... the current tenets and pre-suppositions of science. For they will immediately answer without the least hesitation: "Such curiosity about the supraphysical worlds or about the possible fate of the departed souls is misplaced and meaningless; for, apart from this physical world, there is no other world existing. And the destiny of the departed? Who is 'departed'? None departs, and therefore the whole question... leaving out for the moment these materialist-minded thinkers, let us turn to all those who have in some way or other believed in the existence of the supraphysical worlds and in the passage of the departed souls to these worlds beyond, after the dissolution of their physical body. Ignoring all differences in the details of their findings and observations, let us mention here in brief what their fundamental... Purgatory before they are allowed access to heaven. The ideas of the ancient Greeks regarding the "other worlds" and their denizens were not very clear or definite. They believed that the departed souls moved in the supraphysical worlds as so many somnambulists, in half sleep and in half wakefulness; and they were very much attached to the physical pleasures and comforts of the earthly physical ...
... world which is a sort of idealised replica of the earth-consciousness in which the same personality, ideas, memories persist that the person had here. But all that pretends to be communication with departed souls is not genuine,—especially when it is done through a paid professional medium. There is there an enormous amount of mixture of a very undesirable kind—for apart from the great mass of unconscious... ons of the medium's subliminal consciousness one gets into contact with a world of beings which is of a very deceptive or self-deceptive illusory nature. Many of these come and claim to be the departed souls of relatives, acquaintances, well-known men, famous personalities etc. There are also beings who pick up the discarded feelings and memories of the dead and masquerade with them. There are a great ...
... which is a sort of idealised replica of the earth-consciousness in which the same personality, ideas, memories persist that the person had here. But all that pretends to be communications with departed souls is not genuine—especially when it is done through a paid professional medium. There is there an enormous amount of mixture of a very undesirable kind—for apart from the great mass of unconscious... of the medium's subliminal consciousness, one gets into contact with a world of beings which is of a very deceptive or self-deceptive illusory nature. Many of these come and claim to be the departed souls of relatives, acquaintances, well-known men, famous personalities, etc. There are also beings who pick up the discarded feelings and memories of the dead and masquerade with them. There are ...
... indignant letter to the papers in which there is much ornate Curzonian twaddle about sacred mysteries and the sanctities of the grave. If there is anything at all in the alleged communications from departed souls which have become of increasing interest to the European world, it ought to be fairly established that the grave is nothing but a hole in the earth containing a rotting piece of matter with which ...
... about the gathering in Kolkata for Prayer for Abhay Singh da's memory, which will be held on 16 September at 10.30 a.m. As the Sweet Mother personally appointed me for the last ceremony of the Departed Souls of her children with the Mantra given by Her, that you have seen during your stay at Shanti Nibash, there will be a meditation in front of the Relics of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo by repeating ...
... psychic consequences can be mitigated by the spirit in which it is done or if some feeling of sacrifice or self-offering enters into it as in the case of the Sati. It is always possible to help departed souls in their passage if one has the necessary psychic feeling towards them and the psychic force to make it effective. Contact can also be maintained so long as this passage does not carry them beyond ...
... be so strong that remembrance of past births, even after taking a new body, would be the rule rather than the exception." (Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, p. 435) (Q. 17): Do two departed souls retain the same relationship in successive rebirths? (A. 17): "... possible, but not a law - as a rule the same relationship would not be constantly repeated - the same people often meet ...
... doctor – probably Dr. Lebon – of France took photographs of departed spirits and immediately after the war there was a mania in France for consulting "spiritualists", to get messages from the departed souls. Sri Aurobindo : Yes, that is another definition of "spirituality", or rather "spiritualism", in Europe. Disciple : The one thing they accept is the physical body and in France ...
... does not help but delays the journey of the departed soul. Do not brood on your loss, but think only of her spiritual welfare. Page 528 The telegram announces the passing away of your husband. All has been done that could be done to keep him in life. What has happened must now be accepted calmly as the thing decreed and best for his soul's progress from life to life though not the... the body. As soon as one is tired of these and able to go beyond, the vital sheath is dropped and the soul, after a little time needed to get rid of some mental survivals, passes into a state of rest in the psychic world and remains there till the next life on earth. One can help the departed soul by one's good will or by occult means if one has the knowledge. The one thing that one Page 529 ... the best in human eyes which look only at the present and at outside appearance. For the spiritual seeker death is only a passage from one form of life to another, and none is dead but only departed. Look at it as that and shaking from you all reactions of vital grief—they cannot help him in his journey,—pursue steadfastly the path to the Divine. There is nothing to grieve about as death means ...
