... superconscient levels of spiritual mind above the ordinary mind and speaks of Higher Thought originating from these superconscient mental levels. It is when the ordinary mind falls silent that Higher Thought and Knowledge manifest from these higher mental levels that are beyond our normal awareness. Regarding the Higher Thought and Knowledge, Sri Aurobindo writes: Page 97 Afterwards... the ordinary mind is a thought-mind, the Higher Mind is a "luminous thought-mind, a mind of Spirit-born conceptual knowledge." 47 Page 95 Illumined Mind: A mind no longer of higher thought but of spiritual light. Intuition: A mind that gets the Truth in flashes, which it turns into intuitive ideas. Overmind: The highest of the planes of mind below That which is beyond... two states of silence in a letter to a disciple: In the entirely silent mind there is usually the static sense of the Divine without any active movement. But there can come into it all the higher thought and aspiration and movements. There is then no absolute silence but one feels a fundamental silence behind which is not disturbed by any movement. 50 A passage previously quoted (p. 25) ...
... or aesthetics. It is concerned especially with truth and knowledge or rather with a wisdom that exceeds what we call knowledge; its truth goes beyond truth of fact and truth of thought, even the higher thought which is the first spiritual range of the thinker. It has the truth of spiritual thought, spiritual feeling, spiritual sense and at its highest the truth that comes by the most intimate spiritual... lines I have cited it is really the overmind language and rhythm that have been to some extent transmitted; but of course all overhead poetry is not from the Overmind, more often it comes from the higher thought, the illumined mind or the pure intuition. This last is different from the mental intuition which is frequent enough in poetry that does not transcend the mental level. The language and rhythm... together: Page 36 to use the Vedic expression about fire, the divine messenger, it goes vast on its way to bring the divine riches, and it has a corresponding language and rhythm. The higher thought has a strong tread often with bare unsandalled feet and moves in a clear-cut light: a divine power, measure, dignity is its most frequent character. The outflow of the illumined mind comes in a ...
... perfectly expressed."—"No, it is not the epic kind [of blank verse]—the rhythm is rather large, calm and reflective than epic." 1 "There is a substitute for tie expression of the Higher Thought, the Illumination, the pure Intuition giving great or Page 67 brilliant results, but these cannot be classed as the very bod} of the higher consciousness.... Sha... latter in direct touch with Supermind, the former more like a widened and massive intuition." "...of course all overhead poetry is not from the Overmind, more often it comes from the higher thought, the illumined mind or the pure intuition. This last is different from the mental intuition which is frequent enough in poetry that does not transcend the mental level. The language and rhythm... all these things together: to use the Vedic expression about fire, the divine messenger, it goes vast on its way to bring the divine riches, and it has a corresponding language and rhythm. The higher thought has a strong tread often with bare unsandalled feet and moves in a clear-cut light: a divine power, measure, dignity is its most frequent character. The outflow of the illumined mind comes in a ...
... language which has a certain kinship to the manner natural to what is above." 13 In another place Sri Aurobindo calls Milton's "grand style" a derivate from or substitute for the manner of the "Higher Thought". And here he brings in a comparison with Shakespeare's poetry which too has an affinity with an overhead plane. This affinity seems to be more by the way the vision works than by the sound of... working. Sri Aurobindo 14 begins by asking us to take Milton's grand style anywhere at its ordinary level or in its higher elevations: there is always or almost always, he tells us, an echo of the Higher Thought. After citing again the opening lines of Paradise Lost, Sri Aurobindo wants us to consider as an instance, Page 104 On evil days though fall'n, and evil tongues, or ... burn Nightly before him, saw without their light Rebellion rising... 24 But we should be able to distinguish these semblances from the Illumined Mind truly breaking through the Higher Thought when we get Sri Aurobindo's: One-pointed to the immaculate Delight, Questing for God as for a splendid prey, He mounted burning like a cone of fire 25 – and we rise sheer ...
... passages about which you had asked me long ago, have developed and changed and could not but change. For at that time I was new to the overhead regions or at least to the highest of them—for the higher thought and the illumination were already old friends—and could not be sure or complete in my perception of many things concerning them. I hesitated therefore to assign anything like overmind touch or... in it the supreme force: although different from mind in the principle and methods of its action, it is only a highest kind of mind with the pure intuition, illumination Page 76 and higher thought as its subordinates and intermediaries; it is an instrument of cosmic possibilities and not the master. It is not the supreme Truth-Consciousness; it is only an intermediary light and power. ... s itself but a substitute for it, an uplifted movement of mind which gives a reflection of the character and qualities of the overhead movement. There is a substitute for the expression of the Higher Thought, the Illumination, the pure Intuition giving great or brilliant results, but these cannot be classed as the very body of the higher consciousness. So also there can be a mixed movement, Page ...
