... PART II IMPORTANCE OF THE INNER BEING When I speak of the inner being I mean the inner consciousness and inner existence. Through which centre does the inner being manifest itself? Do you not know that the inner being means the inner mind, inner vital, inner physical with the psychic behind as the inmost... have lived in your outer and not in your inner being that it is like that. But unless you open to the inner touch, the inner being cannot develop. I mean by the inner being, the inner mind, the inner vital, the inner physical, the psychic. What exactly is the inner touch? The inner touch is the Mother's influence felt in the inner being. When I had experiences and... inner mental will and inner mental vision. I sometimes feel as if my inner being is located above and lives on the higher planes. The inner being cannot be "located" above, it can only join with the above, penetrate it and be penetrated by it. If it were located above, then there would be no inner being. There is a central consciousness, I suppose? When the consciousness ...
... Growth of the Inner Being and the Inner Consciousness What you feel as the new life is the growth of the inner being in you; the inner being is the true being and as it grows the whole consciousness begins to change. This feeling and your new attitude towards people are signs of the change. The seeing Page 223 of inner things also usually comes with this growth of the inner being and cons... which Page 235 is the result of intense dhyāna and the beginning of a certain kind of samādhi . The Inner Being and the Inmost or Psychic Being There is an inner being and an inmost being which we call the psychic. When one meditates, one tries to go into the inner being. If one does it, then one feels very well that one has gone inside. What can be realised in meditation can also become... Page 212 Becoming Aware of the Inner Being It is not that anything has been taken from you, but as you say at the end, your being is seen by you in two parts. That is a thing that happens as the sadhana proceeds and must happen in order that one may have completely the knowledge of oneself and the true consciousness. These two parts are the inner being and the outer being. The outer being ...
... The Inner Being The year 1933 What is the outer consciousness? Is it connected with the inner being? The outer consciousness is that which usually expresses itself in ordinary life. It is the external mental, vital, physical. It is not connected very much with the inner being except in a few — until one connects them together... I would very much like to bring out my inner being and live in it. If you call down the higher consciousness, its descent of itself will show you your inner being as separate from the outer. Until then you can only go on observing yourself and the movements of your nature till you see the difference. Does the inner being lie hidden? Will it never express itself through... through the outer before the outer is trans formed? If the inner being does not manifest or act, the outer will never get transformed. Does the inner being open to the Mother by itself? The inner being does not open except by sadhana, or by some psychic touch in the life. What goes on so long as it is shut up? It is the outer ...
... prayer—such dream- experiences always are and the impression of the inner being in the dream is not usually mistaken. February 17, 1934 I had no intention of sarcasm or banter, but simply meant to say that such deprivations can be used as opportunities for evolving the necessary capacity of the inner being. I have not wantonly stopped the books8 or free letter-writing... very much both the feeling and the form of your poem. Of course when you are writing poems or composing you are in contact with your inner being, that is why you feel so different then. The whole art of Yoga is to get that contact and get from it into the inner being itself, for so one can enter directly into and remain in all that is great and luminous and beautiful. Then one can try to establish... Sri Aurobindo to Dilip - Volume II 1934 1934? I made no mistake at all. Your inner being is quite capable of Yoga and in your experiences there were plenty of proofs of it. It is your outer being that is making all the trouble and putting up a big fight against the inner destiny. But that hap- pens to many people who turn out very good Yogis ...
... 1931 ? Fragment of a letter ... The presence whose fading he regrets can only be felt if the inner being continues to be consecrated, and the outer nature is put into harmony or at least kept under the touch of the inner spirit. But if he does things which his inner being does not approve, this condition will be inevitably tarnished and, each time, the possibility of his feeling the... active mind of the human being is at first too much turned to outward things; it has to go inside altogether in order to live in the inner being (inner mind, inner vital, inner physical, psychic). But with training one can remain outwardly conscious and live in the inner being and has at will the indrawn or the outpoured experience; you will then have the same experience of dense immobility and the inpouring... poem or compose great music. Few people can do it, as things are,—not even one in a million; for poetry and music come from the inner being and to write or to compose true and great things one has to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something in the inner being. That is why you got the poetic power as soon as you began Yoga,—yogic force made the passage clear. It is the same with yogic ...
... How can there be one centre for all that? The inner being cannot be "located" above, it can only join with the above, penetrate it and be penetrated by it. If it were located above, then there would be no inner being. The inner being has its own time which is sometimes slower, sometimes faster than the physical. The Inner Being, the Antaratma and the Atman The word Antaratma is... it covers all the inner being, inner mind, inner vital, inner physical even, as well as the inmost being, the psychic. Our inner being is in touch with the universal mind, life, matter, a part of all that, but by that very fact it cannot be in possession of liberation and peace. You are thinking probably of the Atman and confusing it with the inner being. The Inner Being and the Psychic Being... your external being alone is like that. Hardly anybody has the external being of a Yogi—it is the inner being that has the Yogic turn—the external has to be converted and transformed. If the inner being does not manifest or act, the outer being will never get transformed. If the inner being is safe, then there is no longer any struggle or overpowering [ of the outer being ] by inertia or ...
... the infinite Self that one can remain above - or, if all the parts of the being share in the peace and freedom of the self. Inner Being and the Self-Realisation Is not our lack of wideness because the inner being is seized by inertia and ego? Yes, I suppose so. A complete silence makes realisation of the Self more possible -but that can... the use of merely arguing that the higher being is wide and infinite? Do these realisations come when you are in the higher being and if not why not? The inner being easily opens to all these realisations, the outer does not. So unless your inner being becomes conscious of itself, the mere ascent gives only height or some vague sense of other planes, not these concrete realisations. At... dwelling on the higher planes. I want to know now if you want me to come down from the above-station into the inner being. Page 214 No. That is not the point. I have said that the higher station must be accompanied by the action on the inner being. You have to stabilise peace everywhere, to separate from the outer disturbances, to establish such a condition ...
... must be prepared to give the time. 16 April 1935 Of course when you are writing poems or composing you are in contact with your inner being, that is why you feel so different then. The whole art of Yoga is to get that contact and get from it into the inner being itself, for so one can enter directly into and remain in all that is great and luminous and beautiful. Then one can try to establish... very much both the feeling and the form of your poem. Of course when you are writing poems or composing you are in contact with your inner being, that is why you feel so different then. The whole art of Yoga is to get that contact and get from it into the inner being itself, for so one can enter directly into and remain in all that is great and luminous and beautiful. Then one can try to establish... since it is not mundane,—is yet a link with the inner being and expresses its ideal. That is its value for the sadhana. 25 December 1934 The use of your writing is to keep you in touch with the inner source of inspiration and intuition, so as to wear thin the crude external crust in the consciousness and encourage the growth of the inner being. 24 July 1938 What do you wish me to be, an ...