... Nachiketas." 3 And Gilgamesh of the ancient Babylonian lore, who set out on the quest after the Plant of Everlasting Life but failed in his attempt, raised the same insistent cry to the departed soul of Enkidu: "Tell me, my Friend, tell me, reveal to me, the mystery of death." 4 As the Mother has remarked: "Why is there death? This question has been put at least once in their life... this problem of death — Yama "the knower and keeper of the cosmic Law through which the soul has to rise by death and life to the freedom of Immortality." 1 Even when asked by Yama, the Lord of Death: "Another boon choose, O Nachiketas; importune me not, nor urge me; this, this abandon," 2 the seeking soul of Nachiketas stood firm and declared: "This of which they thus debate, O Death, declare... Death walks beside us on Life's road, A dim bystander at the body's start... Other is the riddle of its ambiguous face: Death is a stair, a door, a stumbling stride The soul must take to cross from birth to birth, A grey defeat pregnant with victory, A whip to lash us towards our deathless state. (Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Book X, Canto I, pp. 600-01) ...
... 5. The Afterlife and Rebirth The Psychic Being Memory of Past Lives The departed soul retains the memory of its past experiences only in their essence, not in their form of detail. It is only if the soul brings back some past personality or personalities as part of its present manifestation that it is likely to remember the details of the past life. Otherwise... moment. And then that passes into the consciousness along with some associations, with all that was around you, perhaps a word spoken, a phrase heard; but what was most important was the state of the soul in which you were: for that indeed remains very clearly engraved. These are the landmarks of the psychic life, things that have left a deep impression and taken part in its formation. Hence when you... not the memory of your civic status that remains. On the contrary, you lose all consciousness of these petty external things, accessories and perishables, so that you may be wholly in the flare of the soul revelation or of the divine contact. When you remember such instants of your past lives, the memory is so intense that it seems to be still very close, still living, and much more living than most of ...
... the circumstances of the new birth and guides it in its reconstitution of a new personality and the choice of its materials. The departed soul retains the memory of its fast experiences only in their essence, not in their form of detail. It is only if the soul brings back some past personality or personalities as part of its present manifestation that it is likely to remember the details of the... Yoga, there is in man a psychic entity or the soul, which is immortal and remains alive even after the death of the body. We have seen that when the soul leaves on the death of the body, it travels to the world of Life and then travels to the world of Mind. Thereafter it travels to the world of Souls, the psychic worlds. According to Sri Aurobindo, the soul rests in the psychic world and during this period... his soul, because the soul is immortal. But what is the nature of the soul? What is its location? How does it function? Why is it located in the chariot as it smaster? These questions are answered briefly. First of all, it is said that the soul is no larger than the thumb of a man and that itis seated in the midst of the Self. That soul is the knower of his past and his future. That soul is ...
... determines the circumstances of the new birth and guides it in its reconstitution of a new personality and the choice of its materials. The departed soul retains the memory of its past experiences only in their essence, not in their form or detail. It is only if the soul brings back some past personality or personalities as part of its present manifestation that it is likely to remember the details of the... suffering endured by the soul in the process of rebirth; popular beliefs even when they have some foundation are seldom enlightened and accurate. 1) The psychic being stands behind mind, life and body, supporting them; so also the psychic world is not one world in the scale like the mental, vital or physical worlds, but stands behind all these and it is there that the souls evolving here retire... earth life. There are other beings, guardians of the psychic world, but they are concerned only with the psychic world itself and the return of the souls to reincarnation, not with the earth. 4) A being of the psychic world cannot get fused into the soul of a human being on earth. What happens sometimes is that a very advanced psychic being sometimes sends down an emanation which resides in a human ...
... Sri Karan came back after a little reflection with a cool head, and he suggested this solution of the problem, that poor Drona had done nothing and that the half-hour long tug of war over his departed soul had been in vain, it was Arjuna who had killed his guru, Drona. "Thanks to this false accusation, Dronacharya, relieved, must have offered his thanks at Kailasha to Sadashiva, that because... learn that I had given it over to him, or given it to him for the purpose of manufacturing bombs?' A little abashed, the Maulvi answered: "No, no, I was saying in case you have done it.' Then the great-souled Maulvi opened an autobiographical chapter before me, and said, 'All the moral or economic progress I have made in life can be traced back to a sole sufficing moral adage of my father. He would always... law of his being (svadharma). The government paid him a thousand rupees a day. In case this turned out to be a useless expenditure, the government would be a loser. Mr. Norton was trying heart and soul to prevent such a loss to the government.... "Just as Holinshed and Plutarch had collected the material for Shakespeare's historical plays, in the same manner the police had collected the material ...