... language which has a certain kinship to the manner natural to what is above." 2 In another place Sri Aurobindo calls Milton's "grand style" a derivate from or substitute for the manner of the "Higher Thought". And here he brings in a comparison with Shakespeare's poetry which too has an affinity with an overhead plane. This affinity seems to be more by the way the vision works than by the sound... working. Sri Aurobindo 3 begins by asking us to take Milton's grand style anywhere at its ordinary level or in its higher elevations: there is always or almost always, he tells us, an echo of the Higher Thought. After citing again ____________ 1 Ibid. 2Ibid., p. 65. 3 Ibid., p. 117. Page 236 the opening lines of Paradise Lost, Sri Aurobindo wants us to consider... 1Bk. XII, 311-14. 2Bk. II, 1013-14. 3Bk.V, 712-15. Page 239 But we should be able to distinguish these semblances from the Illumined Mind truly breaking through the Higher Thought when we get Sri Aurobindo's: One-pointed to the immaculate Delight, Questing for God as for a splendid prey, He mounted burning like a cone of fire [p. 79-80] and we ...
... I have cited it is really the Overmind language and rhythm that have been to some extent transmitted; but of course all Overhead poetry is not from the Overmind, more often it comes from the Higher Thought, the Illumined Mind or the pure Intuition. This last is different from the mental intuition which is frequent enough in poetry that does not transcend the mental level. The language and rhythm... vast on its way to bring 10 To a Skylark. 11 One Word is too often Profaned. Page 32 the divine riches, and it has as corresponding language and rhythm. The Higher Thought has a strong tread often with bare unsandalled feet and moves in a clear-cut light: a divine power, measure, dignity is its most frequent character. The outflow of the Illumined Mind comes in... intelligible or clearly identifiable? There are besides in mental poetry derivations or substitutes for all these styles. Milton's "grand style" is such a substitute for the manner of the Higher Thought. Take it anywhere at its ordinary level or in its higher elevation, there is always or almost always that echo there: Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree ...
... Mind" or "the Higher Thought" which is an "overhead" plane?) "It belongs to the poetic intelligence, but as in most of Milton it can be lifted up by the touch of the Higher Mind rhythm and language." 'There are besides in mental poetry derivations or substitutes for all [overhead] styles, Mi ton's 'grand style' is such a substitute for the manner of the Higher Thought. Take it anywhere ...
... more powerful descent and further prepare an integration of the being in a greater Force of consciousness and knowledge. This greater Force is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the Page 978 clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and il... also it happens because the work of assumption and transformation of the lower nature can with difficulty be done if a higher and higher intervention does not take place. The illumination and the higher thought need the help of the intuition, the intuition needs the help of the overmind to combat the darkness or ignorance in which they labour and to give them their own fullness. Still, it is not possible ...
... longer of mingled light and obscurity or half-light, but a large clarity Page 436 of the Spirit" with a basic unitarian sense of being; Illumined Mind has a mind "no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light... an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the spirit"; Intuition as a fourfold power of revelatory truth-seeing, truth-hearing, truth-touch and truth-discrimination;... still be profound. The "untransformed part of humanity" must throw up in due course more and more highly evolved beings, some intuitivised, some overmentalised, some in constant communion with the higher thought-planes. 61 Sri Aurobindo also makes it clear that, although it is the elected individual who spearheads each evolutionary advance, he will not by himself be able to bring Page 437 ...
... latter in direct touch with Supermind, the former more like a widened and massive intuition." "...of course all overhead poetry is not from the Overmind, more often it comes from the higher thought, the illumined mind or the pure intuition. This last is different from the mental intuition which is frequent enough in poetry that does not transcend the mental level. The language and rhythm... all these things together: to use the Vedic expression about fire, the divine messenger, it goes vast on its way to bring the divine riches, and it has a corresponding language and rhythm. The higher thought has a strong tread often with bare unsandalled feet and moves in a clear-cut light: a divine power, measure, dignity Page 11 is its most frequent character. The outflow of ...
... force, frequency and intensity. In swapna there is now more frequent and forceful sparsha. Sravana is obstructed both in antardarshi and full jagrat; it is rare even in swapna. An attempt at a higher Thought confined to the centre of the thought above the head and a withdrawal of that which forms in the brain region of the subtle mind or is occupied with penetration to this region. This was the normal... might-be, may have been, mighthave-beens, may-yet-bes, and even the relative certitudes of their will-bes, often but not always realised, with a certain initial decisive certitude of selection. The higher thought now coming for the T² will be inspirational gnosis. It is already beginning in the intuitional form or taking up the intuition. These movements had been made before on a lower scale and were often ...
