... himself said that the shadow or form of the I is necessary for action. In the supramental transformation the ego is not indispensable for action. People always confuse a change of nature with transformation. If a change of nature means transformation, then many sadhaks here have got transformation. NIRODBARAN: What then is transformation? SRI AUROBINDO: Transformation is that state in which ... PURANI: The Vaishnavas speak of getting the nature of the Divine. SRI AUROBINDO: Then is that transformation? If so, the Vaishnavas have the supramental transformation of the nature! And any change of nature can be called that. In that case, attaining a sattwic nature is also transformation. NIRODBARAN: Most of us don't quite understand what is meant by this transformation. SRI AUROBINDO: When ...
... it. It has its value and sometimes a considerable spiritual utility. But, naturally, it is not supreme – the supreme thing is the realisation, the contact, the union with the Divine, bhakti, change of nature, etc. Page 122 I have been working hard. Last night till nearly 2 a.m. I am working at a spiritual novel (voicing my spiritual experience, etc.). I want to do sadhana more... could not have any meaning or fruition. But in the Yoga itself there are different ways of proceeding for different natures, even though the general path is the same, surrender to the Divine and change of nature. But surrender to the Divine in the complete sense cannot be achieved in a short time, nor can the change of the nature. On the whole, one has to go as quickly as one can and as slowly as is ...
... of their souls, conscious of their selves, aware of the eternal being that they are, to put them into communion with the Divinity or the Reality which is concealed by her appearances: a certain change of nature prepares, accompanies or follows upon this illumination, but it is not the complete and radical change which establishes a secure and settled new principle, a new creation, a permanent new order... love of God and men and all creatures into a thing of spiritual beauty, full of divine light and good, he develops into the saint and reaches the highest inner experience and most considerable change of nature proper to this way of approach to the Divine Being. But for the purpose of an integral transformation this too is not enough; there must be a transmutation of the thinking mind and all the vital ...
... 1935 Change of Nature It is perfectly possible to change one's nature. I have proved that in my own case, for I have made myself exactly the opposite in character to what I was when I started life. I have seen it done in many and I have helped myself to do it in many. But certain conditions are needed. At present in this Asram there is an obstinate resistance to the change of nature—not so much ...
... failure of the right attitude that comes in the way of passing through ordeals to a change of nature. The pressure is becoming greater now for this change of character even more than for decisive Yoga experience—for if the experience comes, it fails to be decisive because of the want of the requisite change of nature. The mind, for instance, gets the experience of the One in all, but the vital cannot ...
... Yoga is not for us... Some say the preliminary stage is the same in all Yogas; only the later stage is difficult here. I don't think it is true, for here, from the very start, it works for the change of nature, working to the very details, which other Yogas know nothing about. They leave the nature out altogether. According to those who have practised them, in the old Yogas one has to be prepared... bad effect. It may. The difficulty of your Yoga, even in the first stage, seems to me to be greater compared with the other yogas. The difficulty is a myth. The difficulty is in the change of Nature or transformation which comes afterwards. Otherwise the difficulty in the beginning is the same for this or any other Yoga. Some go fast, some go slow here, also elsewhere. Sir, here is the ...
... failure of the right attitude that comes in the way of passing through ordeals to a change of nature. The pressure is becoming greater now for this change of character even more than for decisive Yoga experience—for if the experience comes it fails to be decisive because of the want of the requisite change of nature. The mind for instance gets the experience of the One in all, but the vital cannot follow ...
... failure of the right attitude that comes in the way of passing through ordeals to a change of nature. The pressure is becoming greater now for this change of character even more than for decisive Yoga experience — for if the experience comes it fails to be decisive because of the want of the requisite change of nature. The mind for instance gets the experience of the one in all, but the vital cannot ...
... artificial groove in which our action revolves mechanically or with difficulty and which imposes a curbed and limited formation on the course of our nature. A total change of consciousness, a radical change of nature is the one remedy and the sole issue.” 18 As he wrote to Nirodbaran, all efforts of the mind and the overmind can yield nothing but partial results. “The absoluteness can only come with a ...
... was when I started life. I have seen one in many and I have helped myself to do it in many. But certain conditions are needed. At present in this Ashram there is an obstinate resistance to the change of nature—not so much in the inner being , for there are good number who accept change there, but in the outer man which repeats its customary movements like a machine and refuses to budge out of its ...
... necessary spiritual purpose. There must also be a power to deal with the ordinary outer life from a new inner attitude and one can then make the happenings of that life itself a means for the inner change of nature and the growth in spiritual experience. This was what was recommended to Miss Wilson when she first wanted to join the Ashram; she had already acquired the habit of inward concentration and ...
... an action of change and new integration of the whole nature. The first foundation is Matter; the ascent is that of Nature; the integration is an at first unconscious or half-conscious automatic change of Nature by Nature. But as soon as a more completely conscious participation of the being has begun in these workings of Nature, a change in the functioning of the process is in evitable. The physical ...
... could not have any meaning or fruition. But in the Yoga itself there are different ways of proceeding for different natures, even though the general path is the same, surrender to the Divine and change of nature. But surrender to the Divine in the completest sense cannot be achieved in a short time, nor can the change of the nature. On the whole, one has to go as quickly as one can and as slowly as is ...
... tangles which only delay the journey and ultimate arrival at the goal. The only rational and supra-rational solution of the problems of life therefore is a change of Consciousness followed by a change of Nature. There is no other way. Page 71 ...
... That is the same thing as the Gita's idea of Vasudeva who is in all and Vasudeva who is the Supreme Absolute. Both are the same. Bhakti for the impersonal Divine may not be so powerful for the change of nature; it tends to be more etherealised. Nor does it seem to be very powerful as regards Knowledge. Here Bhakti predominates over Knowledge. SATYENDRA: I have seen many instances of Bhakti and Knowledge ...
... Cycle, p. 207) Sri Aurobindo has elaborated this point in The Life Divine. A portion of what he has said there is worth quoting here: "At first sight this insistence on a radical change of nature might seem to put off all the hope of humanity to a distant evolutionary future; for the transcendence of our normal human nature, a transcendence of our mental, vital and physical being, has ...
... uprightness, honesty, etc. have nothing to do directly with spiritual achievement. But when a lax and loose sadhak develops the contrary qualities, won't that be a change of character and a way to the change of nature by your Force? Who said so? Spirituality, in order not to defeat its own object, must develop these. Develop what? A change of consciousness and nature, yes; but it is not a question ...
... see if we can do something. Just now he was complaining of burning pain. You can have the X-ray. July 4, 1937 ...Unless our blessed nature changes, there is no help at all. But change of nature is not a question of a day. Till then suffer like this? One can decide not to suffer. But obviously otherwise, until the nature changes, there will be trouble. I shall write in detail ...
... and definite shape. The mind is able slowly to understand and grasp what it wants, the heart's yearning and attraction also begin to be transparent, quiet but deep. Still this cannot be called a change of nature, let alone transformation. Then only will our nature consent really to change when we become, when even our sense-organs become subject to our inner consciousness, when Page 63 ...
... attention should be focussed not on the outward * "Plus Ça change, plus Ça reste le même." Page 58 form but on the inner norm. If there is a new norm within and a change of nature, the outer change of form will follow automatically. The old leaves will fall off, the dead branches break away and new leaves and flowers appear with a new sap flowing in. The shell breaks off ...
... definite shape. The mind is able slowly to understand and grasp what it wants, the heart's yearning and attraction also begin to be transparent, quiet but deep. Still this cannot be called a change of nature, let alone transformation. Then only will our nature consent really to change when we become, when even our sense-organs become subject to our inner consciousness, when our actions and activities ...
... Hence, the experiences of the spirit or even the experiences of the penultimate heights or profundities of the Spirit result in increasing spiritualization of Nature. And the process of spiritual change of nature must go step by step, till the stair of the ascension is transcended and there is an emergence of the greatest wide-open spaces or a consciousness which is supremely and supramentally luminous ...
... realised as above and unaffected by Nature, and thus the bondage to Nature is broken, and spiritual freedom is achieved. It is true that to effect this liberation, there has indeed to be radical change of Nature, the mental nature is silenced, the vital is purified and falls quiescent, even the physical collaborates, the sattva becomes predominant and rajas and tamas become subordinated, the gunasdo ...
... necessary spiritual purpose. There must also be a power to deal with the ordinary outer life from a new inner attitude and one can then make the happenings of that life itself a means for the inner change of nature and the growth in spiritual experience. This was what was recommended to X when she first wanted to join the Ashram; she had already acquired the habit of inward concentration and it was suggested ...
... course Mother had observed X 's difficulties,—it is correct that the difficulty is the lack of a certain free opening—otherwise all that could be removed quickly and the necessary change of Page 365 nature (mind, ego etc.) carried on by smooth gradations. To write as you do is helpful for opening oneself and for receiving the precise touch. X 's logic about the Mother knowing and therefore ...
... mental and vital nature by a spiritual and supramental supernatural that can effect this evolutionary miracle. At first sight this insistence on a radical change of nature might seem to put off all the hope of humanity to a distant evolutionary future; for the transcendence of our normal human nature, a transcendence of our mental, vital and physical being, has ...
... conscious of their selves, aware of the eternal being that they are, to put them into communion with the Divinity Page 424 or the Reality which is concealed by her appearances: a certain change of nature prepares, accompanies or follows upon this illumination, but it is not the complete and radical change which establishes a secure and settled new principle, a new creation, a permanent new order ...
... necessary spiritual purpose. There must also be a power to deal with the ordinary outer life from a new inner attitude and one can then make the happenings of that life itself a means for the inner change of nature and the growth in spiritual experience. Page 18 × The correspondent wrote: "Prof. James even says [in ...
... nature; but having become so or even in becoming so, one offers all that to the Divine. One may begin with knowledge or with works or with Bhakti or with Tapasya of self-purification for perfection (change of nature) and develop the rest as a subsequent movement or one may combine all in one movement. There is no single rule for all, it depends on the personality and the nature. Surrender is the main power ...
... physical formation of the mobile consciousness in Nature which is wrongly taken for our true being so long as the psychic is veiled and the consciousness is in the Ignorance. As to the change of nature, the first step is to become conscious Page 97 and separate from the old surface nature. For this rajasic vital nature is a surface creation of Prakriti, it is not the true being; ...
... consciousness; but they are there a temporary experience and not permanent or they are limited in their field and do not touch the whole being. They are a glimpse and not a change of vision or a change of nature. The artist for instance can look at things only plain or shabby or ugly or even repulsive to the ordinary sense and see in them and bring out of them beauty and the delight that goes with beauty ...
... surprising that they should be powerful in a world of Ignorance, for they have only to persuade people to follow the established bent of their lower nature, while the Divine calls always for a change of nature. It is not to be wondered at that the Asura has an easier task and more momentary success in his combinations. But that temporary success does not bind the future. It is the movements of ...
... our action revolves mechanically or with difficulty and Page 650 which imposes a curbed and limited formation on the course of our nature. A total change of consciousness, a radical change of nature is the one remedy and the sole issue. But since the root of the difficulty is a split, limited and separative existence, this change must consist in an integration, a healing of the divided ...
... to Nature, for this outer self is not lord but subject to her, anīśa ; but, once unveiled, it can make its sanction or refusal effective, become the master of the action, dictate sovereignly a change of Nature. Even if for a long time, as the result of fixed association and past storage of energy, the habitual movement takes place independent of the Purusha's assent and even if the sanctioned movement ...
... and uplifting of our insufficient mental and vital nature by a spiritual and supramental supernature that can effect this evolutionary miracle. At first sight this insistence on a radical change of nature might seem to put off all the hope of humanity to a distant evolutionary future; for the transcendence of our normal human nature, a transcendence of our mental, vital and physical being, has ...
... on, the instrumental Nature remaining as before full of many disabilities and deficiencies. Even the Overmind, the summit-reach of our spiritual mind-range , fails to effectuate a complete change of Nature, for this too is "subject to limitations in the working of the effective Knowledge, limitations in the working of the Power, subject to a partial and limited Truth." 2 For the full ...
... change beyond a point. I learnt, incidentally that it was not enough to have such "experiences", however startling. One must aspire only for the most startling, of all experiences: the change of nature without which no abiding change of consciousness could be achieved. But, unhappily for me, she induced in me an expectation that gave me no end of trouble. For I started meditating for hours ...
... but having become so or even in becoming so, one offers all that to the Divine. One may begin with knowledge or with works or with bhakti or with Tapasya of self-purification for perfection (change of nature) and develop the rest as a sub- sequent movement or one may combine all in one movement. There is no single rule for all, it depends on the personality and the nature. Surrender is the main ...
... Part I: Letters of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Champaklal's Treasures - Edition-II Change of Nature When you feel unhappy like that it means that you have a progress to make. You can say that we always need to progress, it is true. But at times nature gives its consent to the needed change and then everything goes smoothly, even happily. On the contrary ...
... are not even worthwhile discussing why does the sphinx of a Divine shower these on some while to otters they are denied ? If these visions have no value, if experiences don't contribute to a change of nature or of the subconscient Enfant Terrible— then 0 why from times immemorial have the sadhaks and seekers marvelled marvelled at these ? Visions and experiences (especially experiences) are ...
... surprising that they should be powerful in a world of Ignorance, for they have only to persuade people to follow the established bent of their lower nature, while the Divine calls always for a change of Nature. It is not to be wondered at that the Asura has an easier task and more momentary success in his combinations. But that temporary success does not bind the future. ____________________ ...
... t mental and vital nature by a spiritual and supramental consciousness, force and action that can effect the needed evolutionary miracle. If it is said that this insistence on a radical change of nature seems to put off all the hope of humanity to a distant evolutionary future, the answer is that to hope for a true change of human life without a change of human nature is an irrational and unspiritual ...
... conscious of their selves, aware of the eternal being that they are, to put them into communion with Page 29 the Divinity or the Reality which is concealed by her appearances: a certain change of nature prepares, accompanies or follows upon this illumination, but it is not the complete and radical change which establishes a secure and settled new principle, a new creation, a permanent new ...
... nothing much to do with this earth. So whenever anything of the world pulls them down they do not feel at ease. That would be all right for some other Yoga - this one has as its aim a change of nature in this world. What is meant by this full identification? A going up somewhere above and leaving the manifested being and nature to remain as they are? How then is the transformation ...
... and I gave up tennis. This is our human nature. When it is evident that the Divine wants to do something for my good, I refuse either out of attachment, self-justification or sheer disobedience. Change of nature is such an uphill job. It is not for nothing that the Guru said in 1936, that changing the nature of 150 inmates of the Ashram was a job! The interesting point was that the Mother never voiced ...
... him. And when heat meets heat — It is almost midsummer now." Champaklal is himself aware of his defects and repents them very much. Sometimes on the verge of despair, he confesses that complete change of nature is impossible except by the Divine Grace. More than once after losing his temper with me, not always without cause, he regretted his explosion and said, "I hope you won't mind; you know my nature ...
... destroyed, the aim is the creation of a new spirit, change of the inner nature. Our attention should be focussed not on the outward form but on the inner norm. If there is a new norm within and a change of nature, the outer change of form will follow automatically. The old leaves will fall off, the dead branches break away and new leaves and flowers appear with a new sap flowing in. The shell breaks off ...
... they are all right but the trouble is that they do not seem to change the nature, they only enrich the consciousness—even the realisation, on the mind level, of the Brahman seems to leave the nature almost where it was, except for a few. That is why we insist on the psychic transformation as the first necessity—for that does change the nature—and its chief instrument is bhakti, surrender, etc. Sri Aurobindo... except the psychic change. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - III: The Psychic Being and Its Role in Sadhana Purification and consecration are two great necessities of sadhana. Those who have experiences before purification run a great risk: it is much better to have the heart pure first, for then the way becomes safe. That is why I advocate the psychic change of the nature first—for that means... 4. The Psychic Being and Sadhana The Psychic Being Psychic Change—First Necessity The soul, the psychic being is in direct touch with the divine Truth, but it is hidden in man by the mind, the vital being and the physical nature. One may practise yoga and get illuminations in the mind and the reason; one may conquer power and luxuriate in all kinds of ...
... of the inner Truth. So long as that is not done, the attacks of the lower Nature can always continue. Experience and the Change of One's Nature Merely to have experiences of the higher consciousness will not change the nature. Either the higher consciousness has to make a dynamic descent into the whole being and change it—or it must establish itself in the inner being down to the inner physical... physical so that the latter feels itself separate from the outer and is able to act freely upon it—or the psychic must come forward and change the nature—or the inner will must awake and force the nature to change. These are the four ways in which change can be brought about. When you are in connection with the higher worlds above the mental, with the mental and the psychic or even with some of the... of the being even has been opened the experiences come. The action of the higher consciousness does not usually begin by changing the outer nature—it works on the inner being, prepares that and then goes outward. Before that, whatever change is done in the outer nature has to be done by the psychic. All experiences can be brought into the smallest constituents of the being. Inner Attitude ...
... 23 January 1938 "Mon cher petit", It is very good that you have become conscious of the mistakes and defects of the nature. Once you are conscious it is always possible to rise out of them and to change the nature. My help will always be with you for that. Love and blessings to my dear little star 23 January 1938 ...
... expressed his dissatisfaction with the pay he receives and is sometimes irreverent in his attitude towards us. How to mend his habits or effect a change in his nature? This is perfectly impossible. For a sadhak it is already a big job to change his outward nature; how can you expect it from an ordinary uneducated man? 4 October 1938 ...
... of the general inability to change which at present afflicts the sadhak. 1 It is because the sadhana, as a general fact, has now and for a long time past come down to the Inconscient; the pressure, the call is to change in that part of the nature which depends directly on the Inconscient, the fixed habits, the automatic movements, the mechanical repetitions of the nature, the involuntary reactions... begun and it is not surprising that there seems to be no change in things or people. It will come in time, but not in a hurry. As for experiences, they are all right but the trouble is that they do not seem to change the nature, they only enrich the consciousness—even the realisation, on the mind level, of the Brahman seems to leave the nature almost where it was, except for a few. That is why we... we insist on the psychic transformation as the first necessity—for that does change the nature—and its chief instrument is bhakti, surrender etc. Page 617 The sunlit path can only be followed if the psychic is constantly or usually in front or if one has a natural spirit of faith and surrender or a face turned habitually towards the sun or psychic predisposition (e.g. a faith in one's ...
... harmony in every expression. My entire being will live in the Divine, for the Divine and by the Divine. Surely, by Yoga the horoscope can be mastered—we are no more bound to it—and we can change our nature as well. Surely, you are my child and will become so more and more perfectly. All love and blessings to you, my dear child 19 November 1936 ...
... Part I: Letters of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother Champaklal's Treasures - Edition-II Change your Nature It is indeed indispensable that something should change radically in your nature before you are fit for staying here. You are far too ego-centric to lead a spiritual life; and it is also the cause of this catastrophe and of the suffering it has brought ...
... of changing human nature—the crooked human nature which Vivekananda called "the dog's curled tail"—that the ascetic path advocated flying from the world as the only remedy. No one thought it possible to change human nature and so everybody said, "Drop it." SATYENDRA: There is an idea among some people here that even those who have gone into Laya (dissolution) will have to come back to change their... and carried out by the attached? It is all a solution by the mind. The mind has not been able to change human nature fundamentally. It cannot succeed so long as it works on its own principles. It accepts an ideal and tries to work it out but it is not a sovereign consciousness. You can go on changing human institutions and yet the imperfection will break through all your institutions. PURANI: The... pull downwards. So the spiritual power must be such that it can not only resist but overcome that pull. This is the solution that I propose. It is a spiritual solution that aims at changing the whole basis of human nature. But it is not a question of a moment or a few years. There can be no real solution unless you establish spirituality as the whole basis of life. SATYENDRA: So the Truth-Consciousness ...
... "My experience of peace and calm after my first contact with Lele never left me, but in my outer nature there were many agitations and every time I had to make an effort to establish peace and calm there. Ever since that early experience the whole object of my Yoga has been to change this nature into the mould of the inner realisation." Page 150 ...
... always be used as a means for progress; once the necessary change is realised, the mistake and its cause disappear and there can be no repetition. 6 April 1937 It is very good that you have become conscious of the mistakes and defects of the nature. Once you are conscious it is always possible to rise out of them and to change the nature. 23 January 1938 It seems to me, on the contrary ...
... June 1933 Does "constant contact of the consciousness" mean mental contact or psychic? It means the whole—with the psychic as the base. 25 June 1933 I have been thinking that to change one's nature first one Page 255 must restrain one's desire, then one must act according to the Mother's will and gradually there will be no will of one's own any more—all will happen by the Mother's... February 1932 How can I become master of myself and keep self-discipline? Observe yourself so that nothing passes without being conscious of it. Do not allow yourself to be moved by the forces of nature without the inner consent. Obey the Mother's will always; let your consent or refusal to the movement of forces be in consonance with her Truth. 10 June 1933 How can the will be made one with ...
... absoluteness and transcendence. 23 March 1933 Page 192 You often speak of the Mother's Force. What is it? It is the Divine Force which works to remove the ignorance and change the nature into the divine nature. 18 June 1933 Why do I feel that it is I who do this thing or that? For is it not true that it is the Mother's force which does everything in us? When I speak of the Mother's... Mother's force, I do not speak of the force of Prakriti which carries on things in the Ignorance but of the higher Force of the Divine that descends from above to transform the nature. 4 August 1933 ...
... have not changed your nature. I only wish the external nature were so easy to transform that it could be done in a few years. You forget also that the real problem — to get rid of the pervading ego in this nature is a task you have seriously tackled only a short time ago. And it is not in a few months that that can be done. Even the best sadhaks find after many experiences and large changes on the higher... higher planes that much remains to be done. How do you expect to get rid of it at once unlike everybody else? A Yoga like this needs patience, because it means a change both of the radical motives and of each part and detail of the nature. It will not do to say “Yesterday I determined this time to give myself entirely to the Mother and look it is not done, on the contrary all the old opposite things ...
... you have to force the consciousness into the body, into dense Matter. It is the attitude of the body that will in the end determine everything: shocks and contacts of the outside world will change its nature according to the way in which they are received by the body. And if you attain perfection in that line, you can become even master of accidents. Such a Page 390 thing is possible... not only possible, but it is bound to happen, for it is a forward step in man's progress. First of all, you have to realise the power in your mind to the extent that it can act upon circumstances and change their effect upon you. Then the power can descend into Matter, into the substance, the cells of your body and endow the body with this capacity of control over things outside and around you. There ...
... you have to force the consciousness into the body, into dense Matter. It is the attitude of the body that will in the end determine everything: shocks and contacts of the outside world will change its nature according to the way in which they are received by the body. And if you attain perfection in that line, you can become even master of accidents. Such a thing is possible, not only possible... possible, but it is sure to happen, for it is a forward step in man's progress. First of all, you have to realise the power in your mind to the extent that it can act upon circumstances and change their effect upon you. Then the power can descend into Matter, into the substance, the cells of your body and endow the body with this capacity of control over things outside and around you. There is ...
... the world and our nature in works is to seek for the fruits of our works, we must change that nature and do works without attachment to their fruits, otherwise desire and all its results remain. But how can we change this nature of the doer of works in us? By dissociating works from ego and personality, by seeing through the reason that all this is only the play of the gunas of Nature, and by dissociating... to the change, to this upward transference, this new divine birth, and the nature of the work or rather the spirit in which it has to be done, since the outward form of it need not at all change, although really its scope and aim become quite different. But these two things are practically the same, for the elucidation of one elucidates the other. The spirit of our action arises from the nature of our... our being and the inner foundation it has taken, but also this nature is itself affected by the trend and spiritual effect of our action; a very great change in the spirit of our works changes the nature of our being and alters the foundation it has taken; it shifts the centre of conscious force from which we act. If life and action were entirely illusory, as some would have it, if the Spirit had nothing ...
... transform or change this human nature? Sri Aurobindo : In order to change human nature you have to work from level to level; you reject a thing from Page 103 the mind, it comes to the vital. When you reject it from the vital, then it comes to the physical and then you find it in the subconscient. There is a central point in the subconscient that has to be changed. If that... they say "It is nature". They mostly allow it to run its course and when the body drops, it also drops; but, it is not transformation. That is what Vivekananda meant when he said that "human nature cannot be changed, that it was like a dog's tail, you can straighten it if you like, but as soon as you leave it, it is curved again." Disciple : What is really meant by this "nature"? Sri Aurobindo... liked in your mind, and the vital and other parts. But when the change in the subconscious has to come about, many will find it difficult; there will be some who will progress and others who will not and will drop out. Already some like X had dropped out, when the Mother took a decision about his vital being –"you will have to change". Before that he was swimming in his art and other things, but as ...
... ridge ( gesture ) and the least misstep would pitch you into a hole. ( silence ) Everything seems different, all the... everything seems so different. The nature of the relations with people is changing, the nature of everything is changing, but what? What? ( long silence ) It's like being on the brink or point or... hanging in balance—a tremendous Power (there's a tremendous power, I have... notions seem artificial to me.... At times there is terrible anguish; at times there is perfect peace. ( long silence ) It's strange, at times I have the impression that death makes much less of a change than we think, and at other times it's totally incomprehensible.... Strange, it's like the two extremes: sometimes, it barely makes a difference; the next time it's a... something... what does death ...
... the element of the incalculable and the unforeseen in Nature. Nature, in one respect, seems to be a closed circle: it is a rigid mechanism and its movements are very definite and absolutely fixed admitting of no change or variation whatsoever. That was the idea which governed our earlier scientists when they spoke or the Law of Nature. Law of Nature was to them, in the great Sophoclean phrase, something... spiritual – the greater will be the change in nature, quality and extent in the lower order. Such miracles, interventions, providential happenings are not rare. They are always occurring, only they do not attract attention. For it is these phenomena that are the real causes of all progress – cosmic as well as individual. Evolution is based upon this truth of Nature. Man is not bound to the present... present pattern or complex of his nature and character: he is not irrevocably fixed to the frame – a Procrustean bed – given by the parallelogram of actual forces in or around him. Always he can call down forces or forces can descend into him from otherwhere and bring about a change, even a revolution in the mode and make-up of his character and nature and life. What we call "opening" in our. Sadhana ...
... Sri Aurobindo gives here. A mask is something that conceals, that makes invisible what it covers. And if the mask is distorted, it not only renders invisible what it conceals but also totally changes its nature. So, according to this definition, folly is something that veils and distorts beyond all recognition the Truth which is at the origin of all things. 23 June 1961 Does Sri Aurobindo mean ...
... union with the Divine and dependence upon it and sole consecration to the Divine alone and the power to change the nature and discover the true mental, the true vital, the true physical being in oneself. Both realisations are necessary for this Yoga. The “I“ or the little ego is constituted by Nature and is at once a mental, vital and physical formation meant to aid in centralising and individualising... represents the Jivatman, the eternal portion of the Divine. When there is the full consciousness, the Jivatman and the psychic being join together. The ego is a formation of Nature; but it is not a formation of physical nature alone, therefore it does not cease with the body. There is a mental and vital ego also. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - I: The Jivatman in the Integral Yoga In a certain... tune with the cosmic Truth. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - I: The True Being and the True Consciousness There is behind all the vital nature in man his true vital being concealed and immobile which is quite different from the surface vital nature. The surface vital is narrow, ignorant, limited, full of obscure desires, passions, cravings, revolts, pleasures and pains, transient joys and griefs ...
... from its own limitations. In the state of liberation of the soul from Nature, the soul can experience itself as distinct from Nature or even as a master of Nature, but Nature remains the same. Nature has three strands, Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. In the state of liberation of the soul from Nature there is some change in nature, in the sense that Satwa predominates, Rajas becomes quiescent and Tamas becomes... or mere change of attitude or from the state of sainthood or ethical perfection. To be transformed is to be totally transmuted in every part of the being so that every part of the being is able to manifest Gnostic or supramental consciousness. In most of the systems of yoga, the aim is to arrive at the liberation of the soul from Nature, but there is no deliberate aim to liberate Nature itself from... becomes obedient to the will of self and of the soul, but Satwa itself does not get changed, nor do Rajas and Tamas undergo any fundamental change. In the state of the transformation of Nature, Satwa, Rajas and Tamas are all transformed in their divine counterparts. Tamas is transfor- med into a divine calm, which is not inertia and incapacity of action, but a perfect power of Shakti, holding in oneself ...
... time in fighting, literally, terrible battles. People come out of that state bruised, as if they had received blows. And they did receive them—it is not "as if"! And I see only one way out: to change the nature of sleep. Page 381 ...
... useful to the world or not. And yet in meditation, they came into contact with some higher and deeper consciousness and reality. It is for this reason that people who have found it difficult to change human nature, have declared it an impossibility and advised that the one thing to do under the circumstances is to abandon the world and escape. Naturally, if all could run away there would no more be any... meditation. But when a work is there before you and you do it as well as you can, also while doing it you take care not to forget the Divine and you give yourself up to him so that he may change your being, change your reactions into something beautiful and luminous, then indeed the Divine will transform you. Page 102 I have never seen people who left off everything to sit in a more... On the other hand I have seen very many living in monasteries: well, they are not worth talking about. It is not by running away from the world that you will change it: it is only by working steadily at it that you can bring about the change. Does this mean that meditation is of no use at all? Meditation will come to you as much as is necessary for you. When it comes it seizes you; ...
... useful to the world or not. And yet in meditation, they came into contact with some higher and deeper consciousness and reality. It is for this reason that people who have found it difficult to change human nature, have declared it an impossibility and advised that the one thing to do under the circumstances is to abandon the world and escape. Naturally, if all could run away there would no more be any... meditation. But when a work is there before you and you do it as well as you can, also while doing it you take care not to forget the Divine and you give yourself up to him so that he may change your being, change your reactions into something beautiful and luminous, then indeed the Divine will transform you. I have never seen people who left off everything to sit in a more or less empty meditation... On the other hand, I have seen very many living in monasteries: well, they are not worth talking about. It is not by running away from the world that you will change it: it is only by working steadily at it that you can bring about the change. Does this mean that meditation is of no use at all? Meditation will come to you as much as is necessary for you. When it comes it seizes you; ...
... descent is necessary to change the nature; ascent is useful to open the higher planes and exalt the level of the consciousness, but it does not change the lower being except superficially by opening to it certain possibilities it had not before. But the descent must first take place in the inner being. When the higher consciousness is settled in the inner being, then it can change the outer. But necessarily... interpenetrating. I am not speaking of mere rising above [ as the means of changing the external nature ]. The rising above has to be followed by the descent of the higher consciousness into the different parts of the being. That aided by the psychic development and aiding it Page 418 changes the external nature. It was an experience (by ascension) of the spiritual plane of being... physical and even the subconscient. To both of these movements there can be a block—a block above due to the mind and lower nature being unhabituated (it is that really and not incapacity) and a block below due to the physical consciousness and its natural slowness to change. Everybody has these blocks but by persistent will, aspiration or abhyāsa they can be overcome. The Order of Ascent and ...
... 3 April 1936 My dear faithful Baby, I have no intention of being cruel and with all my heart I wish to pull you out of your difficulties. But to change the outward nature needs time and perseverance. So you must be courageous and have patience. Never doubt my love and care. 3 April 1936 ...
... the Ignorance but of the higher Force of the Divine that descends from above to transform the nature. The Mother's Force is the Page 80 manifestation of the Mother herself... It is the Divine Force which works to remove the ignorance and change the nature into the divine Nature. We little human beings can never fathom the full glory of the Mother's personality.... Such is the case with the Mother's Force, too. How much potency it must have that it not only removes the Ignorance but also changes and transforms the nature into the divine Nature, a process which was never attempted in the old Yogas. Sri Aurobindo tried to enlighten me further about the workings of this Force in my correspondence: Myself: Sometimes, if not often, the Mother's Force comes... Divine, by making him watch his actions and see his own defects and pushing him to rectify them, by establishing a connection between his consciousness and the Mother's Consciousness, by preparing his nature to be taken up more and more by the Mother's Consciousness and Force, by giving him experiences which make him ready for the major experiences of Yoga, by stimulating the growth of his psychic being ...
... amount of help and guidance necessary; it does not change its nature. The second principle is that the mind has to be consulted in its own growth. The idea of hammering the child into the shape desired by the parent or teacher is a barbarous and ignorant superstition. It is he himself who must, be induced to expand in accordance with his own nature. There can be no greater error than for the parent... The basis of a man's nature is almost always, in addition to his soul's past, his heredity, his surroundings, his nationality, his country, the soil from which he draws sustenance, the air which he breathes, the sights, sounds, habits to which he is accustomed. They mould him not the less powerfully because insensibly, and from that then we must begin. We must not take up the nature by the roots from... parent to arrange before- hand that his son shall develop particular qualities, capacities, ideas, virtues, or be prepared for a prearranged career. To force the nature to abandon its own dharma is Page 20 to do it permanent harm, mutilate its growth and deface its perfection. It is a selfish tyranny over a human soul and a wound to the nation, which loses the benefit of the ...
... simultaneously, everything (one might simply say to express oneself): suffering, the most acute disorder, and Harmony, the most perfect Ananda—the two together, experienced together. Naturally that changes the nature of the suffering. But all this is very conscious and this is something like prattling. This is not the translation of what is. There is also the perception that gradually, through all these ...
... Mother) The 1 st December programme came to an end. I still had not been able to overcome my sense of ego, but kept quiet about it. I prayed to the Mother to help me change my nature. My birthday arrived and the Mother gave me a card with a birthday message. There were some grass-flowers stuck on the front of the card. The Mother's spiritual significance of this flower is ...
... Chapter II Descent and Transformation A World-Changing Yoga What is a perfect technique of Yoga or rather of a world changing and Nature-changing Yoga? Not one that takes a man by a little bit of him somewhere, attaches a hook and pulls him up by a pulley into Nirvana or Paradise. The technique of a world-changing Yoga has to be as multiform, sinuous, patient, all-including as... will not change the whole balance of the earth-nature. The Supramental Change and the Ananda Plane The supramental change is the ultimate stage of siddhi and it is not likely to come so soon; but there are many levels between the normal mind and the supermind and it is easy to mistake an ascent into one of them or a descent of their consciousness or influence for a supramental change. It is... rest—to let it work there and fulfil itself as Mind descended into Life and Matter and has worked as a Power there to fulfil itself in the midst of the rest. This will be enough to change the world and to change Nature by breaking down her present limits. But what, how, by what degrees it will do it is a thing that ought not to be said now—when the Light is there, the Light will itself do its work—when ...