... That is so long as the inner being has not attained a constant and even calm poise. Page 95 It is no use giving up talking altogether - the proper course is to speak usefully to people but not to talk for the sake of talking. Can one maintain peace within, even while talking and mixing with others? Possible only if the inner being can separate itself in... in the peace and remain unaffected by the outer movements and contacts. One has to go inside into the inner being and one can minimise contacts, if necessary, not as an absolute rule - provided there is a real living in the inner being and sufficient contact with outside things not to lose one's hold of practical realities. But if there is an isolation which brings depression, inertia, unhappiness... the rest of the system. You wrote once that the outer being cannot be changed without bringing down the higher consciousness first into the inner. Shall I have to wait then for the inner being to get the higher consciousness before this depression can go? Yes, unless you free the vital from subjection to ego and demand. But that needs a will which will master the instinctive movements ...
... 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 sure to come with sincerity, aspiration, and... for in fact they have already been stated by the Gita and other books on Yoga and, after all, thousands of people have realised them in part at least or in the inner being—though not so well in the outer. But to realise the inner being is quite enough for a foundation—for many it is quite enough even as a last state, for those who do not seek the transformation of the outer nature. Here too, even... experience of the inner being in a conscious dream state, svapna samādhi. The numbness and the feeling of being about to lose consciousness are always due to the pressure or descent of a Force to which the body is not accustomed but feels strongly. Here it was not the physical body that was being directly pressed, but the subtle body, the sūksma śarīra in which the inner being more intimately ...
... consciousness from the energy when it is put out in action; can that Page 134 not be done by the mind or the inner being? But the mind and the inner being are not consciousness. Certainly the mind and the inner being are consciousness. For human beings who have not got deeper into themselves mind and consciousness are synonymous. Only when one becomes more... that I did not try to develop my inner being which is of great importance in the Integral Yoga. The self-realisation was all I sought for. Shall I now centre my sadhana around the inner being? The whole question is whether you can go farther in the realisation of the self without either purification of the vital and the ego or development of the inner being. If you can, it is all right, but... itself. I can separate myself from work and feel myself as a supervisor. But this separation is very passive, empty and fragile because of the static peace and lack of Force of the inner being. It does not help me to do any active or conscious sadhana white I work. There has to be a beginning to everything. The first step is to detach oneself from the work and be the witness. If ...
... external being—as it is in the case of most people. Your inner being wants and has always wanted the Truth and the Divine—when the peace and power are felt it comes forward and you feel 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... is an enemy force that pushes them back into you. The difficulty is that your physical consciousness does not yet know how to reject this when it comes. The inner being rejects it, but as the physical consciousness lets it in, the inner being is pushed back for the time being. You must absolutely learn not to allow this thing to come in, not to indulge and support it when it comes. It is a falsehood... not only contrary to the sadhana and contrary to the Divine truth, but contrary to the truth of your own inner being and of your soul's aspiration and your heart's desire. How can such a thing be true? it exists but that does not make it the truth of your being. It is the soul, the inner being that is the true self in everyone. It is that you must know to be your self and reject this as a false thing ...
... periods, my inner being does not get identified with the inertia. If the inner being is free, if the sadhana is not stopped, if the Force is at work preparing something then surely there is nothing to be anxious about. The inertia will be worked out of the external being. Are there not people here who are always in touch with their inner being and merged... INNER AND OUTER BEING You always speak about turning to the inner being, so I would like to know if there is nothing good in the outer being? Obviously the outer being cannot be all bad, but it is mixed and ignorant and full of ignorant movements. What has the inner being to do with Yoga or spiritual life? It is the outer being that has... present sadhana is so much affected by the inertia. Are the sub-nature and physical parts of my being the only support of the sadhana? Is it on them that my inner being depends so much? Page 178 The inner being does not depend on the subconscient, but the outer has depended on it for thousands of lives — that is why the outer being and physical consciousness's habit ...
... it the higher mind and the higher vital. Why then find fault with the Divine for misleading you when it turned to the Yoga or brought you here? It was simply answering to the demand of your own inner being and the higher parts of your nature. If you have so much difficulty and become restless, it is because you are still divided and something in your lower vital still regrets what it has lost or, as... Ashram. That this should be the first tiling when the power of vision broke through its state of latency is very significant; it proves that you are in contact, tile touch already there in your inner being and this force of presence and protection is already around you or over you Page 175 as an environing influence. Develop this power of inner sense and all that it brings you... language was probably opaque—that I put in the balance the possibility of your Page 242 satisfying the request in the telegram. But your letter has shown me very clearly what your inner being demands of me and also that your going now would not be desirable from the point of view of your spiritual life. That for me must be the first consideration. So, since it is left to my decision, ...
... selective formation for a surface use. We perceive only a small number of the contacts of things which impinge upon us; the inner being perceives all that enters or touches us and our environment. We perceive only a part of the workings of our life and being; the inner being perceives so much that we might almost suppose that nothing escapes its view. We remember only a small selection from our perceptions... upon what we need; the inner being retains everything that it has ever received and has it always ready to hand. We can form into co-ordinated understanding and knowledge only so much of our perceptions and memories as our trained intelligence and mental Page 576 capacity can grasp in their sense and appreciate in their relations: the intelligence of the inner being needs no training, but... observation far enough, we shall find that the cognition and will or impulsive force of the inner being really stand behind the whole conscious becoming; the latter represents only that part of its secret endeavour and achievement which rises successfully to the surface of our life. To know our inner being is the first step towards a real self-knowledge. If we undertake this self-discovery and enlarge ...
... means the coming forward, the unveiling of this inner being. The ignorant and animal life of man persists so long as the inner being remains in the background, away from the dynamic life, so long as man is subject to the needs and impulses of his mind and life and body. True, through the demands and urges of this lower complex, it is always the inner being that gains and has its dictates carried out and... master of all, yea, his is this world, he is this world."¹ In the practice of Yoga the fitness or capacity that the inner being thus lends is the only real capacity that a sadhaka possesses; and the natural, spontaneous, self-sufficing initiation deriving from the inner being is the only initiation that is valid and fruitful. Initiation does not mean necessarily an external rite or ceremony, a... ; for it means that at each step and at every moment we have to maintain the contact of our external consciousness with the inner being; at each step and every moment we have to undergo the test of our sincerity and loyalty – the test whether we are tending to our inner being, moving in its stream or, on the contrary, walking the way of our external animal nature, whether the movements in the mind ...
... its central means of awareness; for the subliminal self or inner being is a projection from these higher planes to meet the subconscience and it inherits the character of consciousness of its planes of origin with which it is intimately associated and in touch by kinship. In our outer being we are children of the Inconscience; our inner being makes us inheritors of the higher heights of mind and life... that is are this Self. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. (IV. 5. 15, 7.) The Self-Existent has pierced the doors of sense outward, therefore one sees things outwardly and sees not in one's inner being. Rarely a sage desiring immortality, his sight turned inward, sees the Self face to face. Katha Upanishad. (II. 1. 1.) There is no annihilation of the seeing of the seer, the speaking... our inner realities, imposes itself as the prior necessity because it is by this inward self-finding that the second—the cosmic self-finding—can become entirely possible: we have to go into our inner being and learn to live in it and from it; the outer mind and life and body must become for us only an antechamber. All that we are on the outside is indeed conditioned by what is within, occult, in our ...