... Mind" or "the Higher Thought" which is an "overhead" plane ?) "It belongs to the poetic intelligence, but as in most of Milton it can be lifted up by the touch of the Higher Mind rhythm and language." "There are besides in mental poetry derivations or substitutes for all [overhead] styles. Milton's 'grand style' is such a substitute for the manner of the Higher Thought. Take it anywhere ...
... knowledge-power of the Ignorance, into the realms of the Spirit; it is, indeed, the spiritual parent of our conceptive mental ideation …” 40 Illumined Mind: Illumined Mind is “a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit:... beings; for the directly intuitive or partly intuitivised but not yet gnostic mental being, the directly or partly illumined mental being, the mental being in direct or part communion with the higher-thought plane would emerge: these would become more and more numerous, more and more evolved and secure in their type, and might even exist as a formed race of higher humanity leading upwards the less ...
... On strong material food, nor vex our eyes With straining after visionary delight. Ah, beautiful and wise, but to what end? Europe knows not, nor any of her schools Who scorn the higher thought for dreams of fools; Riches and joy and power meanwhile are gained. Gained and then lost! For Death the heavy grip Shall loosen, Death shall cloud the laughing eye, And he who broke ...
... intimations and lightning flashes from there, and write things that have a greater clarity of thought than philosophers can ever dream of. Mallarme, the French Symbolist poet, has sometimes caught the higher Thought by polishing and repolishing language and eliminating from it all the dross of mental thinking. However the true spiritual breaks through only on rare occasions and mostly in flashes which may ...
... sight. In the Higher Mind one becomes constantly and closely aware of the Self, the One everywhere and knows and sees habitually with that awareness. Illumined Mind: a mind no longer of higher thought, but of spiritual light; here the clarity of the intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit. ...
... powerful descent and further prepare an integration of the being in a greater Force of consciousness and knowledge. This greater Force is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit: ...
... directly intuitive or partly intuitivised but not yet gnostic [i.e. supramentalised] mental being, the directly or partly illumined mental being, the mental being in direct or part communion with the higher-thought plane would emerge; these would become more and more numerous, more and more evolved and secure in their type, and might even exist as a formed race of higher humanity leading upwards the less ...
... our consciousness and it is the consciousness that must radically change if we are to command and not only be occasionally visited by that higher power of knowledge. But it is not confined to a higher thought or the action of a sort of divine reason. It takes up all our present means of knowledge immensely extended, active and effective where they are now debarred, blind, infructuous, and turns them ...
... protects by saying “Don’t fear”! III. 39. 1 स्तोमतष्टा. S. स्तोमकारिभिः कृता—rather active? or “formed by the hymn of affirmation”. Object of Mantra. 2 दिवश्चित् The interaction of the higher thought & the lower. 3 यमा. S. Usha mother of the Aswins. Perhaps Yama & Yami. तपुष्= Tapas. S. day. एता. P.P. आ +इता S. एतावागतौ. Perhaps P.P. wrong & एता = एतौ. 4 निंदिता—blame or limit, obstruct ...
... seven-o-clock; then for the minutes, took out queen, ten and nine, making 31, and dividing by three got 10⅓. The cognition then gave the already prophesied ejection of the internal opposition to higher thought as the subject of the sortilege. I took it, by intellectual habit and inference, as meaning 7.10 pm. The incident actually occurred at ten minutes to seven. 5) Figure 3 in drishti. Interpreted ...
... strength. But also because man at present lives more in the outward than in the inward, is governed principally by his vital existence, sensations, feelings and customary mentality rather than by his higher thought-mind and feels himself in these to be really alive, really to exist and Page 549 be, while the world of ideas is to him something remote and abstract and, however powerful and interesting ...
... understood. There is no such opposition when the psychic Page 358 and the higher plane knowledge act together predominantly—the psychic welcomes knowledge that supports its emotion, the higher thought consciousness rejoices in the bhakti. It is a mistake to think that a constant absence of vyākulatā is a sign that the aspiration or will for the Divine is not true. It is only in certain ...
... in which silence of the outer mind usually comes. In the entirely silent mind there is usually the static sense of the Divine without any active movement. But there can come into it all higher thought and aspiration and movements. There is then no absolute silence but one feels a fundamental silence behind which is not disturbed by any movement. Page 158 Silence and True Knowledge ...