... wished me to do. The play of colour—balanced distribution of light and shadow to bring out the perfect harmony of colour—the subtle infusion of light, the transcendent spontaneity, the magical changes of Nature—the Supreme Colourist's realism and visions—all these I had to put on canvases with vibrant, various strokes of brushes. I was perfectly aware that it was not going to be easy, but life now... to express the glory of the Higher Worlds. Truth is behind everything. For the Divine dwells in flowers, trees, animals, birds, and rivers as well as human beings—in fact, in every creation of Nature. You must have the psychic touch to see and feel the vibrations, the sensations and the essence of the Truth in everything and that Truth is to be expressed in the Future Painting. To paint... by putting her Force, Light and Consciousness into them. She also sent me thousands of the most exquisite picture-cards, so that I might perceive and grasp their beauties and obtain inspiration from Nature: trees, flowers, mountains, rivers, animals and so on. These cards were prepared by Champaklal. He used to paste the pictures on folders, on which the Mother wrote to me. Surely the Mother did not ...
... are all right but the trouble is that they do not seem to change the nature, they only enrich the consciousness — even the realisation, on the mind level, of the Brahman seems to leave the nature almost where it was, except for a few. That is why we insist on the psychic transformation as the first necessity — for that does change the nature — and its chief instrument is bhakti, surrender, etc. 118... by an ascent of consciousness into the ranges of overmind and supramental nature in which the sense of Self and Spirit is ever unveiled and permanent and in which the self-luminous instrumentation of the Self and Spirit is not restricted or divided as in our mind-nature, life-nature, body-nature. This also the psychic change makes possible; for as it opens us to the cosmic consciousness now hidden... Between psychicisation and spiritualisation there is a difference. The spiritual is the change that descends from above, the psychic is the change that comes from within by the psychic dominating the mind, vital and physical. 120 * Page 101 Psychicisation means the change of the lower nature bringing right vision into the mind, right impulse and feeling into the vital, right ...
... Gautam Chawalla's Correspondence with The Mother 26 September 1966 You speak of the perpetual transformation of the world — but what is it that changes? Nature? Matter? Consciousness? Then why are the problems the same since the beginning? There is only one problem — that of “separation”. All the others follow from it. And there is only one solution... ss has become a reality. But the whole creation is moving towards this in a perpetual state of change. It is only for a superficial, short-sighted, limited vision that the world does not seem to change. Have you read Savitri ? This theory that the world turns perpetually in a circle without changing or progressing is the great argument of Death in his effort to prove to Savitri that her hope of ...
... made in my being, no definite change in my consciousness. Sometimes my heart shudders at the thought that there is something wrong in my attitude, that there are certain perverse habits in my nature which oppose a sweet, devotional, childlike psychic relation with You. Today I feel a strong urge to approach Thee, 0 Mother, for enlightening me on the real nature of the opposition and showing... showing me a rapid way out of this tangle. The smallest change in the nature, especially in the physical, needs a very long time to be realised—so the first condition is to be very patient. My love and blessings 9 April 1947 ...
... said that it is impossible to change one’s nature; in all books of philosophy, even of yoga, you are told the same story: “You cannot change your character, you are born like that, you are like that.” This is absolutely false, I guarantee it is false; but there is something very difficult to do to change your character, because it is not your character which must be changed, it is the character of your... your antecedents. In them you will not change it (because they have no such intention), but it is in you that it must be changed. It is what they have given you, all the little gifts made to you at your birth—nice gifts—it is this which must be changed. But if you succeed in getting hold of the thread of these things, the true thread, since you have worked upon this with perseverance and sincerity, one... one fine morning you will be free; all this will fall off from you and you will be able to get a start in life without any burden. Then you will be a new man, living a new life, almost with a new nature. And if you look back you will say, “It is not possible, I was never like that!” The Mother Questions and Answers (1950 - 1951): 29 March 1951 ...
... everything... to express myself I might just say, the consciousness of suffering (the most acute disorder) and of Harmony (the most perfect Ananda)—both together, perceived together. Naturally that changes the nature of suffering. But all that is very conscious of being some kind of chatter. It's not the translation of what is. There is also the perception that little by little, following all these ...
... them quietly and call in tranquilly and persistently the divine help for their removal, but not to allow oneself to be upset or pained or discouraged. Yoga is not an easy path and the total change of the nature cannot be done in a day. It is necessary for us to know precisely the state of your health so as to give you precise and constant help, that is the reason why the Mother has to put you the question ...
... Disciple : What difference is there between modification of nature and its transformation? Sri Aurobindo : Transformation is the casting of the whole nature in the mould of realization. What you realize you project out in your nature. Christian Saints speak of the presence in the heart. That presence can change the nature. I speak of three transformations : 1) Psychic, 2) Spiritual... modification in the nature-part but the transformation is not automatic. It is not so easy as all that. My experience of peace and calm in the first contact with Lele has never left me, but in my outer nature there were many agitations and every time I had to make an effort to establish peace. From that time onwards the Page 43 whole object of my yoga was to change nature into the mould... mould of the inner realization. I had to try to change or transform these by the influence of my realization. Disciple : Even then a man with inner realization, – I don't mean experience – won't have grave difficulties such as sex in his nature. Sri Aurobindo : Why not? There can be anger, like Durvasa's or sex. You have not heard of the fall of Rishis through anger or through sex? The ...
... Aurobindo: why they accept it, hold fast to it, cling to this teaching of the Gita; it is because it's comfortable, one doesn't need to make any effort to change one's nature: one's nature is unchangeable, so you don't at all need to think of changing it; you simply let it go its own way, Page 64 you look at it from the top of your ivory tower and let it do whatever it likes, saying, "This... But you can't tell them, "You must change yours." If it pleases them, let them keep it. It's very convenient. I saw this in France, in Paris, before coming to India, and I saw how very practical it was. First, it allows you to grasp a very profound and extremely useful truth, as I said; and then it shields you from all necessity of changing your outer nature. It's so convenient, isn't it? You... You say, "I am like that, what can I do about it? I separate myself from Nature, I let her do whatever she likes, I am not this Nature, I am the Purusha. Ah! Page 62 let her go her own way; after all, I can't change her." This is extremely convenient. And that is why people adopt it; for they imagine they are in the Purusha, but at the least scratch they fall right back into Prakriti, and ...
... human nature", everything one justifies saying, "What can be done, people are like that, there is nothing to be done about it." It is the old idea that we are born with a particular nature and must get adjusted to it, for we cannot change it. So Sri Aurobindo tells us that if one cannot change the nature it is not worth the trouble of doing yoga, for yoga is done precisely in order to change the nature... this; those who do not want to change their way of doing things or their way of being always say, "Oh! What do you expect, it is human nature." This is what is called a "wilful indulgence". That is to say, instead of becoming conscious that these are weaknesses and difficulties on the way, one justifies these things, saying, "Oh! It can't be helped, it is human nature." One wants to continue to do what... what one is doing, without changing, one is full of a wilful indulgence of one's demands. For the lower nature of man always demands things; it says, "These are necessities, these are needs, I can't do without them." Then, the instincts—a sort of instinct for one's own satisfaction—and pretensions: the lower being claims that it has a considerable importance and must be given what is necessary for ...
... the Ashram has to decide upon the definite course of sending him away. You seem to think that it is only fits of anger and tantrums that are involved. Surely a system of Yoga which tries to change human nature is full of understanding of human failings. The Ashram would never think of sending anyone out for anything short of dangerous violence. You have yourself said in your letter that you and ...
... Bhawani Mandir is partly a diagnosis of India's ills and partly the prescription of a radical cure. India's ills flowed from her want of strength; what was the remedy, then? "We have to change our natures, and become new men with new hearts", he said. "Strength can be created only by drawing it from the internal and inexhaustible reservoirs of the Spirit, from that Adya-Shakti of the Eternal which ...
... Introductory Quotations The world unknowing, for the world she stood.. || 3.19 || \*\*\* One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature’s doom by the lone Spirit’s power. || 91.4 || A limitless Mind that can contain the world, A sweet and violent heart of ardent calms Moved by the passions of the gods shall come. || 91.5 ||... s sword And from her eyes the Eternal’s bliss shall gaze. || 91.8 || A seed shall be sown in Death’s tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will.” || 91.9 || ...
... represents all that is on earth, that is, in the universe, all aspects of it, all the levels of consciousness and, it may be added, all the urge for progress and change. He is Nature's laboratory. If a point in man's consciousness changes, the change will be carried over in the whole of the universe. Inevitably, because man is the point of concentration on the earth as the earth is a concentrated form of... levels of creation. Each type there represents one aspect of infinity only and is in a way static; the beings there do not change or progress as man does on earth. They remain always what they are, they do what they do; it is rather fixed or at least the possibility of change is very limited. Earth is a concentrated form, a complete replica of the entire universe or entire creation. Man, in ...
... have not changed your nature. I only wish the external nature were so easy to transform that it could be done in a few years. You forget also that the real problem—to get rid of the pervading ego in this nature—is a task you have seriously tackled only a short time ago. And it is not in a few months that that can be done. Even the best sadhaks find after many experiences and large changes on the ... higher planes that here much remains to be done. How do you expect to get rid of it at once unlike everybody else? A Yoga like this needs patience, because it means a change both of the radical motives and of each part and detail of the nature. It will not do to say, "Yesterday I determined this time to give myself entirely to the Mother, and look it is not done, on the contrary all the old opposite things ...
... ..to hope for a true change of human life without a change of human nature is an irrational and unspiritual proposition; it is to ask for something unnatural and unreal, an impossible miracle. Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine - II: The Divine Life Mankind has a habit of surviving the worst catastrophes created by its own errors or by the violent turns of Nature and it must be so if there... Postscript Chapter All those who make an effort to overcome their ordinary nature, all those who try to realise materially the profound experience that has brought them into contact with the divine Truth, all those who, instead of turning to the Hereafter or the On-high, try to realise physically, externally, the change of consciousness they have realised within themselves – all those are appren... there is any meaning in its existence, if its long history and continuous survival is not the accident of a fortuitously self-organising Chance, which it must be in a purely materialistic view of the nature of the world. If man is intended to survive and carry forward the evolution of which he is at present the head and, to some extent, a half-conscious leader of its march, he must come out of his present ...
... By the opening of the heart the Mother's presence begins to be felt and by the opening to her Power above the Force of the higher consciousness comes down into the body and works there to change the whole nature. 7 August 1934 The Mother says, "Keep yourself always open to me" and "I am always with you and around you." How am I to feel her presence always? Also, what does "conscious" mean and... and how does one become conscious? The Divine Mother is everywhere and at all times she is with you. If one opens and becomes conscious, then one can feel her presence. It is because the nature is ignorant, full of itself and its desires that one cannot feel the presence. If one turns from self and desires and lives inwardly and outwardly for the Divine, then one begins to feel the divine Presence ...
... world presupposes a real reconstruction, a permanent reformation of human nature. Otherwise any amount of casting and recasting the mere machineries would not bring about any appreciable result, but leave the thing as it is. Change the laws as much as you like, but if you do not change the nature of man, the world will not change. For it is man that makes laws and not laws that make man. Laws express... The Divine Nature only can permanently reform the vital nature that is ours. Neither laws and institutions, which are the results of that vital nature, nor ideas and ideals which are often a mere revolt from and more often an auxiliary to it, can command the power to regenerate society. If it is thought improbable for any group of men to attain to that God Nature, then there is hardly any... express at best the demand which man feels within himself. A truth must realise itself in human nature before it can be codified. You may certainly legalise an ideal, but that does not necessarily mean realising it. The realisation must come first in nature and character, then it is naturally translated into laws and institutions. A man lives the laws of his soul and being and not the law given him by the ...
... world presupposes a real reconstruction, a permanent reformation of human nature. Otherwise any amount of casting and recasting the mere machineries would not bring about any appreciable result, but leave the thing as it is-. Change the laws as much as you like, but if you do not change the nature of man, the world will not change. For it is man that makes laws and not laws that make man. Laws express... Divine. The Divine Nature only can permanently reform the vital nature that is ours. Neither laws and institutions, which are the results of that vital nature, nor ideas and ideals which are often a mere revolt from and more often an auxiliary to it, can command the power to regenerate society. If it is thought improbable for any group of men to attain to that God Nature, then there is hardly any... express at best the demand which man feels within himself. A truth must realise itself in human nature before it can be codified. You may certainly legalise an ideal, but that does not necessarily mean realising it. The realisation must come first in nature and character, then it is naturally translated into laws and institutions. A man lives the laws of his soul and being and not the law given him by the ...
... possible to change the nature, nor has retirement from outward activity and work much profited those who have tried it; in many cases it has been harmful. A certain amount of concentration, an inner aspiration in the heart and an opening of the consciousness to the Mother's presence there and to the descent from above are needed. But without action, without work the nature does not really change; it is... is there and by contact with men that there is the test of the change in the nature. As for the work one does, there is no higher or lower work; all work is the same provided it is offered to the Mother and done for her and in her power. You have probably taken too much work on yourself by adding to the rest accounts, etc. That was not necessary. There is no reason why you should not do a normal amount... 24 May 1933 Page 250 People say, "As long as the lower nature is not fully purified, it is dangerous to do a lot of meditation. If one meditates too much before one has become purified by means of work, things might rise up from the lower nature and upset the sadhak. When the higher forces come down into a nature not sufficiently purified through work, it is difficult to bear the descent ...
... done is the psychic change and until that has progressed sufficiently, supermind is a far-off thing and people need not think of it at all. You have certainly progressed, but the change of the outer nature is always a slow movement, so that need not distress you. To merge the consciousness in the Divine and to keep the psychic being controlling and changing all the nature and keeping it turned... Animal in the being or to any insistence of the lower nature which stands in the way of the divine change. It is not the psychic but the mind that gets raised and transformed and its action intensified by the intuitivising of the consciousness. The psychic is always the same essence and adapts its action without need of transformation to any change of consciousness. I have read your account... for the change of the whole being. The Psychic and Spiritual Movements The two feelings are both of them right—they indicate the two necessities of the sadhana. One is to go inward and open fully the connection between the psychic being and the outer nature. The other is to open upward to the Divine Peace, Force, Light, Ananda above, to rise up into it and bring it down into the nature and the ...
... even to its first decisive stage; it may be that it will take long centuries of effort to come into some kind of permanent birth. But that is not altogether inevitable, for the principle of such changes in Nature seems to be a long obscure preparation followed by a swift gathering up and precipitation of the elements into the new birth, a rapid conversion, a transformation that in its luminous moment figures... it was the descent of two beings), they were beings who lived in Nature an animal life, but with a mental consciousness; but there was no conflict with the general harmony. All the memories are absolutely clear of a spontaneous, animal life, perfectly natural, in Nature. A marvelously beautiful Nature that strangely resembles the nature in Ceylon and tropical countries: water, trees, fruits, flowers... Well, the ideal of form we are now moving towards resembles what I saw. That's why I said: since there is an evolutionary concentration on this point, on the physical, bodily form, it must mean that Nature is preparing something for that Descent and that embodiment—it seems logical to me. That's what I meant by an improved physical form. The other point is quite secondary, it's incidental, it isn't ...
... What you describe is a nature divided against itself by a mind which has corrupted its action through a wrong use of its powers and a physical weakened by indulgence of vital desire. Introspection is good only when it is used as a means for changing the nature so as to bring it into accordance with a higher ideal steadily held before you. The present nature of man is egoistic in motive, full... towards a higher consciousness which one has to build up in place of this lower nature, then the introspection and the knowledge of the defects of the nature it gives become useful, as it helps one to see what has to be changed while the higher ideal gives what has to take the place of the old movements and the old nature. But all that is not easy to do unless you resolve to give an aim to your life... out if the nature is unsteady or resists violently, worked out if the will is steady and the nature moderate in its reactions. On the other hand if there has been a long preparation and the resistances of the nature have been already largely dealt with by the psychic or by the enlightened mental will, then there are no primary or later aggravations but a steady and quiet pulsing of the change, the remaining ...
... Force that will change the nature. The important thing is to get rid of the habit of the invasion of troubling thoughts, wrong feelings, confusion of ideas, unhappy movements. These disturb the nature and cloud it and make it more difficult for the Force to work; when the mind is quiet and at peace, the Force can work more easily. It should be possible to see things that have to be changed in you without... indispensable. For the discovery of the true individuality and building up of it in the nature, two things are necessary, first, to be conscious of one's psychic being behind the heart and, next, this separation of the Purusha from the Prakriti. For the true individual is behind veiled by the activities of the outer nature. Silence is always good; but I do not mean by quietness of mind entire silence... without being upset or depressed; the change is the more easily done. Let us not exaggerate anything. It is not so much getting rid of mental activity as converting it into the right thing. Krishnaprem has mental activity, but it is a mind that has gone inside and sees things from there, an intuitive mind; I have mental activity (in the midst of silence) whenever necessary, but it is a mind that ...
... you pass your time literally fighting—terrible battles. People come out of that black and blue, as if they had been beaten—and they have been, it is not 'as if'! And I see only one way out—to change the nature of sleep. × Mother added: 'Or any word that has a power for you, a word spontaneously springing from the heart ...
... is strong and can remain without food for some time, then you can maintain your poise and utilise the energies in all ways—to make inner progress, for example, to become more conscious, to change your nature. But if your body has not much reserve, it gets easily weakened by fast, then there occurs a disharmony between the intensity of the energies you absorb and the capacity of the body to hold... have had his own tastes and preferences, we do not know much about it; but we know that he lived much more physically, much less mentally or even vitally as now. Originally very material in nature, much like the animal, man in the course of his progress through centuries or millenniums became more and more mental, more and more vital. And as he grew more mental and more vital, refinement became... same way the artist, a painter for example, trains his eyes so that he can know how to appraise the beauty of form and colour, line and design, composition and harmony that is found in physical nature. It is not mere desire or hunger that drives them, it is taste, culture, development of the sense of sight, appreciation of beauty that is his preoccupation. Generally, artists who are truly artists ...
... nature of the possible universal combinations are about to change to such an extent that it will stagger all those who deal with life. Let us wait and see. I may add one word, a practical word, to what I have already said; it is an illustration of a detail, but it will be a kind of reply to some other questions put to me some time ago about the so-called laws of Nature, causes and effects... that if, by your aspiration and your attitude, you bring down a higher element, a new element – which now we may call the Supramental – into the existing combinations, you can all on a sudden change their nature and then all these so-called necessary and inexorable laws become absurdities. It is you, with your conception, your attitude, your acceptance of certain so-called principles, it is yourself... Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 4 The Supramental Manifestation and World Change I HAVE been asked what difference the presence of the Supermind will make, in what way will it change the trend of events and how, since the Supramental manifestation, life has to be reviewed. I am asked to give practical examples. I do not know what this means ...
... Growing up with the Mother Personal Letters The Mother laughing at a joke, 21-2-68 My dear child, I know that it is impossible to change one’s nature overnight, but what you can understand and accept immediately is that losing your temper and getting upset is a sign of great weakness. And, as I told you, my force is with you from the moment ...
... her own chest and continued: "It dwells here quite snugly all the time." Of course the psychic being's keenly devotional move towards the Divine does not change one's whole nature at once. The rest of the being has itself to consent to change. In measuring progress many factors need weighing. Still, intense love for the Mother is the golden key to a divine future — and whenever we think of Sehra ...
... quantity and the nature of the possible universal combinations are about to change to such an extent that it will stagger all those who deal with life. Let us wait and see. I may add one word, a practical word, to what I have already said; it is an illustration of a detail, but it will be a kind of reply to some other questions put to me sometime ago about the so-called laws of Nature, causes and... that if, by your aspiration and your attitude, you bring down a higher element, a new element —which now we may call the Supramental—into the existing combinations, you can all on a sudden change their nature and then all these so-called necessary and inexorable laws become absurdities. It is you, with your conception, your attitude, your acceptance of certain so-called principles, it is yourself... The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo - Part 9 THE SUPRAMENTAL MANIFESTATION AND WORLD-CHANGE I have been asked what difference the presence of the Supermind will make, in what way it will change the trend of events and how, since the Supramental manifestation, life has to be reviewed. I am asked to give practical examples. I do not know what this means, but here ...
... and can remain without food for some time, then you can maintain your poise and utilise the energies in all ways – to make inner progress, for example, to become more conscious, to change Page 70 your nature. But if your body does not have much reserve, it gets easily weakened by fast, then there occurs a disharmony between the intensity of the energies you absorb and the capacity of the... might have had his own tastes and preferences, we do not know much about it; but we know that he lived much more physically, much less mentally or even vitally than now. Originally very material in nature, much like the animal, man in he course of his progress through centuries or millenniums became more and more mental, more and more vital. And as he grew more mental and more vital, refinement became... painter, for example, trains his eyes so that he can know how to appraise the beauty of form and colour, line and design, composition and harmony that is found in physical Page 68 nature. It is not mere desire or hunger that drives them, it is taste, culture, development of the sense of sight, appreciation of beauty that is his preoccupation. Generally, artists who are truly artists ...
... aspire and call down its peace, calm, purity, wideness into one's own consciousness and its working which will change the nature and fill it with a higher light and Ananda. One's own part is to so aspire and open oneself and to reject all that belongs to ego, desire and the lower nature. 21 December 1932 Group Movements The Mother does not think that a group movement of that kind could be... mental, that defect would not disappear. Individuals among them might rise to the spiritual heights just above mind, others might be helped to rise nearer towards them; but nothing fundamental would change in the world as a whole. The Mother does not think any intervention or farther organisation of these groups would be helpful. Publicity of the kind suggested would be disastrous,—it would be sure... l for action. 8 September 1934 Group Meditations (1) It is not advisable to sit with others; for if any force is brought down, it may very easily be a mixed force. The difficulties in his nature may be prematurely raised and he may add to them the difficulties of those with whom he sits. (2) Indications given by letter may not be rightly grasped or rightly practised; even if mentally understood ...
... it is very difficult to change their nature! But still, we are trying, we put all possible goodwill into it. It is also said that the descent will make the change easier. 1 Page 166 There are two points which resist strongly—all that has to do with politics and all that has to do with money. These are the two points on which it is most difficult to change the human attitude. ... radical or an uplifting change, bring about a deeper communion between the universal and the individual, invade the ideal with the spiritual truth of which it is a luminous shadow and help to uplift into or towards a greater and higher existence.... It is obvious that if the Supermind is there and an order of supramental being is established as the leading principle in earth-nature, as mind is now the... it is truly a heroic act to want to take up these things and transform them. Well, we are trying this also, and unless it is done, it will be impossible to change the conditions of the earth. It is relatively—very relatively—easier to change economic and social conditions than political and financial ones. There are certain general, global ideas from the economic and social point of view which are ...
... everything is done for it! It is nothing but a mirror—a living mirror where everything gets inscribed and which can reflect back its image without becoming active. The nature of my nights is changing, the nature of my days is changing. And then there's a first small beginning, quite small, indicating how the Power will function. But it's... ( Mother gestures into the far distance ) it's merely a... vaster than the world (to take just the earth: the terrestrial world) than an individual. 3 For it is easier to do this (embracing gesture), to take everything in, to embrace and change it from outside, than to change it from inside. At present, the two movements are simultaneous, and staying "inside" was 4 the result of all those years of experience in drawing the Supreme Presence down into the... qualities—you could practically draw diagrams: if we had a machine sensitive enough to record these things, it would produce all kinds of zigs and zags. 2 Certain vibrations immediately stop or change or are dissolved or repelled. Others are adopted, as it were, and transformed. The majority are simply pushed back and worked on from a distance—quite a distance! I keep them at a fair distance ( Mother ...
... here on earth. The Power that alone can bring about this transformation must be sought out, and the way should be opened Page 119 for the descent of the Power and the change of earth nature into supernature. Aswapati will now make a third yogic climb into the realms above and seek out the ultimate Power and plead for its descent into this world so that the desired ...
... experience, but one cannot remain in it—one has to go farther. Those can remain in it who do not want to change the nature, but only to have the experience of the Truth behind it. Your action is according to universal Nature and in that again it is according to your individual nature, and all Nature is a force put out by the Divine Mother for the action of the universe. But as things are it is an action... true experience. But the will of is that all you do should be done not the Mother (মায়ের ইচ্ছা) by her force in Nature as now, but her own direct force in the Truth of her nature, the higher divine Nature. So also it was correct, what you thought afterwards, that unless there is this change, the experience that all you do is done by her will cannot be altogether true. So it will not be permanent till... were permanent now, it might keep you in the lower action as it does many and prevent or retard the change. What you need as a permanent experience now is that of the Mother's Force working in you in all things to change this ignorant consciousness and nature into her divine consciousness and nature. It is the same with the truth about the instrument. It is true that each being is an instrument ...
... Movement at that stage and not as part of a gospel of Non-violence or Peace. Peace is part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis; without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality. If it is attempted on any other basis (mental principle, or gospel of Ahimsa or any other) it will fail, and even may leave things worse than before. He is ...
... Spirit which is always free and one with the Divine that was sought. The nature had to change only enough to prevent its being an obstacle to that knowledge and experience. The complete change down to the physical was only sought for by a few and then more as a "siddhi" than anything else, not as the manifestation of a new Nature in the earth-consciousness. * All the consciousness in the human... union with the Divine and dependence upon It and sole consecration to the Divine alone and the power to change the nature and discover the true mental, the true vital, the true physical being in oneself. Both realisations are necessary for this Yoga. The "I" or the little ego is constituted by Nature and is at once a mental, vital and physical formation meant to aid in centralising and individualising... down the positive Page 5 experience, one might have to wait for ever. It is true that the more the lower nature is purified, the easier is the descent of the higher Nature, but it is also and more true that the more the higher Nature descends, the more the lower is purified. Neither the complete purification nor the permanent and perfect manifestation can come all at once, it is a matter ...
... normal mundane reactions, as a preliminary condition in order that such an attempt might be successful. A perfect or ideal communism may be possible only when man's character and nature has undergone a thorough and radical change. Till then it will be a Utopia passing through various avatars. SOCIALISM Nor can socialism remedy all the ills society suffers from, if it merely or mainly means the... conquest)—Nazism has another name, it is also called National Socialism. Everything depends not upon the form, but the spirit that animates the form. It is the spirit, man's inner nature that is to be handled, dealt with and changed; outer systems and forms have only a secondary importance. NATIONALISM Again, Nationalism is also not the summum bonum of collective living. The nation has emerged... "Man is a thing that shall be surpassed." Until and unless man surpasses himself, finds a focus and fulcrum outside and beyond his normal human—too human—self, he cannot entirely and radically change his nature and rebuild his society on an altogether different pattern. Man has to reach his divine status, become the Divine, within and outside, body and soul; then only can the ills to which he is exposed ...
... there is a great change in the nature, I can see it. When I look at my body live, it's as if I were seeing the body of someone completely new. Unfortunately it is... it lacks suppleness, I think. There's this whole "formation" of age like this ( gesture all around Mother ), an almost subconscious idea that "she is old, she is old...." It creates an atmosphere of resistance to the change. It almost creates ...
... together, both change their nature, they do not continue to be what they are. They are not simply joined and remain the same: their nature changes and that is of great importance. Their nature, their action, their vibration become wholly different as soon as they are joined together. It is the separation that makes them what they are. Do away with the separation and their very nature changes. It is no longer ...
... Prakrit/'. 39. She saw within Page 30 her child the whole universe with all its diversities and distinctions caused by the Jīva (or individuality), Time (or the principle of change), Swabhāva (Nature), the impressions caused by Karma and the mind. What was more, she was filled with worry and doubts to see within his open mouth even that land of Vraja with herself in it. 40. She then thought:... sufficient light for him. All this he does when the Gopis are very busily attending to their household duties. 31. If questioned about his misconduct, he gives impudent replies, and answers calls of nature in the courtyards of the houses. Now look at him! He stands there, a picture of innocence after having done so much mischief!" The Gopīs represented all this to Yaśodā, looking now and then at the ...
... in the nature, but entire transformation is not automatic. It is not so easy as all that. The experience of peace and calm after my first contact with Lele never left me, but in my outer nature there were many agitations and again and again I had to make an effort to establish peace and calm there. Ever since that early experience the whole object of my Yoga has been to change the nature into the... There are no devices for these things. SATYENDRA: What is the difference between modification of nature and transformation of it? SRI AUROBINDO: Transformation is the casting of the whole nature into the mould of your inner realisation. What you realise you project outwards into your nature. I speak of three transformations—the psychic, the spiritual and the supramental. Many have had the... his nature—defects like the sex impulse? SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? There can be the movement of anger as well as the sex impulse. Have you not heard of Durvasa's anger or the fall of the Rishis through sex? But all Yogis may not care about these defects. Yogis pass beyond the stage of good and evil: ordinary questions of morality don't arise then. So some of them may look upon the outer nature as a ...
... brought about any fundamental change in my lower nature. At least at present my ego and physical vital are found to be practically the same as ever. The action of the higher consciousness does not usually begin by changing the outer nature — it works on the inner being, prepares that and then goes outward. Before that whatever change is done in the outer nature has to be done by the psychic... exterior nature as it is and that mere rising above or getting experiences brings no change in the lower vital, ego etc. Well? Page 261 I am not speaking of mere rising above. The rising above has to be followed by the descent of the higher consciousness into the different parts of the being. That aided by the psychic development and aiding it changes the external nature. ... succeeded in keeping the inner being unmoved by the outer nature. The physical failed to absorb the peace, inertia rose instead; force could not come down; the suggestions from the outer nature proved too strong for you and between these suggestions and the inertia they interrupted the sadhana. Regarding the change of the physical nature, I never thought of doing it myself My impression was ...
... said that it is impossible to change one's nature; in all books of philosophy, even of yoga, you are told the same story: "You cannot change your character, you are born like that, you are like that." This is absolutely false, I guarantee it is false; but there is something very difficult to do to change your character, because it is not your character which must be changed, it is the character of your... your antecedents. In them you will not change it (because they have no such intention), but it is in you that it must be changed. It is what they have given you, all the little gifts made to you at your birth—nice gifts—it is this which must be changed. But if you succeed in getting hold of the thread of these things, the true thread, since you have worked upon this with perseverance and sincerity, one... Buddhist temple of the North (I saw them in China and Japan), for you enter halls where there are innumerable statuettes—all the Bodhisattvas, all the disciples of those Bodhisattvas, all the forces of nature deified, indeed you are overwhelmed by the number of gods! On the other hand, if you go to the South, there is nothing, not a single image. I believe they speak of the "Great Vehicle" because there ...
... normal mundane reactions, as a preliminary condition in order that such an attempt might be successful. A perfect or ideal communism may be possible only when man's character and nature has undergone a thorough and radical change. Till then it will be a Utopia passing through various avatars. SOCIALISM Nor can socialism remedy all the ills society suffers from, if it merely or mainly... conquest) – Nazism has another name, it is also called National Socialism. Everything depends not upon the form, but the spirit that animates the form. It is the spirit, man's inner nature that is to be handled, dealt with and changed; outer systems and forms have only a secondary importance. NATIONALISM Again, Nationalism is also not the summum bonum of collective living. The nation... is a thing that shall be surpassed." Until and unless man surpasses himself, finds a focus and fulcrum outside and beyond his normal human – too human – self, he cannot entirely and radically change his nature and rebuild his society on an altogether different pattern. Man has to reach his divine status, become the Divine, within and outside, body and soul; then only can the ills to which he is exposed ...
... has-been: it is an outgrowing of old habits, a changing of Nature. New organs are developed, new faculties are formed by a refusal to accept the status reached and to acquiesce in what has seemed "natural". Truly speaking, the most unnatural thing is to remain what we are instead of falling into line with Nature's universal movement of changing from a lower level to a higher, giving up accustomed... Philanthropy Enough? A LETTER OF 1947 I have no doubt you are sincere in your desire to bring sunshine into other people's lives. This desire arises from something deep in our nature, but the form it usually takes is not true to the arch-image within. To outgrow our narrow personality and our self-absorbed consciousness is indeed a great aim; but we have to do this with the... accustomed responses and reflexes, modifying both the physical and psychological organisation of life from time to time. Indeed, Nature is not to be wholly rejected, but we need not complacently keep to the path we have been treading: we must blaze other trails and attempt to contact the original hidden starting-point in the Divine for discovering what route is the right one and where lies ...
... so new and so imperatively pressing is that the role of the contemporary teacher is increasingly getting focussed on the theme of changing human nature and that, too, on an integral scale. In brief, what we are demanding from the contemporary teacher is to inspire a change in the impulses of the pupil's growing personality so as to foster harmonious blending of knowledge, power, love and skills that... self-control, fair play, equal acceptance of victory or defeat, loyal acceptance of the decisions of the referee, and habit of team work. Development of personality and, particularly, the process of change and integration of personality, cannot truly or adequately be effected without the pursuit of values. For as we have noted earlier, corresponding to each faculty or capacity of personality there are... of all right relationships. Another trinity of qualities that can be mentioned is that of purity, patience and perseverance, which is indispensable in surmounting any weakness or limitation of our nature. And, finally, we may note the trinity of calm, profundity and intensity, which open the doors to an ever-progressive search of perfection. It is sometimes suggested that value-oriented education ...
... if, for that, HUMAN NATURE HAS TO CHANGE, it's high time it changed and we must all work for that to happen. I am extremely happy to hear this. Here is a man who has caught the true thing. 2 And it's beginning to spread. In Korea, too, there is someone who says the same thing and who is known to thousands of people. They are all asking for the change in [human] nature, a "new consciousness... This, however, is possible only if we stop fearing and harassing one another and if together we accept, welcome and prepare the changes that must inevitably take place. If this means a change in human nature, well, it is high time we worked for it; what must surely change is certain political attitudes and habits man has." La Suisse , Geneva, April 10, 1967, translated from the French. ... equilibrium is missing. It's the same thing in a smaller version in an individual: that vision of the whole which gives the proportion of every event, the importance of every event and every thing, changes completely when you have the sense of the Whole, and what appears frightening or catastrophic or marvellous becomes again just a part of the Whole. It's the sense of equilibrium that is gone. When ...