... consciousness but also to reject its egoic movements. Without rejection one may arrive at the liberation of the inner being as a detached Witness, but one cannot become Master of one's whole being; one continues to experience reactions in one's surface consciousness although the inner being is free and unaffected by the reactions. Explaining the difference between the freedom that comes from detachment... ordinary and the spiritual life. 127 An important point to be noted is that truly effective rejection can be done only by exercising the will of the inner being (the soul or Purusha), but when one is not in touch with one's inner being due to an identification with the mind, one needs to exercise the mental will to reject what needs to be rejected. As Sri Aurobindo explains in these letters:... similar to what Eckhart describes as "allowing." In the light of the Gita's teaching, allowing would mean not interfering with what one sees and not accepting it either. Feeling an inner being within (what Eckhart calls the "witnessing Presence") that is separate and detached from the egoic surface self is the first principle. Observing the movements of the surface being as ...
... selective formation for a surface use. We perceive only a small number of the contacts of things which impinge upon us; the inner being perceives all that enters or touches us and our environment. We perceive only a part of the workings of our life and being; the inner being perceives so much that we might almost suppose that nothing escapes its view. We remember only a small selection from our... our hand upon what we need; the inner being retains everything that it has ever received and has it always ready to hand. We can form into co-ordinated understanding and knowledge only so much of our perceptions and memories as our trained intelligence and mental capacity can grasp in their sense and appreciate in their relations: the intelligence of the inner being needs no training, but preserves... observation far enough, we shall find that the cognition and will or impulsive force of the inner being really stand behind the whole conscious becoming; the latter represents only that part of its secret endeavour and achievement which rises successfully to the surface of our life. To know our inner being is the first step towards a real self-knowledge. The Life Divine, pp. 555-57 There ...
... means the coming forward, the unveiling of this inner being. The ignorant and animal life of man persists so long as the inner being remains in the background, away from the dynamic life, so long as man is subject to the needs and impulses of his mind and life and body. True, through the demands and urges of this lower complex, it is always the inner being that gains and has its dictates carried out and... master of all, yea, his is this world, he is this world."* In the practice of Yoga the fitness or capacity that the inner being thus lends is the only real capacity that a sadhaka possesses; and the natural, spontaneous, self-sufficing initiation deriving from the inner being is the only initiation that is valid and fruitful. Initiation does not mean necessarily an external rite or ceremony, a... for it means that at each step and at every moment we have to maintain the contact of our external consciousness with the inner being, at each step and at every moment we have to undergo the test of our sincerity and loyalty—the test whether we are tending to our inner being, moving in its stream or, on the contrary, walking the way of our external animal nature, whether the movements in the mind ...
... from within and is spontaneous and true. 18 May 1932 It was certainly true that you saw the Mother and she was teaching secrets to your inner being—for your inner being is in close relation with her. It is only by your opening yourself that this inner being can come out and change the relations of Page 449 your external self with her, remove from it its sense of not being connected,... touch with the Force—for it is your inner being that feels naturally in touch with it,—it is only the external and physical mind and vital that feel it is as if it were not real, not truly connected etc. etc. This you have experienced yourself more than once when the inner being came into the front. 3 November 1932 It is perfectly true that in your inner being there is nothing that stands between... suggestions and accepts the reasonings and obeys the movements of the obscure ignorant physical Nature. That is why I want you to get rid of this habit of the outer mind and to recognise that it is the inner being which is the real truth of yourself and not this outer consciousness with its confusions which is a present fact but not your true permanent being. 9 December 1932 This morning I sent a letter ...
... vessel in which it is put and assumes the colour thereof. Milton's inner Being represents height, density, weight and seriousness. Dante's inner Being represents intensity, virility and Tapasya (askesis). Kalidasa's inner Being represents beauty, while that of the Upanishadic seers represents luminosity. The truth of the inner Being escapes both character and morality. It can be grasped only through... decorum of their inner Being. Vulgarity has no place in their language, in the expression of their creativity. The style Baudelaire adopted was purely classical – 'aristo'. On the other hand, there are moralists and religious people who badly lack the virtue of the inner Being. In all their activities rusticity and lack of culture are in abundance. The fragrance of the inner Being can neither be learnt... through one's manners which reflect the innate nature of the inner Being. In the absence of decorum vulgarity looms large. For countless mistakes a man may be pardoned. But the vulgarity in one's manners takes man away from his status of manhood. Similarly if manners – the influence of the inner Being– Page 131 are visible in the artistic creation, then despite many minor flaws ...
... Experiences of the Inner Being and the Inner Consciousness Letters on Yoga - III Chapter IV Three Experiences of the Inner Being Opening into the Inner Mental Self The three experiences of which you speak belong all to the same movement or the same stage of your spiritual life; they are initial movements of the consciousness to become aware of your... fusion must be allowed to take place by a developing inner action in its own natural time. I shall explain why in another letter. The Awakening of the Inner Being in Sleep Your second experience is a first movement of the awakening of the inner being in sleep. Ordinarily when one sleeps a complex Page 259 phenomenon happens. The waking consciousness is no longer there, for all has been... your inner being which was veiled, as in most, by the outer waking self. There are, we might say, two beings in us, one on the surface, our ordinary exterior mind, life, body consciousness, another behind the veil, an inner mind, an inner life, an inner physical consciousness constituting another or inner self. This inner self once awake opens in its turn to our true real and eternal self. It opens inwardly ...
... You can do nothing well if they do not respond to the higher faculties, to the inner being. For instance, if you are a musician, you may have the best music within you, but if your fingers do not act properly you can't succeed. They form, as it were, the farthest end of the inner being through which the inner being expresses itself on the physical plane. It 1s just like the pen through which the... wife, or you have lost money, Disciple : Then directly you go to a Guru ! ( Laughter ) Sri Aurobindo : The true dissatisfaction comes from the inner being which is not satisfied with the ordinary life when once the inner being is touched. Disciple ; Is aspiration always psychic ? Sri Aurobindo : Yes. True aspiration is always psychic in its origin. It is "the fire rising... generalise in it Page 181 as you can with matter. It is very subtle, and one has to take into account many factors. If you say that everything we do produces an influence on our inner being and leaves an influence there, and conversely, that whatever is within us in the subconscious does influence our actions to some extent – that is all right. But more than that is not tenable. Take ...