... mental sight. In the Higher Mind one becomes constantly and closely aware of the Self, the One everywhere and knows and sees habitually with that awareness. Illumined Mind: a mind no longer of higher thought, but of spiritual light; here the clarity of the intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit. Intuition: ...
... very perfectly expressed."—"No, it is not the epic kind [of blank verse]—the rhythm is rather large, calm and reflective than epic." 1 "There is a substitute for the expression of the Higher Thought, the Illumination, the pure Intuition giving great or brilliant results, but these cannot be classed as the very body of the higher consciousness.... Shakespeare's poetry coruscates with a play ...
... aesthetics. It is concerned especially with truth and knowledge or rather with a wisdom that exceeds what we call knowledge; its truth goes beyond truth of fact and truth of thought, even the higher thought which is the first spiritual range of the thinker. It has the truth of spiritual thought, spiritual feeling, spiritual sense and at its highest the truth that comes by the most intimate spiritual ...
... detailed observation showing the difference between the fact as it should normally be (which is simply something direct, a movement taking place), and the complication brought in by thought—not higher thought: the physical thought, that is, the observation and all sorts of deductions, along with the memories of similar events and things heard or seen and all sorts of instances of similar occurrences ...
... passages about which you had asked me long ago, have developed and changed and could not but change. For at that time I was new to the overhead regions or at least to the highest of them - for the higher thought and the illumination were already old friends - and could not be sure or complete in my perception of many things concerning them. I hesitated therefore to assign anything like overmind touch or ...
... powerful descent and further prepare an integration of the being in a greater Force of consciousness and knowledge. This greater Force is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual _____________________________ ¹ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Centenary Library, Vol. 19, pp. 939-40. Page 244 ...
... Page 244 activity. Whenever a little of it descends the mechanical mind catches it and goes on chewing it endlessly. That is why sometimes I have to stop the flow of even the higher thought to guard my silence. That is always the difficulty with the mind. It must learn to be silent and let the knowledge come without trying to catch hold of it for its own play. ...
... the Divine or for spiritual aspirations? In the entirely silent mind there is usually the static sense of the Divine without any active movement. But there can come into it all the higher thought and aspiration and movements. There is then no absolute silence but one feels a fundamental silence behind which is not disturbed by any movement. Suppose a man begins to concentrate ...
... long pre-occupied with political and economic issues for a widening of its horizon. Such a widening is especially necessary for Bengal. The Bengali has always led and still leads the higher thought of India, because he has eminently the gifts which are most needed for the new race that has to arise. He has the emotion and imagination which is open to the great inspirations, the mighty he ...
... long. The idea behind the poem is that, as human thought (which is man's mediator or paraclete between earth and the beyond) rises from the mental to the overhead planes, it becomes successively higher thought, illumined thought, intuitive thought, overmental thought, and so, ever climbing higher still and higher, vanishes into the transcendental. First, thought rises above the vital and mental planes: ...
... confusing play of light and shade, more sureness and the luminous glow of a steady light; less division and isolation, more universality and the consciousness of unity: these are the symptoms of the higher thought and the illumined thought. But intuitive thought is like a momentary streak of lightning; an instantaneous flash, a sudden—an almost blinding—revelation; presently all is dark again, only the memory ...
... mind, long pre-occupied with political and economic issues, for a widening of its horizon. Such a widening is especially necessary for Bengal. The Bengali has always led and still leads the higher thought of India, because he has eminently the gifts which are most needed for the new race that has to arise. He has the emotion and imagination which is open to the great inspirations, the mighty he ...
... both knowledge and mentality in the way proper to each and by following that way we can arrive at Him, but only on condition that we do not take our mentalising by the mind and our knowing by the higher thought for the full knowledge and rest in that with a satisfied possession. The way is to use our mind rightly for such knowledge as is open to its highest, purified capacity. We have to know the form ...
... in the thought of the Upanishads to deepest spiritual truths, these passages cannot be dismissed as childish aberrations of the intelligence void of sense or of any discoverable bearing on the higher thought in which they culminate. On the contrary we find that they have a deep enough significance once we can get inside their symbolic meaning. That appears in a psycho-physical passing upward into a ...
... Truth beyond it. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Poetry and Art: Higher Mind and Poetic Intelligence Illumined Mind … greater Force is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the spirit: ...
... form that the Mind intensified, broadened, made spiritually supple, can receive without being blinded or dazzled by a Truth beyond it." 27 Illumined Mind "... a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit: ...
... means of deciding it and could only discover and describe the how and process of the operations of material Force in the physical front of things. Page 400 That left the field open to higher thought and speculation, spiritual experience and even to mysticism, occultism and all those greater things which almost everybody had come to disbelieve as impossible nonsense. That was the condition ...