... 12 July 1935 Yes, it is the thing to be attained—not to receive any other influences than the Divine, as human nature ordinarily does. Then under the sole influence of the Mother's Light and Force, all that has to be changed in the nature can be quietly and smoothly changed, all that has to be developed can be developed without disturbance or trouble. 3 June 1936 The direct relation with... It was your mistake to listen to what people say about you and X and Y and attach any value to their foolish chatter. X did not grow serious with you because of that. He was puzzled by your change of manner, the stiffness of your attitude towards him and your apparently diminished interest in the work. It is what the Mother says that is true and matters and not what people say; if you listen... to you and it is there whenever you can feel it; for it is a thing of the inner being. Whenever you go deep within yourself you find it; it has Page 486 to come out and govern the outer nature and life. That is why I want you to give time for going inside and for inner progress in the sadhana. The relation with X which the Mother thought of establishing was of two friends and fellow workers ...
... illness gave you an opportunity to open your eyes towards the need for an inner change. You must take advantage of this and progress. 3 Things that do not want to change in your nature join together and come out in the form of illness. The only thing to be done is to have a strong aspiration and a total change. Then everything will be all right. 4 ... and nothing more was needed. It was this attitude that took you out of my protection. I gave you a warning, but you challenged Nature by saying that nothing could touch you. All these things combined and brought your mental difficulties, weakness and illness. You must change. You must try to fulfil the conditions of Mahasaraswati, make your work more and more perfect, make progress and try for a p... fear and distrust in the Divine. I cannot see that it will lead to anything good for you. Your illness was not a mere accident. You did not give sufficient attention to the inner change, a psychological change with a broadening of your consciousness. You were satisfied with yourself. You were shut up in your small shell and did not try to make any progress. You said sadhana did not interest you ...
... Overcoming the Difficulties of Yoga Letters on Yoga - IV Chapter IV Time and Change of the Nature Time Needed for Change The change of the nature cannot take place in a few days. It is a constant progressive movement. The change of the lower consciousness (vital and physical) is a big work and takes a long time and much action of the higher forces... discouragement, recognising that the process of the nature and the action of the Mother's force is working through the difficulty even and will do all that is needed. Our incapacity does not matter—there is no human being who is not in his parts of nature incapable—but the Divine Force also is there. If one puts one's trust in that, incapacity will be changed into capacity. Difficulty and struggle themselves... any vanity or self-righteousness to cloud your vision. The past actions do count so long as the man does not change. It is not a question of pardon or punishment. The past can be effaced, but only if it is sincerely rejected from within and repaired and atoned for by a change which gets rid of the movements that caused it. A merely external submission, punishment or pardon are of no use ...
... sought. The nature had to change only enough to prevent its being an obstacle to that knowledge and experience. The complete change down to the physical was only sought for by a few and then more as a "siddhi" than anything else, not as the manifestation of a new Nature in the earth consciousness. I do not know that any except a very few great Yogis have really changed their outer nature. In all... ion; the instrumental Nature is only so far transformed that it becomes an instrument for the Cosmic Divine to get some work done while the self within remains calm and free and united to the Divine. But this is an incomplete individual transformation—the full transformation of the instrumental Nature can only come when the Supramental change takes place. Till then the nature remains full of many ... in the Integral Yoga The Meaning of Transformation By transformation I do not mean some change of the nature—I do not mean for instance sainthood or ethical perfection or Yogic siddhis (like the Tantrik's) or a transcendental ( cinmaya ) body. I use transformation in a special sense, a change of consciousness radical and complete and of a certain specific kind which is so conceived as to bring ...
... pouring down of the power of the higher Self, so that there comes in the possibility of a descent of the supramental Self and Nature to dominate and change our present nature and turn it from nature of Ignorance into nature of Truth-Knowledge (and through the supramental into nature of Ananda)—this is the third or supramental transformation. It does not always go in this order, for with many the spiritual... imperfect way before the psychic is in front and in charge, but the psychic development has to be attained before a perfect and unhampered spiritual descent can take place, and the last or supramental change is impossible so long as the two first have not become full and complete. That's the whole matter put as briefly as possible. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - II: The Teachings of Some Modern... knowledge. The first is the discovery of the soul, not the outer soul of thought and emotion and desire, but the secret psychic entity, the divine element within us. When that becomes dominant over the nature, when we are consciously the soul and when mind, life and body take their true place as its instruments, we are aware of a guide within that knows the truth, the good, the true delight and beauty of ...
... is an instrument of nature open to change and progress, not so the life-being or the vital nature of man. It is fixed in its operation of consciousness and can only change when there is a spiritual orientation of the Being : but I hope, the widespread interest now shown all over the world for spirituality even on mental levels will one day succeed in changing the selfish nature of the vital. Then the... mystics who have contact with the higher and deeper ranges of our Being, which is the Self, Soul or the Divine Reality of our Existence, one in all, infinite, immortal and vmchanging amidst the constant changes of our body, mind and life culminating in the death and dissolution of our material existence. There is a teleological object in the creation. It is not something accidental or without end or ...
... But in silent meditation does he not make himself a Page 97 complete blank? Then how can anything depend upon him? Even if you make yourself an absolute blank, that does not change the nature of your aspiration or alter its domain. In some the aspiration moves on the mental level or in the vital field; some have a spiritual aspiration. On the quality of the aspiration depends the force... consciousness of the completed cure or change and by the force of your inner formation slowly bring about the outward change. Or if you know and have the vision of the force that is able to effect these things and if you have the skill to handle it, you can call it down and apply it in the parts Page 96 where its action is needed, and it will work out the change. Or, again, you can present your... why all this ignorance, all this illusion has lasted so long; it is because men like it, because they cling to it and its peculiar kind of appeal that it endures. What should one do who wants to change his bodily condition, effect a cure or correct some physical imperfection? Should he concentrate upon the end to be realised and exercise his will-power or should he only live in the confidence that ...
... "the Mother's Force". What is it? The Mother's force is the manifestation of the Mother herself. It is the Divine Force which works to remove the ignorance and change the nature into the divine nature. Page 168 Sometimes, if not often, the Mother's Force comes down, finishes its work and disappears. When once it has descended why has it to return... 169 The year 1934 I do not attempt anything and yet wrong suggest tions, ideas, etc., are failing away. Even my receptivity seems to be on the increase. How do such changes come about? By turning to the Mother and getting her contact, that result naturally begins to come. If you want the Mothers contact always, you must get rid of depression and... When I speak of the Mother's Force I do not speak of the force of the Prakriti which carries on things of the Ignorance but of the higher Force of the Divine that descends from above to transform the nature ...The Mother's Force is the manifestation of the Mother herself. How can we progress quickly without understanding what the Mother does in us? Plenty of people progress ...
... one in quality and quantity with it; losing nothing but its own limitations and deformations, it will receive from it its vastness and luminous clearness. The small existence will change its nature; it will put on the nature of the greater truth to which it surrenders. But if it resists and fights, if it revolts against the Universal Mind, then a conflict and pressure are inevitable in which what is... with all the obscurity and ignorance, all the dirt and alloy of the lower nature. It undergoes a heightening and glorification, an aggrandisement of capacity, a realisation of the maximum of its possibilities. But to have this sublimating change, he must first give up all that, by distorting, limiting and obscuring the true nature, fetters and debases and disfigures Page 116 the true personality;... by his nature, who, once awakened, would make a very good instrument of the Divine. But ordinarily the avaricious man acts from ego and desire like his opposite; it is the other end of the same ignorance. Both will have to purify themselves and change before they can make contact with the something higher that is behind them and express it in the way to which they are called by their nature. In ...
... pouring down of the powers of the higher Self, so that there comes in the possibility of a descent of the Supramental Self and nature to dominate and change our present nature and turn it from nature of Ignorance into nature of Truth-Knowledge (and through the supramental into nature of Ananda)—this is the third or supramental transformation. It does not always go in this order, for with many the spiritual... Brunton describes in his book as the Self is certainly this Purusha Antaratma but concerned more with mukti and a liberated action than with transformation of the nature. What the psychic realisation does bring is a psychic change of the nature purifying it and turning it altogether towards the Divine. After that or along with it comes the realisation of the cosmic Self. It is these two things that the... within is felt through the psychic being and the nature of the psychic being is that of the divine light, harmony, love, but it is covered by the mental and separative vital ego from which strife, hate, cruelty naturally come. It is therefore natural to feel in the kindness the touch of the Divine, while the cruelty is felt as a disguise or perversion in Nature, although that would not prevent the man who ...
... it as an inevitable part of Nature, inevitable at least so long as one does not withdraw to the Self out of Nature. That is not the transformation I envisage. It is quite another power of knowledge, another kind of will, another luminous nature of emotion and aesthesis, another constitution of the physical consciousness that must come in by the supramental change. Letters on Yoga, pp. 18-19... spirit. The Synthesis of Yoga, pp. 647-48 By transformation I do not mean some change of the nature — I do not mean, for instance, sainthood or ethical perfection or yogic siddhis (like the Tantrik's) or a transcendental (cinmaya) body. I use transformation in a special sense, a change of consciousness radical and complete and of a certain specific kind which is so conceived as... it but into all the being down to the physical and below before a real transformation can take place. A light in the mind may spiritualise or otherwise change the mind or part of it in one way or another, but it need not change the vital nature; a light in the vital may purify and enlarge the vital movements or else silence and immobilise the vital being, but leave the body and the physical co ...
... will not be able. The change of the old habitual movements of the nature cannot be done in a single stroke; the inner consciousness has to grow in such a way that finally it occupies the outer being also and renders these things impossible. What I have written to you about these things and the attitude to be taken is the knowledge that we have and the truth of the human nature and of sadhana confirmed... these reactions and not your inner nature. You have only to trust in the Mother and follow what I say and these difficulties will be worked out of the outer being and return no more; but patience is necessary because it takes time, not in you alone, but in all. Do not allow such thoughts as the idea "what is the use of spiritual experiences, since my nature is not changed" etc., for these are thoughts of... them quietly and call in tranquilly and persistently the divine help for their removal, but not to allow oneself to be upset or pained or discouraged. Yoga is not an easy path and the total change of the nature cannot be done in a day. 27 May 1931 Throw aside this weakness. The Mother's help is there—keep yourself quiet and calm and face the difficulties with the courage a sadhak must have when ...
... in deepening the equality, if one takes it in the right spirit. You must also keep yourself open to receive the help towards that, for the help will always be coming from the Mother for the change of the nature. 29 September 1935 What you say is perfectly correct. There is a stupid spirit of competition and claim, as if by being here and working one were doing a favour to the Mother, as if her ...
... by only a limited number of human beings up to the present. But this is only a first step in his yoga, the triple transformation of psychic, spiritual and supramental change will achieve a complete and radical change of human nature so as to usher in a new birth, a new life and a new consciousness in the human life. Speaking of the evolutionary growth and ascent of consciousness from inert and inconscient... gnostic consciousness and power which will shape a race of gnostic spiritual beings and take up into itself all of earth nature that is ready for this new transformation." Since this was what he foresaw in his spiritual vision, he dedicated all his life to bring the supramental change in himself and in the Mother, his divine collaborator in this stupendous work of earthly transformation and wrote some... performance than the mere separation of the Purusha consciousness or Soul from Prakriti or executive nature to which the soul is subject from its very birth in a mortal body. The separation of the soul from nature may give us a certaito mastery over the movements of our ignorant and egoistic nature, mental, vital and physical but mastery is not transformation. A certain but not complete mastery. ...
... in human nature. The impulse to speak what is untrue or at least to exaggerate or understate or twist the truth so as to flatter one's own vanity, preferences, wishes or to get some advantage or secure something desired is very general. But one must learn to speak the truth alone if one is to succeed truly in changing the nature. To become conscious of what is to be changed in the nature is the first... first step towards changing it. But one must observe these things without being despondent or thinking "it is hopeless" or "I cannot change". You do right to be confident that the change will come. For nothing is impossible in the nature if the psychic being is awake and leading you with the Mother's consciousness and force behind it and working in you. This is now happening. Be sure that all will... speak, the slacking of the vigilance. Only the more it can be a quiet and unmixed, not an anxious vigilance, the better. The habits of the physical or the vital-physical nature are always the most difficult to change, because their action is automatic and not governed by the mental will and it is therefore difficult for the mental will to control or transform them. You have to persevere and ...
... have not changed your nature. I only wish the external nature were so easy to transform that it could be done in a few years. You forget also that the real problem—to get rid of the pervading ego in this nature—is a task you have seriously tackled only a short time ago. And it is not in a few months that that can be done. Even the best sadhaks find after many experiences and large changes on the higher... progress, but patience is also needed. For it is a very big change that has to be made and, although there can be moments of great rapidity, it is never all the time like that. Old things try to stick as much as possible; the new that come have to develop and the consciousness takes time to assimilate them and make them normal to the nature. Keep this firm faith in your mind that the thing needed... that remains firm through all difficulties, delays and apparent failures. Determination is needed and a firm patience, not to be discouraged by this or that failure. It is a change in the habit of the physical nature and that needs a long patient work of detail. Page 110 One who has not the courage to face patiently and firmly life and its difficulties will never be able to go ...
... her—remember her and Page 154 dedicate or offer to her all your life and thoughts and actions. If you like you can make a japa of her name. You can call to her to purify your being and change your nature. Or you can concentrate to call down from above you (where it always is) first her calm and peace, then her power and light and her ananda. It is always there above the head—but superconscient... actions and your nature. Love and worship. What is needed is to get a full opening in which you will become conscious of the Mother. These things will bring the opening. Only, even if it takes time, you must not get depression, despair or revolt—for these things get into the way of the opening. The whole thing is to keep yourself open to the Mother. The preparation of the nature for the decisive... sadhana, if he feels truly the call. He need do nothing at first but sit in meditation for a short time every day and try to open himself to the Mother's power, aspiring for the opening, for a true change of consciousness, for peace, purity and strength to go through the sadhana, for her protection against all difficulties and errors and for an always increasing devotion. Let him see first if he can ...
... the Dharma ruling the domain. Any change in the law of being of the group person is necessarily translated in a similar change in Page 178 the nature and activity of the individuals of the species. What evolutionists describe as sudden variation or mutation and whose cause or genesis they are at a loss to trace, is precisely due to an occult change in the consciousness and will of... ascribe definite influences to these heavenly bodies. In Hindu astrology, for example, they are considered as real persons, each with a definite form and character, a dhyana rupa. The so-called Nature-gods in the Vedas or in ancient mythology generally are in the same way not creations of mere poetic imagination: they are realities, more real in a sense than the real objects that represent and... position to understand what we have been labouring to describe. The artist's eye is not confined to the gross physical form of an object, even the most realistic artist does not hold up the mirror to Nature in that sense: he goes behind and sees the inner contour, the subtle figuration that underlies the external volume and mass. It is that that is beautiful and harmonious and significant, and it is that ...
... matter, "the unlit ocean". Pluto is described as "the Ruler of the Many" indicating the whole of Nature in which "the One devised innumerably to be." He is also called "Zeus of the Underworld." Demeter, the Divine Consciousness has to come into the mortal world to redeem the soul and change all material Nature. The ancient seers seem to have had a sufficiently clear intuition of these fundamental primal... the psychic being... translates the demand... for the opening of the whole lower nature... to the Divine, for the love and union with the Divine, for its presence and power within the heart, for the transformation of the mind, life, body by the descent of the higher consciousness into the instrumental being and nature. * From Sri Aurobindo's Savitri. A MYSTERY PLAY Foreword ... ss and its descent into Matter, (the Greek "hyle"), into Hades. Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, called also "the Nether Zeus", is the entire material Nature which imprisons the soul until the Divine Consciousness descends and redeems it, and all Nature with it. The ancients certainly knew these deeper significances. Plotinus, for instance, says, "the soul descends so that the Divine Principle may follow ...
... is the true significance of death and this is its use in Nature. But if the form can become more quick and pliant and the cells of the body can be awakened to change with the changing consciousness, there would be no need of a drastic dissolution, death would be no longer inevitable. Someone has said that disasters and catastrophes in Nature, earthquake and deluge and the sinking of continents, are... can change not only the inner life, but the material conditions also, the physical expression in man and Nature. This descent does not depend for its possibility upon the condition of humanity as a whole. If we had to wait for the mass of humanity to reach a state of harmony, unity and aspiration, strong enough to bring down the Light and change the material conditions and the movement of Nature, there... at once rigid and hard and petrified. The individual form persisted as a too binding mould; it cannot follow the movements of the forces; it cannot change in harmony with the progressive change in the universal dynamism; it cannot meet continually Nature's demand or keep pace with her; it gets out of the current. At a certain point of this growing disparity and disharmony between the form and the force ...
... visible, it is visibly a psychic inspiration. One can at times see a sort of shadow pass which comes from the mind or the vital; but these are interventions of no importance which cannot at all change the nature of the psychic inspiration, if one does not let them have the upper hand. None of these things is irremediable, for otherwise there would be no hope of progress. 33 — The Mother ... Emergence of the Psychic Section Two Action and Influence of the Psychic Being As the evolution proceeds, Nature begins slowly and tentatively to manifest our occult parts; she leads us to look more and more within ourselves or sets out to initiate more clearly recognisable intimations and formations of them on the surface. The soul in us,... that he has no soul. For it is this influence that we can most easily recognise as a finer or even a diviner part in us and the most powerful for the slow turning towards some aim at perfection in our nature. But this psychic influence or action does not come up to the surface quite pure or does not remain distinct in its purity; if it did, we would be able to distinguish clearly the soul element ...
... back the whole experience and preserve it. The nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, the clothes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufactured—it was a part of the body, made of the same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and... outer means but by an inner working, by a working of the consciousness that gave the substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. There was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed the nature of its vibration according to the needs or uses. Those who were sent back for more training were not of a uniform color; their bodies seemed to have patches of a grayish opacity, a substance... aboard the ship. While standing there watching everyone, that part of my consciousness coming from here became extremely interested: it wanted to see, to identify all the people, to see how they had changed and to find out who had been taken immediately as well as those who had to remain and continue their training. After awhile, as I was observing, I began to feel pulled backwards and that my body was ...
... evident that present structures of society and human nature as they are today are incapable of taking us to the road to fulfilment. And it seems obvious that the systems and structures cannot be changed if human nature cannot be changed. And when we speak of the change of human nature, we speak of radical operations of the maladies of human nature. We need to create human beings who will feel spontaneous... physical science. This answer was two-fold: (1) Physics demonstrated a truth of things which depended upon no doubtful scripture or fallible authority, since that truth was written on the open book of nature which everybody can read, provided he had the patience to observe and intellectual honesty to judge; (2) Science provided a norm of knowledge and principles of verification to which all can freely ...
... open himself fully to the riches of the Spirit above; thirdly, he has to invoke the Supramental Gnosis so that it can come down and transform his nature in its absolute entirety. For Supermind alone has got the requisite power to change human nature down to the subconscient and the inconscient. But this may sound like a solution ideal but unrealisable. For none of these movements is easy... difference between the nature of Mind as we know it and the nature of Supermind? To put it in brief, mental nature is based on a consciousness of the finite, whereas supramental nature is a consciousness and power of the Infinite. Mind thinks, sees, feels, senses with division and separation as its starting-point, also as its most dominant trait; but Supermind, whose very nature is Truth-Consciousness... travelled a whit towards true unity with his fellow-beings. Essentially in his nature he has remained the same uncultured aboriginal lurking stealthily in darkness to prey upon others in order to grow in his own stature. Self-aggrandisement at the expense of all others, this principle still holds its sway over the nature of man. Even in the limited field of his own personal life he has not succeeded ...
... with the boy as with his own son. His disciples, much alarmed, warned him not to indulge in this dangerous game, since he was a tiger-cub. However kindly and diligently trained, he would not change his nature. "When he grows up, do remember that his paws will be piercingly sharp," they added. The Guru replied, "If I fail to make the cub grow into a tiger then what have I taught him?" I was anything... a 'friend and a son' and to Nirod like a comrade whom he almost invited to give him as much as he got." The modern age has produced a modern Guru who could deal with each sadhak according to his nature. When I asked from what perennial fount flowed so much laughter, his cryptic answer was the Upanishadic "রসো বৈ সঃ" 1 . In the whole of spiritual history I know of no Guru-Shishya relationship in... truth, were common people, and knew very little of yoga. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo took us as they found us. It is precisely one of the cardinal principles of their yoga to take up fresh and simple natures "uncouth, shapeless", if you like, and try to mould them in the image of their souls. When I exclaimed, "What disciples we are of what a Master! I wish you had chosen or called better stuff", Sri Aurobindo ...
... Divine Mother now gives her wide consenting voice to expectant Aswapati: O strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry. One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone spirit's power... Beauty shall walk celestial on the earth, Delight shall sleep in the cloud-net of her hair And in her body as on his homing tree... her eyes the Eternal's bliss shall gaze. A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will. 155 The words cease, and the splendour fades away; only the echoes of the promise fill the chambers of the soul and make new cadences... still on earth, and the dramas played in the theatre of Time must still diet on suffering and pain. It is man's merit that he is awake, that he has memory and desire, that he cannot help aspiring "to change the cosmic dream". But the law of Chance and Death cannot be altered; man is condemned yet to be no more than "a link between the demigod and the beast"; he must veer between the pulls of darkness ...
... the Dharma ruling the domain. Any change in the law of being of the group person is necessarily translated in a similar change in the nature and activity of the individuals of the species. What evolutionists describe as sudden Page 20 variation or mutation and whose cause or genesis they are at a loss to trace, is precisely due to an occult change in the consciousness and will of the... made the astrologers ascribe definite influences to these heavenly bodies. In Hindu astrology, for example, they are considered as real persons, each with a Page 19 The so-called Nature-gods in the Vedas or in ancient mythology generally are in the same way not creations of mere poetic imagination: they are realities, more real in a sense than the real objects that represent and incarnate... position to understand what we have been labouring to describe. The artist's eye is not confined to the gross physical form of an object, even the most realistic artist does not hold up the mirror to Nature in that sense: he goes behind and sees the inner contour, the subtle figuration that underlies the external volume and mass. It is that that is beautiful and harmonious and significant, and it is that ...
... Poetry is like the education of Nature: the poet said of the child that “grew in sun and shower” – And beauty born of murmuring sound Shall pass into her face. Even so the beauty of poetic creation, when we contemplate it Page 183 and live in it, automatically and inevitably steals into our consciousness, works a subtle change in our nature and by elevating and refining... they have passed through the crucible of the poet's consciousness undergoes a sea-change and puts on an otherworldly beauty and value. We know of the alchemy of poetic transformation that was so characteristic of Wordsworth's manner and to which the poet was never tired of referring, how the physical and brute nature – even a most insignificant and meaningless and unshapely object in it attains a spiritual... this way, initiates the spectator into the enjoyment that is born not of desire and gain but of detachment and freedom. The uplifting power of Art is inherent in its nature, for Art itself is the outcome of an uplifted nature. Art is the expression of a heightened consciousness. The ordinary consciousness in which man lives and moves is narrow, limited, obscure, faltering, unhappy – it is the ...
... is as old as the human vital; there was never a time in known human history when it was not in existence. To get rid of it means to change human nature or at least to curb it by a superior power. Our work is not to fight these things but to bring down a higher nature and a Truth-creation which will make spiritual Light and Power the chief force in terrestrial existence. 10 October 1936 Mahatma... quake." It seems to be very foolish, these fasts—as if they could alter anything at all. A fast can at most affect one's own condition, but how can it "atone" for the doings of others or change their nature? 12 July 1934 In a recent statement, Gandhi criticises the attitude taken by Dr. Ambedkar and his followers at the Bombay Presidency Depressed Classes Conference. They passed a resolution... belonging to the inner being and cannot be changed like a house or a cloak Page 189 for the sake of some personal, social or worldly convenience. If a change is to be made, it can only be for an inner spiritual reason, because of some development from within. No one can be bound to any form of religion or any particular creed or system, but if he changes the one he has accepted for another, for ...
... But that is not altogether inevitable, for the principle of such changes in Nature seems to be a long obscure preparation followed by a swift gathering up and precipitation of the elements into the new birth, a rapid conversion, a transformation that in its luminous moment figures like a miracle. Even when the first decisive change is reached, it is certain that all humanity will not be Page 267... vital, the physical; therefore for none of these things or the activities that spring from them will they have contempt or aversion, however they may insist on a change of the spirit and a transmutation of the form. In each power of our nature they will seek for its own proper means of conversion; knowing that the Divine is concealed in all, they will hold that all can be made the Page 266 ... egoisms and clamant desires of our vital nature. All our other members have to pass through a similar conversion under the compelling force and light from above. The leaders of the spiritual march will start from and use the knowledge and the means that past effort has developed in this direction, but they will not take them as they are without any deep necessary change or limit themselves by what is now ...
... it does not in any way change the nature of the money which is an altogether impersonal force: money has no colour, no taste, no psychological consciousness. It is a force. It is like saying that the air breathed out by a scoundrel is more tainted than that breathed out by an honest man—I don't think so. I think the result is the same. One may for reasons of a practical nature refuse money which has... possible to accomplish a total transformation of one's being so long as the collectivity has not reached at least a certain degree of transformation? I don't think so. Human nature remains what it is—one can attain a great change of consciousness, that yes, one can purify one's consciousness, but the total conquest, the material transformation depends definitely to a large extent, on a certain degree... he lives to avoid all trouble! But all these things which in ordinary life have a very relative value and can be looked upon with a certain indulgence, change totally the minute one decides to do yoga and enter the divine life. Then, all values change completely; what is honest in ordinary life, is no longer at all honest for you. Besides, there is such a reversal of values that one can no longer use ...
... whatever in phenomenal Nature seems to belong to a higher Reality and can be accepted as its sign and character. At first, it seeks this Reality through the good, the true, the beautiful, through all that is pure and fine and high and noble: but although this touch through outer signs and characters can modify and prepare the nature, it cannot entirely or most inwardly and profoundly change it. For such an... . They could not be changed if there were not a deeper consciousness within which is of quite another character. There is within you a psychic being which is divine, directly a part of The Mother, pure of all these defects. It is covered and concealed by the ordinary consciousness and nature, but when it is unveiled and able to come forward and govern the being, then it changes the ordinary consciousness... consciousness, throws all these undivine things out and changes the outer nature altogether. That is why we want the sadhaks to concentrate, to open this concealed consciousness—it is by concentration of whatever kind and the experiences it brings that one opens and becomes aware within and the new consciousness and nature begin to grow and come out. Of course we want them also to use their will and reject ...
... world away is Sri Aurobindo who affirms that "anyone who wants to change earth-nature must first accept it in order to change it" 1 — Sri Aurobindo of those lines of his "A God's Labour", which he himself quotes in this context: He who would bring the heavens here, Must descend himself into clay And the burden of earthly nature bear And tread the dolorous way. I should like to know... History" and talks of Hegel's "tidy schema, Spirit fulfilling its schedule of progress with no problem whatever", he forgets one central point: whoever posits an Absolute has to attune the world of change to the Permanent and the Eternal in the final reckoning. This does not necessarily mean failure to take stock of the world as it is or to deny man's sense of freedom and the open-endedness of history... know if any mystic has had more sense of "the terror and the tears at the heart of things", as Nair finely puts it with reminiscence of Virgil's "Sunt lacrimae rerum" ("Tears in the nature of things") and Wilfred Owen's "heartbreak at the heart of things", than he who talked of having undergone more difficulties than any spiritual seeker before him because he wanted to face in full all the grievous ...
... development. This, however, is possible if we stop fearing and harassing one another and if together we accept, welcome and prepare the changes that must inevitably take place. If this means a change in human nature, well, it is high time we worked for it; what must surely change is certain political attitudes and habits man has." She finished. She smiled and exclaimed : "Fantastic! Isn't it?" ... became refined, if they could harmonise their sentiments and thoughts and their will-power,—then they have changed their Page 12 nature. And that is what you want. But, on my part, while all these things are very desirable, they are only preliminaries of the real change. The real change is spiritual." The Princess felt uncomfortable. She felt sorry and said, rather politely, "You know... point of my letter. I feel that the greatest hope for the future can be built only on children and youth. If we really want unity of mankind, and if we want not only ordinary change of human nature, but spiritual change of human nature, then we must address ourselves to the children and youths of the world. I intend, therefore, to build up an international union of children and youths during the next year ...
... subsequent revolutions (in 1830, 1848 and 1870) were made necessary by the resistance of the clergy and the nobility, fighting for their survival, and because of the resistance to any kind of change in the nature of the human being. But what about the “fourth estate”, the class of labourers, servants and peasants, of the workers of all kinds? They too were human beings, after all, and therefore entitled... with them infiltrated Bolshevist agents, teleguided by the Third International, and in the eyes of the German Marxists adorned with the halo of heroes who had accomplished a historical feat that would change the world. The traditional German higher and middle classes were, in the last months of 1918, more fanatically nationalistic than ever, misled as they were by the propaganda of the Supreme Army ...
... the consciousness to the Divine and the change of the nature. Meditation or contemplation is one means to this but only one means; bhakti is another; work is another. Chitta - shuddhi was preached by the yogins as a first means towards realisation and they got by it the saintliness of the saint and the quitetude of the sage but the transformation of the nature of which we speak is something more than... refined, made supple and ripe for the illumination which contemplation gives to them. The Mother Running away It is not by running away from the world that you will change it. It is by working there, modestly, humbly but with a fire in the heart, something that burns like an offering. The Mother Work as offering Consciousness develops... The Mother The surest means Disinterested work done for the Divine: the surest means of progressing. The Mother Becoming more plastic But through work the nature becomes less rigid, more plastic and supple. The Mother Page 3 Existence is an action Man embodied in the natural world cannot cease from ...
... towards a change of our nature. That change of human consciousness is the heart of Sri Aurobindo's and the Mother's yoga. Nobody has come to the Ashram a transformed being already. That is why if there are elements in my nature that are still unchanged from the earlier part of my life, my whole- Page 155 hearted endeavour is precisely to work towards their change Let me refer... at the Red House. After a few lessons, I began enjoying these Western classical music classes and the vocal training this style of singing demanded. That earlier dislike I had for this music slowly changed into genuine appreciation of its method and sweetness. My voice had quite a good reach in the higher range and so when she made me sing alone, I was asked to sing as a soprano. Marie-Amélie ...
... ideas and preferences, but to ask for her Truth only, to obey and follow her guidance, to open oneself and become aware of her Force and its workings and to allow those workings to change the nature into the divine nature. 24 March 1934 At present my subnature is still resisting and it is difficult to bring it under permanent control. But why does this difficulty hold on when my lower vital has... being and reject them, (3) to open these obscure parts to the light and change their movement. This was the twist—the mental turn of giving up all reserve—interpreted not as a complete surrender to the Divine Shakti, but as giving yourself up to anything that came, which might very well be a wrong movement of the lower vital Nature or even a hostile force. I have repeatedly said that this kind of... the mind and are half-truths only; the mind too is, more often than not, satisfied with merely having an ideal, with the pleasure of idealising, while life remains always the same, untransformed or changed only a little and mostly in appearance. The spiritual seeker does not turn aside from the pursuit of realisation to mere idealising; not to idealise, but to realise the Divine Truth is always his aim ...
... visible, it is visibly a psychic inspiration. One can at times see a sort of shadow pass which comes from the mind or the vital; but these are interventions of no importance which cannot at all change the nature of the psychic inspiration, if one does not let them have the upper hand. None of these things is irremediable, for otherwise there would be no hope of progress. Page 193 At the ...
... ascent a reversal of consciousness and, from that greater height and wideness gained, an action of change and new integration of the whole Nature. (Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, p. 724) Ascent is the first necessity, but an integration is an accompanying intention of the spirit in Nature. (Ibid., p. 637) We want an integral transformation, the transformation of the... The physical change is the last of these stages and is itself a progressive process. The inner trans- 1 The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 701. 2 Ibid., p. 702. 3 See Nolini Kanta Gupta, The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo (Part Eight), p. 102. Page 261 formation cannot be brought about by physical means either of a positive or a negative nature. On the contrary... has to grow self-aware of the need for the change and acquire the necessary capacity to bear the transfiguration when it comes. (ii)A higher consciousness acting from above or imposing its influence on the lower part of the being, without the latter's self-conscious and willing collaboration, may indeed modify to some extent the prevailing nature or working of this lower part but can ...
... impression. Na lipyate . THE SOUL INALIENABLY FREE What is the relation of the active Brahman and of the human soul to this pure Inactive? They too are That. Action does not change the nature of the Self, but only the nature of the diverse forms. The Self is always pure, blissful, perfect, whether inactive or participating in action. The Self is all things and exceeds them. It exceeds always that... identical with individuality and the vulgar idea of a Personal God is a magnified individual like man in His nature but yet different, greater, more vast and all-overpowering. Vedanta admits the human manifestation of Brahman in man and to man, but does not admit that this is the real nature of the Ishwara. God is Sachchidananda. He manifests Himself as infinite existence of which the essentiality... contained in the nature of things by the omnipresence of the One, the Lord, by His self-vision which is their inherent subjective Truth, by His self-becoming which, against a background of boundless possibilities, is the Law of their inevitable evolution in the objective Fact. Therefore all things are arranged by Him perfectly, yāthā-tathyataḥ , as they should be in their nature. There is an imperative ...
... is far greater than was ever Japan's; for the Japanese had only to revitalise and perfect a strength that already existed. We have to create strength where it did not exist before; we have to change our natures, and become new men with new hearts, to be born again. There is no scientific process, no machinery for that. Strength can only be created by drawing it from the internal and inexhaustible reservoirs... Is it love, enthusiasm, Bhakti that is wanting? These are ingrained in the Indian nature, but in the absence of Shakti we cannot concentrate, we cannot direct, we cannot even preserve it. Bhakti is the leaping flame, Shakti is the fuel. If the fuel is scanty how long can the fire endure? When the strong nature, enlightened by knowledge, disciplined and given a giant's strength by Karma, lifts... old. But it is a dead knowledge, a burden under which we are bowed, a poison which is corroding us rather than as it should be a staff to support our feet, and a weapon in our hands; for this is the nature of all great things that when they are not used or are ill used, they turn upon the bearer and destroy him. Our knowledge then, weighed down with a heavy load of tamas , lies under the curse of ...