... the spiritual opening, it is the awakened inner being that readily receives and assimilates the higher influences and puts on the higher nature; the external surface self, more entirely moulded by the forces of the Ignorance and Inconscience, is slower to awake, slower to receive, slower to assimilate. There is therefore a long stage in which the inner being is sufficiently transformed but the outer... by transformation and lose all rights over our being. If these two conditions can be achieved even now by a conscious call and will in the spirit and a participation of our whole manifested and inner being in its change and elevation, the evolution, the transformation can take place by a comparatively swift conscious change; the supramental Consciousness-Force from above and the evolving Conscious... as either mind, life or physical consciousness are the leading powers of being or have any dominance. The admission of such a change can only be brought about by a full emergence of the soul and inner being, the dominance of the psychic and spiritual will and a long working of their light and power on the parts of the being, a psychic and spiritual remoulding of the whole nature. A unification of ...
... is quite settled in the inner being—for it is the inner into which you enter whenever you concentrate—then it begins to come out and control the outer, so that the calm and peace remain even when working, mixing with others, talking or other occupations. For then whatever the outer consciousness is doing, one feels the inner being calm within—indeed one feels the inner being as one's real self while... Concentration is necessary. By dhyana you awake the inner being; by concentration in life, in work, in the outer consciousness you make the outer being also fit to receive the Divine Light and Force. It is in the waking consciousness that all has to be realised. But that cannot be done without a full preparation in the inner being and it is this preparation that is being done for you in... outer being responds to surface thoughts while the inner being is "engrossed in meditation" ] is not called meditation—it is a divided state of consciousness. Unless the consciousness is really engrossed and the surface thoughts are only things that come across and touch and pass, it can hardly be called meditation (dhyana). I don't see how the inner being can be "engrossed" while thoughts and imaginations ...
... selective formation for a surface use. We perceive only a small number of the contacts of things which impinge upon us; the inner being perceives all that enters or touches us and our environment. We perceive only a part of the workings of our life and being; the inner being perceives so much that we might almost suppose that nothing escapes its view. We remember only a small selection from our perceptions... our hand upon what we need; the inner being retains everything that it has ever received and has it always ready to hand. We can form into co-ordinated understanding and knowledge only so much of our perceptions and memories as our trained intelligence and mental capacity can grasp in their sense and appreciate in their relations: the intelligence of the inner being needs no training, but preserves... observation far enough, we shall find that the cognition and will or impulsive force of the inner being really stand behind the whole conscious becoming; the latter represents only that part of its secret endeavour and achievement which rises successfully to the surface of our life. To know our inner being is the first step towards a real self-knowledge. Sri Aurobindo The Life Divine - I: The ...
... of mind and life cannot break. Peace in the Inner Being It is quite usual to feel an established peace in the inner being even if there is disturbance on the surface. In fact that is the usual condition of the Yogi before he has attained the absolute samata in all the being. When the peace is deep or wide, it is usually in the inner being. The outer parts do not ordinarily go beyond a... a certain measure of quietude—they get deep peace only when they are flooded with it from the inner being. The peace starts in the inner being—it is spiritual and psychic but it overflows the outer being—when it is there in the activity, it means either that the ordinary restless mind, vital, physical has been submerged by the flood of the inner peace or, at a more advanced stage, that they have... objects can bring—there can be no comparison. To become indifferent to the attraction of outer Page 148 objects is one of the first rules of Yoga, for this non-attachment liberates the inner being into peace and the true consciousness. It is only when one sees the Divine in all things that objects get a value for the Yoga, but even then not for their own sake or as objects of desire, but for ...
... rings or sheaths"; the other is vertical, "like a flight of steps". 5 The concentric system consists of the outer or surface being, the inner being, and supporting both of these, the inmost being or the psychic (Fig.l). The outer being and the inner being have three corresponding parts — mental, vital, physical. Thus "There are, we might say, two beings in us, one on the surface, our ordinary... physical is referred to as the mechanical mind; it is like a machine that goes on turning round and round whatever thoughts occur in it. Page 341 The Inner Being (The Subliminal) Behind the outer being is the inner being, also called the subliminal self. There is an inner as well as an outer consciousness all through our being, upon all its levels. The ordinary man is... much more open and plastic and free. 14 Whereas the outer being "receives consciously only the outer touches and knows things indirectly through the outer mind and senses", 15 the inner being is "directly aware of the universal consciousness and the universal forces that play through us and around us." 16 For the inner mind is directly in touch with the universal mind, just as the ...
... consciousness — this so long as you are not able to speak always from the inner being or at least with the inner being supporting the action. How is one to know whether one's speech is coming from within and is supported and carried on by the inner being? If one is aware of one's inner being at all, one knows. It is an automatic result of consciousness. Of course if... arise since then everything, thought, feeling, speech is external. Page 101 I don't think I am without inner being or spiritual experience. Why then do I miss the inner contact and support for speech? If you had no inner being and no spiritual experience then you could have no descent of silence or peace or any pressure of force or anything else. But even those... matter. At present if I speak more than a few sentences at a time my peace is disturbed and the inner being is fatigued. This happens even when my talking is a necessity. That happens very usually. Talking of an unnecessary character fatigues the inner being because the talk comes from the outer nature while the inner has to supply the energy which it feels squandered ...
... Experiences of the Inner Being and the Inner Consciousness Letters on Yoga - III Chapter II Inner Detachment and the Witness Attitude Inner Detachment It [ the individual consciousness ] is not by its nature detached from the mental and other activities. It can be detached, it can be involved. In the human consciousness it is as a rule always involved... it. There is no "how" to that; you do it or try it until it succeeds. That sense of separate being and concentration behind the frontal consciousness is very good. It helps to liberate the inner being and make it stand back from the movements of the outer nature. That is the condition of progress,—if, whenever there is an attempt to cloud the consciousness, you can stand back, remain quiet... possible to detach yourself and look at these activities as if they were not your own but a mechanical action of Nature which you observe as a disinterested witness. One can then become aware of an inner being which is separate, calm and uninvolved in Nature. This may be the inner mental or vital Purusha and not the psychic, but to get at the consciousness of the inner manomaya and prāṇamaya Purusha ...
... that there was a third part of the nature, the inner being (inner mind, inner vital, inner physical) of which you were not yet aware, but which must also open in time. It is this that has happened in your last experience. What you felt as a part of you, yourself but not your physical self, rising to meet the higher consciousness above, was this inner being; it was your (inner) higher vital being which... above—and it was able to do so, because the work of purifying the outer vital nature had begun in earnest. Each time there is a purification of the outer nature, it becomes more possible for the inner being to reveal itself, to become free and to open to the higher consciousness above. When this happens, several other things can happen at the Page 322 same time. First, one becomes aware... which you can be more capable of the needed transformation. But that is necessarily a matter of time and long working and you are only taking the first steps in this way. When one goes into the inner being, the tendency is to go entirely inside and lose consciousness of the outside world—this is what people call Samadhi. But it is also necessary to be able to have the same experiences (of the Self ...