... higher consciousness above the mind comes down. It is only then also that the inner physical being becomes active and brings an alert consciousness and an intuitive sense into the body. Also the higher thought and the inner will comes then only. The exterior being has to become aware of the inner—the veil between the inner and outer consciousness has to be removed, it is only then that a real ...
... confirms their truth. Yes, the active mind in people with a very intellectual turn can be an obstacle to the deeper more silent spiritual movement. Afterwards when it is turned into the higher thought (intuitive or overmental) it becomes on the contrary a great force. The intuitive perception or discrimination is self-sufficient—it does not need any reasoning or process of thought to ...
... beings; for the directly intuitive or partly intuitivised but not yet gnostic mental being, the directly or partly illumined mental being, the mental being in direct or part communion with the higher-thought plane would emerge: these would become more and more numerous, more and more evolved and secure in their type, and might even exist as a formed race of higher humanity leading upwards the less ...
... method, have to make your mind a blank. That is a powerful but very difficult and trying discipline or Tapasya. You simply replace by degrees the activity of the lower reason by the activity of the higher thought, the activity of the mind by the activity of the same organ and the sense-perceptions by the activity of the Prakamya. This process is less painful and more easy. Secondly, you cannot stop perceiving ...
... a more powerful descent and further prepare an integration of the being for a greater Force of consciousness and knowledge. This greater Force is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the spirit: ...
... beings: for the directly intuitive or partly intuitivised but not yet gnostic mental being, the directly or partly illumined mental being, the mental being in direct or part communion with the higher-thought plane would emerge: these would become more and more numerous, more and more evolved and secure in their type, and might even exist as a formed race of higher humanity leading upwards the less ...
... blinded or dazzled by a Truth beyond it. 44 Page 352 Illumined Mind ...greater Force [than the Higher Mind] is that of the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of spiritual light. Here the clarity of the spiritual intelligence, its tranquil daylight, gives place or subordinates itself to an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the ...
... or aesthetics. It is concerned especially with truth and knowledge or rather with a wisdom that exceeds what we call knowledge; its truth goes beyond truth of fact and truth of thought, even the higher thought which is the first spiritual range of the thinker. It has the truth of spiritual thought, spiritual feeling, spiritual sense and at its highest the truth that comes by the most intimate spiritual ...
... greater whole on the way to a yet unachieved integrality." 18 Illumined Mind At a still higher level, there is, according to Sri Aurobindo, the Illumined Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought but of spiritual light. The downpour of inwardly visible Light very usually envelops the action of this Mind. The illumined Mind does not work primarily by thought, but by vision; thought is here ...
... thought, feeling, vision is high or deep or wide or all these things together...it goes vast on its way to bring the divine riches, and it has a corresponding language and rhythm. The Higher Thought has a strong tread often with bare unsandaled feet and moves in a clear-cut light: a divine power, measure, dignity is its most frequent character. The outflow of the Illumined Mind ...
... sustain mental activity. When these currents are changed by Pranayama, they bring about a change in the brain. The cause of dullness of the brain is some obstruction in it which does not allow the higher thought to be communicated to it. When this obstruction is removed the higher mental being is able to communicate its action easily to the brain. When the higher consciousness is attained the brain does ...
... and intensity and driving force, a luminosity of. nature of Truth- Sight with thought formation as a minor and dependent activity." — Life Divine. Illumined-Mind, a Mind no longer of higher Thought, but of Spiritual light. It has "an intense lustre, a splendour and illumination of the Spirit: a play of lightnings of spiritual truth and power bleaks from above into the consciousness and adds ...
... morning and two in the evening. I found that the mind began to work with great illumination and power." In fact, the dullness in the brain is caused by some obstruction in it which does not allow the higher thought to be communicated to it. Pranayama can remove that obstacle and bring about a change in the brain. For, as explained Sri Aurobindo, brain is not the seat of thinking, but only a communicating ...
... for greater human values. Man needs food and shelter, goes without saying, but he yearns for other things also, air and light: he needs freedom, he needs culture Page 129 —higher thoughts, finer emotions, nobler urges—the field and expression of personal worth. The acquisition of knowledge, the creation of beauty, the pursuit of philosophy, art, literature, and science in their... union, however sentimental or even ludicrous it may appear to Page 127 some, is, as we see it, the cry of humanity itself to transcend the modem barriers of nationhood and rise to a higher status of solidarity and collective consciousness. INTERNATIONALISM And yet internationalism is not the one thing needful either. If it means the obliteration of all national values, of... sufficient for men to become merely useful or indispensable—although happy and contented-members of a collective body. The individual must be free, free in his creative joy to bring out and formulate, in thought, in speech, in action, in all the modes of expression, the truth, the beauty, the good he experiences within. An all-round culture, a well-developed mind, a well-organised life, a well-formed ...