... from all sides, especially from Gujarat and Bengal, began to flow towards the beaconlight of the Ashram, for guidance and help in their strivings to break the bondage of animal-human nature and to find a way to change the present ignorant, self-centred, imperfect human life into a higher life. But in those days, as the general masses were quite ignorant about the new ideal and teachings of Sri Aurobindo... the Ashram and by 1935 it rose up to nearly 150. My parents too came to the Ashram in 1933 to take their son back from the Ashram, to save him from what they regarded as a vain effort to change human nature. They stopped almost a year in a rented house opposite to the present 'Cosy House'. They tried their best to understand the new ideal of Sri Aurobindo. When they found it difficult, almost impossible... transformation of the animal-human nature, and divinize the ignorant and self-centred human .life. This double process of sadhana was a journey to be performed with a return-ticket, in a most natural and normal way. This sadhana was not for personal gain, not for personal moksha , but for establishing the Divine life upon earth, by transforming the triple human nature of mind, life and body. In short ...
... questions of a practical nature, and in connection with these questions I saw something I am going to tell you about—oh! it was not a vision with images, don't expect something very entertaining. No, it is not that.... I was asked—I am rewording it, this is not the exact text of the question: What difference does the presence of the Supermind really make? In what way does it change the tenor of problems... are not used to watching. But it is a question of interpretation. The only thing I am sure of is what I have just told you, that the quality, the number and the nature of the possible combinations in the universe are suddenly going to change so considerably that it will probably be quite bewildering for all those who do research. Now, we shall see. ( Silence ) Page 314 I could perhaps... understand that if by your aspiration or your attitude you introduce a higher element, a new element—what we may now call a supramental element—into the existing combinations, you can suddenly change their nature, and all these so-called necessary and ineluctable laws become absurdities. That is to say that you yourself, with your conception, with your attitude and your acceptance of certain alleged ...
... they are inseparable aspects of one and the same reality. This reality is not the ego but the being who is impersonal and universal in his stuff of nature, but forms out of it an expressive personality which is his form of self in the changes of Nature. The Impersonal Divine is Sachchidananda, and in all the supramental formations of personality, the Sachchidananda would be expressed, but none of the... words, the rule of the Inconscient will disappear, since the inconscience will be changed by the outburst of the greater secret Consciousness within it, the hidden Light into what it always was in reality, a sea of the secret Super- conscience. As a result, a first formation of a supramental or Gnostic consciousness and nature will take place. A farther result of the emergence of the Gnostic being would... Integral Yoga of Transformation Part Seven Major change in the Process of Evolution The manifestation of the supramental transformation leading to the highest reach of self-perfection would imply a major change in the process of evolution. There is in the present process of evolution a control of the pervading Nescience, but in this new stage the veil thus ...
... concrete form. On its worst side, the survival of humanity on the earth has come under severest attack; on its best side, it has come to be realised that a new consciousness must seize humanity and change human nature so radically that the spirit of oneness and unity not only reigns as an idea and an aspiration but becomes embodied in human life like its living breath. A significant fact is that the age... best possibilities confront the worst possibilities, what are the means by which the triumph of the best possibilities can be secured? If it is a part of the nature of the human being to continuously cross the limitations of nature, is there evidence that the limitations that confront us even at the borders of our highest possible achievements can be crossed? In other words, do we have any assured... experimentation with the highest faculty of Reason, which distinguishes the human species from all other species, will not man press forward to a new step of evolution ? Self-exceeding is the very nature of man, -so has modern science concluded; will then man give up his distinctiveness and succumb to the limitations of gospels that counsel contentment within our imprisoning deficiencies? Great p ...
... concrete form. On its worst side, the survival of humanity on the earth has come under severest attack; on its best side, it has come to be realised that a new consciousness must seize humanity and change human nature so radically that the spirit of oneness and unity not only reigns as an idea and an aspiration but becomes embodied in human life like its living breath. A significant fact is that the age... best possibilities confront the worst possibilities, what are the means by which the triumph of the best possibilities can be secured? If it is a part of the nature of the human being to continuously cross the limitations of nature, is there evidence that the limitations that confront us even at the borders of our highest possible achievements can be crossed? In other words, do we have any assured... of experimentation with the highest faculty of Reason, which distinguishes the human species from all other species, will not man press forward to a new step of evolution? Self-exceeding is the very nature of man, — so has modern science concluded; will then man give up his distinctiveness and succumb to the limitations of gospels that counsel contentment within our imprisoning deficiencies? Great p ...
... original nature of the being, "own way of becoming", and this proceeds out of the self, the Akshara; Karma proceeds from that and is the creative movement, visarga , which brings all natural beings and all changing subjective and objective shapes of being into existence; the result of Karma therefore is all this mutable becoming, the changes of nature developed out of the original self-nature, kṣara... in the workings of the three Page 116 guṇas , first qualities or modes of Nature, traiguṇyaviṣayā vedāḥ . This Brahman or Divine in the workings of Nature is born, as we may say, out of the Akshara, the immutable Purusha, the Self who stands above all the modes or qualities or workings of Nature, nistraiguṇya . The Brahman is one but self-displayed in two aspects, the immutable Being... the powers of the divine Soul in Nature and in the eternal interaction of these powers and the soul of man, mutually giving and receiving, mutually helping, increasing, raising each other's workings and satisfaction, a commerce in which man rises towards a growing fitness for the supreme good. He recognises that his life is a part of this divine action in Nature and not a thing separate and ...
... oneness. And if we can by the mind and heart get at the touch of the Spirit, receive the powerful inrush of the Divine into this lower humanity and change our nature into a reflection of the divine nature by love, by universal joy, by oneness of mind with all Nature and all beings, we can break down the walls. Even our bodies are not really separate entities and therefore our very physical consciousness is... values of the Infinite and the One. Limitation itself, ignorance itself change their meaning for us. Ignorance changes into a particularising action of divine knowledge; strength and weakness and incapacity change into a free putting forth and holding back various measures of divine Force; joy and grief, pleasure and pain change into a mastering and a suffering of divine delight; struggle, losing its... absolute Existence or absolute Non-being, three poises of the same eternal Reality. But between the movement of universal Nature and this transcendent Existence, possessor of the one and cosmic self of the other, is the cosmic consciousness, the universal Purusha of whom all Nature is the Prakriti or active conscious Force. We can arrive at that, become that whether by breaking the walls of the ego laterally ...
... previously succeeded, can't we still try? What? ( the disciple repeats his question ) Oh! You can always try! The world is recreated from minute to minute. If you knew how—I mean if you could change your nature—you could recreate a new world this very minute! I didn't say She HAD gone. I said She was CONTEMPLATING it ... at times, now and then. But Mother, if She came down, She must have seen... answer ( Mother reads ): 'She has come, bringing with Her a splendor of power and love, an intensity of divine joy heretofore unknown to the Earth. The physical atmosphere has been completely changed by her descent, permeated with new and marvelous possibilities. But if She is ever to reside and act here, She has to find at least a minimal receptivity, at least one human being with the required... was in 1946, Mother, because you told us so many things at that time. Right. (A child:) Sweet Mother, now that She has come, what should we do? You don't know? ( silence ) Try to change your consciousness. ( silence ) Now you may ask me the questions you wanted to ask ... That's all? Mother, there is not even one single man? I don't know. Mother, you are wasting ...
... Unconsciousness. Not only in the body: for everything the impression is the same. With the growth and the normal state of consciousness, there comes a suppleness and fluidity that completely change the nature of the substance, and Page 165 the resistance comes from the degree of unconsciousness alone, it's proportional to the degree of unconsciousness. All this way of speaking [as in... at it): will this residue... ( Mother breaks off ). But the question isn't like that, it's a question of TIME. With time (Sri Aurobindo said three hundred years), with time EVERYTHING would get to change. But there is the wave of habits, and the easy solution which consists in quite simply taking this ( Mother points to her own body as to an old garment ) and throwing it away: "Off with you, I no longer... , vol. 22, p. 353 . × Mother later added, "Yes, old baggage. But it's not that it's refusing to change, it's not that! It's that it requires TIME." × When Satprem tried to "tell them," they attempted ...
... Creator by his own Energy or Maya abides, unaffected, in living beings as the Purusha, the Inner Controller, and outside them as the dynamic force of effectuation that is Kala. The nature of this Kala is seen as a constant change occurring in the cosmic tree called Ashwattha. Tracing the etymology of the word ashwattha , Jnaneshwar says that shwa means tomorrow and therefore ashwattha means that which... steadfast constant and unceasing motion presents itself in the nature of stillness; its stability lies in the eternal recurrence of movement. A spinning-top appears stationary while whirling rapidly on its axis; so does this world-tree. Jnaneshwar gives half-a-dozen examples to illustrate the point with the intention of bringing out the changing if not evanescent feature of this phenomenal existence. ... parameters of the present existence. We must withdraw and sever ourselves from what is false. But there is another complementary sequence also, promoting action, Pravritti Marg which indeed should change this nature. And could that not be the real intention behind the process? Jnaneshwar, however, following Nivritti Marg, is practically subscribing to the Shankarite Theory of Maya as an illusory power ...
... hundreds and thousands of millions of them strewn about and scattered in infinite Space. And these gradually condensed and gathered in volumes and masses, definite forms and shapes, gradually changed their material nature also, developed into sentient forms, living creatures, conscious beings and self-conscious human persons. I have said also that the original dead material particles had in them or associated... which are gradually coming forward in the material world, which are to be directed and organised. Specially with man at the top of this new creation, the terrestrial situation has changed considerably and is being changed continually. I have said, human consciousness has arrived at a stage when it has to leap over and attain a new dimension of earthly existence; just over him the gods of the age have... new creation: the gods that men have to become and embody in their life, and thus manifest a new type of conscious being and activity. The gods are approaching to change humanity but perhaps humanity also will bring about a new change in the status of the gods themselves. They may lose something of their typal stability or fixity and attain a new human flexibility. The Gita speaks, of course in ...
... Spirit which is always free and one with the Divine that was sought. The nature had to change only enough to prevent its being an obstacle to that knowledge and experience. The complete change down to the physical was only sought for by a few and then more as a siddhi than anything else, not as the manifestation of a new Nature in the earth-consciousness. (Letters on Yoga, p. 104.) * * * ... Spirit. Such a descent of higher beings as you suggest may be envisaged as a part of the process of the change. But the main part of the change will be the appearance of the supramental being and the organisation of a supramental nature here, as a mental being has appeared and a mental nature organised itself during the last stage of the evolution. I prefer nowadays not to speak of the descent... (Letters on Yoga, pp. 516-19.) * * * By transformation I do not mean some change of the nature -1 do not mean, for instance, sainthood or ethical perfection or yogic siddhis (like the Tantrik's) or transcendental (cinmaya) Page 84 body. I use transformation in a special sense, a change of consciousness radical and complete and of a certain specific kind which is so conceived ...
... silence. He saw the resistance of the inconscient Nature and the alternate movement of ascent and descent. The resistance was due to Nature not being ready for a radical change. He knew by an inner experience that the Self is something greater than the instruments of nature—mind, life and body, that the Self is Eternal and Infinite. Even Nature has many powers hidden behind her outer appearance... and in her nature. Savitri brings about the change in Nature which is necessary to secure Victory over Death. Ashwapathy maintains throughout the position of the witness, Savitri carries out the Divine dynamis. Ahswapathy sees the Vision of the Supreme, Savitri brings down the Fire. Both pursue the yoga not for an individual but for a universal fulfilment. Both of them strive to change what seems to... the hand of Nature sculpturing men to greatness",—from another point of view it is a perversion of the original Delight and a sign that "a secret God" is present in man's heart even though "denied by life". But at present pain is a stark necessity, so much so that even world-saviours and divine incarnations who come to help mankind have to accept it if they wish to change earth-nature. They don't ...
... Chapter I Peace - The Basis of the Sadhana Peace Is the First Condition Peace and purity of the consciousness are the very foundation of the necessary change in the nature. Peace is necessary for all; without peace and an increasing purity, even if one opens, one cannot receive perfectly all that comes down through the opening. Light too is necessary for... takes time to establish it—they swing between peace and disturbance for a fairly long time until all parts of the nature have accepted the truth and the peace. So there is no reason for you to suppose you cannot progress or arrive. You are finding a great difficulty with one part of your nature which has been accustomed to open itself to these feelings, separation from the Mother and attachment to relatives... developing in the right direction. Before it was only an opening; but to get something settled, there must be this assimilation and the growth in stability, in peace. Peace is the basis of the spiritual change—all the rest falls into the peace and is sustained on it as on a sure foundation. Stability is indeed a great—the first necessity, like the foundations of a house. I am so glad to hear that ...
... disclosing at the same time the inner mind, inner vital, inner physical parts of the nature. Next, there must be an ascension, a series of conversions upwards and a turning down to convert the lower parts. When one has made the inward conversion, one psychicises the whole lower nature so as to make it ready for the divine change. Going upwards, one passes beyond the human mind and at each stage of the ascent... compelled to act through them according to the law of the Ignorance. If it is liberated from this covering, then it can act according to its own nature with a free aspiration, a direct contact with the higher consciousness and a power to change the ignorant nature. Higher Mind is one of the planes of the spiritual mind, the first and lowest of them; it is above the normal mental level. Inner mind... 2) The distinction between Purusha and Prakriti is according to the Sankhya System—the Purusha is the silent witness consciousness which observes the actions of Prakriti—Prakriti is the force of Nature which one feels as doing all the actions, when one gets rid of the sense of the ego as doer. Then there is the realisation of these two entities. This is quite different from the psychic being. It ...
... earth so far. "The physical atmosphere was completely changed by it, saturated with new and marvellous possibilities. Page 291 "But for her to be able to settle and act down here, she needed to meet with at least a minimum of receptivity, to find at least one human being having the requisite qualities in the vital and physical nature, a kind of super-Parsifal endowed with a spontaneous and... one can try? Oh, one can always try... The world is recreated at every moment. You can recreate a new world this very moment if you know how to create it, that is, if you are capable of changing your nature. I have not said that she has gone away. I said that she thinks of going away, sometimes, from time to time. But, Mother, she came down because she must have seen some possibility! ... that time! Right! Page 294 ( Long silence ) Sweet Mother, now that she has come, what should we do? Eh? What should we do? You do not know? You... ( Silence ) Try to change your consciousness. ( Long silence ) There! Now ask the questions you wanted to ask me... ( Turning to a child ) Nothing to say? Mother, there isn't even a single person? Eh? There ...
... woodland or a virgin forest, a jungle. But if you take it very young and take great care of it, well, it can become a very beautiful garden; and yet the elements are the same. You are not asked to change the nature of the ground, you are told to cultivate it, instead of letting it go its own way in disorder. Some people, of course, will tell you, "Oh, the woodland is beautiful, it is more beautiful than... well; if you learn through touch to know the nature of things; if you learn through the sense of smell to distinguish between different odours—all these are a powerful Page 82 means of education. In fact, they should be used for this, as instruments of observation, control and knowledge. If one is sufficiently developed, one can know the nature of things through sight; through the sense of... what should be done and will do it without a mistake. It is the same thing for smell. If you have trained your sense of smell, for instance, you can mix things in exact proportions, know the nature... the nature of a perfume, for example, know Page 84 with which other perfume... Take flowers; you smell them. Well, there are smells, which do not harmonise. If you put them together it makes ...
... a progress. But here, he further explains that even the lower nature... Yes, but as you have realised that it is one and the same thing.... That's what I was saying a while ago: when you have an explanation, does it suffice to change your outer nature? Has it changed, are you different from what you were in your outer nature? No. No. Then something more is required. This is what I meant;... stands revealed to him as the first great dynamic aspect of the Self of all selves...." The Synthesis of Yoga, p. 113 When this is realised, does it mean that our lower nature has consented to change? At that time, is the duality seen as biune? Page 99 Of course. I don't understand your question. So far there is this duality of which he has spoken. It is an appearance... explanations. An explanation is valuable only to the extent it gives you a power to act on the thing explained, otherwise what's the good of it? If explaining something does not give you the power to change it, it is absolutely useless, because, as I said, the explanation you give entails another explanation, and so on. But if through an explanation you obtain some power over a thing, to make it different ...
... It is the nature of the psychic pressure to change the former tendencies of the mind, vital and physical consciousness, and remove those that were of the nature of imperfections. This weakness in your outer vital and timidity before others and dependence on them and preoccupation with their opinion of you or their attitude towards you was one of the chief obstacles in your vital nature. If it is now... directly commands the whole mental range. The mind quieted and experiencing the effects of the sadhana quieted the vital disturbance, but did not clear and change the vital nature. Now the sadhana seems to be descending into the vital to clear and change it. The first result is that the difficulty of the vital has shown itself—the ugly images and alarming dreams come from a hostile vital plane which is... then your vital being fills with the pure aspiration and devotion natural to the psychic; at the same time it gives to the feelings its own abundant energy, it makes them dynamic for the change of the whole nature down to the most physical and for the bringing down of the divine consciousness into earth matter. When it not only touches the psychic but fuses with the higher mind, it is able to come ...
... Avatar, to show the way or the Path did not take upon himself the burden of man, helplessly stretched between the two extremes of his possibilities. ‘Anyone who wants to change earth-nature must first accept it in order to change it,’ 18 unconditionally and fully, making the evolution meaningful by his acceptance. But man does not know that, for he does not perceive it. It is too lofty for him and... certain order in the evolving hierarchy should reach out beyond their boundaries. A fish cannot wander about on dry land of its own volition, a primate cannot ponder the writing of a letter. For a change of that magnitude the One has to accord its fiat by intervening itself in its creation (which is a self-manifestation) and, lest there be chaos, by building the necessary steps for every new range... well-known in the West, for Jesus Christ was an avatar according to this definition. This is why the theological disputation concerning his avatarhood or the preponderance of either his divine or his human nature has its parallels in the literature of the Hindus. And this is why Sri Aurobindo, in his Essays on the Gita, mentions time and again the names of Christ, Krishna and the Buddha in the chapters about ...
... honest and good work depends on so many factors even for publication. I suppose it is inevitable in the scheme. It is the pattern of the scheme. It can only be changed if you change human nature or substitute for it a higher nature. Any chance of coming out of the mud or the same caravan speed? What? For whom? Which way? August 26, 1935 About yesterday's poem, Nishikanta says:... 1935 Regarding G's disease, Dr. M says... supposing the microscopic exam is negative, we would not be convinced either. So he is almost as positively definite or definitely positive about the nature of the sore, and the cause of it, as you are in your domain... What do you say? I am not positive about anything—I am simply negative and positively negative about having the nuisance of the damned ...
... medicines, but in herself: she must change her nature. At the end she asked me to apply some non-irritating lotion and powder. I don’t know how far the patient’s nature was changed by her admonition, but the eczema had to take its leave. This was the first and only instance I had of the Mother’s direct intervention. The Mother of course knew the patient’s nature very well, and she told me, when alone... weak. I don’t know what to do. (This was a case of undernourishment. At this time people were supposed to take only the Dining Room food. The patient didn’t find it much to her taste. Things have changed a great deal since). Mother: Unhappily these young ladies are very fanciful with their food; it is the palate and not the hunger that governs their eating. Myself: We have a meat extract... soup with some potatoes added to it. It has not much nutritional value since boiling for a long time takes all the stuff out, leaving a bland residue of cellulose. I propose humbly to the Mother to change this meal, for I am afraid it is not good either for the stomach. Dr. M agrees with me. Sri Aurobindo: We don’t know anything of the kind. According to chemical analysis in France, half of the ...
... cannot be overstressed that the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is a radical, revolutionary effort to change human nature. As it is “integral,” it takes up the essence and many processes of the old yogas, but it is new in its aim (the transformation and divinization of human nature); its standpoint (if all is the Brahman, the world and the body in which we are incarnated is also the Brahman;... supra-cosmic achievement.” And it is new “because a method has been preconized for achieving this purpose which is as total and integral as the aim set before it, viz., the total and integral change of consciousness and nature … I have not found this method (as a whole) or anything like it professed or realized in the old yogas,” writes Sri Aurobindo. “If I had, I should not have wasted my time in hewing out... more familiar traditional ways. Referring to the quotations from Sri Aurobindo, such an attitude cannot agree with the Integral Yoga because Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s Yoga is about changing the human nature, which is such a difficult undertaking that formerly no spiritual path, and certainly no religious one, has even tried to attempt it. As every aspirant is soon to find out: “This yoga is ...
... possible only if we stop being afraid of one another, harrying one another and if, together, we accept, welcome and prepare the changes that have inevitably to take place. If that means a change of human nature, well, it is high time to work at it; what has certainly to change is certain political attitudes and habits of man.19 According to some writers of the "Prospective" movement,20 there... conditions of life and labour, there was no doubt an amelioration in the social relations. But human nature has not changed to any appreciable extent. What has happened in the world in the last fifty years is sufficient proof of this obduracy. It is this apparent unchangeableness of human nature which is the radical obstacle to a wholesome and harmonious progress. Egoism and greed have always... has not lost its actual interest, as can be seen from a recent statement by U Thant at the United Nations, which has been reported under the caption: U Thant Thinks It Is High Time to Change Human Nature United Nations, 10.4.67 - The fact that a fraction of the money the world is going to spend for armaments in 1967 could suffice to finance in a hitherto unimaginable measure economic and ...
... humanity how to become Divine. Anyone who wants to change earth-nature must first accept it in order to change it.” 30 “I have borne any attack which human beings have borne, otherwise I would be unable to assure anybody ‘This too can be conquered.‘ At least I would have no right to say so. … The Divine when he takes on the burden of terrestrial nature, takes it fully, sincerely and without any conjuring... of uplifting the earth out of its darkness towards the Divine.” 33 “Anyone who wants to change earth-nature must first accept it in order to change it. To quote from an unpublished poem of my own: He who would bring the heavens here Must descend himself into clay And the burden of earthly nature bear And tread the dolorous way. 34 (Sri Aurobindo is quoting here for the first... be a correction by Kalki.” 68 “No system indeed by its own force can bring about the change that humanity really needs; for that can only come by its growth into the firmly realized possibilities of its own higher nature, and this growth depends on an inner and not an outer change. But outer changes may at least prepare favourable conditions for that most real amelioration – or on the contrary ...
... evolution of the being in Nature. In the course of the evolution the psychic essence grows and takes form as the psychic being. psychic personality — see soul-personality. psychic principle — psychic essence. psychicisation — the psychic change in which the psychic being comes forward to dominate the mind, vital and physical so as to change the lower nature. Purusha — Conscious... concentration of the will and energy to control the mind, vital and physical and to change them or to bring down the higher consciousness or for any other yogic or high purpose. transformation — not just a change of consciousness, but the bringing down of the higher, divine consciousness and nature into the lower nature of mind, life and body, and the replacement of the lower by the higher. ... Illumined Mind, Intuition and Overmind. Nature — the outer or executive side of the Conscious Force which forms and moves the worlds. The higher, divine Nature (Para Prakriti) is free from Ignorance and its consequences; the lower Nature (Apara Prakriti) is a mechanism of active Force put forth for the working of the evolutionary Ignorance. The lower nature of an individual — mind, life and body — ...
... miserable may remind you of the defects of your external nature, but I do not see how it is going to cure them. I am not asking you to be frivolously happy, but to be quiet and quietly confident, rejecting these old movements, but for the rest trusting not in a restless self-torturing personal effort but to the Divine Force to change the external nature. Page 737 As to your going away for... get rid of the defects and weaknesses; for it is when something strong and positive fills the nature that it changes and its defects begin to disappear. Mistakes of action and thought and feeling naturally bring these outward reactions [ of regret and sorrow ]; they are an obstinate part of human nature, but one has to outgrow them steadily. If they recur, one must not get upset and brood over... it is something that you have done already and of which, therefore, you are capable—you are not asked to change your nature by your own effort but only to stand back from these ideas and thoughts, refuse to indulge them and remain quiet within and allow the Force you have repeatedly felt to change you. To repeat constantly, "I am weak, I am unfit, I am bad" will lead you nowhere. Raising Up Difficulties ...
... welcome and prepare the changes that must inevitably take place. If this means a change in human nature, well, it is high time we worked for it; what must surely change is certain political attitudes and habits man has."* As a matter of fact, almost from the beginning of our present century, themes of the ideal of human unity and of the necessity of change of human nature, had seized the movements... unity can come to be built up. The second imperative that seems to have asserted itself is to impress upon human kind that unity, peace and lasting welfare can come about only if human nature can be radically changed. What exactly this would mean or entail is a matter of research and experimentation, but there is a growing feeling that, at the minimum level, human way of feeling, thinking and acting... claims to equality and independence and they had behind them centuries of inner culture and discovery of spiritual knowledge which, if applied to life, could serve as effective means of the change of human nature. In Europe, the contest between Capital and Labour had entered into a crucial phase, and the Great First World War became memorable for the Russian Revolution that burst out even when that ...
... these if you increase them will bring the change in the nature. 12 November 1935 If you have difficulties, you should recognise that they come from your own vital and deal straightforwardly with your vital; it is only so that real fitness in the nature (apart from the original psychic urge which can only realise itself through a change of the nature) can come. To have feelings against the Mother... practically took the position that she refused to change anything wrong in her nature—rather she regarded what is bad and wrong in her as something noble, great and admirable. If that remains her position, she cannot expect that we should accept it, nor would there be any reason for my giving her darshan. People are here to change what is wrong in their nature so that they may do an effective sadhana. If... wilfully blind to the defects of her favourites. But the Mother is not blind; she knows very well the nature of all the sadhaks, their faults as well as their merits; she knows too what human nature is and how these things come and that the human way of dealing with them is not the true way and changes nothing. It is why she has patience and love and charity for all, not for some alone, who are sincere ...
... parts of the being. It prepares for the transformation. Cannot the passive and the active Self be harmonised so as to govern and change my nature properly? Either one of the two does not seem sufficient to handle the whole of the human nature. Yes, but the Peace, Purity and Calm of the Self must be fixed — otherwise the active Descent may find the forces it awakes seized on... inside presses my outer being constantly for a change. I suppose it is the pressure of the psychic. But why has the psychic to press thus? Your question has no meaning. If the psychic did not press, there would be no sadhana. My consciousness feels that M's psychic being is much in front. His nature is inwardly well built. Is it a correct observation... inner mind centre. Page 76 The descent felt today has not been confined to me alone: it has been rather general. Will it not change the whole atmosphere? There is an increasing Power descending—but to change the whole atmosphere will take time. The descent felt before on the forehead is now coming further down as if passing through the nose. ...
... of the psychic. The present nature is ignorant and full of wrong actions and reactions. But there is a being within you, the psychic, which answers to the Truth and not to the Ignorance. If one turns to the Divine and becomes open, then this psychic being shows itself and gives to the nature the true thoughts, feelings, will, action. This is the first change to be made. What you feel is... drawing back from the vital ego and its perturbations to a quiet attitude of faith and surrender; 2nd, the Page 347 growth of something within that sees what is to be changed in the nature and gives the impulse to change it; 3rd, the psychic feeling in sadhana which presses towards the growth of bhakti, feels it a joy simply to think, feel, write, speak of, remember the Divine, grows full of... [ the opening of the psychic ] must be done necessarily from above. Naturally it is done direct and is most effective then. But when it is found difficult to do direct, as it is in certain natures, then the change begins from above, and the consciousness descending from there has to liberate the heart centre. As it acts on the heart centre, the psychic action becomes more possible. The direct ...
... express something else, the true thing which escapes our superficial understanding. Never complain of the behaviour of anyone, unless you have the power to change in his nature what makes him act in this way; and if you have the power, change him instead of complaining. Whatever you do, never forget the goal which you have set before you. There is nothing great or small once you have set out on... reality, like clothes that are thrown away when worn out. Then you will stand erect, freed from all chains, and instead of advancing laboriously under the weight of circumstances imposed upon you by Nature, which you had to endure and bear if you did not want to be crushed by them, you will be able to walk on, straight and firm, conscious of your destiny, master of your life. The Mother On Education: ...
... that you have changed the heart of the enemy, but that you have made it impossible for him to rule.... What a tremendous generalize Gandhi is! Passive resistance, charkha and celibacy for all! One can't be a member of the Congress without oneself spinning! January 18, 1939 There is a spiritual solution which I propose; but it aims at changing the whole basis of human nature. It is not... movement, nor is it a question of a few years: there can be no real solution unless you establish spirituality as the basis of life. It is clear that Mind has not been able to change human nature radically. You can go on changing human institutions infinitely and yet the imperfection will break through all your institutions. January 21, 1939 She [Nivedita] took up politics as a part of Vi... faith in government controls, because I believe in a certain amount of freedom—freedom to find out things for oneself in one's own way, even freedom to commit blunders. Nature leads us through various errors and mistakes; when Nature created the human being with all his possibilities for good and ill she knew very well what she was about. Freedom for experiment in human life is a great thing. Without ...
... there are no convincing answers to the deeper questions as to how science can be induced to avoid these undesirable things. What is the alchemy, it has been pertinently asked, by which human nature can be changed? This question becomes much more agonising when we realise that neither ethics nor religion does provide us with adequate answers. This has, therefore, brought us sharply to the theme of science... aid to o-our contemporary need to relate science with spirituality. In the harmonisation of these two great movements we can hope to find the solution of the difficult problem of how to change human nature, the problem that seems to be so central for human survival and fulfilment. (b) Apart from science, another important possession of our times is individualism. Modern science itself was... evolution, of which we are now becoming conscious slowly under the pressure of crashing circumstances. The question here is not merely whether the human being can be changed, but the question here is whether the human being can be radically changed. The question here relates to the mutation of human species. As Sri Aurobindo points out, mankind is passing today through an evolutionary crisis, and in meeting ...
... heard by those who matter. The real difficulty is that these three things demand a radical change in human nature, and humanity does not seem to be prepared to respond to the demands of this change. In 1967, U Thant the then Secretary-General of the United Nations Organisation had stated the need for this change. He had declared: That a fraction of the amounts that are going to be spent in... however, is possible if we stop fearing and harassing one another and if together we accept, welcome and prepare the changes that Page 491 must inevitably take place. If this means a change in human nature, well, it is high time we worked for it; what must surely change is certain political attitudes and habits man has. It will be evident that the issue is spiritual; the issue... the universal solidarity or of human unity, we have suggested that if unity must not degenerate into uniformity, the only way is to emphasise the need for a spiritual change, a change which does not run away from the world, but a change that transforms the world with the power of knowledge of the inmost self. It is remarkable that the spirituality of the Indian renaissance has proclaimed the message ...
... only the question of changing the nature of the vibration. The bite of an ant when felt as an attack gives the sensation of pain, but felt as meeting of a consciousness with another consciousness it can become a pleasant contact. This does not mean there is no pain or suffering. It only means that values of ignorance are true in ignorance. And values of the same experience change when the consciousness... universal consciousness the world does not change but the significance of all experience completely changes. When a man lives in the cosmic consciousness the sun does not begin to rise in the west. The accidents, difficulties and troubles and all kinds of conflicts of life and suffering are there but his view of them, his understanding of them undergoes a change. The cognition, the rendering of experience... the events that take place change their values to man in course of time. Take the French Revolution as an illustration : one who lived during the Revolution would have felt it as the worst time in human history. Five hundred people Page 46 were being guillotined every day in the Reign of Terror. But if one goes a hundred years forward the view changes. The French Revolution is seen ...
... of unconsciousness. Not only in the body: for everything the impression is the same. With the growth and the normal state of consciousness, there come a suppleness and fluidity that completely change the nature of the substance, and the resistance comes from the degree of unconsciousness alone, it's proportional to the degree of unconsciousness. The appearance of materiality is in proportion to the ... those rebellious little samples on the Playground the same question: Is it possible for one body to change without something also changing in the surroundings? What will be your relationship with others if you change that much?... It would seem that a whole range of things would also have to change, at least to some relative degree, in order for that body to exist, to continue to exist. 8 The... able to make that negation melt away, that residue of the original Inertia, and could one change one bit of matter without changing all of Matter? Or did it lead to another, deeper layer of meaning, where the Yes, instead of confronting the No, and immortal life, instead of confronting Death, would both change into something else, a third state? A Question of Patience Mother did not know ...
... as soon as one is aware of the true vital, one gets all these things as inherent in the true vital. * In the change of the vital nature, is the external surface vital to be entirely effaced and replaced by the true vital or is it to be kept and changed into the nature of the true vital? In either case, what is the need of an external vital at all if the true vital is already there? ... instrumental for the present play of Prakriti in the surface personality. When the change comes, the true vital rejects what is out of tune with its own truth from the external and makes it a true instrument for its expression, a means of expression of its inner will, not a thing of responses to the suggestions of the lower Nature. The strong distinction between the two practically disappears. * ... the psychic - of the vital the same can hardly be said. Napoleon had a strong vital, but not one organised round the psychic being. * "The ego is a formation of Nature; but it is not a formation of physical nature alone, therefore it does not cease with the Page 54 body. There is a mental and vital ego also." (Pp. 16-17) Does this mean that the ego is carried ...
... for his pleasure that Nature acts. He is the spirit, and matter is only his vehicle, his robe, his means of self-expression. But all his sanctions, refusals, behests act not at once, not there and then, not by imperative absolute compulsion, but subject to lapse of time, change of place, working of cause to effect. The lapse may be brief or long, a moment or centuries; the change small or great, here... cannot abolish the phenomenal universe. The One is for ever, and the Many are for ever because the One is for ever. So long as there is a sea, there will be waves. In the oceanic stir and change of universal Nature the soul or Purusha is the standing-point, stable, unmoving, unchanging, eternal,— nityaḥ sarvagataḥ sthāṇur acalo'yaṁ sanātanaḥ . In the whole, the Purusha or soul is one,—there is One Spirit... joyous in his own bliss, undisturbed by the play of Nature, impartially watching it, receiving its images on his calm immovable existence without being for a moment bound or affected, eternally self-gathered, eternally free. This akṣara puruṣa is our real self, our divine unity with God, our inalienable freedom from that which is transient and changing. If it did not exist, there would be no escape from ...