... etc.) and the outer Prakriti which it is using and changing. Does Prakriti's division mean separating one part of itself from the gunas and becoming the inner being? It becomes an inner Force, not the inner being. Page 23 TRANSFORMATION OF THE GUNAS Are Prakriti, Nature and the gunas quite different things? If so, why do we see them... meditate walking, standing, lying, but sitting is the first natural position. It is not a fact that when there is obscurity or inertia, one cannot concentrate or meditate. If one has in the inner being the steady will to do it, it can be done. One can have no fixed hours of meditation and yet be doing sadhana. If it is possible to keep a fixed period for meditation and stick... veil, as it were. The difficulty is that I am not conscious of the assimilation taking place. It almost seems a cessation of sadhana. Quite natural. But one must keep in the inner being the faith and knowledge that it is an assimilation and not a cessation, even if it looks like a cessation. If I could only watch this process behind the veil, all the wrong reactions ...
... courage to leap on the attacking force and drive it out (hands and feet) is not yet there. In the second dream the servant is the outer physical consciousness while you are your own inner being. The inner being awakes in the darkness of the physical obscurity but is not troubled. It knows and writes the mantra of the Truth and Light and Page 477 that brings the beginning of the white... clear. It is the subconscient that is active in ordinary dreams. But in the dreams in which one goes out into other planes of consciousness, mental, vital, subtle physical, it is part of the inner being, inner mental or vital or physical that is usually active. Page 456 A dream, when it is not from the subconscient, is either symbolic or else an experience of some supraphysical plane... sleep. These subconscient dream-recurrences are of no importance; they are shadows rather than realities. The other is when dreams come in the vital to test or to show how far in some part of the inner being the old movement remains or is conquered. For in sleep the control of the waking consciousness and will is not there. If then even in spite of that one is conscious in sleep and either does not feel ...
... into peace. Yes, that is how it should happen — but it is difficult so long as the inner being is not conscious and receptive at all times and in all conditions — and it is difficult and takes time to establish such a condition. Yesterday you spoke about the inner being. Today when the tamas began to rise as usual if stopped it. I would like to establish such a condition... whole nature must be preserved intact. When the outer being is so totally obscured how to keep an aspiration? One can always have an aspiration in the inner being, if the inner being keeps its separateness. This difficulty is due to old habits of the physical mind and vital, which still have the power to repeat themselves by rising from the subconscient... spiritual. When one's inner peace and silence are not disturbed, then how does the inertia intrude into the physical and work so freely there? It is not a question of the inner being, even of the inner physical. It is a question of the physical consciousness. The habit of tamas manifests itself in the very fact of the constant alternatives of experience and inertia. The principle ...
... 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 the descent must be dynamic, not merely that of a static peace; the inner peace must itself become dynamic. The descent whether of peace or force or light or knowledge or Ananda must occupy the whole inner being down to the inner physical. Without... an amazing idea to suppose that the outer can be changed while the inner is left to itself. What you had in the inner being was a static stillness which did not even entirely occupy the inner physical except at times—that was why the dynamic descent was necessary, but in the inner being or if possible the whole being, the inner outflowing into the outer, not in the outer being to the exclusion of the... personal vital and body but is in union with the supreme Self or with the universal (cosmic) consciousness or with some deeper consciousness within in which one is aware of one's own soul, one's own inner being and of the real truth of existence. In the Yogic consciousness one is not only aware of things, but of forces, not only of forces but of the conscious being behind the forces. One is aware of all ...
... experience of the inner being in a conscious dream state, svapna-samādhi . The numbness and the feeling of being about to lose consciousness are always due to the pressure or descent of a Force to which the body is not accustomed but feels strongly. Here it was not the physical body that was being directly pressed, but the subtle body, the sūkṣma śarīra in which the inner being more intimately dwells... human being is at first too much turned to outward things; it has to go inside altogether in order to live in the inner being (inner mind, inner vital, inner physical, psychic). But with training one can arrive at a point when one remains outwardly conscious and yet lives in the inner being and has at will the indrawn or the out-poured condition; you can then have the same dense immobility and the same... Experiences of the Inner Being and the Inner Consciousness Letters on Yoga - III Chapter III Inner Experiences in the State of Samadhi Samadhi or Trance The experience you had is of course the going inside of the consciousness which is usually called trance or samādhi . The most important part of it however is the silence of the mind and vital which ...
... great joy. The effect lingered. How do you call that a dream? It was a realisation by the inner consciousness in some kind of swapna samadhi. Very often a realisation comes like that as the inner being wakes in what seems to be sleep. Violet is indeed the colour of light of Divine Compassion, as also of Krishna's grace. January 1935 The Mother did not tell Nolini to ask... day bears its results, of the inner manifesting itself in the outer. It makes at once true and practical what sounds only a theory to the uninitiated—the strong distinction made by us between the inner being and the outer conscious- ness. It is how also unexpected Yogic capacity reveals itself, sometimes no doubt as a result of long and apparently fruit- less effort, sometimes as a spontaneous outflowering... and technique. Page 283 To anyone familiar with occult phenomena and their analysis, these things will seem perfectly normal and intelligible. The vision-mind in us is part of the inner being, and the inner mind, vital, physical are not bound by the dull and narrow limitations of our outer physical personality and the small scope of the world it lives in. Its scope is vast, extraordinary ...
... condition was of the inner being and its silence, the separation of Purusha from Prakriti. Yes, but it seems also to be the beginning of liberation from identification with the body consciousness. That easily comes with the Purusha-consciousness in the inner being. Is this inner being or the Purusha the same as the psychic being? No, not necessarily—the inner being is composed of the inner... other activity is truly found when these things are part of the working of the Divine Force in you and you feel it is that and it exists in the joy of that working. This condition you had of the inner being and its silence—separated from the surface consciousness and its little restless workings—is the first liberation, the liberation of Purusha from Prakriti, and it is a fundamental experience. The... who still haven't established themselves in this inner silence! There are many who have not even got it—even most. But I was not laying stress on silence but on the separate awareness of the inner being. I would like to know if experiences of this kind effect a lasting result in the way of raising one's consciousness higher, or is it simply the result of preceding days of prayer and aspiration ...
... approbation, for consideration, are very strong, though mentally I fight them. Yes, and your being is much more complex still than you imagine. The time will come when you will observe your inner being as though it were outside. And there is a part of your consciousness which gives its sanction to this movement of nature. For there is in you something which desires this approbation, although your... Is it lost ? Everything in sadhana is not conscious effort. Besides, it is a very difficult thing, which comes at the end. The body rests; but you have nothing to replace the torpor of the inner being. Later, gradually, sleep gets organised in its turn. Monday, February 22, 1926 I am continuing the separation of my self from the mind. I can easily enough place myself as inactive spectator... practise successively : first, whilst keeping the mind as calm as possible, I try hard to open my-self to a higher perception, to become aware of the supra-mental reality ; the other is to detach my inner being from action and from the mental level, to establish myself, as we say, in the supra-mental region. Are these two movements both right ? THEY seem to me to be two aspects, active and passive ...