... more, just a little bit more. Then you will be able to come away to me.' Madan-da would look like someone hypnotised then. But he kept calling the Mother's name even then. And that is how the departed soul's spell on Madan-da was dissolved. On hearing this Gopal said: 'Dada, in my home-town, a person known to me decided to end his life by hanging himself because of some personal frustration.... telling himself: 'Sadhu is calling me. Sadhu is calling me.' This boy died the next day. He was very good at cricket. Someone asked: 'Dada, when death is sudden or caused by an accident, does the soul that leaves call out for the loved ones like this?' Dada replied: After Amulya passed away in the Ashram he would call out for Madan-da. He would beckon him with Page 134 outstretched... body. If the mate- rial part of our life subjects itself to the leadership of the psy- chic, the psychic being will help us to reach our objective by conquering sickness, old age and death. The soul is immortal. So why should it not guide the other parts of our being to achieve immortality?" * I believe that whatever man can think of he can become. We see this everywhere ...
... Aurobindo : About her seeing her husband who is dead, two things may be written to her. 1. It depends on a certain capacity in oneself to be able to see, which, everybody has not got. 2. If the departed soul has got the will he can manifest himself. But if he is not willing, it is not good to pull him back to that relation, as it may retard his movement in the other planes where he may have to remain... 25-12-1938 Doctor X insisted on removing the splints that were attached to Sri Aurobindo's fractured thigh but all those who were in attendance could not assent to his proposal. At last the doctor departed leaving the question to be decided by Sri Aurobindo. When he was asked his opinion he said; I do not want to take a risk. I have to be careful as I am not sure that some violent movement would... extraordinary patient who can be trusted to follow directions. Sri Aurobindo : In that case I have to take extraordinary care. (After an interval of silence during which the Mother came and departed for meditation, Sri Aurobindo himself continued). It seems the doctors are born to differ. Medical science has developed much knowledge but in application it is either an art or a fluke. Disciple ...
... is that the soul after the man's death remains in a certain condition and as Page 175 it cannot complete its evolution there it has to return to human life. The question is : how is this done ? Sri Aurobindo : As I said, in the essential Self there is nq development, no evolution. Disciple : In the Chhandogya Upanlshad it is said that th departed soul comes down... thrown away at will – icchā mrtyu . And even when the body is thrown away, when the process of manifestation is undertaken the Soul has not to gather the physical and the vital and the mental from any of the formations of Universal Nature – as in the case of ordinary souls. In case these are Supramentalised the whole being is quite ready ; one has simply to take up the ready formation and manifest... Sri Aurobindo : Do you mean to say that whenever it rain so many souls are pouring down ? ( Laughter ) Disciple : It may be a figurative way of saying, perhaps. Sri Aurobindo : It is meant to be symbolic. Disciple : It seems there are two purposes for which the souls descend into human birth. Perfected souls come down with the Avatar—the Incarnation—to take part in the Lila ...
... from one body to another, then it still remembers. That's generally when it comes back in the same family, or in neighbors. The departed soul retains the memory of its past experiences only in their essence, not in their form of detail. It is only if the soul brings back some past personality or personalities as part of its present manifestation that it is likely to remember the details of the... And life a hue and figure of the soul. All happily grows towards knowledge and towards bliss. MOMENTS If perfect moments on the peak of things, These tops of knowledge, greatness, ecstasy, Are only moments, this too enough might be. I have put on the rapid flaming wings Of souls whom the Ignorance black-robed Nature... stands behind all these and it is there that the souls evolving here retire for the time between life and life. If the psychic were only one principle in the rising order of body, life and mind on a par with the others and placed Page 36 somewhere in the scale on the same footing as the others, it could not be the soul of all the rest, the divine element making the evolution ...
... the sentinel. Once, Mathilde took her very small daughter to a funeral. Mirra was not particularly well acquainted with the deceased. But there, in that house full of people lamenting the departed soul, she was suddenly in the grip of a great emotion —a great sorrow, a great grief seized hold of her. "I was very small when I had this experience," Mother told us, young and not so young people of... Mother added, "A lot of things like this happened, which seemed absolutely natural to me. I never had any impression of doing something miraculous. It all was quite natural." Mother explained, "The soul was very alive at that time. It resisted with all its strength the intrusion of the material logic of the world. Things seemed Page 90 perfectly natural to me. I simply told myself ...
... the supermind.'' * * * 9 & 10.12.72 Pranam only. * * * 11.12.72 My eldest uncle aged 92 has expired at Bhagalpur. His son prays for peace to the departed soul. Mother inquired and gave a blessing packet for his son. * * * 12.12.72 Mother disposed of a family's request to join Auroville. I placed before Mother the original... Going after one man and another! I do not wish to say anything... For, well, I am in this matter old-styled." "Mother has said something on 'no marriages in auroville'. She has also spoken of the soul-relationship between man and woman, but people choose to read the first part only, then to couple it with their idea of liberty and non-discipline, and to do such things. If Mother does not reply, it... Sometimes people rejected by Roger and me are accepted by Mother. I am not capable of judging the people beyond a mental judgment; I simply place the facts. Mother can see the people in their inside, their soul, their destiny, and as I understand her—I may make mistakes in understanding her—but I try to do as I have understood. For me it is alright. Auroville is Mother's responsibility. Roger is exercised ...
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