... Chapter II Inner Voices and Indications The Nature of Voices There are many voices, and all are not divine; this may be only a voice of desire. All that keeps one faithful to the Truth and insists on peace, purity, devotion, sincerity, a spiritual change of the nature can be listened to with profit; the rest must be observed with discrimination and not followed... indications of time and these voices were not commands from the Mother. I have indicated to you the truth of this matter; you must follow the rules laid down by the Mother for the physical life; if any change has to be made, either she herself will let you know or you have to get sanction for it from her. No voice heard within can prevail against her word and no intimation that comes through your mind can... I have looked at the details reported by you—you will see that these suggestions were of a very shifting and changeful character, now one thing, now the other; only your mind adapted itself to the changes, adjusted its interpretation to suit them and tried to keep the consistency of a system. But in fact all was irregular and chaotic and it tended to make your action and conduct irregular and chaotic ...
... on it, it will keep and send up that. That is why it has to be cleared of old movements before there can be a permanent and total change in the nature. When the higher consciousness is once established in the waking parts, it goes down into the subconscient and changes that also, makes a bedrock of itself there also. Then no farther trouble from the subconscient will be possible. But even before that... the subconscient and unless one enters into this subconscient and changes things there, that is, unless one changes the subconscient into the conscient, it always happens like this. And the method is to change the subconscient into the conscient—if each thing that rises to the surface becomes conscious, at that moment it must be changed. There is a more direct method still: it is to enter the subconscient... long embedded in the nature is cast out, it takes refuge in some less enlightened part of the nature, and when cast out of the rest of the nature, it takes refuge in the subconscient and from there surges up when you least expect it or comes up in dreams or sudden inconscient movements or it goes out and remains in wait in the environmental being through which the universal Nature works, and attacks ...
... realisations and experiences and writing and lecturing about them. All we are asked is to know and change our nature so that Mother can do her work in us." When I said I have neither the knowledge nor the capacity to control or change my nature, she said, "At least you have the aspiration to change, so many don’t even have that. As long as you have it, there is the possibility that some day you... whole day writing an apology. At night, when I related it all to Amma she disapproved of what I was doing. "You cannot change what is already done. It is enough that you realised and repented. You must remember that Mother accepted you because she saw a possibility to change your nature; that is the most important thing. Stop brooding over such things, it creates obstructions in your path and only... to do; let them say or feel whatever they want to." So I reminded her that I had heard she had refused similar offers made by people with every right to introduce such changes. "Yes, I had refused them, but one can always change one’s ideas and feelings, no? We are all evolving, aren’t we? So why should you worry?" On Rakshabandhan, I made her tie the rakhi sent by my niece. "Since I have ...
... "you" stand? It is better to keep what Sri Aurobindo wanted us to understand: God speaking to his creation, the earth. 27 July 1969 My dear child, I know that it is impossible to change one's nature overnight, but what you can understand and accept immediately is that losing your temper and getting upset is a sign of great weakness. And, as I told you, my force is with you from the moment... receive the divine force from above. 1 July 1960 Sweet Mother, Write something for me that I can remember throughout the year. Our aim is to realise the perfection of our being and to change the human animal into the divine man. With my blessings. 5 July 1960 Page 355 Sweet Mother, If a soul has taken birth as a boy in one life, does it always remain a boy... first. That is all. Blessings. 26 December 1969 Sweet Mother, In the New Year message, are you referring to the physical transformation when you say "The world is preparing for a big change"? And how can we help? It is the advent of the being that will succeed man, the being that will be to man what man is to the animal, that is being prepared. And the work has already begun with ...
... who was subject to desires and expectations. Like any normal young girl (I was at that time just 21) all the movements of nature were present within me. And yet, somewhere in some recess of my being, a little flame of aspiration began to rise at that age: I want to change this nature of mine. I want to become something else, another type of human being. It was perhaps because of this little flame of ...
... psychic personality which changes, grows, develops from life to life; for this is the traveller between birth and death and between death and birth, our nature parts are only its manifold and changing vesture. The psychic being can at first exercise only a concealed and partial and indirect action through the mind, the life and the body, since it is these parts of Nature that have to be developed as... distinguishes the right step from the false, extricates the divine or Godward movement from the clinging mixture of the undivine. Its action is like a searchlight showing up all that has to be changed in the nature; it has in it a flame of will insistent on perfection, on an alchemic transmutation of all the inner and outer existence. It sees the divine essence everywhere but rejects the mere mask and... 1. Meaning and Nature of the Psychic Being The Psychic Being Nature of the Psychic Being It is the very nature of the soul or the psychic being to turn towards the Divine Truth as the sunflower to the sun; it accepts and clings to all that is divine or progressing towards divinity and draws back from all that is a perversion or a denial of it, from all ...
... others have played no part. I consider the Supramental the culmination of the spiritual man. In the supramental evolution one is not required to flee from life. It is something dynamic that changes life and nature. It will open the mental, the vital, even the physical to the intuitive and overmental planes. You want comfort and happiness. In that case Truth and Knowledge are of no value. The d... : You are tempting us too much with your Supermind. Will it really benefit the whole of mankind? SRI AUROBINDO: It will exert a certain upward pull but in order that it may bring a considerable change, that it may be effective, two hundred sadhaks of the Ashram can't be enough. There must be thousands whose influence can spread all over the world, who by actual example can prove that the Supermind ...
... for some definite and fixed qualities. They are typal existences. The inherent quality of any of them does not change. One's own nature or one's own accumulated actions find their manifestation. One spends and enjoys there. But to acquire new merit, to introduce a new trend in one's nature, to turn its course, one will have to accept this human body. For, as we have said at the outset, man is a combination... plane, that is the rule of His game. But it is thus that God clears the road, makes the path easy. On behalf of man God conquers Nature so that it may be easy for man to reconquer it. A question may be raised here: "the conquest of nature or the transformation of nature – cannot God effect it from His own Self or the World-Self? What necessity is there to accept a human form in order to do the work... human nature and has accepted the human weakness not only in word or allegorically but in fact, in actual practice. That is why we see this human weakness in Christ on the last day of his life when he asks God to remove the vessel of deadly poison from his lips, so that he may not have to drink of it any more. God having become a man shows by example how one can rise to a godly or divine nature from ...
... Prakriti. One can pass into the Self, leaving the ignorant Nature or reducing it to silence. Or else, one can live in the peace and freedom of the Self and watch the action of Nature as a witness. Even one may put some sattwic control, by tapasya, over the action of the Prakriti; but the impersonal Self has no power to change or divinise the Nature. For that one has to go beyond the impersonal Self and... freedom not touched by the surface movement or struggle of the mental, vital and physical nature, and this becomes a great help when you have to go beyond the impersonal and to change the troubled nature also into something divine. The Divine and the Atman The Divine is more than the Atman. It is Nature also, it contains everything in Itself. It is the individual being that is a portion... to the action of the Divine Shakti which will transform our consciousness into that of the Divine Nature. This is the conception of the Divine from which we have to start—the realisation of its truth can only come with the opening of the consciousness and its change. The distinction between the Transcendental, the Cosmic, the Individual Divine is not my invention, nor is it native to India ...
... reality must be reached first by a few individuals, it cannot be attained by 'mass action. Others declare that personal effort will not lead very far; if there is to be a great or fundamental change in human nature, it is the Divine Grace alone that can bring it about. The surpassing of man is a miracle and only the supreme magician as an Avatara can do it. Others, again, are not prone to believe in a... trying to gloss it over with a coat of mental luminosity, but delving into it and cleaning and purifying it, removing its mire and dross wholly and absolutely so that its true divine nature comes out and remains as Nature's highest and fullest expression on earth. That is the goal: the way_too is not less characteristic. The total spiritual transformation, the divinisation of Matter is possible, not only... power. Truth-Consciousness or Supermind congealed, solidified or crystallised under certain conditions becomes Matter: now to re-become its own true self and nature is the very drive of Matter, that is the true sense of evolution. The very nature of Matter makes its transformation absolutely inevitable. It obeys no alien force or rule, its achievement means self-fulfilment and therefore it is something ...
... consider the Supramental the culmination of the Spiritual man. When the Supramental becomes established I expect that one will not be required to flee from life. It is something dynamic that changes life and nature. It will open the vital, mental even the physical to the intuitive and overmental planes. You want comfort and happiness; in that case, Truth and Knowledge are of no value. The discoveries... your Supermind. But will it really benefit the whole of mankind? Page 61 Sri Aurobindo : It will exert a certain upward pull but in order that it may bring about a considerable change, that it may be efficient, hundred Sadhaks of the Ashram can't be enough. It must be thousands whose influence can spread all over the world, who by actual test can prove that it is something superior ...
... else which comes at the same time and changes the nature of the former. For events of importance to the earth, this happens very often. For example, when an entire set of movements, circumstances, combinations of forces bring about an absolute necessity of war, one can, by calling in another force, change the extent and the consequences, and sometimes even the nature of the war, but one is not able to... catastrophe coming, can you, Mother, by your effort change it? That depends upon the nature of the event. There are many Page 188 things.... That depends also upon the level from which one sees. There is a plane where there are all the possibilities, and on that level, as there are all the possibilities, there is the possibility also of changing these possibilities. If a catastrophe is foreseen... been decided so that they cannot be altered and those that are still in the balance and can be changed. To tell the truth, for each event the situation is different. There are some that can be changed completely, reversed altogether; there are some that are capable of undergoing quite a considerable change; there are others that can suffer only a slight modification—a slight modification but one that ...
... life upon earth which is the other concomitant result of an evolution into the gnostic consciousness and nature. But there still remains the third desideratum, a new world, a change in the total life of Page 8 humanity or, at the least, a new perfected collective life in the earth-nature. This calls for the appearance not only of isolated evolved individuals acting in the unevolved mass... Aurobindo has explained this word in a letter as follows: "By transformation I do not mean some change of the nature — I do not mean, for instance, sainthood or ethical perfection or yogic siddhis (like the Tantrik's) or a transcendental (cinmaya) body. I use transformation in a special sense, a change of consciousness radical and complete and of a certain specific kind which is so conceived as to... being down Page 16 to the physical and below before a real transformation can take place. A light in the mind may spiritualise or otherwise change the mind or part of it in one way or another, but it need not change the vital nature; a light in the vital may purify and enlarge the vital movements or else silence and immobilize the vital being, but leave the body and the physical consciousness ...
... each minute. You can re-create your own world in that same minute, if you know how to do it: that is to say, if you have the capacity to change your nature! I have not said that the Ananda-Personality has gone away. But nothing can be done without a determined change of consciousness, a sustained effort matching the great aspiration for transformation. It is merely tamasic to leave everything to the... athletics, keeping track of occult happenings, - and as the Appearance melted into the Reality, suddenly the incarnation threw the veil aside. To borrow Nirodbaran's words: The beauty of thy face changing from hour to hour Reveals a miracle of God; Each delineation speaks of an inscrutable power Locked in thy bodily abode. It shapes our life in the light of thy apocalypt moods; ... Spiritual knowledge without the occult science lacks precision and certainty in its objective results; it is all-powerful only in the subjective world. 14 Again, it is characteristic of a time of change that one can experience two contraries (thesis and antithesis) simultaneously (or in quick succession), thereby paving the way for the synthesis, integration or transformation. As the Mother writes ...
... intention of giving my sanction to a new edition of the old fiasco – a partial and transient spiritual opening within with no true and radical change in the external nature.” 4 The old fiasco was the effort of the previous Avatars to change human nature and make spiritual progress in the material evolution possible. In his Essays on the Gita Sri Aurobindo had already written: “Not till the T... dragon edicts of her sway, The scriptures of Necessity and Chance. … In Savitri we find Sri Aurobindo again confronting “the black inertia of our base” and seeking for ‘the secret key of Nature’s change:” The ordeal he suffered of evil’s absolute reign … Incapable of motion or of force, In Matter’s blank denial goaled and blind, Pinned to the black inertia of our base He treasured... and nude, And stood on the last locked subconscient’s floor Where Being slept unconscious of its thoughts And built the world not knowing what it built. … He saw the secret key of Nature’s change. Then … Torn were the formats of the primal Night And shattered the stereotypes of the Ignorance … He imposed upon dark atom and dumb mass The diamond script of the Imperishable ...
... as if you were standing on a ridge and the least misstep would pitch you into a hole. Everything seems different, all the everything seems so different. The nature of the relations with people is changing, the nature of everything is changing, but what? What? It's like being on the brink or point or ... hanging in balance—a tremendous Power (there's a tremendous power, I have some examples), and at... material life. Then someone comes and abruptly calls me back . I don't go out of material life, but it appears different. And Mother sat staring thoughtfully. I really think the physical world is changing. People will probably notice it only in a few hundred years, because it takes a long time for it to become visible to the ordinary consciousness. But the touch … [Mother felt the air, the atmosphere... me, “Don't talk, don't talk!” I have to keep quiet, otherwise people around me would think I am becoming deranged. And I insisted, repeating: “It is not just the vision of the physical world that changes, it is the very quality of the substance?”⎯ Yes, yes, it's not at all my own way of seeing—not at all But it's odd. It is PHYSICAL, that's what is amazing! Before, I used to withdraw into an inner ...
... though not at first recognised by the lower nature. "I will try again" is not sufficient; what is needed is to try always—steadily, with a heart free from despondency, as the Gita says, anirviṇṇacetasā . You speak of five and a half years as if it were a tremendous time for such an object, but a Yogi who is able in that time to change radically his nature and get the concrete decisive experience... element within behind the mind, life and body to come forward fully in you—when it does you will be able to become aware of the inner guide within you and of a Force working for the full spiritual change. This simplicity comes by a separation from the manifold devious mental and vital movements which lead one in all directions—a quiet, a detachment in the heart which turns one singly towards the one... experience of the Divine would have to be considered as one of the rare gallopers of the spiritual Way. Nobody has ever said that the spiritual change was an easy thing; all spiritual seekers will say that it is difficult but supremely worth doing. If one's desire for the Divine has become the master desire, then surely one can give one's whole life to it without repining and not grudge the time, difficulty ...
... longer artistic—it becomes dogmatic or in any case didactic. It is to give the idea that all is in the Divine and all is divine. And necessarily, if one changes the state of consciousness and is identified with the Divine, that changes the very nature of things. For example, what seemed pain or sorrow or misery—one becomes aware quite on the contrary that it is an opportunity for the Divine's growing... Mother, suffering comes from ignorance and pain, but what is the nature of the suffering and pain the Divine Mother feels for her children—the Divine Mother in Savitri? It is because she participates in their nature. She has descended upon earth to participate in their nature. Because if she did not participate in their nature, she could not lead them farther. If she remained in her supreme c... nothing of which it could be said: it is a misfortune. There is nothing that could be called suffering. All that is necessary is to change one's state of consciousness. That is all. Only (I have written this somewhere, I don't know where now), if you yourself succeed in changing your state of consciousness and enter this condition of bliss, you can see others still quarrelling, fighting, being unhappy, suffering ...
... mechanism and does not feel them as his own. Most Vedantists stop there, because they think that those reactions will fall away from one at death and all will disappear into the One. But for a change of the nature it is necessary that the experience and seeing of the Purusha should spread to all the parts, mind, vital, physical, subconscient. Then the ego movements of Prakriti can also disappear gradually... identifies with the Self and not with the mind, life and body and their movements or with the small ego, that is the release of the Self. And how is the outer nature to rise into the higher Prakriti before you realise the Self? The higher nature is that of the higher consciousness of which the first basis is the peace and wideness and realisation of the Self, the One that is all. The gaining of... mistake to weaken the experience by any non-acceptance or doubt of its character. It is not necessary to define it and one ought not even to try to turn it into an image; for this Presence is in its nature infinite. Whatever it has to manifest of itself or out of itself, it will do inevitably by its own power, if there is a sustained acceptance. It is quite true that it is a grace sent and the only ...
... your religion... Every man has to make his own choice; so has every nation. We made our choice ages ago. And it is the faith in an Immortal Soul. I challenge anyone to give it up. How can you change your nature? ... Feel, therefore, my would-be reformers, my would-be patriots! Do you feel? Do you feel that millions and millions of the descendants of gods and of sages have become next-door neighbours... carry my boat to the other shore! After all, Joe, I am only the boy who used to listen with rapt wonderment to the wonderful words of Ramakrishna under the banyan at Dakshineswar. That is my true nature — works and activities, doing good and so forth, are all superimpositions. Page 247 Now I again hear his voice thrilling my soul. Bonds are breaking — love dying, work becoming tasteless ...
... things in a mess I try to put them as neatly as possible. This is part of your nature otherwise it isn't possible. You can't change your nature by advice and persuasion, But then by seeing beauty and order constantly the same order and beauty can be absorbed by one's nature. But for me it has always been part of my nature. I have such old things with me but I keep them so carefully that you can't... Adjoined-hands and blissful mirth. Come ye comrades come ye all! Can't you hear the Clarion call? Bathing in the Golden Light, Will change the world and change us all. Happy and peaceful world will come! As we reach our cherished goal, All will live in a joyful state: Many in body but ? one in Soul... another. And I would go to Madhav-ji with these writings for any necessary correction. He would go through them very sympathetically with great care. With just a few changes he would infuse life into my writing. He never changed my style or thought. It was quite an amazing style of correction really. He had a very sharp mind and an extraordinary memory. I observed he would serve the Mother ...
... tion or Ramakrishna's, so I can't say anything about that. I can only say that by transformation I do not mean some change of the nature—I do not mean for instance sainthood or ethical perfection or Yogic siddhis (like the Tantrik's). I use transformation in a special sense, a change of consciousness radical and complete and of a certain specific kind which is so conceived as to bring about a strong... into all the being down to the physical and below before a real transformation can take place. A light in the mind may spiritualise or otherwise change the mind or part of it in one way or another, but it need Page 153 not change the vital nature, a light in the vital may purify and enlarge the vital movements or else silence and immobilise the vital being, but leave the body and the physical... consciousness (the supramental) not yet active directly in earth-nature, even in the spiritual life, but yet to be organised and made directly active. (3) Because a method has been preconised for achieving this purpose which is as total and integral as the aim set before it, viz., the total and integral change of the consciousness and nature, taking up old methods but only as a part action and present ...
... until it gets into the vital itself and makes it reject its own movement. For that you must help by getting rid of the violence and impatience in your own nature and being yourself patient, firm and persistent. You are here to change your nature and the difficulty is no reason for throwing up the spiritual endeavour. All this talk of going away cannot help—it would be of no advantage to yourself or... nothing of what was happening to them. These things are to be expected for Nature is still in evolution and new Lights and Powers have to be brought Page 501 down in her and made part of the conscious earth-existence. 29 January 1936 There has been no negligence on our part in putting the force for X 's change—the Mother has been doing that daily; nor is the trouble she has contracted... December 1935 X gives a high-blood-pressure patient on the verge of heart failure "moderate" licence in eating, drinking etc. He calls it "leaving to Nature"! Well, I have followed that system with myself and others and gone on the basis that Nature is very largely what you make of her—or can make of her. 28 December 1935 Page 510 I believe that an allopath would have been as successful ...
... consciousness) that it can proceed to act on the ordinary lower being. In my meditations I try to bring down a force from above which will change the lower being. You cannot change the lower (external) nature directly - it can only be changed from above through the within. A going up and up higher, though a part of the total necessary movement, does not by itself have any effect... descent is necessary to change the nature; ascent is useful to open the higher planes and exalt the level of the consciousness, but it does not change the lower being except superficially by opening to it certain possibilities it had not before. But the descent must first take place in the inner being. When the higher consciousness is settled in the inner being, then it can change the outer. But necessarily... vital - not enough self-giving. Is there no element of love and joy in my nature? There may be, but it must be free from ego and vital mixture -it must be the psychic kind. People say that an average human being starts first with vital love, joy, etc. and afterwards it changes into pure psychic love, joy, etc. For if he does not begin this way, how will he proceed ...
... transformed, but how can you change a hostile being or its; force? Of course, the hostile beings have certain forces of nature in their clutches. If you conquer the hostile beings these forces of nature are liberated and help in fulfilling the Lila of God. Thus anger is a; force, of; nature in the clutches of hostile powers. If it can be freed from their influence, it can be used for the divine purpose.... defects in his own nature which invite the attack. Disciple : Does he acquire anything more than the knowledge ? Sri Aurobindo : Yes, new openings may occur to the Higher Power, his strength may increase and so forth. Disciple : Can a hostile force be changed and transformed by conquest into something good and helpful ? Sri Aurobindo : A force of nature can be so transformed... as a third party to control both Labour and Capital but even there Capital seems to have largely succeeded. (The topic was changed by a question from a Disciple .) Disciple : You said yesterday that realisation of God is not sufficient to change human nature. Disciple : The question arose from a conversation which we had about the Christian mystics. They have an idea that once ...
... perfection in all our nature, is the effective sign of this change, the precursory power of a great integral conversion of our being and living. Page 618 By personal effort a precursory change, a preliminary conversion can be effected; it amounts to a greater or less spiritualising of our mental motives, our character and temperament, and a mastery, stilling or changed action of the vital... knowledge, works and devotion; for it is impossible to change the human nature into the divine or to make it an instrument of the divine knowledge, will and joy of existence, unless there is a union with the supreme Being, Consciousness and Bliss and a unity with its universal Self in all things and beings. A wholly separative possession of the divine nature by the human individual, as distinct from a sel... g and ordering of power and capacity in the nature, a nobler ethical, a richer aesthetic, a finer emotional, a much healthier and better-governed vital and physical being. Sometimes one element is stressed, almost to the exclusion of the rest; sometimes, in wider and more well-balanced minds, the whole harmony is envisaged as a total perfection. A change of education and social institutions is the ...
... rest—to let it work there and fulfill itself as Mind descended into Life and Matter and has worked as a Power there to fulfill itself in the midst of the rest. This will be enough to change the world and to change Nature by breaking down her present limits. But what, how, by what degrees it will do it, is a thing that ought not to be said now—when the Light is there, the Light will itself do its work—when... from subconscient ignorance and from disease, duration of life at will, and a change in the functionings of the body must be among the ULTIMATE ( Mother repeats ) elements of a supramental change; but the details of these things must be left for the supramental Energy to work out according to the Truth of its own nature. ( XXII.8 ) ( Mother makes the gesture of hammering ) I am all the time... told me, "I am very conscious and now I know that I am fully alive and fully conscious, so I don't want an impotent body that constantly requires someone to nurse it or move it around. I prefer to change." He asked me to find him a good one (!) This one didn't ask to take a new body, but the last thing he said (afterwards, he was paralyzed) was: I must live, because I want to give ten lakhs of rupees ...
... sincere is generally protected. Periods of fatigue are probable in yoga because the changes required in nature are radical and time is required for assimilating the new experience and in adjusting the whole of one's nature to it. One has also to bear in mind that in this yoga which accepts life and nature, ignorance has to be eliminated. And that cannot be done completely by the effort and... to have the help of the Divine in the work of transforming one's nature. One has only to give the necessary consent, the rest of the work is done by the Higher Power. Permanent ascent—not merely an occasional glimpse—to the Higher Consciousness or a steady status in the inner soul is needed to carry out thoroughly the process of change. It is so because when one begins yoga the problem seems individual—in... himself says to the Rishi "Look at this poem (the universe) of mine,—it neither dies nor grows old." The universe is the poem of the Supreme, it is immortal and ever fresh. The creation partakes of the nature of the creator. Sri Aurobindo gives the example of the seed : out of the seed evolves that which was already "pre-existent in the being, predestined in the will to become, prearranged in the ...
... sama ananda,—first by buddhi-yoga, separating himself from his habitual mental & nervous reactions & insisting by vichara on the true nature of the experience itself and of his own soul which is secretly anandamaya,—full of the sama ananda in all things. He comes to change all the ordinary values of experience; amangala reveals itself to him as mangala, defeat & ill-success as the fulfilment of God's immediate... purpose and a step towards ultimate victory, grief and pain as concealed and perverse forms of pleasure. A stage arrives even, when physical pain itself, the hardest thing for material man to bear, changes its nature in experience and becomes physical ananda; but this is only at the end when this human being, imprisoned in matter, subjected to mind, emerges from his subjection, conquers his mind and delivers... power, place & nature, but in the intellect; as helpers of the intellect & occasional guides. Directly we get an intuition or revelation, the intellect, memory, imagination, logical faculty seize hold of it & begin to disguise it in a garb of mingled truth & error, bringing down truth to the level of the nature, sanskaras and preferences of a man instead of purifying & elevating his nature & judgments ...
... to come at one stroke; it must be allowed to come by stages. The physical change is the last of these stages and is itself a progressive process. "The inner transformation cannot be brought about by physical means either of a positive or a negative nature. On the contrary, the physical change itself can only be brought about by a descent of the greater supramental consciousness... on, may indeed modify to some extent the prevailing nature or working of this lower part, but can never altogether transform it. "If the work were done from above, from some spiritual height, there might be a sublimation or uplifting or the creation of a new structure compelled by the sheer force of the influence from above; but this change might not be accepted as native to itself by the lower... consciousness of its own which clings with an obstinate fidelity to its past habits and modes of functioning and automatically and invariably offers a dogged opposition to all that seeks to change its nature. And this is so because the process of evolution here upon earth has started from an inconscient base and all that has emerged and developed afterwards has had to appear as a superstructure ...
... the social relations, still human nature had not changed to any appreciable extent. Egoism and greed have always tried to divert any new discovery or improvement for the benefit of a few individuals or for a group - class or nation. Even the goodwill of men and their spirit of sacrifice have been exploited in this way. It is this apparent obduracy of human nature which is the radical obstacle to... doctrine. Child or man, boy or girl, there is only one sound principle of good teaching. Difference of age only serves to diminish or increase the amount of help and guidance necessary; it does not change its nature.¹ Since the beginning of the century the educationists have been devoting themselves especially in the West to initiating and carrying out a considerable amount of theoretical and experimental... in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking Page 171 and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God?14 This next step would not be a mere amelioration, even a perfecting of man's present faculties, but a radical change of consciousness ...
... it; so, not being an Irishman, I don't make the attempt. But of course anyone who wants to change earth-nature must first accept it in order to change it. To quote from an unpublished poem of my own: He who would bring the heavens here Must descend himself into clay And the burden of earthly nature bear And tread the dolorous way. 2 23 August 1935 Would you say something... established in the earth consciousness? Well, what I meant is that taking in view their present nature the psychisation would be a big change that is quite enough for them to concentrate on. To aim at the Intuition plane or Overmind now would be useless. But the result of psychisation of the whole nature is not small; it can bring about or embrace most of what have been celebrated as the great spiritual... live there and from there change the lower consciousness altogether. For there is a dynamism proper to the spiritual consciousness whose nature is Light, Power, Ananda, Peace, Knowledge, infinite Wideness and that must be possessed and descend into the whole being. Otherwise one can get mukti but not perfection or transformation (except a relative psycho-spiritual change). But if I say that, there ...
... got rid of; you cannot get rid of the lower vital itself, for it is a necessary part of the manifested nature, like the higher vital or the mind. It has Page 143 to be changed in the power of the higher consciousness, not left to itself or dropped from you. (3) If you do not so change it, if you simply remain content by living in the psychic or other higher consciousness internally then... descent of the Light. If they return persistently he must not be discouraged; it is not possible to change the nature at once, it takes a long time. If, however, he can keep the psychic consciousness in the front, then it will be much easier and there will be much less difficulty and trouble in the change. That can be done by constant aspiration and abhyāsa . The difficulty you have in your vital... vital and expresses and supports the difficulties and oppositions in the nature. If the whole mind refuses to respond to the vital or accept or support its suggestions then much of the force of the vital attack disappears and one is more able to put a pressure on the vital and oblige it also to listen to the psychic and change. What happened in your case was that the whole vital difficulty—the main ...
... obscurity of the external physical mind and nature (the centre in the throat is the centre of this external mind). So long as that is there the external nature and action remain as they always were and there is no correspondence between it and the inner spiritual consciousness and experience. This cannot disappear by a single experience; a steady will to change is necessary. It means that the outer... that part widens, then they will no longer be able to recur. One can discourage them by keeping certain ideas in mind, such as that the things which vex you belong to the nature and can go only with the change of the nature, that one has to do the work well oneself but not be troubled by the defects of others in their work, that a quiet inner will for their doing right is more effective than getting... and the physical mind ] can change completely their will and outlook and orientation and open them to the true perception of things and right impulse. The mind and higher vital can help much towards that. Page 38 The Physical Mind and Peace and Silence There is always a difficulty in keeping the physical mind within or silent, because it has been its nature to occupy itself with outward ...
... desires—to do so would only increase them and give you into the hands of the ignorance and restless confusion of the ordinary Nature. It can be done only by your inner trust and surrender and by the pressure of the Mother's peace and Force working from within and changing your vital nature. It is when you forget this that you go wrong and suffer; when you remember it you progress and the difficulties become... the defects of their nature. Try to be the true child of the Mother: it is there within Page 452 you, but your outward mind is occupied by little futile things and too often in a violent fuss over them. You must not only see the Mother in dream but learn to see and feel her with you and within you at all times. Then you would find it easier to control yourself and change,—for she being there... allow these suggestions to sway you. Seek the connection within you in your psychic being; then even through the outward circumstances it will shine out and change all into oneness. 5 June 1936 Page 455 My condition is changing so often; it is as if I were walking on hilly ground with plenty of ditches on the way. I am hardly out of one ditch and able to get a breath of fresh air than ...
... express something else, the true thing which escapes our superficial understanding. Never complain of the behaviour of anyone, unless you have the power to change in his nature what makes him act in this way; and if you have the power, change him instead of complaining. Whatever you do, never forget the goal which you have set before you. There is nothing great or small once you have set out on... For these will be the last to change and the supramental force can be at work in an individual long before anything of it becomes perceptible in his bodily life. To sum up, one can say that the supramental education will result no longer in a progressive formation of human nature and an increasing development of its latent faculties, but in a transformation of the nature itself, a transfiguration of... escape from all earthly manifestation, even from the whole universe, a return to the unmanifest. So one can say that the psychic life is immortal life, endless time, limitless space, ever-progressive change, unbroken continuity in the universe of forms. The spiritual consciousness, on the other hand, means to live the infinite and the eternal, to be projected beyond all creation, beyond time and space ...
... it entirely from conscious mental and vital life; that work, which in the past was considered as, oh, a tremendously difficult thing—changing an individual's nature—is relatively easy; all in the nature that depends on the vital or the mind is relatively easy to change, very easy. I am not saying very easy for the ordinary man, but very easy in comparison with the work in Matter, in the cells of the... crooked, that distorts everything. And it has become very subtle, very hidden, difficult to ferret out. When almost everything was like that, it was visible, it was conspicuous; but that state changed very fast: the difficulty is what's hidden underneath and isn't "voluminous" enough to draw attention to itself. And, oh, those habits, those habits.... For instance (magnifying it to make it more... play in comparison; all their mental difficulties are... to me it's theater—a drama, you know, a drama to interest the public. Well, I don't know, but there is a long, long way to go—a long way—to change this into a substance plastic enough, receptive enough, strong enough to express the supreme Power. There is a lot to be done, a whole lot. ( silence ) And the popular mind is simplistic, it ...
... receives it and only as an experience, not as a settled or a dynamic realisation in the nature -even in that part of the nature. Merely to have experiences of the higher consciousness will not change the nature. Either the higher consciousness has to make a dynamic descent into the whole being and change it - or it must establish itself in the inner being down to the inner physical so that... that the latter feels itself separate from the outer and is able to act freely upon it - or the psychic must come forward and change the nature - or the inner will must awake and force the nature to change. These are the four ways in which change can be brought about. Page 219 What happened to the dynamic descent? I thought something was trying to remove the obstacle... instrumental Nature is only so far transformed that it becomes an instrument for the Cosmic Divine to get some work done while the Self within remains calm and free and united to the Divine. But this is an incomplete individual transformation - Page 208 the full transformation of the instrumental Nature can only come when the Supramental change takes place. Till then the nature remains ...
... else, the true thing which escapes your superficial understanding, Never complain of the behaviour of anyone, unless you have the power to change in his nature what makes him act Page 125 thus; and if you have the power, change him instead of complaining. Whatever you do, never forget the goal which you have set before you. There is nothing small or big in this enterprise... physical is the last to change and the supramental force can be at work in a being long before something of it becomes perceptible in the life of the body. In brief, one can say that the supramental education will result not merely in a progressively developing formation of the human nature, an increasing growth of its latent faculties, but a transformation of the nature itself, a transfiguration... earthly manifestation, even away from the whole universe, a return to the unmanifest. So one can say that the psychic life is the life immortal, endless time, limitless space, ever progressive change, unbroken continuity in the world of forms. The spiritual consciousness, on the other hand, means to live the infinite and eternal, to throw oneself outside all creation, beyond time Page 127 ...
... becomes aware of and through that the nature is led. To become aware of the psychic being or the central Purusha is more difficult. Even during action, when I am vigilant, I can remain above as a separate and observing Purusha. But I always fail to change the nature of the actions. Could you kindly give me some instructions so that the actions might be changed into at least psychic actions if... n increases, the gunas change more and more towards their divine equivalents, but it is only when the supramental comes that there is the full change. I encounter so much resistance, revolt and attack from my physical nature while trying only to enlighten it. How much resistance you and the Mother must be facing while supramen-talising the whole material Nature! How do you manage it?... The Purusha on the contrary is in its nature silent and separate - so it has only to go back to its original nature. How does the Prakriti divide itself into two for the necessary separation? It divides itself into an inner Force that is free in its action (free from rajas, tamas, etc.) and the outer Prakriti which it is using and changing. Does Prakriti's division ...
... settle down in Pondicherry for good. The conditions here internal and external have very much changed from what they were when he was here before. The conditions are in many respects much more rigorous and there is a strong pressure in the atmosphere for concentration in the sadhana and for change of the nature. It will have to be seen if he can accommodate himself to the conditions or bear the pressure... kind of work you envisage. Your letters have not given me any definite idea. Here in the Asram all is confined to the preparation for the spiritual change which is the object of the Yoga and work is only a field of practice for that change of the nature. It is a hard thing to achieve, our difficulties internal and external have been many, but until it is accomplished we have denied ourselves any other... you are ready from the beginning to recognise the difficulties in your own nature, they can be easily removed; otherwise you will have to face much internal trouble and suffering in the Page 407 first stages of the sadhana. The Sangha of our Yoga must be of men who give up the lower consciousness and the lower nature in order to assume the higher and divine. The formation of a commune for ...