... can 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... The Mother Chinmayi, The Mother has told me what you said to her. In other circumstances I would have asked you to stay on in the confidence that, however sharp the struggle might be, the inner being in you aided by the Divine Force would prevail over the other and foreign influence. But in the condition of mind described by you some relief and rest from the inner struggle seems to be necessary... soul can manifest itself and build up its own true form in mind and life, — a portion of the Divine. In you this divine possibility exists in a marked and exceptional degree. There is in you an inner being of spontaneous light, intuitive vision, harmony and creative beauty which has shown itself unmistakably every time it has been able to throw off clouds that gather in your vital nature. It is this ...
... the soul or more correctly, the inner being, of the artist, even though outer objects, environment, life-experience may act as stimulating influences to set his creative inner being into movement. But this inner being of man is surrounded by instruments of Nature which are very complex. It has many levels of being. In fact, it is this complexity of man's inner being that renders the task of the artist... 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 the artist—not by his outer mind—or by his intellectual theory about forms, i or his erratic unregulated fancy, or his subconscious. So, while we do accept the right of the artist—as the... about the inner structure of man. Modern psychological theories can also give him a glimpse of this complexity but these theories—like the psycho-analysis of Freud—give a very one-sided view of the inner being of man. In the present state of art there is no reason for disappointment because the trend towards subjective expression is in the right direction. In future we might even look beyond the ...
... your outer and not in your inner being that it is like that. But unless you open to the inner touch, the inner being cannot develop. I mean by the inner being the inner mind, the inner vital, the inner physical, the inner psychic. 3 February 1937 Could you explain what you mean by the inner touch? The inner touch is the Mother's influence felt in the inner being. When I was having experiences... without the inner touch, one cannot have such experiences, which are the fruit of the inner being's development. You did not feel it because the inner being was not awake to it—it felt only the results—and these results were not experiences in the inner being itself but of the Self above. 6 February 1937 ...
... outer or surface being which is distinguished from the inner being, composed of the inner mind, the inner vital, the inner physical, with the psychic or the soul as the innermost part of the being supporting all the rest. "The whole art of yoga", says Sri Aurobindo, "is to get that contact [with the inner being] and from it get into the inner being itself." 6 This leads up to the view of yoga... and try to explain a whole field of Nature in its narrow terms -runs riot here. 9 What lies behind the superficial consciousness of the outer being has been referred to earlier as the inner being, often called the subliminal or inner consciousness. Regarding the subliminal, Sri Aurobindo states: Even in Europe the existence of something behind the surface is now very frequently admitted... only behind the veil. It is, according to our psychology, connected with the small outer personality by certain centres of consciousness 10 of which we become aware by yoga. Only a little of the inner being escapes through these centres into the outer life, but that little is the best part of ourselves and responsible for our art, poetry, philosophy, ideals, religious aspirations, efforts at knowledge ...
... there is what we discover to be our highest self, and this too we can set apart as a higher occult province of our nature. The Life Divine, p. 557 The Inner Being; the Psychical Consciousness The inner being means the inner mind, inner vital, inner physical with the psychic behind as the inmost. Letters on Yoga, p. 373 There is an inner mental, an inner vital... A Greater Psychology 7 The Inner Being; the Subliminal (Self) The Subliminal Distinguished from the Subconscient ...subliminal is a general term used for all parts of the being which are not on the waking surface. Subconscient is very often used in the same sense by European psychologists because they do not know the difference. But when I use the... regions, — there is a consciousness much wider, more luminous, more in possession of itself and things than that which wakes upon our surface and is the percipient of our daily hours; that is our inner being, and it is this which we must regard as our subliminal self and set Page 72 apart the subconscient as an inferior, a lowest occult province of our nature. In the same way there is ...
... being within us. In a certain sense the various Purushas or beings in us, psychic, mental, vital, physical, are projections of the Atma, but that gets its full truth only when we get into our inner being and know the inner truth of ourselves. On the surface in the Ignorance, it is the mental, vital, physical Prakriti that acts and the Purusha is disfigured, as it were, in the action of Prakriti.... its control over the instruments. If it is perhaps sometimes spoken of as purified or perfected, what must be meant is the psychic action in the mind, vital and physical instruments. A purified inner being does not mean a purified psychic, but a purified inner mental, vital and physical. The epithets I used for the psychic were "awakened and liberated". Spiritual individuality is rather a vague... could exist without that. But it is quite possible to have a vital and physical being supported by such a soul essence but without a clearly evolved psychic being behind it. There is indeed an inner being composed of the inner mental, inner vital, inner physical,—but that is not the psychic being. The psychic is the inmost being of all and quite distinct from these. The word psychic is indeed used ...
... found completeness, the consciousness has to shift its centre and its static and dynamic position from the surface to the inner being; it is there that we must find the foundation for our thought, life and action. For to stand outside on our surface and to receive from the inner being and follow its intimations is not a sufficient transformation; one must cease to be the surface personality and become... limited responsiveness of the body. Even before the tranquillising purification of the outer nature has been effected or before it is sufficient, one can still break down the wall screening our inner being from our outer awareness by a strong force of call and aspiration, a vehement will or violent effort or an effective discipline or process; but this may be a premature movement and is not without... possible to become aware, a true and pure physical being, the Purusha. So too, by standing back from all these activities of nature successively or together, it becomes possible to realise one's inner being as the silent impersonal self, the witness Purusha. This will lead to a spiritual realisation and liberation, but will not necessarily bring about a transformation; for the Purusha, satisfied to ...
... absorption and limitation of contacts like that can be a helpful measure if used in a judicious way. One has to go inside into the inner being and one can minimise contacts, if necessary , not as an absolute rule—provided there is a real living in the inner being and sufficient contact with outside things not to lose one's hold of practical realities. But if there is an isolation which brings depression... unfavourable surroundings. The only way to escape from it is to be able to live in oneself in one's inner being—which becomes possible when the responsiveness and luminosity of which you speak in your letter increase and Page 344 become normal, for then you are constantly aware of your inner being and even live in it—the outer becomes an instrument, a means of communication and action in the... letters. To be too sensitive and upset by any contact is excessive; but to have too many contacts and be always dispersing oneself prevents the sadhana from growing and solidifying in the inner being, since one is always being pulled out into the ordinary outer consciousness. Mixing with Others It is true that mixing with others too closely tends to lower the condition, if they are not ...
... 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 into contact with the inner being and change the outer Page 131 view and consciousness from the inner—that is the work of the sadhana and it is sure to come with sincerity... Himalayan—for in fact they have already been stated by the Gita and other books on Yoga and, after all, thousands of people have realised them in part at least or in the inner being—though not so well in the outer. But to realise the inner being is quite enough for a foundation—for many it is quite enough even as a last state, for those who do not seek the transformation of the outer nature. Here too, even ...