... HUMANISM So the cry is for greater human values. Man needs food and shelter, goes without saying, but he yearns for other things also, air and light: he needs freedom, he needs culture – higher thoughts, finer emotions, nobler urges – the field and expression of personal worth. The acquisition of knowledge, the creation of beauty, the pursuit of philosophy, art, literature, and science in their... Britain a single national union, however sentimental or even ludicrous it may appear to some, is; as we see it, the cry of humanity itself to transcend the modern barriers of nationhood and rise to a higher status of solidarity and collective consciousness. INTERNATIONALISM And yet internationalism is not the one thing needful either. If it means the obliteration of all national values... for men to r become merely useful or indispensable– although happy and I contented –members of a collective body. The individual must be free, free in his creative joy to bring out and formulate, in thought, in speech, in action, in all the modes of expression, the truth, the beauty, the good he experiences within. An all-round culture, a well-developed mind, a well-organised life, a well-formed body ...
... outward and not inward. When the reading is over the mind runs for a time in this external groove and then one has to remain quiet and call back or get back into the inward state to which the higher thoughts naturally come. This may take a little time. The only harm in reading these things [ about procreation ] is that the vital makes it an excuse for sexual excitement. Otherwise there is no... the being instead of being controlled and used by it. I do not think you should stop reading so long as the reading itself does not, as a passion, fall away from the mind; that happens when a higher order of consciousness and experiences begin within the being. Nor is it good to force yourself too much to do only the one work of painting. Such compulsion of the mind and vital tends usually either... and behind there is the consciousness of the Divine always. A time must come when the reading as well as any other outward occupation does not interfere with the presence or activity of the higher consciousness. The reading must learn to accommodate itself to the pressure [ of sadhana ]—that is, be done by the outer mind while the inner being remains in concentration. That is good ...
... proportion as we become more mental, we attain to a subtler action of our whole nature which becomes more apt to reflect and receive higher thoughts, a purer will, a less physical truth, more inward influences. The power of ethical knowledge and the ethical habit of thought and will to purify is obvious. Philosophy not only purifies the reason and predisposes it to the contact of the universal and the... and its great progression. Into any or all of these he can bring his illumined vision and his liberated power of the spirit. The lower knowledge has been the step from which he has risen to the higher; the higher illumines for him the lower and makes it part of itself, even if only its lower fringe and most external radiation. Page 518 ... turn the whole will and mind from the discursive divagation natural to them, following a dispersed movement of the thoughts, running after many-branching desires, led away in the track of the senses and the outward mental response to phenomena: we have to fix the will and the thought on the eternal and real behind all, and this demands an immense effort, a one-pointed concentration. Secondly, it is ...
... most attached to the old type of thought & character, while the Rajputs, who are only a Central Nation which has drifted westward, preserved longest the heroic & chivalrous tradition of the Bharatas. The Dravidians of the South, though they no longer show that magnificent culture and originality which made them the preservers & renovators of the higher Hindu thought & religion in its worst days, are... are yet, as we all know, far more genuinely learned & philosophic in their cast of thought & character than any other Indian race. Similarly the West also preserves its tradition; the Punjab is typified by its wide acceptance of such crude, but practical & active religions as those of Nanak Page 153 & Dayanunda Saraswati, religions which have been unable to take healthy root beyond the frontier ...
... but an instrument, which tries no longer to initiate things, which is satisfied with being moved by the higher Consciousness—thought serves as an intermediary to establish a contact, a relation, and to enable this impersonal Force to act wherever it is necessary, upon definite points. It may be said in an absolute way that an evil always carries its own remedy. One might say that the cure of any... the true use one can make of thought: thought serves as a kind of channel to carry this vibration from place to place, wherever it is necessary. This force, this vibration of sweetness is there in a Page 42 static way upon the world, pressing in order to be received, but it is an impersonal action. And thought—illumined thought, surrendered thought, thought which is no longer anything but... any suffering coexists with the suffering. So, instead of seeing an evil "useless" and "stupid" as it is generally thought to be, you see that the progress, the evolution which has made the suffering necessary—which is the cause of the suffering and the very reason for its existence—attains the intended result; and at the same time the suffering is cured, for those who are able to open themselves and ...
