, wait upon the Divinity, adoringly if one can, and who knows, the Eye that sees may be awakened or the next step revealed by God Himself.

28 July 1949

Even material objects must be handled with care and consideration. For they too have, as Sri Aurobindo says, a consciousness of their own. They respond to our way of handling them. You handle a thing with care and feeling, it absorbs something of your own consciousness, becomes alive with a part of your own life as it were and in some cases refuses to belong to another. If such a thing is, say, stolen from you, you will find it coming back to you sooner or later.

Treat things, even material objects, as a trust placed in your hand by the Divine and then you will learn to handle them with the care they deserve.

20 February 1950

Do not be preoccupied with the past. Leave it behind, the Maharshi used to say. Look to the future. The past is to be drawn upon only for the lessons it may have. Otherwise it is best to let it pass.

5 March 1951

Keep the scholar in you under check.

Be more conscious of the Great Name and Teaching you are to represent. Success is sure.

18 March 1951

Do not trust the head; rely on the heart. Treat the matter of the brain to the Light of the Name or Person at work in you.

18 March 1951

There is an intelligence in the heart, there is an intelligence in the mind which keeps on feeling you are doing wrong even though the vital may be convicing in its exultant joy that what you do is the right thing.

20 April 1950

Openness

Keep your soul to the front. You should constantly endeavour to keep the soul clear of all the envelopings, whether mental or vital, and feel it in the front. Persist in the attempt and you are sure to succeed.

5 March 1951

How to be open to the Divine?

To love is to be open. That is the ideal way. It may not be possible for all. For such, the way is faith and aspiration. Faith in the Guru, faith in the yoga, faith in oneself—this threefold faith and aspiration in the heart create the opening.

31 December 1949

Love is the one sure means of keeping open to the Divine.

23 March 1950

Fidelity to the Divine means exclusive opening to the divine influence. You have to be open to that alone. In your dealings with the world also, remember that everything has a divine element in it and you have to see that alone and put yourself en rapport with that.

19 March 1950