... seers", kavayaḥ satyaśrutaḥ —Veda is śruti got by inner hearing. When one repeats a mantra regularly, very often it begins to repeat itself within, which means that it is taken up by the inner being. In that way it is more effective. It [ the effect of japa ] depends on the way in which the japa is done. If rightly done, the mantra is a means of opening to the light and knowledge etc... supposed indeed to carry within itself. The mantra OM should therefore lead towards the opening of the consciousness to the sight and feeling of the One Consciousness in all material things, in the inner being and in the supraphysical worlds, in the causal plane above now superconscient to us and, finally, the supreme liberated transcendence above all cosmic existence. The last is usually the main pre... universal. Naturally, whatever name one concentrates on [ while awake ] will repeat itself [ in sleep ], if any does. But the calling of Mother in sleep is not necessarily a repetition—it is the inner being that often calls to her in difficulty or in need. I did not encourage the name with the breathing because that seemed like pranayam. Pranayam is a very powerful thing, but if done haphazardly ...
... we shall find, as Sri Aurobindo points out, that cognition and will or impulsive force of the inner being really stand behind the whole conscious becoming; the latter represents only part of its secret endeavour and achievement which rises successfully to the surface of our life. To know our inner being is, according to Sri Aurobindo, the first step towards a real self-knowledge. There is an... upwards is not sufficient,—to that vertical ascent towards summit Light there must be added a vast horizontal expansion of the consciousness into some totality of the Spirit. At the least, the inner being must already have replaced by its deeper and wider awareness the surface mind and its limited outlook and learned to live in a large universality; for otherwise the overmind view of things and the... itself, not through outward signs or figures,—a revealing intimation or a self-communicating impact of thoughts, feelings, forces. As Sri Aurobindo explains: It is by these means that the inner being achieves an immediate, intimate and accurate spontaneous knowledge of persons, of objects, of the occult and to us intangible energies of world-Nature that surround us and impinge upon our own ...
... of creation in the artist is himself even though outer nature, objects or experience of life may give him the excuse for setting into movement his inner being. This inner being has many levels of its natural self. It is this complexity of man's inner being that renders the task of the artist very difficult. Very often he mistakes his vital being, the being interested in life and action—for his true soul... the painting is not important because as the picture proceeds the two men have ceased to be men and have become "problems". We can understand this as an explanation of the process in the artist's inner being. But the onlooker will have only the painting before him to form his impression or opinion. Now if the painting itself is such that the onlooker gets the suggestion that it is a problem—nevermind... obscurity due to want of clarity about the inner structure of man. He is most often confused. Some of the modern theories of psychology, like psycho-analysis, give him a very onesided view of man's inner being. When Picasso says that it is the personality of the artist Page 42 that is important, our difficulty in accepting it is that we have no means other than the picture ...
... are all mixed up together in the external consciousness with their real status behind in the inner being, one can only become fully aware of them by releasing the original limiting stress of the consciousness which makes us live in our external being and become awake and centred within in the inner being. As the consciousness in us, by its external concentration or stress, has to put all these things... is said to live in the external being and becomes oblivious of its inner mind and vital and in most psychic. If it goes inside, puts its centralising stress there, then it knows itself as the inner being or, still deeper, as the psychic being. If it ascends out of the body to the planes where self is naturally conscious of its wideness and freedom it knows itself as the Self and not the mind, life... especially the inmost, the soul, the psychic Purusha which is always in its essence pure, divine, turned to all that is good and true and beautiful. The exterior being has to be taken hold of by the inner being and turned _________________________ ² On Yoga II, Tome One, P. 359-360 Page 151 into an instrument no longer of the upsurging of the ignorant subconscient Nature, but ...
... here. For doing this yoga he has to decide finally what he intends to do when he goes out of jail. He may have to leave off his external activities. But that he must decide by referring to his inner being. As to leaving everything for God I do not know what Ramakrishna may have meant. But I want him to understand that he ought not to decide by what Ramakrishna said, or what I say, but by what... being. What I feel is that A has mental ideas about spiritual things but does not seem to have turned his inner eye within himself. I do not want to call him away from the true demand of his inner being. Disciple : A has been doing political work as you know! So, the question from him would be : What is the connection between yoga and the political work? Sri Aurobindo : The... Sri Aurobindo : It is not all nonsense, though he has put the things pell-mell. It is very difficult to practise this Yoga if the outer instruments are not prepared to express the inner being. There are people who get something in their psychic being and immediately it tries to force its way out. But the outer members are not able to bear it and the whole thing breaks up. Disciple ...
... me to write tonight. But remember that you have to get back fully your psychic basis — the success of any method really depends on that and not on the method itself which is only a means for the inner being to act on the outer nature. 26.7.32 ... Mother told you about the phoscao because you complained of the emptiness in the head which was due to loss of blood and it can only be repaired... the police never had anything to say in the matter. Why should there be an insuperable obstacle of this kind in the case of C? 12.2.33 If one part of you keeps its quietude — the inner being-— then the rest can be dealt with. Not to allow the vital to be upset and the disturbance [to] cover up the inner self, that is the most important thing. Keep up the rejection always. 18... your condition. All that you need do Page 24 is to take a lesson and become completely master of your outer reactions. 18.12.34 The two parts in you are of course the inner being which is conscious and knows and the outer which can still beclouded and indulge itself in the freaks of the old nature— abhiman and the rest which you describe. ... As yet the physical ...
... are the Mother's children and closest to her who are open to her, close to her in their inner being, one with her will—not those who come bodily nearest to her." But have not those who are bodily nearest come nearest because they were already "open to her", "one with her will" and "close to her in their inner being"? And are there not certain special advantages of this bodily nearness? It is not... on the outer nearness of the Mother, of which I have none at the moment, and I am left out completely. And if you had the physical nearness, you would be no happier or calmer so long as the inner being is unchanged. Those who do physically approach her have just the same difficulties and struggles as yourself and some have not even the experiences of peace etc. that you have. Since all this... apart from the Pranam and the evening meditation come to her only once a year. 13 November 1934 Those are the Mother's children and closest to her who are open to her, close to her in their inner being, one with her will—not those who come bodily nearest to her. Did coming inside help X or Y ? It is impossible for Mother to satisfy the demands of everybody, the external demands—it only wears ...
... 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 and it is sure to come with sincerity, aspiration... and without doubt the fuller faith and the love which you seek. I repeat what I said before (though your physical mind does not yet believe) that these experiences show at once that your inner being is a Yogi capable of trance, ecstasy, intensest bhakti, fully aware of Yoga and Yoga consciousness, and showing himself the very moment you get inside yourself, even as the outer man is very much... Light and the vision of the Lord in the form of Page 35 Jagannath are both of them indications that he has the capacity for Yoga experience and that there is a call of the Divine on his inner being. But capacity is not enough; there must be also the will to seek after the Divine and courage and persistence in following the path. Fear is the first thing that must be thrown away and, secondly ...