... inspiration or intuition of the work. Page 256 If one feels a consciousness not limited by the work, a consciousness behind supporting that which works, then it is easier [ to keep higher thoughts during work ]. That usually comes either by the wideness and silence fixing and extending itself or by the consciousness of a Force not oneself working through the worker. Before things... puts it right. It needs a quiet mind [ to know the Divine Will ]. In the quiet mind turned towards the Divine the intuition (higher mind) comes of the Divine's Will and the right way to do it. Once the mental silence is attained, then in that the mental thoughts can be replaced by some vision and intuition regarding the work. The transcendental Will for us is the supramental Will.... For that to act in you directly, it is necessary to grow upward into the consciousness above the ordinary mind and to bring down these higher ranges into the mind, life and body. Indirectly through Page 263 the higher Mind and intuition the supramental Will is already acting on you, but naturally this indirect action does not bring the full power. The true automatic action (full ...
... does "keeping one's consciousness high" mean trying to have higher thoughts? This is rather a consequence than a fact. When one keeps his consciousness on a higher level, naturally it serves as a filter for thoughts and allows only thoughts of a higher nature. But it is rather a consequence than a fact. To keep one's consciousness in a higher state is to raise it above the lower levels in the being... s without thought, there is a very much higher state of consciousness in which there are no thoughts. It is a consciousness that can have a very perfect knowledge of things, without it being expressed in thoughts and words. Thought is only one form of activity. "Silence is... more easily established by a descent from above." "From above" means what, Sweet Mother? From the higher region of ... being, it is to keep it in the light, in the peace, in the higher knowledge and harmony; that is, to place one's consciousness as high as possible in one's being, at the level where one is liberated from all lower movements. Then naturally, if the consciousness is there, the thoughts it receives are those of a higher order. And thought is only one form of activity of the consciousness, it is not the stuff ...
... consciousness: a radiant face with delight in its eyes! He would turn around and with a welcoming smile he would ask me the purpose of my visit. It was as if he had suspended the avalanche of higher thoughts and come down to my level fully and whole-heartedly. There was no distance between us; he was with me and for me during those few minutes! That established an immediate rapport, maybe, a deeper... 39 effect because they thought that it was better not to fall ill than face the doctor's drastic disapproval of any kind of illness which would give him any botheration, (laugh-ter) But he did his job all right, and every time he fright-ened off a patient he went to his room and started trying to write poetry (laughter) - because that, he thought, was his most important job. And, whether... the spot where the Mother stood during the Darshan. Looking up at Her, he would stand arrested in concentration, pulling down the Force and Light that was the Mother. I could not reach him, but I thought the best way to attract the Mother's attention on me would be to stand just beside the statue of concentration and prayer that was Amal Kiran. Thus, day after day I stood in his borrowed light! ...
... conditions which had been elaborated by the mental, FIXED by it (Mother closes her fist tightly), and which appeared so inevitable, to the extent that those who had a living experience of the higher worlds thought that one had to escape from this world, to abandon this material world if one truly wanted to live in the Truth (that is the cause of all those theories and all those beliefs), but now, it is ...
... that no longer tries to set things in motion, that is satisfied with being moved by the higher Consciousness—thought is used as an intermediary to make contact, to build a connection and allow this impersonal Force to act wherever it's necessary, on precise points. ( silence ) We may say in an absolute way that the remedy always goes together with the trouble. We could say that the cure for every... just where I saw the true use one could make of thought: thought is used as a channel to carry the vibration from place to place, wherever it's necessary. This force, this vibration of sweetness is there over the world in a static way, pressing to be received, but it's an impersonal action, and thought—enlightened thought, surrendered thought, the thought that is nothing more than an instrument, that ...
... such an extent that those who had a living experience of the higher worlds thought that one must flee from the world, give up this material world if one wanted to live in the truth (that is the basis of all these theories and faiths); but now it is no longer like that. The physical is capable of Page 229 receiving the higher Light, the Truth, the true Consciousness and of manifesting ... ), so that the lesson might be learnt. I remembered the time when Sri Aurobindo was there.... Well, the inner part of the being was in a consciousness that felt, that saw things according to the higher consciousness: altogether different; and then, just when Sri Aurobindo fell ill and when there were all those things, first of all the accident (he broke Page 226 his thigh)... then the... And then, some days ago this formation that had left (which is an earthly formation, of all humanity, that is to say, of those who had the vision, the perception, even only the aspiration for the higher Truth—when they come back to the Fact, they stand before this terribly painful thing, this ceaseless negation of all circumstances), this formation from which the body had been completely liberated ...