... transformation; for in this way the detached inner being of the sadhaka can bring the force of the higher consciousness to act to change the nature wholly, observing all the time the action of nature without being in any way affected by it, putting the force for change wherever needed and setting the whole being right as one does with a machine. The sadhaka of our Path has to do this psychological... most part we are unconscious. It is this unconsciousness that keeps us down to our unregenerate nature and prevents change and transformation in it. It is through unconsciousness that the undivine forces enter into us and make us their slaves. You are to be conscious of yourself, you must awake to your nature and movements, you must know why and how you do things or feel or think them; you must understand... perfection that one can hopefully yearn after and attain to with adequate and proper personal efforts. But what is the exact nature of this perfection? — There is no universal agreement amongst men; they differ widely in their view. Most seek after an adequate mundane change; some yearn after a religious conversion and fix for their goal a sufficient self-preparation in this life for another existence ...
... the Christian ideals which had for some centuries united in an uneasy combination to give a new form to her mentality and type of life. The change, whose real nature could not be distinguished so long as the field was occupied by the battle between Science and Religion, now more and more reveals itself as an attempt of humanity to recover its lost soul. Long overlaid by the life of the intellect and... aesthetic mind of Europe is one of the most significant intellectual phenomena of the times. It is one element of a general change which has been coming more and more rapidly over the mentality of the human race and promises to culminate in the century to which we belong. This change began with the discovery of Eastern thought and the revolt of Europe against the limitations of the Graeco-Roman and the... seen in the mind and body only instruments for the expression of that which is deeper and greater than its instruments. Even intellect and emotion had for them only a secondary value. Not to imitate Nature but to reveal that which she has hidden, to find significative forms which shall embody for us what her too obvious and familiar symbols conceal, has been the aim of the greatest Art, the Art of p ...
... belongs, is always something acquired and impermanent and can be changed,) and if you could make its development your settled and persistent aim in life, then the path would be clear and your spiritual future not only a strong possibility but a certitude. It very often happens that when there is an exceptional power like this in the nature, there is found in the exterior being some contrary element which... tormenting darkness am spoiled for you the savour of life. Your mistake is to think that this i something to which you are bound and from which you cannot escape, fate which mistakes a spiritual change of your nature impossible. I have seen other families afflicted by this kind of hereditary nervous weakness accompanying very often exceptional gifts of intelligence or artistic capacity or spiritual po... be of great use to you in overcoming its vital weakness. And this divine possibility, this truth of your inner being, if you accept it, can of itself make certain your liberation and the change of your external nature. Accept this divine possibility in you; have faith in your inner being and its spiritual destiny. Make its development as a portion of the Divine your aim in life, for a great and serious ...
... among these many new forces to emerge with distinctness is an awakening of the eye to a changed vision of Nature, of the imagination to a more perfect and intimate visualisation, of the soul to a closer spiritual communion. An imaginative, scrutinising, artistic or sympathetic dwelling on the details of Nature, her sights, sounds, objects, sensible impressions is a persistent characteristic of modern... meaning and changes of form in the subsequent decades, until now all their sense and seeking have reached in the early twentieth a quite unprecedented subtle intensity, refinement and variety of motives and even a tense straining on many lines to find in everything some last occult truth and hitherto unimagined utterance, to go beyond all that poetry has ever done. This is in its very nature an effort... immediate communion, but through myth and the image of divine personalities that govern her powers. In all these directions modern poetry represents a great change of our mentality and a swift and vast extension of our imaginative experience. Nature now lives for the poet as an independent presence, a greater or equal power dwelling side by side with him or embracing and dominating his existence. Even ...
... and irreconcilable hatred, is the straight way and the triumphant means modern man has found for the establishment of universal peace! That consummation, too, founded not upon any fundamental change in human nature, but upon intellectual notions, economic convenience, vital and sentimental shrinkings from the loss of life, discomfort and horror of war, effected by nothing better than political adjustments... Nature in its evolution would not admit of its being immediately prepared for any such transcendence. Even now we have not actually progressed beyond the feasibility of a system of accommodation between conflicting interests which may minimise the recurrence of the worst forms of strife. And towards this consummation the method, the approach which humanity has been forced by its own nature to adopt... his contribution to the intellectual, economical and military life and needs of the community without paying any heed to the demands of his individual nature and temperament. The ancient Indian civilisation laid peculiar stress on the individual nature, tendency, temperament and sought to determine by it the ethical type, function and place in the society. Nor did it consider man primarily as a social ...
... snowball. The victory you win in your character, however small it be, is one which can be gained in the whole world. And it is this I meant just now: all things which are done outwardly without changing the inner nature— Page 19 hospitals, schools, etc.—are done through vanity, for the feeling of being great, whilst these small unnoticed things overcome in oneself gain an infinitely greater victory... don't think so and, even, it is impossible. In a certain way, each thing in the universe does its best. But that best doesn't come to anything at all. Unless everything changes, nothing will change. It is this best that must change. In the place of ignorance must be born knowledge and power and consciousness, otherwise we shall always turn in a circle around the same stupidity. You may open millions... being that concerns you is yourself. You want to diminish suffering, but unless you can change the capacity of suffering into a certitude of being happy, the world will not change. It will always be the same, we turn in a circle—one civilisation follows another, one catastrophe another; but the thing does not change, for there is something missing, something not there, that is the consciousness. That's ...
... Realization, you do a work of quite a superior quality. You know this: the SAME words, the SAME sentences, spoken by someone who sees and knows and spoken by the ordinary ignorant person, change entirely in nature and power—and in action. There is a way of saying things which is the true way, whatever words you speak. And that is the solution: it's inside himself, in the depths of his being, that he... receiving or taking upon oneself every possible disorder for several hours, several days or several minutes, in one's body, in order to act on them, and, consequently, to act on disorders of the same nature in the world—or on THE Disorder. Mother is thus constantly led to work on the meeting point between the subtle forces behind and the bodily or material mechanisms. In her body it is an uncommon chemistry ...
... recurrence of the same vibrations and formations. That is why our nature can be changed in spite of Vivekananda's saying and Horace's adage and in spite of the conservative resistance of the subconscient, but it is a difficult job because the master mode of Nature is this obstinate repetition and recurrence. As for the things in our nature that are thrown away from us by rejection but come back, it depends... other parts of the nature, they go either into the environmental consciousness around us through which we communicate with others and with universal Page 220 Nature and try to return from there or they sink into the subconscient and can come up from there even after lying long quiescent so that we think they are gone. When the physical consciousness is being changed, the chief resistance... on it, it will keep and send up that. That is why it has to be cleared of old movements before there can be a permanent and total change in the nature. When the higher consciousness is once established in the waking parts, it goes down into the subconscient and changes that also, makes a bedrock of itself there also. Then no farther trouble from the subconscient will be possible. But even before that ...
... in becoming, that it changes to in nature, evolves or discovers. This power of the soul over its nature is of the utmost importance in the Yoga of self-perfection; if it did not exist, we could never get by conscious endeavour and aspiration out of the fixed groove of our present imperfect human being; if any greater perfection were intended, we should have to wait for Nature to effect it in her... lower forms of being the soul accepts this complete subjection to Nature, but as it rises higher in the scale, it awakes to a sense of something in itself which can command Nature; but it is only when it arrives at self-knowledge that this free will and control becomes a complete reality. The change effects itself through process of nature, not therefore by any capricious magic, but an Page 628 ... the mental formula of his nature and discloses the supramental form, the ideal power of a spiritual being. In Yoga we have to travel beyond the physical nature and the superficial man and to discover the workings of the whole nature of the real man. In other words we must arrive at and use a psycho-physical knowledge with a spiritual foundation. Man is in his real nature,—however obscure now this ...
... then, thought it may not change the entire humanity at once; still it will act as a potent force for turning human nature towards it. It was because of the difficulty of changing human nature, which Vivekananda calls the "dog's tail", that the ascetic path advocated flying away from Nature as the only remedy. Those people could not think it possible to change human nature, so they said, "Drop it... spiritual solution which I propose; but it aims at changing the whole basis of human nature. It is not a question of carrying on a movement nor is it a question of a few years. It cannot be done unless you establish spirituality as the basis of life. It is clear that Mind has not been able to change human nature radically. You can go on changing human institutions infinitely and yet the imperfection... the Dharma of the movement of forces. An ordinary law merely means an equilibrium established by Nature; it means a balance of forces. It is merely a groove in which Nature is accustomed to work in order to produce certain results. But, if you change the consciousness, then the groove also is bound to change. For instance, I observe the forces on the vital plane, I see what they are, and what they intend ...
... studied it. Well, it is this change, this sudden transformation of the universal element which is most certainly going to result in a kind of chaos in the perceptions, out of which a new knowledge will emerge. This is, in broad terms, the result of the new Manifestation.... The quality, quantity and nature of the possible universal combinations are suddenly going to change in such a drastic way that... aspiration or through YOUR ATTITUDE [the emphasis is mine], you introduced a higher element—what we can now call a supramental element—into the existing set of combinations, you could SUDDENLY change their nature, then all these so-called necessary and inescapable laws would become absurdities. In other words YOU YOURSELVES close the door to the miracle by having certain conceptions, certain attitudes... terrestrial substance. But in the present case, it is not a new graft, not a new device, supermind, that is being added to the terrestrial arsenal; Matter itself is changed. We could say that Matter's properties change—are in the process of changing. We might think: "Okay, we shall see when it will be done." Indeed, if a giraffe started growing a second neck, we would surely notice it. The trouble is... it ...
... pouring down of the powers of the higher Self, so that there comes in the possibility of a descent of the Supramental Self and nature to dominate and change our present nature and turn it from nature of Ignorance into nature of Truth-Knowledge (and through the supramental into nature of Ananda)—this is the third or supramental transformation. It does not always go in this order, for with many the spiritual... Brunton describes in his book as the Self is certainly this Purusha Antarātmā but concerned more with mukti and a liberated action than with transformation of the nature. What the psychic realisation does bring is a psychic change of the nature purifying it and turning it altogether towards the Divine. After that or along with it comes the realisation of the cosmic Self. It is these two things that the... taking them up and using them in senses which have nothing to do with the significance which I put into them. Purification of the nature by the "influence" of the Spirit is not what I mean by transformation; purification is only part of a psychic change or a psycho-spiritual change—the word besides has many senses and is very often given a moral or ethical meaning which is foreign to my purpose. What I mean ...
... outlandish and the hope of changing human nature by this inner means too chimerical a dream. But whether they believe it or not, Sri Aurobindo assures us that what is demanded of us is not something altogether distant, alien to our existence and therefore radically impossible. For "what has to be developed is there in our being and not something outside it: what evolutionary Nature presses for, is an awakening... the New Adventure. The various tasks set before man, the unique species, by evolutionary Nature may be succinctly described in the luminous words of Sri Aurobindo: "Man is there to affirm himself in the universe, that is his first business, but also to evolve and finally to exceed himself: he has to change his partial being into a complete being, his partial consciousness into an integral con... the Indian mind and nature, not between the present and the past, but between the present and the future, not a return to the fifth century but an initiation for the centuries to come, not a reversion but a break forward away from the present artificial falsity to her own greater innate potentialities. ( Vide, SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 194) Fifth Principle: We have to change the focus of our e ...
... of the general inability to change which at present afflicts the sadhak. It is because the sadhana, as a general fact, has now and for a long time past come down to the Inconscient; the pressure, the call is to change in that part of the nature which depends directly on the Inconscient, the fixed habits, the automatic movements, the mechanical repetitions of the nature, the involuntary reactions to... begun and it is not surprising that there seems to be no change in things or people. It will come in time, but not in a hurry. As for experiences, they are all right but the trouble is that they do not seem to change the nature, they only enrich the consciousness—even the realisation, on the mind level, of the Brahman seems to leave the nature almost where it was, except for a few. That is why we insist... the release from subconscient ignorance and from disease, duration of life at will, and a change in the functioning of the body must be among the ultimate results of a supramental change; but the details of these things must be left for the supramental Energy to work out according to the truth of its own nature. 18 October 1934 When I wrote in my letter about the supermind and the obstinate resistance ...
... practical psychology... [Nature] is the self-fulfilment of the Purusha through his Energy. But the movement of Nature is twofold, higher and lower... divine and undivine. The distinction exists indeed for practical purposes only.... All things are in Nature and all things are in God.... The lower Nature, that which we know and are and must remain so long as the faith in us is not changed, acts through limitation... or the ideal is not simply "a healthy mind in a healthy body"; it is a divine life in a divine body. 46 The spiritual summit and the material base are to come together. This man-changing, world-changing, Nature-changing Yoga aims thus at establishing nothing less than an Earthly Paradise, for not otherwise can the present crisis in evolution be decisively solved. And the Word is given, and Savitri... here amidst the receding darkness of this terrestrial ignorance." 27 Such is the ideal, such the possibility. But the question still remains: what is the technique of a world-changing and even Nature-changing Yoga? It cannot take bits of man or society and deal with them in different ways, or deal only with one or some of them, leaving the rest severely alone. And as for the sadhana, there ...
... to the Ashram: the utmost happiness possible had been found. Of course, the psychic being's keenly devotional move towards the Divine does not always change one's whole nature. The rest of the being has itself to consent to change. In measuring progress, many factors have to be weighed. Still, intense love for the Mother is — if I may use an imagery in tune with my narrative — a golden ...
... and doctrines and a round of rituals and try to reach the consciousness of man through them, it touches, on the contrary, his consciousness first, and through it effects a change, sometimes a revolutionary change, in his nature. But because it is the authentic power of the Spirit, it is beyond the grasp of the human reason, and is, therefore, readily branded as mystic, occult or esoteric. But, in fact... of religion are often darkened and disfigured by the very material with which they have to deal—the abounding impurities of the lower nature of man. A constant renovation and quickening of the central truth and the informing spirit, a constant adaptation and change of forms, and a progressive approximation to the Spirit are the condition of keeping a religion undefiled, undecaying and effective in... his ordinary existence and restore him to his infinity and immortality. It is the only power that can awaken his soul and make it the master of his nature, which is now in the hands of the lower forces of life. Neither morality nor religion can change man and his society; it is the very lightning of the Spirit that has to be infused into them to quicken a new birth. If we admit that the Spirit is the ...
... attained to something. The inner being gets free, the outer follows still its fixed nature. Our Yoga can succeed only if the external man too changes, but that is the most difficult of all things. It is only by a change of the physical nature that it can be done, by a descent of the highest light into this lowest part of Nature. It is here that the struggle is going on. The internal being of most of the sadhaks... not to have desires, not to have mental opinions—many things. It is a fairly long process because you must change your ordinary nature. This is the first condition. To break all the limits of one's mind, break all the desires of one's vital, break all the preferences of one's physical nature. After that one may hope to be in contact with the divine Will; and then, later, one must not only be in contact... opportunity to rise above oneself. There we are. How can one change into the divine Will? How can one change one's will into the divine Will? I don't understand your question. (Another child, repeating) How can one change into the divine Will? Well, it's because it is not well expressed that I don't understand. Change, that is transform one's will into the divine Will? Is that what ...
... higher planes or the idea of what they are can be had long before the transformation. If that were not possible, how could the transformation take place—the lower Page 88 nature cannot change of itself, it changes by the growing vision, perception, descent of the higher consciousness belonging to the higher planes? It is through aspiration, through an increasing opening that these visions and... it. It has its value and sometimes a considerable spiritual utility. But, naturally, it is not supreme,—the supreme thing is the realisation, the contact, the union with the Divine, bhakti, change of the nature etc. Visions and experiences (especially experiences) are all right; but you cannot expect every vision to translate itself in a corresponding physical fact. Some do, the majority don't... advance very far and have high experiences and change of consciousness without it. The important thing is to feel the Presence of the Mother with one and in one, her Light, her Power working, her Ananda. The form can be there, if the vision develops, but only as one element of the experience. I did not quite understand from your letter what is the nature of these sights and objects that pass like ...
... surrounding circumstances to make the least advance or self-amelioration. There seems to be a dual being in us; Soul and Nature, Purusha and Prakriti, seem to be half in agreement, half at odds, Nature laying its mechanical control on the soul, the soul attempting to change and master nature. And the question is what is the fundamental character of this duality and what the issue. The Sankhya explanation... three gunas, the mental, vital and physical nature. The divine Shakti will fill Page 760 us and preside over and take up all our inner activities, our outer life, our Yoga. She will take up the mental energy, her own lower formation, and raise it to its highest and purest and fullest powers of intelligence and will and psychic action. She will change the mechanical energies of the mind, life... experiences of which the mind is capable. And as the crown of this process she will bring down the supramental light into the mental levels, change the stuff of mind into the stuff of supermind, transform all the lower energies into energies of her supramental nature and raise us into our being of gnosis. The Shakti will reveal herself as the power of the Purushottama, and it is the Ishwara who will manifest ...
... of the ego, an inner quietude and expulsion or transcendence of ordinary Nature, the Nature of the three gunas and a total surrender to the Supreme are the successive steps of this preliminary change. Only after all this has been done, can we live securely in an infinite consciousness not bound like our mental human nature. And only then can we receive the Light, know perfectly the will of the Supreme... sufficient foundation in our vital and physical nature; therefore they can change a side of our mind and colour a part of our actions, but they cannot transform our lives, cannot find here their physical body. Ideals touch and pass, mankind remains the same; after religions, ideals, moralities without end we keep always the same ignorant and imperfect human nature. Moral rules and ideals are a harness... and traces that bind it to be faithful to the burden it carries. Morality checks and controls but does not purify or change the vital nature. In ethics there is an artificial shaping of the mind's surfaces, but no spiritual freedom, no satisfying perfection of the whole dynamic nature. The mind's ideals like the life's seekings are at once absolute each in its own demand and in conflict with one ...
... there clearly appears in Nature's works the will to rebuild, by steps and stages and through ever more numerous and complex groupings, the primordial oneness. Having made use of the power of love to bring two human beings together to form the biune group, the origin of the family, after having broken the narrow limits of personal egoism, changing it into a dual egoism. Nature, with the appearance of... the point of view of austerity, these needs themselves change their nature; relaxation is transformed into inner silence, rest into contemplation and enjoyment into bliss. This generally recognised need for entertainment, slackening of effort and more or less long and total forgetfulness of the aim of life and the purpose of existence should not be considered as something altogether natural and ... is vulgar, crude and base in human nature. Its coarsest instincts, its most depraved taste find in this concession a good excuse to display and impose themselves as an inevitable necessity. They are nothing of the kind, however; one can relax without being dissolute, take rest without being vulgar, enjoy oneself without allowing the grosser elements in the nature to rise to the surface. But from the ...
... amount of help and guidance necessary; it does not change its nature. The second principle is that the mind has to be consulted in its own growth. The idea of hammering the child into the shape desired by the parent or teacher is a barbarous and ignorant superstition. It is he himself who must be induced to expand in accordance with his 'own nature. There can be no greater error than for the parent... master of none of the great departments of human knowledge. The system of education adopted by the National, Council, an amphibious and twy-natured creation, attempts to heighten this practice of teaching by snippets at the bottom and the middle and suddenly change it to a grandiose specialism at the top. This is to base the triangle on its apex and hope that it will stand. The old system was to... operations, he can only put the growing soul into the way of its own perfection. (3) THE MORAL NATURE IN the economy of man the mental nature rests upon the moral, and the education of the intellect divorced from the perfection of the moral and emotional nature is injurious to human progress. Yet, while it is easy to arrange some kind of curriculum or syllabus which will do ...
... amount of help and guidance necessary; it does not change its nature. The second principle is that the mind has to be consulted in its own growth. The idea of hammering the child into the shape desired by the parent or teacher is a barbarous and ignorant superstition. It is he himself who must be induced to expand in accordance with his own nature. There can be no greater error than for the parent... master of none of the great departments of human knowledge. The system of education adopted by the National Council, an amphibious and twy-natured creation, attempts to heighten this practice of teaching by snippets at the bottom and the middle and suddenly change it to a grandiose specialism at the top. This is to base the triangle on its apex and hope that it will stand. The old system was to teach... educational operations, he can only put the growing soul into the way of its own perfection. Page 388 The Moral Nature In the economy of man the mental nature rests upon the moral, and the education of the intellect divorced from the perfection of the moral and emotional nature is injurious to human progress. Yet, while it is easy to arrange some kind of curriculum or syllabus which will do well ...
... But from the point of view of austerity, these needs themselves change their nature: relaxation is transformed into an inner silence, rest into contemplation and slackening into felicity. This need, so generally recognised, of distraction, relaxation of effort, a more or less long and total forgetfulness of life's goal, forgetfulness of the very reason of existence must not be considered... there has clearly appeared in Nature's works her will to build up again, by stages and degrees, the primordial unity through groupings more and more complex and numerous. After having used the power of love for bringing two human beings together and creating the dual group, the origin of the family, after having broken the narrow limits of personal egoism by changing it into a dual egoism, she brought... maximum effect. No fancifulness should rule their choice or execution. You should not do this or that simply because it appears more easy or pleasant; you will make a change in your programme only when your trainer considers the change necessary. The body of each one, with regard to its perfection or simply improvement, is a problem to be solved and the solution demands much patience, perseverance and ...
... out as a young scientist in quest of Nature's secrets, has fallen to pieces. Even though an increase in knowledge may bring an added power, Page 481 it does not follow at all that humanity will be automatically bettered. Scientific progress does not necessarily imply moral progress. Scientific and intellectual knowledge is powerless to change human nature, and yet that has become the pressing... there is a rapid and radical moral change, mankind will destroy itself with the power it has in its own hands. Now what has happened to the second postulate of my youth? Can I at least have the joy of pure knowledge, can I be certain that I have grasped something of the hidden mechanism of Nature? Can I hope to enjoy the understanding of the true laws that govern Nature? Alas! I fear that here too my... yearnings of the heart, in man or in nature, what things cry for, what their tears are for. On a larger canvas, through legends and parables, I portrayed the various facets of life's moods and urges, its rare wisdoms and common foolishnesses, gave a pulsating accent and a meaningful concreteness to episodes that constitute history, the history of man's and nature's consciousness. The tragedies and comedies ...
... helpful to the work. What you say about the outer being is correct; it must change and manifest what is within in the inner nature. But for that one must have experiences in the inner nature and through these the power of the inner nature grows till it can influence wholly and possess the outer being. To change the outer consciousness entirely without developing this inner consciousness would... contrary a very favourable stage in the transformation because the inner being can bring the whole force of the higher consciousness in it to change the nature wholly, observing the action of Nature without being affected by it, putting the force for change wherever needed Page 213 and setting the whole being right as one does with a machine. That is if one wants a transformation. For many... otherwise. But that is not so; he can change. There is another consciousness deeper within him, his true inner being, which is his real self, but is covered over by the superficial nature. This the ordinary man does not know, but the Yogi becomes aware of it as he progresses in his sadhana. As the consciousness of this inner being increases by sadhana, the surface nature and its responses are pushed out ...
... One begins to feel others too as part of oneself or varied repetitions of oneself, the same self modified by Nature in other bodies. Or, at the least, as living in the larger universal self which is henceforth one's own greater reality. All things in fact begin to change their nature and appearance; one's whole experience of the world is radically different from that of those who are shut up... upon the nature, it is from there that it comes. But nothing like the full descent of the peace, bliss etc. can come so long as the being is not ready. Very usually the first preparation is to work on the mind and vital and physical nature in such a way that the soul, the psychic being can have a chance Page 210 of manifesting itself and influencing the rest of the nature; for that... Descent and contain the "two ends" of existence in their single being. Letters on Yoga, p. 59 There are a hundred ways of approaching the Supreme Reality and, as is the nature of the way taken, so will be the nature of the ultimate experience by which one passes into That which is ineffable, That of which no report can be given to the mind or expressed by any utterance. All these definitive ...
... Thus only can we aspire through the offering of all our nature and being to a living union with the One who has become in Time and Space all that is. Here is the place of bhakti in the scheme of the Yoga of an integral self-liberation. It is an adoration and aspiration towards that which is greater than imperishable self or changing Nature. All knowledge then becomes an adoration and aspiration, but... by the qualities of the lower Nature, subject to the balance of virtue and sin, joy and sorrow, preoccupied with the fruits and consequences of his works, success and defeat, good result and evil result, bound on the world machine, caught up in a great tangle of action and inaction and perverse action which perplex the heart and mind and soul of man with their changing and contrary masks and appearances... but of Nature and his own personality, the secret at once of the individual and the universe. That was the Will universal in Nature, greater than the acts of Nature which proceed from him, to whom belong her actions and man's and the fruits of them. Therefore has he to do works as a sacrifice, because that is the truth of his works and of all works. Nature is the worker and not ego, but Nature is only ...
... which will change the very nature of these elements. Not quite physically, but in the process of their subconscient formation, in their mental, in their dynamism, even in their actions and reactions, there will be a new guide — a light of the true consciousness to illumine them. It becomes something benign, something sacred where the past with its pernicious load will be effaced. Men and Nature have utilised... mutual interdependence where one helps the other by a fusion of consciousness to effectuate a change. One can say that these are the precursors or the emanations of the New Wave. What is interesting is how this force is working in Nature as well as on the physical aspirants to bring about a radical change in their life and they are convinced that there is some other phenomenon that governs their life... It is in the atmosphere here and there, this element that is working to change the particles in the depths of the inconscience, in the nucleus where I have been able to light a spark of this New Light. And there, you see a life that throbs and aspires. Now it is pushing its domain into the atmosphere to bring about a change, a real work which has begun to expand into the atmosphere in response to ...
... much more than moralist's seeking for the right and blameless action; it is a constant effort to grow into likeness to Divine, it is a constant effort of liberation from our lower nature so to change into Divine nature. * * * Prayer is often supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. But prayer in Yoga is essentially an ardent aspiration, and it is a... with the Divine, which can be tested, verified and can be repeated. The important point in Yoga is that the object of Yoga is constantly emphasized, namely, union with the divine, and psychological change by means of which the faculties of body, life and mind are sought to be perfected. * * * Page 144 The central thrust of the critique of spiritual education is to demand justifiable... transitory satisfactions which are besieged by physical pain and emotional suffering. * * * It is in accomplishing these two processes that our entire psychological complex undergoes a radical change and we feel gifted with new faculties of cognition, affection and conation, and our personality comes to be guided by wisdom that is accompanied by courage and heroism to conquer the causes of injustice ...
... Our Many Selves Becoming Conscious To become conscious of what is to be changed in the nature is the first step towards changing it. But one must observe these things without being despondent or thinking “it is hopeless” or “I cannot change”. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - IV: Speech and Yoga “To know oneself and control oneself” what does... most part we are unconscious. It is this unconsciousness that keeps us down to our unregenerate nature and prevents change and transformation in it. It is through unconsciousness that the undivine forces enter into us and make us their slaves. You are to be conscious of yourself, you must awake to your nature and movements, you must know why and how you do things or feel or think them; you must understand... full light of consciousness in order to know and deal with them is inevitable; for there can be no complete change without it. But it can truly succeed only when a higher light and force are sufficiently at work to overcome, sooner or later, the force of the tendency that is held up for change. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - IV: The Subconscient and the Integral Yoga To work for your perfection ...
... and for the change and it must be a steady and patient will not tired out even by the utmost resistance of the physical nature. It is because your consciousness in the course of the sadhana has come into contact with the lower physical nature and sees it as it is in itself when it is not kept down or controlled either by the mind, the psychic or the spiritual force. This nature is in itself... inertia, dullness, obstruction to whatever is new or not yet established. Apart from the individual difficulty there is a general difficulty in the physical earth-nature. Physical nature is slow and inert and unwilling to change; its tendency is to be still and take long periods of time for a little progress. It is very difficult for even the strongest mental or vital or even psychic will to overcome... let the higher Force work to change this obscure physical nature. Page 359 There is nothing to be discouraged about. The fact is that after being so long in the mental and vital plane you have become aware of the physical consciousness, and the physical consciousness in everybody is like that. It is inert, conservative, does not want to move, to change—it clings to its habits (what ...
... with love for all: "Incarnate the white passion of thy Force." The beauteous Immortal's consent and her promise to come down to earth is one of the lofty mantric passages of the epic. So to change Nature's doom Savitri" is born. Exquisite poetry recounts her childhood, and the gradual growth of the Flame within her, and the Call to her divine quest and the meeting of the two young lovers. 10 ... consciousness and together they return to their home and all the boons promised by Yama are fulfilled. Adapting this legend as a symbol for a great living spiritual experience, Sri Aurobindo changes King Aswapati's sacrificial asceticism into the Tapasya or conscious spiritualisation of an aspiring soul of humanity. Savitri is not only the incarnation of a goddess but Divine Grace born in answer... "restless nether members tire of are made to endure, how the spirit's power gradually transforms the darker parts of man's being, even the body's cells, and makes them feel the need and will to change in order that 4 this immense creation's purpose may not fail. What he must check crowding through mind's gates under "forged signatures of the gods" what the silences of his being reveal, and what ...
... g circumstances to make the least advance or self-amelioration. There seems to be a dual being in us; Soul and Nature, Purusha and Prakriti, seem to be half in agreement, half at odds, Nature laying its mechanical control on the soul, the soul attempting to change and master nature. And the question is what is the fundamental character of this duality and what the issue. The Sankhya explanation... Will that inspires and motives her workings. The soul in man, a portion of this Divinity, shares his nature. Our nature is our soul's manifestation, operates by its sanction and embodies its secret self-knowledge and self-consciousness and its will of being in her motions and forms and changes. The real soul and self of us is hidden from our intelligence by its ignorance of inner things... n with its natural instruments, if it can see and live in the entire faith of its inner reality, then all is changed to it, life and existence take on another appearance, action a different meaning and character. Our being then becomes no longer this little egoistic creation of Nature, but the largeness of a divine, immortal and spiritual Power. Our consciousness becomes no longer that of this ...
... express something else, the true thing which escapes our Superficial understanding. "Never complain of the behavior of anyone, unless you have the power to change in his nature what makes him act in this way; and if you have the power, change him instead of complaining. "Whatever you do, never forget the goal which you have set before you. There is nothing great or small once you have set out... Truth and Right and Beauty, towards Love and Harmony and all that is a divine possibility in us, and persists till these things become the major need of our nature... If the secret psychic person can come forward into the front... the whole nature can be turned towards the real aim of life, the supreme victory, the ascent into spiritual existence." 1 Mental Education In regard to mental... to eliminate these latter from the very nature and fibre of our psychological constitution. The effective methods of this last aspect are: — to instill in the child, as soon as possible, the will towards progress and perfection; — rational arguments, sentiment and goodwill, or appeal to the sense of dignity and self-respect, according to the nature of the child in question; — to insist ...
... Ananda — both at the same time, perceived together. This changes the nature of the suffering, of course.’ 15 But it did not diminish it for all that. ‘A few seconds of paradise for hours of hell’ … ‘three minutes of splendour for twelve hours of misery’ … ‘There are moments that the body might cry out for pain, and … a very small, very small change, almost impossible to express with words, and that becomes... pressure of the golden supramental Power which was exerting its weight on it She wanted the existing structures to change from within. This is what started happening: political edifices are being changed because of the inner intenability of certain systems; religions are being changed from within — for instance Christianity by the charismatic movements and Islam by its confrontation with the Western... contact with what my body really is.’ 8 The Change of Master ‘The transformation starts with the opening of the consciousness to the action of the new forces’ 9 — the opening of the consciousness of the cells by the surrender to the divine Forces, now directly active on Earth, without the consciousness of the cells knowing what changes will occur because of the surrender. It is an act ...
... of The Miracle, are happening, and they are far more numerous than we are able to see. ‘The advance [of the transformation], however it comes about, will be indeed of the nature of a miracle, as are all such profound changes and immense developments; for they have the appearance of a kind of realised impossibility. But God works all his miracles by an evolution of secret possibilities which have... elements so that in their fusion they produce a new form and name of things and reveal a new spirit.’ 12 Thus writes Sri Aurobindo in The Human Cycle , where we also find: ‘The principle of such changes in Nature seems to be a long obscure preparation followed by a swift gathering up and precipitation of the elements into the new birth, a rapid conversion, a transformation that in its luminous moment figures... supramental transformation was a certainty and that it would come about with a minimum of destruction ‘although this minimum is still considerable.’ For it is impossible that things change without changing, and change is probably what human beings fear most of all. They are so insecure, so defenseless in their world that the assurance of their expectations is like the firm support under their feet ...
... said, "To fulfil God in life is man's manhood." With the teaching, influence, example and guidance of Mother and Sri Aurobindo, we are trying to evoke and establish the Divine Truth in us, change our nature and "bring heaven down on earth". We firmly believe that this is the only way to remove the misery of man from its roots. We are set on it with a "do or die" attitude. We must... and I was taking my write-ups Madhav-ji, for the necessary corrections. He was ma1' them with much sympathy and interest, and with a strokes of his pen, or changing one word here and word there he was bringing life in my writings, wit changing my style and mood. Those were excellent corrections. He had a sharp intelligence and a wonderful memory and I have seen him serving Mother with utmost... the work was completed in 1986. We have in this gymnasium complex a storeroom, an office, a caretaker's quarter, a gymnastics hall for the practice of Olympic gymnastics with bathrooms, toilets and changing rooms attached; a covered terrace for roller-skating, a warming-up place before starting gymnastics and for various other uses; an open terrace as big as the Playground, for the practice of various ...
... against all attack. What I said was that it was becoming awake and active, giving you the right attitude and helping you towards the change of your nature. I certainly did not mean a moral but a spiritual change. Freedom from ego is not a moral but a spiritual change—a moral man may be chock full of ego, an ego increased by his sense of goodness and rectitude. Freedom from ego is spiritually valuable... and no cause of hope seems to be there. Faith in the spiritual sense is not a mental belief which can waver and change. It can wear that form in the mind, but that belief is not the faith itself, it is only its external form. Just as the body, the external form, can change but the spirit remains the same, so it is here. Faith is a certitude in the soul which does not depend on reasoning, on... glimpse of a truth which the mind has not yet seized as knowledge. Until we know the Truth (not mentally but by experience, by change of consciousness) we need the soul's faith to sustain us and hold on to the Truth—but when we live in the knowledge, this faith is changed into knowledge. Of course I am speaking of direct spiritual knowledge. Mental knowledge cannot replace faith; so long as there ...
... and godlike toil." For, the solution of the riddle lies in the human being. Though man is a product of the higher consciousness descended on earth still he has not yet adequate power to change the whole cosmos and nature. Being subject to darkness, he is "A nomad of the far mysterious Life, In the wide ways a little spark of God." In his present state in the world man is subjected... heaven's beauty crowd in earthly limbs!" He appealed to her to unlock the doors of Fato by one great act And he heard in reply One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone Spirit's power." She promised the descent of a limitless mind, "a sweet and violent heart of ardent calms" moved by the passion of the gods, embodying all mights and ... She said "Beauty shall walk celestial on the earth, "A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will." Slowly, the splendour vanished. Only the echo of the message in the form of delight in his heart remained. The music was slowly hushed and ...
... Mother says with her native poise of patience and glow of persuasive sweetness: ...all is in the Divine and all is divine. And necessarily, if one changes the state of consciousness and is identified with the Divine, that changes the very nature of things. For example, what seemed pain or sorrow or misery - one becomes aware quite on the contrary that it is an opportunity for the Divine's growing... Mother alike, the earth was a theatre of conflict, a veritable Kurukshetra, between the Asuric and the Divine forces; it was also a field of unfolding possibilities. On the one hand, the supramental change was decreed and inevitable, and Sri Aurobindo and the Mother had direct evidence that the revolutionary power of the Supermind was well on its way to manifestation on the earth. On the other hand,... however long and protracted the struggle. If one takes a long view, there is this dialectic of the evolutionary process. It is not a straight line, not a sudden canter to the summit of supramental change. But there is here the sustained push of aspiration from below, and there is also the ready response from above: when the meeting is creative, something is gained, a forward step is taken. Page ...
... Always the same question! Everybody's sadhana gets interrupted because it is the nature of the consciousness to have these oscillations, until the whole nature is sufficiently changed to have the constant realisation in all parts. I do not know how often I have explained that. Even before our whole nature is changed, I think that if the higher action is persistent, we can at least throw off... there be any real difficulty in changing one's nature? There will be changes that have to be made, but they will not present themselves as almost insuperable difficulties. The lower vital does not like egolessness - it wants always its own personal satisfaction. What is the inner reason that the vital gets depressed? The original nature of the vital - selfish, demanding... speech or action, it will not return. That is the full rejection. I find that even the descents cannot change or purify the ego and desire. It is not descents that can do [it]. It is either psychic rejection or the settling of the higher consciousness in the lower nature or both together that can do it. The ego comes out in most of my thoughts, feelings and actions, even ...
... attempts of man to solve these problems have failed miserably. The problems are beyond the capacities and capabilities of man to tackle successfully. Our Master has pointed out that man has to change his nature, transcend himself and evolve into a higher species with the help of a new consciousness. Then only will he be able to come out of his, difficulties. Now let us examine the problem in our... scientific discovery can bring about that perfection until man transforms his own nature. And once man's nature is transformed every activity can be utilised for the work of integral perfection. But then the question arises: Should man just twiddle his thumbs until the transformation of his nature takes place? Not at all. He has first to be convinced of this truth in his mind and... outer approach and ended in materialism. But the problem of man is not solved. Just then, Sri Aurobindo came and told us that nothing will change the fate of man unless he is transformed integrally and emerges into a better species by the radical change of his consciousness, and that is possible only when he realises the Supramental Consciousness. That is why the Mother and Sri Aurobindo worked ...
... do the transformation in one stage. Human nature is mental nature, vital nature, physical nature. When it first changes, the first stage that it reaches is psychicization. The second stage it reaches is universalization or spiritualization. And the third stage it reaches is supramentalization or divine Nature. You see that from human nature to the divine the stages are one, two and three. The first stage... 46 direction, then Nature would also feel obstructed in its natural flow of ignorance and would correspondingly undergo a change. What he found was a double aspect, and in this double aspect, when the Purusha knows his true self and remembers his true being, Nature also changes and reveals her powers that are lying dormant in her own constitution. Nature also shows: I am not dull, I am... is it possible to change the determinism of Nature and avoid what appears to be inevitable? Is there at work in the universe a categorical imperative which cannot be set aside by intervention either of a human or a divine will? That is one problem. And then, is the present determination of the world final? People say that it is human nature, and by saying it is human nature they think that they ...
... fresh correspondence. Moreover it is not worthwhile sending experiences merely to ask whether they are true. The truth has to be found out by their effect in liberating the consciousness and changing the nature, ridding you of ego etc. Observe that in yourself and it will be sufficient. 5 December 1935 When what you write is correct, I say nothing—when it is your Page 465 physical... or killed, but it has to be changed, "caught hold of by both ends", at the upper end a mastery and control, at the lower end a right use. The main thing is to get rid of attachment and desire; it is then that an entirely right use becomes possible. By what actual steps, in what order, through what processus this mastery of the lower vital shall come depends on the nature, the stress of development,... why he is busy with "trifles" and small details and what is their place in the fullness of his labour. December 1936 You say certain things that human nature does not find so easy or natural. If I said only things that human nature finds easy and natural, that would certainly be very comfortable for the disciples, but there would be no room for any spiritual aim or endeavour. Page 460 ...
... of the being in Nature. In the course of the evolution the psychic essence grows and takes form as the psychic being. Psychicisation — the psychic change in which the psychic being comes forward to dominate the mind, vital and physical and change the lower nature. Purusha — Conscious Being; Conscious-Soul; essential being supporting the play of Prakriti (Nature); a Consciousness... which is always in oneness with the Divine. Spiritualisation — the spiritual change in which there is the established descent of the divine peace, light, knowledge, power, bliss from above, the awareness of the Self and the Divine and of a higher cosmic consciousness and the change of the whole nature to that. ś raddh ā —faith. the Subconscient — the part of the being... self-extension. [ Gītā 10.19] Nature, Nature Force — the outer or executive side of the Conscious Force which forms and moves the worlds. The higher, divine Nature (Para Prakriti) is free from Ignorance and its consequences; the lower Nature (Apara Prakriti) is a mechanism of active Force put forth for the working of the evolutionary Ignorance. The lower nature of an individual — mind, life and ...
... Patterns of the Present 7: The Future of Humanity To hope for a true change of human life without a change of human nature is an irrational and unspiritual proposition; it is to ask for something unnatural and unreal, an impossible miracle. 1 – Sri Aurobindo Some specimens of homo sapiens will, according to Sri Aurobindo and the Mother... supramental descent need not be limited to those who could thus open themselves entirely and it need not be limited to the supramental change; there could also be a minor or secondary transformation of the mental being within a freed and perfected scope of the mental nature. In place of the human mind as it now is, a mind limited, imperfect, open at every moment to all kinds of deviation from the truth... persuasions of a complete falsehood and perversion of the nature … there could emerge a true mind liberated and capable of the free and utmost perfection of itself and its instruments, a life governed by the free and illumined mind, a body responsive to the light and able to carry out all that the free mind and will could demand of it. “This change might happen not only in the few, but extend and generalise ...
... stage and not as a part of a gospel of Non-violence or pacific idealism. Peace is part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis; without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality. If it is attempted on any other basis (moral principle or gospel of Ahimsa or any other), it will fail and even may leave things worse than before. He is in... the different parties had and the inevitable consequences that it has had on the nation's development. It is also evident that if any meaningful and lasting change has to take place on the ground, it has to be preceded by a psychological change in the mass; otherwise it will not last and will only make the situation worse than before. It is evident that there were great differences of perception... it has had to work itself out have been appalling. And yet through it all, the inevitable tendency has worked constantly, pertinaciously, with the dull, obscure, indomitable, relentless obstinacy of Nature when she is opposed in her instinctive purposes by man, and finally, after a struggle enduring through millenniums, has triumphed. And, as usually happens when she is thus opposed by her own mental ...
... express something else, the true thing which escapes your superficial understanding. Never complain of the behaviour of anyone, unless you have the power to change in his nature what makes him act thus; and if you have the power, change him instead of complaining. Whatever you do, never forget the goal which you have set before you. There is nothing small or big in this enterprise of a great... movements that occur in you, the many impulses, reactions and conflicting wills that drive you to action. It is an assiduous study which demands much perseverance and sincerity. For man's nature, specially his mental nature, has a spontaneous tendency to give a favourable explanation for whatever he thinks, feels, says and does. It is only by observing these movements with great care, by bringing them, as... it the truth and light, endeavouring to convince it and Page 517 awaken in it the goodwill which for a moment was veiled. With the help of such patient intervention each crisis can be changed into a new progress, into a further step towards the goal. Progress may be slow, falls may be frequent, but if a courageous will is maintained one is sure to triumph one day and see all difficulties ...
... things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with them in the beauty of their normal form and function. The modern mentality has turned away from the normal and the obvious: it does not accept and admit the "given" as the final and definitive norm of things. It wishes to discover and establish other norms, it strives to bring about changes in the nature and condition... self-consciousness in the artist originated with the Romantics. The very essence of Romanticism is curiosity—the scientist's pleasure in analysing, observing, experimenting, Page 315 changing the conditions of our reactions, mental . or sentimental or even nervous and physical by way of discovery of new and unforeseen or unexpected modes of "psychoses" or psychological states. Goethe,... remoulding of these two factors. A growth, a heightening and deepening of the consciousness meant inevitably a movement towards the spiritual element in things. And that means, we have said, a twofold change in the future poet's make-up. First as regards the substance. The revolutionary shift that we notice in modern poets towards a completely new domain of subject-matter is a signpost that more is meant ...
... human hour And with one gesture change all future time. Let a great word be spoken from the heights And one great act unlock the doors of Fate. 179 And the Divine Mother vouchsafes the answer: O strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry. One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone Spirit's power... ... A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will. 180 Page 451 Words have to be found to express the movements of aspiration and response, and since a total correspondence is neither here nor there, a lucid and... is likewise the "union of strength and silence"; she is "an incarnation of the Divine Mother"; she is "the forerunner or first creator of a new race". 163 The dialectic of world transformation, the change of darkness into light, of death into immortality, is the vaster subject matter; but the human drama of the young wife ready to fight for and save her immaculate husband is no less significant. Savitri ...
... turning towards the Yoga was good, but it was not able to change his vital nature. No human influence—which can only be mental and moral—can do that. You can see that he is just what he was before. It is only from the sadhak's own soul turning towards the Divine [ that the change can come ]. It is so with everybody. Part of the nature turns to the Divine, another part does not give its consent... the Force, the Power are there. It is not really on the capacity of the outer nature that success depends, (for the outer nature all self-exceeding seems impossibly difficult), but on the inner being and to the inner being all is possible. One has only to get Page 31 into contact with the inner being and change the outer view and consciousness from the inner—that is the work of the sadhana... n in this life—a first contact and some preliminary spiritual change in part of the nature. Capacity of Westerners for Yoga The best way to answer your letter will be, I think, to take separately the questions implied in it. I will begin with the conclusion you have drawn of the impossibility of the Yoga for a non-Oriental nature. I cannot see any ground for such a conclusion; it is contrary ...
... things of human nature and things of physical Nature, and without questioning dealt with them in the beauty of their normal form and function. The modern mentality has turned away from the normal and the obvious: it does not accept and admit the "given" as the final and definitive norm of things. It wishes to discover and establish other norms, it strives to bring about changes in the nature and condition... self-consciousness in the artist originated with the Romantics. The very essence of Romanticism is curiosity – the scientist's pleasure in analysing, observing, experimenting, Page 87 changing the conditions of our reactions, mental or sentimental or even nervous and physical by way of discovery of new and unforeseen or unexpected modes of "psychoses" or psychological states. Goethe, Wordsworth... remoulding of these two factors. A growth, a heightening and deepening of the consciousness meant inevitably a movement towards the spiritual element in things. And that means, we have said, a twofold change in the future poet's make-up. First as regards the substance. The revolutionary shift that we notice in modern poets towards a completely new domain of subject-matter is a signpost that more is meant ...
... and they blundered on this account. The aim should be to come out of one's flawed or limited consciousness and unite with the Supreme, but that would be possible only when there was a quantum change in one's nature: ...when the Supramental manifests, it will replace the mental precision... that diminishes - the precision that limits and therefore falsifies things in part - by a clarity of vision,... experience is the earth) that has taken place upon earth; but considering the past, it would seem that a formidable time is still needed for all to be ready to change.... And yet, it was almost a promise... that there is going to be a sudden change (which is translated in our consciousness as a 'descent', an action that 'happens', something that was not acting till now and which has begun to act...). ... Presence... so much so that the body almost sank into despair. Then, someone who had gone up to her that night spoke of the Divine as "something up there, so far away". Immediately everything "changed into the divine Presence", it pervaded her body and never left her, and "when something goes wrong in the body... quite naturally it is set right". 22 On 27 November, she spoke of her experiencing ...
... each one. He tried to make them understand: The pressure, the call is to change in that part of the nature which depends directly on the Inconscient [when the yoga had already gone one degree deeper, from the Subconscient to the Inconscient], the fixed habits, the automatic movements, the mechanical repetitions of the nature, the involuntary reactions to life, all that seems to belong to the fixed... movement. I am at present engaged in bringing the Supermind into the physical consciousness, down even to the sub-material. The physical is by nature inert and does not want to be rendered conscient. It offers much greater resistance as it is unwilling to change. One feels as if “digging the earth,” as the Veda says. It is literally digging from Supermind above to Supermind below. The being has become... fixed character of a man. ...As for experiences, they are all right but the trouble is that they do not seem to change the nature. They only enrich the consciousness. 32 This was not easy to accept, even when one had quite understood in the higher parts of one's consciousness. Below, it was grumbling, taking offense, clinging to a thousand daily details: no one wanted to let go of his little fry, ...
... awaken earth to its higher nature and bliss, "to persuade earth-nature's change". These lines also illuminate Savitri's mission—to help and save the world—as well as her sacrifice—the Divine imprisoned in a human form, confronting death and human fate. Accordingly, when we examine the imagery diagram for these units, we see almost a merging of imagery as images of World and Nature alternate with those of... might native grow on mortal soll. mortal soil heaven Hard it It to persuade earth-nature's change; change earth-nature Mortality Dears ill the element's a touch: mortality eternal ... images of nature and earth. It is as though after repeated calls from the Eternal, the earth slowly begins to respond, and the reader's attention is directed to the world and time and "the dark beginning of all things." (Note that in a similar manner, throughout the first two major units, the one word "eternity" is effectively juxtaposed against several references to time, mortality, and change.) ...
... carry on the work of upholding the worlds. We cannot therefore say that the trirātra vrata has the power of the Shakti Yoga to bring about a totally radical change in Nature, particularly in the stubborn inconscient aspect of Nature, to altogether displace death from her. And yet the benign figure of Yama has to find its full meaning and appurtenant significance in this mortal creation. The V... the gods. The world of the great gods, the Overmind world, is no doubt splendid; but it stays as it is, is tied to its own kind. From it no other aspects of the multifold Transcendent can emerge, no change or progress is possible in it. In fact, if the gods should wish to get out of it and go to higher worlds, make progress, they must be willing and prepared to be bom in the mortal world. In that sense... beyond, crossing the triple Glory. Even as he approaches the Worlds of the Unknowable, the creative-executive power of the Supreme answers him and grants him the exceptional boon that one shall come and change everything. All shall be done for which this mortal world was created, — he is told. In the legend of Savitri the issue, albeit briefly and indicatively stated, is yet well focused in the i ...
... regarded non-violence or peace as the part of the highest ideal, but contended it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis. He pointed out later in a letter that without a change in human nature it could not come with any finality. If it is admitted on any other basis (mental principle, gospel of Ahimsa or any other) it will fail and even leave things worse than before. Sri Aurobindo's... shall relate it to other powers of the human mind and scientific knowledge to other knowledge more intimate to other and not less light-giving and power-giving parts of our Indian intelligence and nature. The aim and principle of a true philosophy of national education, according to Sri Aurobindo, should not ignore modern truth and knowledge, but to take our foundation on our own being, our own mind ...
... me to do. The play of colour—balanced distribution of light and shadow to bring out the perfect harmony of colour—the subtle infusion of light, the transcendent spontaneity, the magical changes of Nature—the supreme Colourist's realism and visions—all these I had to put on canvases with vibrant, various strokes of brushes. I was perfectly aware that it was not going to be easy, but life... I finished the painting and sent it to the Mother that very morning. She returned it through Ambu who brought prasad from her at midday along with this note: There is no need of changing anything. It is excellent. This was the beginning of our work. The following name was given by the Mother to this work: It is impossible for me to give the full description... modem. When I showed the painting to the Mother I thought it was awful. Once again I broached the subject of the dhoti. She said firmly: Ah no, I prefer trousers here. It is better if you change the colour of the trousers to pale greyish-blue instead of brown. Then they will look nice. Here too some people criticised when they saw the exhibition of the Savitri paintings. The Mother ...
... and not as a part of a gospel of Non-violence or pacifist idealism. Peace is a part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis; without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality. If it is attempted on any other basis (moral principle or gospel of Ahimsa or any other), it will fail and even may leave things worse than before. Sri... extermination created by these ominous discoveries* may bring about a will in the governments and peoples to ban and prevent the military use of these inventions, but, so long as the nature of mankind has not changed, this prevention must remain uncertain and precarious and an unscrupulous ambition may even get by it a chance of secrecy and surprise and the utilisation of a decisive moment which might... Because the burden which is being laid on mankind is too great for the present littleness of the human personality and its petty mind and small life-instincts, because it cannot operate the needed change, because it is using this new apparatus and organisation to serve the old infraspiritual and infrarational life-self of humanity, the destiny of the race seems to be heading dangerously, as if impatiently ...
... friendship dating back to when they were students together in the UK. 224A mantra is a set of mystic words given by a guru to an adept of yoga, which, when chanted repeatedly, produces subtle changes in the nature and inner being of the adept. 'Om' is the seed sound that originates the universe. It is used at the beginning and the end of most mantras. It is an extremely powerful sound when recited correctly... periodicals. Strangely enough, it was a writing of this last class that changed the whole tenor of my life. Mark how one's tenor of life can be changed by simple incidents. Perhaps you remember the line in Savitri: 225 225 Book IV, Canto III, 373. Page 153 A casual passing phrase can change our life. To continue with the article: ... many mules here! (Laughter) In his actual life, however, we have had many instances of an unbending nature, that is to say, of firm determination rather than of stubbornness. His famous letters to his wife amply indicate this firmness, along with a loving and affectionate nature. His failure to appear at the riding test in England was no idle whim. As he explained to me one day, it was the ...
... supramental body. ” But there’s the big question of that supramental body, I don’t know. 110 What change in this body of Matter could make the very nature of Matter change to the point that the other body could infuse itself here, in our terrestrial conditions? It is perhaps this change in the nature of Matter that is the knot of the story: a “hybrid” Matter, if one may say so, between the supramental... body. What was going to happen? The FACT must change, she was to say ultimately. Can it change? And it was as if Mother were on two simultaneous paths: a path of life, a path of death, an imperishable body, a decomposing one. She was at the same time in life and in death, on one side and the other of the bowl as if the two had to become one, or change into a third thing. The body is the bridge... fish. It is perhaps the phenomenon that is underway, the less and less invisible contagion. But.… There is a formidable “but.” The appearance of the world changes for those whose eyes are open. The very appearance of the body changes: the true light, the true consciousness, the true content imposes itself. And it is certain that the more the true vibration becomes evident, visible, the more it ...
... it as yourself and understand things and grow in knowledge and happiness and true feeling. The external nature is being changed by the influence of the inner being, but what is pushed out returns constantly from old habit—and then you feel this old nature as if it were yourself. This external nature has been like that of almost all human beings, like that of most of the sadhaks here, selfish and full... condition; but this you should not regard as yourself, but as part of the old nature which has to be transformed. So it is something in the physical that has the obscurity and the unconsciousness; but this too you should not look at as yourself, but as something formed in the exterior nature which has to be changed and will be changed. The real "you" is the inner being, the soul, the psychic being, that which... the lower nature, ideas of the mind, desires and attractions of the vital, habits of the body consciousness that stand in the Page 638 way of the growth of the higher consciousness—there are other difficulties, but these make the bulk of the opposition. Each part of the nature wants to go on with its old movements and refuses, so far as it can, to admit a radical change and progress ...
... wrong suggestions, adverse happenings, temporary depressions to upset the attitude. You had made great progress – for progress in Yoga is not to be measured by occult experiences only, but by change in the nature. You have seen for yourself that people can have such experiences and yet remain where they were, with the same vital egoism and reactions. You had realised the necessity of getting rid of... he will explain his motives (at present he is saying nothing to anybody) and we will all laugh over the affair. I think we must act as if we accepted his attitude. In a man of Duraiswamy’s nature any change of his decision must be allowed to come from within himself not by any outward pressure. Let us leave it to his own psychic being, giving it only a silent and inner assistance. * ... and there are besides different lines of such experiences for different natures. You should not hanker after these or get disappointed and despondent because they do not yet come. These things can be left to come of themselves when the consciousness is ready. What you have to aspire to is bhakti, purification of the nature, right psychic consciousness and surrender. Aspire for bhakti and it will ...
... " And so he puts this question : how must we now change and what must we become in order to arise then in the Divine consciousness ? In order to have the real change man will have to undertake a serious inner effort and become so changed in his nature in life and his relation to others as to be able to embody the divine life. How must we changed in order to do that ? He is presenting that problem;... Mind, Life and Body. Now here what we are trying to do is to see that bridging these five is Divine Maya, and there is the undivine Maya, undivine nature. Maya is another name for Nature. Now the question is : what is the relation between these two natures and these three planes ? That is what he is trying to work out, the relation between the Transcendent, and the Supermind and these three, mind, life... of God in the field of external nature has not yet been achieved. Victory of the Divine Truth, victory over ignorance is possible. Then not only the manifestation of the Divine consciousness in the world would be possible, but also His power could remould man's life and body until the image of the Satcid-ananda is projected in life. And the victory in the outer nature may be the victory of God in humanity ...
... penetrate, Let this ambrosia feed his veins That he be deathless, godlike, great; Page 54 Immortal youth and beauty shine Within his limbs and life and thought; Change human nature to divine, That Zeus' purpose may be wrought. She goes to the fire-place, arranges the logs, stirs the fire to make it blaze up high, then comes and lifts the child from the cradle... agony, And come down here, that thou mightst change at last. She touches him again. Pluto rises shining in gold-red, his dark robes drop off. The whole cave is flooded with brilliant light. Pluto Demeter, thy sweet touch unveils my truth; Behold me now, and look upon my realm. Thy daughter, my Beloved, has changed all; All things are full of her, my heart... must Reverse thy great decree. Ananke I wait thy Will. Zeus But as we watch the years run swiftly past, And as the time draws near I see below A sudden, fearful change, dark ominous clouds Arise in fitful anger from the deeps, 1. Sri Aurobindo: "...a single soul in humanity of which each man and each people is an incarnation and soul-form..." (S.A.B.C ...
... physical is the last to change and the supramental force can be at work in a being long before something of it becomes perceptible in the life of the body. In brief, one can say that the supramental education will result not merely in a progressively developing formation of the human nature, an increasing growth of its latent faculties, but in a transformation of the nature itself, a transformation... Child or man, boy or girl, there is only one sound principle of good teaching. Difference of age only serves to diminish or increase the amount of help and guidance necessary; it does not change its nature.6 In other words, the idea that the teacher should impart his knowledge - what he knows about a subject - to the child is fundamentally wrong. He must show the child how to learn that... We have a personality to which matter and force are unmeaning unless related to something infinitely personal, whose nature we have discovered, in some measure, in human love, in the greatness of the good, in the martyrdom of heroic souls, in the ineffable beauty of nature, which can never be a mere physical fact nor anything but an expression of personality ...... In ancient India ...
... with a view to prepare it for the supramental change. 42 But, of course, anyone who wants to change earth-nature must first accept it in order to change it. To quote from an unpublished poem of my own [A God's Labour]: He who would bring the heavens here, Must descend himself into clay And the burden of earthly nature bear And tread the dolorous way.... for a mass-march through the wide-open gates. The intended alchemic change of mentalised egoistic self-divided self-corrupting self-destroying man into spiritualised (or supramentalised) man in unison with all humanity and all Nature and enacting wholeness and harmony and the life divine, such a radical, such a revolutionary change cannot be effected except as the result of strivings, advances, setbacks... verily the advanced scout of the evolutionary adventure, if man were really destined to rise higher still and enact the Life Divine even here on this earth, it must then be possible for him to change his present nature totally into supernature. The higher consciousness must be lured to descend and inhabit and transform the lower planes (the lowest inconscient not excluded) - Page 588 and ...
... illusion, Nirvana and embodied nature. During that prelude Nirvana throws a luminous quiescence on our mind, vitality and body. Rather, since it is itself actionless, we should say our mind, vitality and body reflect the luminous quiescence of Nirvana. This quiescence means a lot of wonderful change in our nature - a change dynamic as well as static since our nature or Prakriti is a dynamism... adopt, but it has robbed of trenchant finality the line once drawn between the actual spatio-temporal phenomena and the hypothetical mystery of God. In addition, it has suggested a change in our idea of Nature's laws. Both in Jeans and Eddington you will Page 24 observe the disposition to consider the nineteenth century's "laws of iron" statistical and nothing... limited by His own static eternity and who dynamically manifests our universe and acts as its Lord. And Purushottama manifests our universe through His Para-Prakriti or Super-Nature. Super-Nature is marked out from Nature here which is a derivation or veiled play of it: it is that which is divine and has the power of divinising all that is below. Its dynamism is the perfect original of the ...
... supra-mental) not yet organised or active directly in earth-nature, even in the spiritual life, but yet to be organised and made directly active. Because a method has been precognised for achieving this purpose which is as total and integral as the aim set before it, viz., the total and integral change of the consciousness and nature, taking up old methods but only as a part action and present... life is transformed. In this process, our nature such as it stands organised by our past evolution and without rejecting anything essential is brought under the force of tapasya so that all undergoes a divine change. Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. In this process, all life is perceived as Yoga of Nature, seeking to manifest God within itself, but... in the state of Sachchidananda, but also sadharmya mukti, in which the divine nature is acquired by the transformation of the lower being. Transformation is the keyword of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo explains this as follows: By transformation I do not mean some change of the nature - I do not mean, for instance, sainthood or ethical perfection or yogic siddhis (like ...
... whether the human nature can be changed and whether we should not plan new education which would aim at the change of human nature. PR stated that very important experiments in education are currently being conducted in the West and that these experiments aim at creative development of talents of children. She said that it is by emphasising creativity that human nature can be changed in the right... perfectly synchronized. Page 116 PKSP stated that unless the present human consciousness undergoes a change, we cannot bring about any real change in the society. He felt that there is a need of total revolution, both individual and collective. He asked whether such a total change is possible. KJ explained that the human being is basically angelic in character, because there is a... society needs to be prepared for a new system of education and a new way of life so that the society is receptive to the changes. But again, she added, the problem is as to how to prepare the society, how to make society accept the change and how to bring about the needed changes. She said that the problem is as to how we can make people think in a different fashion, so that when there are innovations ...
... "a very remarkable atmosphere", but the result was he branded as "dangerous revolutionaries all those who wanted to change something in the earth-Nature". 7 Prakriti had best be left alone! He couldn't countenance the feasibility of change - of evolution - in terrestrial Nature.8 But need suffering be always the badge of the human tribe? Couldn't suffering - couldn't even the necessity for death... was. First, it allows you to grasp a very profound and extremely useful truth ... and then it shields you from all necessity of changing your outer nature. It's so convenient, isn't it? You say, "I am like that, what can I do about it? I separate myself from Nature, I let her do whatever she likes, I am not *Jnanendranath Chakravarty, later Vice-Chancellor of Lucknow University. His wife... sannyasa, adopting the name Yashoda Ma, and founded an Ashram near A1mora. She was to initiate Ronald Nixon, naming. him Sri Krishnaprem. Page 15 this Nature, I am the Purusha. Ah! let her go her own way; after all, I can't change her." This is extremely convenient. And that is why people adopt it; for they imagine they are in the Purusha, but at the least scratch they fall right back ...
... spiritual experience and knowledge and integral change of the being and nature. Page 29 If the psychic is awake and in front, it becomes easy to remain conscious of the things that have to be changed in the external nature and it is comparatively easy to change them. But if the psychic gets veiled and retires in the background, the outer nature left to itself finds it difficult to remain... Then mortal nature change to the divine. Open God's door, enter into his trance..." Purification and consecration are two great necessities of sadhana. Those who have experiences before purification run a great risk: it is much better to have the heart pure first, for then the way becomes safe. That is why I advocate the psychic change of the nature first — for that means... herself and equal Heaven Or Heaven descend into earth's mortal state. But for such vast spiritual change to be, Out of the mystic cavern in man's heart The heavenly Psyche must put off her veil And step into common nature's crowded rooms And stand uncovered in that nature's front And rule its thoughts and fill the body and life. It is necessary to understand ...
... true and radical change in the law of the external nature. If, then, any sadhaka refuses in practice to admit this change, or if he refuses even to admit the necessity for any change of his lower vital being and his habitual external personality, I am entitled to conclude that, whatever his professions, he has not accepted either myself or my Yoga. I am well aware that this change is not easy; the... emphasised until the lower vital changes, but if we can judge from the majority of people here, that change is most extraordinarily difficult. The struggle is always hard with the lower vital nature—because it has been indulged through so many lives and it is not easily made willing to change. Page 157 There is certainly a sincere will to change. This resistance of the lower vital... consented to change. It was inevitable that in the course of the sadhana these inferior parts of the nature should be brought forward in order that like the rest of the being they may make the crucial choice and either accept or refuse transformation. My whole work depends upon this movement; it is the decisive ordeal of this Yoga. For the physical consciousness and the material life cannot change if this ...
... in the Divine". The Yoga was not to be done in a spirit of levity or laxity, but in a condition of constant and intense aspiration and tapasya. It really meant a determination radically to change one's whole nature, inject even the cells of one's body with a new awareness and an infallible certitude. While the Master's words were categorical, the Mother's comments came with an infectious friendliness... stay in the Ashram and set an example to the world. "There is an ascending evolution in nature," says the Mother, "which goes from the stone to the plant, from the plant to the animal, from the animal to man." In his physical nature, man is still largely an animal, though a thinking and speaking animal. Nature now tries to bring out a being "who will be to man what man is to the animal", endowed with... on 15 January 1951: If you organise everything - your feelings, your thoughts, your impulses, etc. - around the psychic centre which is the inner light, you will see that all inner disorder will change into a luminous order. 2 She read out her essay on "The Science of Living", and elaborated some of the points only succinctly stated there. Or she read the piece on "Dreams" from Words of Long ...
... imperfect, she brings the perfect divine consciousness into the nature of man in order to realize immortality for him. Immortality is another word for divine consciousness. Then she overcomes death? Yes, death on earth. This possibility of change of the whole human nature from its present condition into a more perfect divine nature has not been visualized by any seer before. That is the special... thousand forces that deny. And then the divine Mother gives a reply to his entreaty: "O strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry. One shall descend, and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone spirit's power. A limitless Mind that can contain the world, A sweet and violent heart of ardent calms Moved by the passions of the gods shall come. All... s sword And from her eyes the Eternal's bliss shall gaze. A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will." There you find some description of what Aswapathy asked and what boon was given. At the end of the epic, the supreme Godhead says to Savitri: ...
... that the descent will not do. "I will come myself in you." That was her clear indication. Instead of the descent she herself will be in me. Descent means a lot of resistance. It means changing the nature. But when she comes she will take care of everything. So not descent, but she herself. My spirit has become very powerful. I could see that. I was asking for the supramental peace... about it. I just allowed it to go on, simply to let it happen. Next day I was told that it was the impersonal work which was being done. It means basically that nature is being tackled,—perhaps first the inner nature. Can I say that I am liberated? Am I liberated? Not quite. 21:05:1994 I am told now about the 'physical' appearance of Sri Aurobindo I had experienced... groove. The psychic being or the spirit? Must be the psychic being. 14:05:1994 Remain in Pure Existence. The work is being done at the base. What is this base? The whole of Nature, Prakriti I suppose, including the subconscious on an individual level. Pure Existence should mean the Self, Atman. The work is in the base and it can be done best in that state, by remaining ...
... direct government of the nature. It can then receive and express all spiritual realisations in its own way and manner. 1 — Sri Aurobindo * At the beginning the soul in Nature, the psychic entity, whose unfolding is the first step towards a spiritual change, is an entirely veiled part of us, although it is that by which we exist and persist as individual beings in Nature. The other parts of... distinguishes the right step from the false, extricates the divine or Godward movement from the clinging mixture of the undivine. Its action is like a searchlight showing up all that has to be changed in the nature; it has in it a flame of will insistent on perfection, on an alchemic transmutation of all the inner and outer existence. It sees the divine essence everywhere but rejects the mere mask and... psychic change and the spiritual change? The psychic change is the change that puts you in contact with the immanent Divine, the Divine who is at the centre of each being and of whom the psychic being is the sheath and the expression. By the psychic change one passes from the individual Divine to the universal Divine and finally to the Transcendent. The spiritual change puts you ...
... though his own works show no sign of his being able to carry out his view,—that the artist has to use Nature only as a repertoire. Nature is only a mass of raw-materials for the artist. He can use what he likes out of it. He can even change nature. From this liberty with the forms of Nature that the artist claimed the assertion of his right to create altogether new 1 Gauguin: "For him... Coomar Swamy says, the forms will only be " denatured "—contrary to Nature. This creates the impression of unnaturalness, violence, repulsion. This " transformation " of nature in art cannot be made by merely changing the outer, the external parts of the natural form. Such a change or transformation to be real and effective must be organic. This work of transformation has to be done by the inner being of... body was the ideal. The Greeks never seriously looked beyond the intellect in their cultural endeavours. The European art-ideal underwent a change. The eye of the artist that was turned inwards or towards a supraphysical Reality now turned outwards, towards Nature, human body, life etc. And even when it turned to creation of Gods, it conceived them with the help of intellectual imagination and did not ...