... a point that those who had a living experience of the higher worlds thought one had to flee this world, abandon this material world if one really wanted to live in the Truth (that's the cause of all those theories and beliefs), now things are no longer like that. Now things are no longer like that. The physical is CAPABLE of receiving the higher Light, the Truth, the true Consciousness, and of man-... lesson. ( long silence ) I remembered the time when Sri Aurobindo was here.... You see, the inner part of the being used to enter into a consciousness that felt and saw things according to the higher consciousness—they were quite different; then, when Sri Aurobindo fell ill, in fact, when there were all those things, first that accident (he broke his leg 2 )... then the body, the BODY used to... then, these last few days, that formation which had left (a terrestrial formation, of all mankind, which means that those who have the vision or perception of, or even just the aspiration to, that higher Truth, when they come back into the [material] Fact, they are in front of this dreadfully painful thing, this perpetual negation by all circumstances), that formation, from which the body had completely ...
... knowledge begins to come from the higher planes—the Higher Mind to begin with, and this creates a new action of thought and perception which replaces the ordinary mental. Page 183 It does that first in the thinking mind, but afterwards also in the vital mind and physical mind, so that all these begin to go through a transformation. This kind of thought is not random and restless, but precise... ed from Chit, the higher or divine consciousness. Usually the word [ Chitta ] is employed for the general surface consciousness in which thoughts, feelings, desires, emotions, sensations (these being called chittavritti) arise. There is therefore no special location. Its function is to receive the impacts of the world and give back reactions which take the form of thoughts, feelings etc. ... assisted by the Buddhi, vital will or some higher power. Afterwards when the higher consciousness descends it begins to be transformed and capable of an automatic rejection of what is not true or right or divine or helpful to the growth of the divine in the being. The Chitta does not receive desires and sensations from the Buddhi. It takes thoughts from the Buddhi and turns them into desires ...
... and deliberate manipulation of certain luminous vibrations in addition to sound. Thought, by comparison (thought as we now know it), is much more material. Thought—formulation in words—is much lower down on the scale. Some thoughts.... Are they thoughts?... It's something much higher than thought, much higher than ideas.... It is the VISION OF KNOWLEDGE in an extremely luminous region where ... got up and left. And then I noticed that not a thought remained—I no longer knew anything or understood anything, I was absolutely BLANK. So I gave thanks to the Lord and thanked Sri Aurobindo in my heart. And I was very careful not to disturb it; I held it like that for I don't know how long, eight or ten days. Nothing—not one idea, not one thought, nothing—a complete BLANK. In other words, from... As I have told you, your psychic being is accompanied by something which has come for a special purpose, with a particular intellectual power—a luminous, conscious power—which has come from regions higher than the mind, regions Sri Aurobindo calls the Overmind, to do a special work. It is here ( gesture enveloping the chest and head ) and, along with the psychic, it's trying to organize everything. ...
... intrusion and necessity of farther suddhi. The success seems to be absolute in thought-speech; there is a mixture of stress and incertitude in trikaldrishti, jnana thought-perception is held in doubt between the greater and lesser siddhi. Mind-cased confused perception and half-perception can still pursue the trikaldrishti. The higher vijnana acts with some difficulty and is not yet in free command of its... Only the higher vijnana on the highest or middle level is native to the adhara. The T² and with it other siddhis dropped towards the lowest levels even with some hint of the mentality. Ananda was lowered to an interrupted continuity and suffered much intrusion of the mental forms. Now the highest vijnana is again at work in the thought-siddhi and a recovery is in progress. Thought siddhi with... ideality, the full vijnana held back, finally a hampered and narrowed action of the higher vijnana 2 March 1920 The action of outer mentality in a mass of all kinds turned into the lower and lesser ideal action. The object to get rid of the coating, penetration, mixture of the intuitive mental being in the thought-action, as has already been done in script and lipi. Also of the glamour of confused ...
... The Upanishads add a more specifically intellectual dimension to the poetry and the speculation, but they also connect with the higher spiritual thought of the civilised world, ancient and modern: The ideas of the Upanishads can be rediscovered in much of the thought of Pythagoras and Plato and form the profoundest part of Neo-Platonism and Gnosticism with all their considerable consequences... Sri Aurobindo by trying to read at a stretch a work like The Life Divine feel enchanted no doubt by the opening pages or chapters, but presently feel somewhat put out by the higher and ever higher ocean-waves of thought and the matching roll of majestic articulation. Sri Aurobindo himself did not intend his book to be treated as 'light reading' to be gulped down with ease without the slightest ruffling... than the wielder of an animated and effective English prose style. Some of Sri Aurobindo's characteristically epigrammatic or aphoristic molecules of prose are included in Thoughts and Glimpses and Thoughts and Aphorisms, and are also scattered in the letters and the "minor" works. One is occasionally overwhelmed by a whole shower as in - Be wide in me, O Varuna; be mighty in ...
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