... Bhaaratvarsha, our India, felt something like the promise of the Divine Mother, in Sri Aurobindo's epic, King Aswapathy, the father of Savitri: One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone Spirit's power. ... And in her body as on his homing tree Immortal Love shall beat his glorious wings .... She shall bear Wisdom in her voiceless bosom, Strength... s sword And from her eyes the Eternal's bliss shall gaze. A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will. 7 II Having landed in Pondicherry on 24 April 1920, the Richards and Miss Hodgson, as arranged beforehand, first stayed at Magry's Grand... reminiscentially, "the Mother came in our midst and stayed on for good .... You can see now how that last spell of stormy weather came as a benediction. Nature did in fact become a collaborator of the Divine Purpose." 25 VII Mirra's change of residence on Sri Aurobindo's insistence from Bayoud House, to his own place on the night of the cyclone was, seen in retrospect, a preordained event ...
... and not as a part of a gospel of Non-violence or pacific idealism. Peace is a part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis; without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality. If it is attempted on any other basis (moral principle or gospel of Ahimsa or any other) it will fail, and even may leave things worse than before. He is in... Sri Aurobindo refused to do; he demanded a change in that constitution enabling newly formed associations to elect delegates so that the Nationalists might independently send their representatives to the All-India session and on this point the negotiations broke down. Sri Aurobindo began however to consider how to revive the national movement under the changed circumstances. He glanced at the possibility... Aurobindo took publicly in Indian politics was of brief duration, for he turned aside from it in 1910 and withdrew to Pondicherry; much of his programme lapsed in his absence, but enough had been done to change the whole face of Indian politics and the whole spirit of the Indian people, to make independence its aim and non-cooperation and resistance its method, and even an imperfect application of this policy ...
... pure, who has assumed the triple nature for the manifestation of the Divine in Matter. The Mother's very first instruction to a spiritual aspirant is : "Be conscious. ” "We are conscious of only an insignificant portion of our being; for the most part we are unconscious. It is this unconsciousness that keeps us down to our unregenerate nature and prevents change and transformation in it... .Once... passive, for, a passive detachment can lead to the liberation of the soul, but is ineffectual to change or transform nature to any considerable extent. A quiet and dynamic detachment is stabilised and fortified by equality. A perfect, unperturbed equality in the face of all happenings of the nature makes the detachment invulnerable and itself becomes the base of the most powerful action of a dynamic... hands of the Divine for a radical and integral conversion into her spiritual counterpart. In the former case it is an eventual cessation, in the latter a total transformation. Rejection changes the ego-centric nature of desires, while repression can only maim and mangle it. Suppression and Indulgence "The difference between suppression and an inward essential rejection is the difference ...
... have to be changed before there can be an entire transformation of the mental being. The higher transforming power has, therefore, to descend, as soon as may be and without waiting for an integral mental change, into the heart so as to occupy and change the emotional nature, and afterwards into the inferior vital centres to occupy and change the whole vital and kinetic and sensational nature, and, finally... transition the assent of the Purusha is needed and there must be too the consent of each part of the nature to the action of the higher power for its change. There must be then a conscious self-direction of the mental being in us towards this change, this substitution of Supernature for the old nature, this transcendence. The rule of conscious obedience to the higher truth of the spirit, the surrender... place. But the third, the supramental change does not admit of any premature descent of the highest Light; for it can only commence when the supramental Force begins to act directly, and this it does not do if the nature is not ready. For there is too great a disparity between the power of the supreme Force and the capacity of the ordinary nature; the inferior nature would either be unable to bear or, ...
... thinking mind, His power and joy of the life, His light and rapture of the emotional mind and the senses. Something of the Supreme that is imaged of the Brahman falls upon the world- nature and changes it into divine nature. All this is not done by any sudden miracle. It comes by flashes, revelations, sudden touches and glimpses; there is as if a leap of the lightning of revelation flaming out from higher... karma lipyate nare), even though it Page 52 supports action and manifests inexhaustible action. The inactive Brahman is not incapable of action, and action does not change the nature of the Self, but only the nature of the diverse forms. The Self exceeds all things, even though all things issue from that self, since that self is one without the second, ekam eva advitīyam. The Isha... working out to a divine fulfillment in a progressive harmony of Becoming. The individual soul changes the human or egoistic standpoint, and there arises the divine, supreme and universal view and realization. Page 51 In a subsequent verse, in verse eight, the Upanishad expounds the nature of the ultimate reality, and describes how that reality remains immobile, impersonal and inactive ...
... And with one gesture change all future time. Let a great word be spoken from the heights And one great act unlock the doors of Fate. 17 Then at long last, his Divine Interlocutor answers assuring him that she, Savitri, will be bom: O strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry. One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone Spirit's... And from her eyes the Eternal's bliss shall gaze. A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will. 18 So the Great Sphinx reveals her secret: The incredible comes to pass: the unhoped for incarnation comes down to earth as Aswapati's... The world that we know changes for us, just as a landscape changes as we climb the mountain. It seems to follow that we have no right to dispute what the mystics tell us that they have seen, unless we have been there ourselves and not seen it." 3 But here Dean Inge only touches the surface of the validity of mystic seeing. It is not only that the "landscape changes" as one rises higher ...
... is needed is a change in human nature. In truth, it is not so much a change in India's pocketbook that is needed as a change in human nature. If you don't change human nature, you always end up with failure. In other words, it is not an economic problem. Towarnicki: Or perhaps it's both. He thinks that, short of an economic solution, all attempts to ameliorate human nature – the "quality... 130 for the stabilisation of the supramental Light and Force in material Nature." That is what Sri Aurobindo said. By "stabilisation," he means the establishment of a new mode of vibration or being in matter. Naturally, a number of knowledgeable people will find such a bodily transformation, such a change of program in matter probably impossible. But they are forgetting one thing... Sri Aurobindo has a certain answer to that. And an answer in matter. A true materialism. Perhaps a "divine materialism"? Page 191 J.R.D. Tata and Auroville, Changing Human Nature Towarnicki: And how do you explain J.R.D. Tata's helping Auroville? Ah, that is something else. Towarnicki: Can one talk about it? Of course, one can. Towarnicki: Do ...
... family, he reluctantly started writing, discovered that he had talent and published several essays. In the first one, The Evening Hour of a Hermit, he conveyed his conviction that man can be changed and the nature of society radically reformed by education. The book that won him sudden fame was a story about village life which, ". . . I know not how, flowed from my pen and developed out of itself without... parents, with tears in their eyes, declare: I can see that my child is better; is more good-natured and kinder than before. 1 A public inspection by a two-man commission resulted in a glowing tribute which helped to spread Pestalozzi s reputation beyond Switzerland. With fame came a great change. Assistants who wanted to learn about the new method began to arrive, and Pestalozzi became more... gripped by all-powerful nature, realizing as no other the separation of his fellow-men from the strong influence of the senses and from intellectual life, he broke with Herculean strength the chains of the mind, and gave the child back to himself and education back to the child and to human nature. Pestalozzi took over the concept that education must harmonize with nature. However simple such a ...
... but in the gnostic change the evolution crosses a line beyond which there is a supreme and radical reversal of consciousness and the standards and forms of mental cognition are no longer sufficient: it is difficult for mental thought to understand or describe supramental nature. Mental nature and mental thought are based on a consciousness of the finite; supramental nature is in its very grain... greater life-creation. That might be impossible without a considerable change in the life of the world, but such a change would be a natural consequence of the appearance of a new Power in Nature and its universal influence. In the emergence of the gnostic being would be the hope of a more harmonious evolutionary order in terrestrial Nature. A supramental or gnostic race of beings would not be a race made... mastery over Nature. But, this redemption once effected, the descent of the spiritual light and force can invade and take up the body also and there can be a new liberated and sovereign acceptance of material Nature. That is possible, indeed, only if there is a changed communion of the Spirit with Matter, a control, a reversal of the present balance of interaction which allows physical Nature to veil the ...
... among the intelligentsia everywhere and I believe that it is symptomatic of the new psychological change that is trying to establish itself. The material advance itself, man's mastery over unlimited material energy, and simultaneously man's inner feeling of the need for changing his own nature are signs of the descent of a Power beyond the Mind into earth evolution. Sri Aurobindo advocates the... his scientific advance, is still a slave of his own nature, his blind desires, impulses, passions, ambitions, greed, ego - in short, the slave of ignorance. The advance in techniques has given rise to a tendency to increase his needs, " to raise the standard of living, " as it is called, to multiply gadgets for his comfort; it is slowly changing the values of life by promoting the false notion that... underwent a change there is no reason to suppose that the body which is seemingly undivine and _________________________ ¹ The Life Divine, P. 217 ² Ibid, P. 219 ³ Ibid, P. 220 4 Ibid, P. 233. A. L ... 2 Page 17 gross would remain unchanged. In fact, the present limits of the body are not permanent. They are not " the sole possible rhythm of cosmic Nature". Body ...
... stages this progression and change will take place must depend on the form, need and powers of the individual nature. In the spiritual domain the essence is always one, but there is yet an infinite variety and, at any rate in the integral Yoga, the rigidity of a strict and precise mental rule is seldom applicable; for, even when they walk in the same direction, no two natures proceed on exactly the same... most and give it a higher and larger satisfaction; impotent in practice to change man's vital life and nature, they only modify and palliate its action and daub over its unchanged egoistic essence. Or if they are intensely followed with an entire sincerity of the will, it is by an exaggerated amplification of one side of our nature; in that exaggeration there can be no clue for the full and perfect divine... create an ever progressive inner law of our action which continues till the spiritual and supramental can be established in our nature. In the transition there may well be a period in which we take up all life and action and offer them to the Divine for purification, change and deliverance of the truth within them, another period in which we draw back and build a spiritual wall around us admitting through ...
... The worst suffering does not change his Sattwic nature. Job moves away outside town, scrapes himself with broken piece of pot and sits on an ash heap. Hearing about his misfortune, three of his friends from distant places gather together and call on Job. They sit silently with him for a week. With the passing of days the pain intensifying, Job's Sattwic nature wears away and at last Job... All then shall change, magic order come Overtopping the mechanical universe. A mightier race shall inhabit the mortal's world... And thrill with love of God the enamoured heart... And found Light's reign on her unshaking base... Even there shall come as a high crown of all The end of Death, the death of Ignorance... When superman is bom as Nature's king, His presence... possible. God asks the Satan to take away all Job has,— his property and even his ten children. The fellow does it readily, delighting as he does in others' suffering. But Job's Sattwic nature does not change. He tells himself that God gave and God has taken away all he had. He only blesses God, contrary to the Satan's prediction that he would curse him. God again points to the Satan "his servant" ...
... implemented in some parts of the country as far as the primary education is concerned. But experience has shown that examinations or tests are in themselves necessary, but what is required is a change in the nature of the tests, frequency of the tests, situations of the tests, purposes of the tests and the attitudes which have to be developed among students and teachers in regard to tests. — Right... values, family relationships and general science and art of living. XVI. Examination System — What Needs to be changed The present system of examination, as operating in India, has come under severe criticism. And yet, nothing significant has been done to change this system. Unless the present system of examination is abolished, the system of education will continue to be dysfunctional... sincerity, cheerfulness, benevolence, right judgment, courage, self-sacrifice, cooperation and harmony. This argument assumes that the system of tests that is prevalent today cannot be changed or only marginally changed. But, if students are required to maintain their progress reports on those activities, compositions, essays, artistic creation which they have participated in or produced and which ...
... later perversions and desiring its transformation. It is the nature of human institutions to degenerate, to lose their vitality, and decay, and the first sign of decay is the loss of flexibility and oblivion of the essential spirit in which they were conceived. The spirit is permanent, the body changes; and a body which refuses to change must die. The spirit expresses itself in many ways while itself... but she is inactive, imprisoned in the magic circle of Tamas, the self-indulgent inertia and ignorance of her sons.... We have to create strength where it did not exist before; we have to change our natures, and become new men with new hearts, to be born again.... We need a nucleus of men in whom the Shakti is developed to its uttermost extent, in whom it fills every corner of the personality and... limited to the existing materials either in their nature or in their quantity. It can transform bad material into good material, insufficient means into abundant means. It was a deep consciousness of this great truth that gave Mazzini the strength to create modern Italy.... It is our hope that ... not only the political circumstances of India be changed but her deeper disease be cured and by a full ...
... sanction or refusal, he perceives that he can, slowly and uncertainly at first, Page 122 more decisively afterwards, change the movements of Nature. Eventually in this witness soul or behind it is revealed to him the presence of a Knower and master Will in Nature, and all her activities more and more appear as an expression of what is known and either actively willed or passively permitted... by the establishment here of the soul's native world of light, joy, freedom, oneness. A union of our instrumental being no less than of our soul and spirit must change our imperfect nature into the very likeness and image of Divine Nature; it must put off the blind, marred, mutilated, discordant movements of the Ignorance and put on the inherence of that light, peace, bliss, harmony, universality,... impersonal Presence has dominated from above or penetrated and occupied his nature; a Light descending has suffused his mind, life-power, the very cells of his body, illumined them with knowledge, revealed him to himself down to his most disguised and unsuspected movements, exposing, purifying, destroying or brilliantly changing all that belonged to the Ignorance. A Force has poured into him in currents ...
... greater than was ever Japan's; for the Japanese had only to revitalise and perfect a strength that already existed. We have to create strength where it did not exist before; we have to change our natures, and become new men with new hearts, to be born again. There is no scientific process, no machinery for that. Strength can only be created by drawing it from the internal and inexhaustible... Swami and then returned to Baroda. After this trip I saw a marked change both in Aravind Babu and Deshpande. Both of them changed their life altogether. They started worshipping the Goddess and taking only one meal – a pure vegetarian meal – a day; both started living a life of austerity. But between the two I saw a greater change in Aravind Babu. He was never as free with me as he used to be before... it love, enthusiasm, Bhakti that is wanting? These are ingrained in the Indian nature, but in the absence of Shakti we cannot concentrate, we cannot direct, we cannot even preserve it. Bhakti is the leaping flame, Shakti is the fuel. If the fuel is scanty how long can the fire endure? When the strong nature, enlightened by knowledge, disciplined and given a giant's strength by Karma , ...
... idea in front of him, talks to it, and then decides. Andre used to see me come back at about 10.00 a.m., change, and go to the office, where I faced complex problems further complicated by people's attitudes towards them, and was able to attack them with energy renewed by contact with Nature. For me, walking has always been a form of intellectual as well as physical exercise: it helps me to reach... nothing in this world can be taken for granted, even by the most strong-willed — and there is no doubt that at that time the smallest distraction, the slightest weakness, would permanently have changed the nature of the European Community. We had to halt the debate about principles and set before everyone a structure in which he, would find his own ideas given practical shape. To inaugurate this new phase... surprised nor displeased to see these obstacles accumulating: they proved that we were approaching the heart of the problem. The progress of change can be measured by the vehemence with which it is resisted; and what many people still did not realize was the ineluctable nature of the process in which they were now engaged. We were coming to a time when the complexity of the problems, the multiplicity of the ...
... this great and tremendous change or the possibility that you may have a long and hard work before you; but are you really unwilling to face it and take your share in the great work? Will you reject the greatness of this endeavour to follow a mad, irrational impulse towards some more exciting work of the hour or the moment for which you have no true call in any part of your nature? "There is no true... always his human way of offering it that prevailed in the Page 42 end and induced me to comply with his invitation to attempt what seemed to me all but impossible: the radical change of human nature and its reactions. Otherwise I should have given up long ago. What I mean by this is not easy to put in words, for often, when I try to portray what I felt then, I find that I tend to sound... not sufficient to conquer the physical difficulty and enlighten and transform Matter. It is your soul in itself, your psychic being, that must come in front, awake entirely and make the fundamental change. The psychic being will not need the support of the intellectual ideas or outer signs and helps. It is that alone that can give you the direct feeling of the Divine, the constant nearness, the inner ...
... their last refuge or point of attack. But the apparent invincibility is not true. The most ego-centric can change and do change by the psychic principle becoming established in the external nature. That it can be done only by the Divine Grace and Power is true (that is true of all spiritual change)—but with the full consent of the being. As it was done in the inner being, so it can be done in the outer;... that that has to be done. Human nature has always been egoistic in its basis and so it brings in the ego motive into the work for the Divine also. That can only be overcome slowly, for what is ingrained in the human vital nature and has been active through hundreds of lives cannot disappear at once. To be conscious and to have the steady will to change and make the inner motive of bhakti and... there is any action of Prakriti. Page 221 The Vital Ego The earth-consciousness does not want to change, so it rejects what comes down to it from above—it has always done so. It is only if those who have taken this Yoga open themselves and are willing to change their lower nature that this unwillingness can disappear. What stands in the way of course is always the vital ego with its ignorance ...
... was something quite different: it was to change the world, this world, to transfigure into a New Heaven and a New Earth this bank and these meadows of Time. As he recapitulated in the course of an interview with Dilip Kumar Roy: I too wanted at one time to transform through my Yoga the face of the world. I had wanted to change the fundamental nature and movements of humanity, to exile all... attacked persons, attacked even violently - as he did Gokhale, Morley or Minto - it was for their views or for the nature of their participation in public affairs, and not with reference to their personal or private life. After Alipur, Sri Aurobindo's politics underwent a further change and transformation, and became merely the image of niskāma karma a part of the broader discipline of Yoga. Withersoever... of Knowledge and Power from Nature and God. After the contacts with the Naga Sannyasi and Swami Brahmananda (mentioned in chapter III.vi), both of whom impressed him although neither became his Guru, Sri Aurobindo at last found in Yogi Lele a real helper in his sadhana, but this too was only for a short time. We have already explained in an earlier chapter (XI.v) the nature of the advice tendered by ...
... of a million cowards. 77 * No system indeed by its own force can bring about the change that humanity really needs; for that can only come by its growth into the firmly realised possibilities of its own higher nature, and this growth depends on an inner and not an outer change. But outer changes may at least prepare favorable conditions for that more real- amelioration,—or on the contrary... self-evolution. The changes we see in the world today are intellectual, moral, physical in their ideal and intention: the spiritual revolution waits for its hour and throws up meanwhile its waves here and there. Until it comes the sense of the others cannot be understood and till then all interpretations of present happening and forecast of man's future are vain things. For its nature, power, event are... even to its first decisive stage; it may be that it will take long centuries of effort to come into some kind of permanent birth. But that is not altogether inevitable, for the principle of such changes in Nature seems to be a long obscure preparation followed ________________ * The answer of Stephenson to those who argued by strict scientific logic that his engine on rails could not and should ...
... thing that the aspiration of the vital being must demand in the sadhaka. The other question was about your difficulty in getting rid of the aboriginal in your nature. That difficulty will remain so long as you try to change your vital nature by the sole power of Page 724 your mind and mental will, calling in at most an indefinite and impersonal divine Power to aid you. It is an old difficulty... other ties, find it difficult not to live in a double consciousness, one inward and turned towards the spiritual change and the other which is still chained to the ordinary movements and pulls them down from their spiritual experience into the persistent and unchanged course of the lower nature. If you have not the entire and undivided call, it is better not to take the plunge, unless you are prepared... spiritual or religious escape will sufficiently account for the new development. If society wants to prevent it, it must itself change. As to individuals, each case must be judged on its own merits; there is too much complexity in the problem and too much variation of nature, position, motives for a general rule. I have spoken of the social problem in general terms only. In the conduct of the Asram ...
... the Yoga of an integral self-liberation. It is an adoration and aspiration towards that which is greater than imperishable self or changing Nature. All knowledge then becomes an adoration and aspiration, but all works too become an adoration and aspiration. Works of nature and freedom of soul are unified in this adoration arid become one self-uplifting to the one Godhead. 54 After such knowledge... it by a change of its mould and a heightening of its powers of light and love and strength and purity.. . 51 The reasoning is that, if the Divine can descend into humanity, humanity too can ascend to the Divine heights: ...there are two aspects of the divine birth; one is a descent, the birth of God in humanity, the Godhead manifesting itself in the human form and nature, the eternal... of the human soul from a state of death to a state of immortality by the exchange of the Falsehood for the Truth, of divided and limited being for integrality and infinity". 16 A change, a big change, a total change, and transformation was to be effected, but how? By means of a yajña, a sacrifice: by giving up falsehood, by scuttling the ignorance, by dying almost - so that rebirth in knowledge ...
... that, Page 283 while peace was part of the highest ideal of individual and collective life, it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis; without a change in human nature - the supersession of egocentric thought and action by something far more widely based and sustained - real peace couldn't come with any finality. If attempted on any other basis like a mental... instances of British misgovernment in India. Even at the precocious age of eleven, Sri Aurobindo had awakened strongly to the feeling that the world - and India - would soon see great revolutionary changes, and that he himself was destined to play a part in the movement; at Cambridge the feeling hardened into a settled conviction. He took a leading part in the Indian Majlis and was for a time its... made, perhaps, to detach Sri Aurobindo from active politics, but it couldn't make him swerve in the least from his chosen course. No doubt, the Yogic experience of Nirvanic calm caused a profound change within, but his outer activities seemed to go on as before except that all thought, speech and action now acquired a strange power of spontaneity and air of inevitability, as though it was not Sri ...
... excuse. The Yogis of other Yogas do at least try to keep the lower nature quiet by tapasya; they do not think it quite the right and normal thing to indulge it. If the rule of this Yoga is to change the lower nature, those who follow it must similarly try to do that, not consider it the right and normal thing to indulge the lower nature. Many sadhaks here do not seem to care for any psychic... are parts of the lower nature. The subconscient is the basis of conservation. There is a general violent resistance by the vital in the sadhaks against change, a resistance for which there is no true reason except the subconscient unwillingness to alter the obscure foundations of human character. Whatever may be the case with the general Nature, why has my vital opened... I don't know that there is any utility here in distinguishing between force and energy as in Science. Energy is simply force in action. The lower nature is called lower because it is unenlightened - it can't be enlightened and changed by ignoring it, the higher has to be brought there. So one must speak of both, not of the higher alone. Page 159 The satisfaction ...
... cannot expect to change anything in our nature, except through amputation; but from the moment we understand how it really works, everything can change, because we can choose not to respond , using silence to dissolve the troublesome vibrations and tuning in elsewhere, as we please. Hence, contrary to all the old saws, human nature can be changed. Nothing in our consciousness or nature is fixed once... that is, change to a different consciousness. An ordinary law , Sri Aurobindo wrote, merely means an equilibrium established by Nature; it means a balance of forces. It is merely a groove in which Nature is accustomed to work in order to produce certain results. But if you change the consciousness, then the groove also is bound to change. 274 There have been a number of "changes of grooves"... all the so-called laws of nature, to find that they hold only insofar as we believe in their hold; if we change our consciousness, the "groove" also changes. All our laws are only "habits": Her firm and changeless habits aping Law, 350 says Savitri of Nature. Indeed, there is only one true Law, that of the Spirit, which can modify all the lower habits of Nature: The Spirit made it and ...
... Strong forerunner, I have heard thy cry. One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone Spirit's power... A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will. 35 Thus Savitri comes into the world, not simply to satisfy... Find out thy soul, recover thy hid self, 42 Savitri, pp. 409-11. 43 Ibid., p. 475. Page 295 In silence seek God's meaning in thy depths, Then mortal nature change to the divine. 44 It is then that Savitri commences her interiorised Yoga of self-knowledge and preparation for her ordeal. What is she? Surely, not just the immaculate girl-wife of... set forth the dynamics of the Integral Yoga that were to be the means of self-perfection and world-transformation. What, then, remained? It was decreed indeed that man should change, and his world should change, and that the Superman or the Supramentalised man of tomorrow, inhabiting a transformed world or supemature, should render earth and heaven equal, transfiguring our life mundane with ...
... phenomena will continue to repeat themselves in the name of one creed or another. If we aspire to a change of states, we must change in nature. Our aggressiveness is a legacy of all that has gone before and constitutes us: animal ferocity, the raging violence of the forces of Nature. If we go beyond Nature and the animal, if we go beyond the planetary genetic code, we shall be the vessels of an immutable... that our entire being become involved, not merely our intellect. For this, a change must occur in the elements of our being, a change which is scarcely dependent on ourselves, but rather on the law which presides over evolution, and consequently on God as expressed by that law. It is necessary to dominate the universal nature in us if we wish to accede to that which surpasses it. We must be given the... want to confront and subjugate them? We shall only be able to cross certain cosmic limits when we have first surmounted certain limitations of our own nature. The secrets which scientists will in the future discover go hand in hand with the changes which are at this moment being prepared Page 5 in us. They will contribute thereto, on the one hand giving rise to them, on the other ...
... something more profound. Nature has accepted into her play of forces the newly manifested Force and has included it in her movements. But as always, the movements of Nature take place on a scale infinitely surpassing the human scale and invisible to the ordinary human consciousness. It is more of an inner, psychological possibility that has been born in the world than a spectacular change in earthly events... back the whole experience and preserve it. The nature of objects on this ship was not that which we know upon earth; for example, the clothes were not made of cloth, and this thing that resembled cloth was not manufactured—it was a part of the body, made of the same substance that took on different forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made, it was done not by artificial and... means but by an inner working, by a working of the consciousness that gave the substance its form or appearance. Life created its own forms. There was ONE SINGLE substance in all things; it changed the nature of its vibration according to the needs or uses. Those who were sent back for more training were not of a uniform color; their bodies seemed to have patches of a grayish opacity, a substance ...
... and not as a part of a gospel of Non-violence or pacific idealism. Peace is a part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis; without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality. If it is attempted on any other basis (moral principle or gospel of Ahimsa or any other), it will fail and even may leave things worse than before. He is in... I believe – but not in the way I want it. They achieved it as a personal Siddhi maintained by Yoga-Siddhi – not a Dharma of the nature (physical transformation). Secondly, the supramental transformation is not the same as the spiritual-mental. It is a change of mind, life and body which the mental or over-mental-spiritual cannot achieve. All whom you mention were spirituals, but in different... Aurobindo refused to do; he demanded a change in that constitution enabling newly formed associations to elect delegates so that the Nationalists might independently send their representatives to the All-India session and on this point the negotiations broke down. Sri Aurobindo began, however, to consider how to revive the national movement under the changed circumstances. He glanced at the p ...
... the original nature of the being, "own of way of becoming", as this proceeds out of the self, the akshara. Karma proceeds from that and is the creative movement, visarga, which brings all natural beings and all changing subjective and objective shapes of being into existence. The result of karma is all this mutable becoming, the changes of nature developed out of the original self-nature, kshara bhava... during this brief conversation, there is no harm in whispering into your ears the nature of my secret activities. We have formed a society of like-minded people. Most of them are young men and women. We are all convinced that the present world order is unjust and untenable and that there is a need of radical changes in every domain of life and at every level of our existence. We are convinced that... Being and His Divine Nature. The Gita also gives us some broad hints as to whether we can discover the divine nature even in our ordinary lower nature. The Divine Nature operates immanently in the universe at large but it is discernible only partially in each of us at various levels of consciousness. It operates as the veiled source of sattvic, rajasic and tamsic movements of Nature. It operates there ...
... forerunner, I have heard thy cry. One shall descend and break the iron Law, Change Nature's doom by the lone Spirit's power. ... A seed shall be sown in Death's tremendous hour, A branch of heaven transplant to human soil; Nature shall overleap her mortal step; Fate shall be changed by an unchanging will. 43 Thus Savitri comes into the world, not simply to satisfy... when it wakes and knows The work was left undone for which it came?... Find out thy soul, recover thy hid self, In silence seek God's meaning in thy depths, Then mortal nature change to the divine. 52 It is then that Savitri commences her interiorised Yoga of self-knowledge and preparation for her ordeal. What is she? Surely, not just the immaculate girl-wife of Satyavan... set forth the dynamics of the integral Yoga that were to be the means of self-perfection and world-transformation. What, then, remained? It was decreed indeed that man should change, and his world should change, and that the Superman or the Supramentalised man of tomorrow, inhabiting a transformed world or supernature, Page 658 should render earth and heaven equal, transfiguring ...
... comes from the fact that you are doing nothing useful for the community. Take up some work that you can do regularly and it will be alright." In reply to another letter Mother said, "Change your nature." Paul wishes to go back, but he needs 700/= which, he says, he will repay. He can be given. Diane, who is facing a problem here, asks about going back to USA with Lunaure... These who are here since two three years can not be asked to go and they do not change and the trouble is there." "So you are conscious of it. What I am doing is that I am putting a pressure on them to change." "Yes, Mother, that is the radical solution; by the pressure of the Mother's force they should change. But it takes time, and in the meantime it affects the progress of Auroville even... working upon the architectural design of Matrimandir say, "What is the assurance that there will be no further change?" Page 267 Mother said that Roger had not informed her of the changes. She approves that I tell them through Chamanlal that there will be no further change without mutual consent. To one of the letters she replied, "My help is silent." To another, ...
... the Mother's instructor in occultism in Algeria – believed that those forces or beings who try to come in touch with the physical are destined to be converted. Disciple : Do they change their vital nature ? Sri Aurobindo : They remain vital beings but instead of aiming at power for themselves and manifesting it egoistically they consent to manifest something higher. They need not take... legs you have been using two, and the other two you have changed into hands. There have been slight but very important changes in the brain and some details here and there. You have cast off your fur and horns. Disciple : Not all men ! K. has a lot of fur yet ( Laughter ) Sri Aurobindo : You see, after all it is not so great a change in the physical as would create a gulf between animal... electricity, gas etc. Disciple : What is Nature ? Sri Aurobindo : The Universal Divine has projected the Universe and there is Universal Nature which affords all the material for us. Essentially, everything in Nature corresponds to something in the Universal Soul. For instance, the vital corresponds to the divine Tapas. The details about the law and the process of rebirth are too complex to ...
... ess and reflects something of it, though it is not altogether that—it is also in tune with the cosmic Truth. In the change of the vital nature, is the external surface vital to be entirely effaced and replaced by the true vital or is it to be kept and changed into the nature of the true vital? In either case, what is the need of an external vital at all if the true vital is already there? The... "throw our arms around" [ p. 78 ] It is a figure meaning to comprehend in our consciousness with love and Ananda. "the nature" [ p. 81, lines 29, 31, 33 ] Nature here means the parts of Prakriti in the human being: as it is the condition of the Prakriti that changes with shifting of the gunas and it is this condition of the Prakriti that will become illumined by the transformation of sattva... Purusha is that which follows the movement of the universe and seems to move and change, because it identifies itself while the Akshara is not identified and stands apart. The Upanishad makes the same distinction of the two Souls and Prakriti. I used to take kṣetra and kṣara puruṣa to mean the lower nature. Nature is Prakriti—Purusha cannot be Prakriti. Neither can Purusha be kṣetra , the field ...
... then one may be able to look beyond the moment in a mood of faith and collaborate with the forces working obscurely - yet also irresistibly - for a radical, even a revolutionary, change in earth nature and of course human nature. In its externals, "Sri Aurobindo's Action" is a movement generated from Sri Aurobindo Ashram since mid-1970, a Society With office-bearers, rules and subscriptions -... splendorous particularity their world-vision of the Future. A double change and an integrated change and a total transformation: an inner or individual change * The problems of the modern city and the way 'Auroville' hopes to solve them and fare forward into the future are the general theme of the first eight talks in my A Big Change: Talks on the Spiritual Revolution and the Future Man (WO). ... within ourselves. The fight today has therefore to be waged, not against a colonial power, but against all that is false within ourselves. We have thus to change ourselves first before we can feel pure enough, or strong enough, to change others or change the environment. A civilisation in the process of breaking up could also be the raw material for a new civilisation in the making. One has to seize the ...
... that, and then circumstances which go wrong too), all that... the aspect of it all changes. And it becomes light, you know — light, supple. All the hardness and rigidity — gone. It changes everything! Everything changes! You know, I was brushing my teeth, rinsing my eyes, doing the most material things: their nature changed! And there was a conscious vibration in the eye that was being rinsed, in the ... internal change of position, because I have experienced this I don't know how many times, hundreds of times: like this (Mother turns her wrist) , everything is what we call “natural,” as we are used to seeing it, then all of a sudden, like that (in the other direction) , the nature of things changes. And nothing has happened, except something within, something in the consciousness: a change of position... unexpected, it's almost painful. 71.258 It's as if you were on a ridge, and the least mis-step would pitch you into a hole. Everything seems different. The nature of the relations with others is changing, the nature of everything is changing, but what, what? As if you were balancing: a tremendous power, and at the same time a tremendous powerlessness. You know, as if you were suspended between the ...
... progress has been made in the change of the nature—only it seems to be covered over and forgotten when there is the difficulty and the whole attention is on the things unchanged and still to be changed so that these seem alone to exist. The over-sensitiveness which makes you suffer by the smallest things in the contact with others is the present obstacle—it has to be changed into a sensibility which will... once the Force, the Power are there". It is not really on the capacity of the outer nature that success depends (for the outer nature all self-succeeding seems impossibly difficult), but on the inner being and to the inner being all is possible. One has only to get into contact with the inner being and change the outer view and consciousness from the inner—that is the work of the sadhana and it... is bound to be outgrown and change into a spiritual detachment in which there can be the free play of the energies offered for the use of the Divine. September 23,1936 It is the impulse to fly and to shun the necessity of your spiritual change, that you must reject and not life. You are not a burden to me and it is only the death of the lower nature that I can work to give you; ...
... India that can discover the harmony, because it is only by a change - not a mere readjustment - of present nature that it can be developed, and such a change is not possible except by Yoga. The nature of man and of things is at present a discord, a harmony that has got out of tune. The whole heart and action and mind of man must be changed but from within and not from without, not by political and... not as a part of a gospel of Non- violence or pacific idealism. Peace is a part of the highest ideal, but it must be spiritual or at the very least psychological in its basis; without a change in human nature it cannot come with any finality. 137 If it is attempted on any other basis (moral principle or gospel of Ahimsa or any other), it will fail and even may leave things worse than before... life, it would be well to cast a glance at the religious, social, and political changes which had been taking place in India before Sri Aurobindo emerged, first as a political thinker, and then, as the most original and powerful exponent of spiritual nationalism. Rapid and revolutionary, indeed, were these changes which, originating in Bengal, spread to all parts of the country, and, in the course ...
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