... of some outward appearance, nor your vital to act upon them. There is a place in the inner being where one can always remain calm and from there look with poise and judgment on the perturbations of the surface consciousness and act upon it to change it. If you can learn to live in that calm of the inner being, you will have found your stable basis. If the imperfection is there, one has to... for illness and outer pressure of unfavourable circumstances. But for that a certain attitude is necessary—either a strong faith in the mind and vital or a habit of reception and response in the inner being. Where this habit has been established, I have seen it to be almost unfailingly effective, even when the faith was uncertain or the outer expression in the mind vague, ignorant or in its form mistaken... and silent part of the being. Knowledge in the mind is not sufficient by itself to prevent it [ obscurity ] so long as the whole consciousness is not liberated. What can be done is for the inner being to be always detached and separate so that it does not feel obscured by the obscurity or attacked by the attack and is able to see and deal with it as something of the surface. Your difficulty is ...
... That must be overcome. But it will be more easily overcome if instead of being upset by its presence you detach the inner being from it, rise up above it and view it as a weakness of the lower nature. If you can detach yourself from it with a complete indifference in the inner being, it will seem more and more something alien to yourself, put upon you by the outer forces of Nature. Then it will be... it off so that it ebbs back from the mind or vital or wherever it touches. This comes either by a strong will of rejection becoming habitual in its action on the consciousness, or by the detached inner being developing an automatic dynamic strength in itself so that it is not only not touched, but refuses these things by an active purifying power or, finally, by the full emergence of the psychic and... not allow yourself or your mind to feel troubled by the returns; for that only weakens the power of resistance. There should be calm dissociation of yourself from these things; then the detached inner being will become more easily dynamic and able to reject them from the vital nature. The trouble of the sex-impulse is bound to dwindle away if you are in earnest about getting rid of it. The difficulty ...
... there is within it, pressing forward for self-revelation because with the emergence of mind that revelation is becoming possible, a preparation at least, even the beginning of an evolution of our inner being, our occult subliminal and spiritual nature. But Nature's major preoccupation must necessarily be still and for a long time the evolution of mind to its greatest possible range, height, subtlety;... lines of development utilised by Nature and a view of the actual results achieved by it in the human individual. There are four main lines which Nature has followed in her attempt to open up the inner being,—religion, occultism, spiritual thought and an inner spiritual realisation and experience: the three first are approaches, the last is the decisive avenue of entry. All these four powers have worked... generalised in mankind, but it lost in purity, height and intensity. The mystics founded their endeavour on a power of suprarational knowledge, intuitive, inspired, revelatory and on the force of the inner being to enter into occult truth and experience: but these powers are not possessed by men in the mass or possessed only in a crude, undeveloped and fragmentary initial form on which nothing could be safely ...
... must be first and foremost an inner life; for since the outward must be the expression of what is within, there can be no divinity in the outer existence if there is not the divinisation of the inner being. The Divinity in man dwells veiled in his spiritual centre; there can be no such thing as self-exceeding for man or a higher issue for his existence if there is not in him the reality of an eternal... ephemeral being of nature, made by limit and circumstance. If there is a self in us capable of largeness and universality, able to enter into a cosmic consciousness, that too must be within our inner being; the outer consciousness is a physical consciousness bound to its individual limits by the triple cord of mind, life and body: any external attempt at universality can only result either in an a... true for the physical man, the born extrovert, who feels himself to be a creature of outward Nature; made by her and dependent on her, he would lose himself if he went inward: for him there is no inner being, no inner living. But the introvert of this distinction also has not the inner life; he is not a seer of the true inner self and of inner things, but the small mental man who looks superficially ...
... of poetry proper? All poetry is an outbreak from within: taking any subject and adopting any view, it comes from the inner being from any plane. But the inner being on each plane has a gradation of temperatures. Poetry can be created from any grade; still, the inner being acting the poet from a lower temperature creates small beauty, brings an aesthesis that is narrow in its thrill - from... falls from the air, Queens have died young and fair, Dust hath closed Helen's eye. The former lines are Nashe writing with inspiration from a lower temperature of his inner being, whereas the latter are the inspired outbreak from a higher one. For another example, take Pippa's song by Browning: The year's at the spring, The day's at the morn; The... hill-side's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's at the thorn; God's in his heaven, All's right with the world. This is flawless in its own way, the inner being has put forth beauty, but that being has not risen to the top-grade of temperature possible to the particular mood it has taken up. The same mood, essentially, of happy faith in the Divine's ...
... offer one's work throughout to the Mother. It is very difficult to do it; the inner being Page 194 may not be ready." Is the remembering really impossible? It is perfectly possible. There are people who do it. Difficult it is, but that is because of the outer, not because of the inner being. The year 1934 During the working period the... contact of the outer with the inner being. To what special difficulty do you attribute this? There is no special difficulty beyond what everybody feels, that of reconciling work with the inner concentration. It is a difficulty that has to be con-quered, but for most it takes time to conquer. You must be able to work and keep the silence of the inner being. You wrote... this one's body and mind are automatically developed. The Divine acts best in us when we least intercept Him with our minds. The work proved a good field for the Mother to prepare and lift up my inner being. A little later, when I did become aware of the sadhana, it was a surprise to find myself suddenly touching depths and heights. The Mother's Force acts, of course, in all states and not in the work ...
... necessary. Page 215 THE INTELLECT AND ITS TRAINING What is the place of intellect with regard to the inner being and the outer being? Intellectual activities are not part of the inner being, the intellect is the outer mind. When does the intellect become an obstacle to the higher realisation? When it wants... pressure. The pressure goes on during the mental activity. So much the better. The reading must learn to accommodate itself to the pressure — that is, be done by the outer mind while the inner being remains in concentration. Do people learn philosophy to teach others? Not always. Some learn in order that the mind may look in a complete and accurate way at things... In which part of the mind is the memory of everything stored? It is not in the mind alone; it is stored in the subconscient (mind, vital and physical) as impressions — also in the inner being all is present but held back as a store of past experience. If one shuts out emotions, doesn't one become absent-minded? Absentmindedness has nothing to do with emotions ...
... question is not what the mind and other parts demand, but what the inner being demands. Page 187 Many times it happens that the phychic being is covered up completely by some obstruction and then suddenly a blow is given which at once removes the obstacle. Disciple : But, the first awakening of the inner being is due to Grace, I believe? Sri Aurobindo : All first awakening... : His ideas are quite sane. This disease starts generally when there is "psychic depression". Disciple : What is "psychic depression?” Sri Aurobindo : It is the depression of the inner being. (Laughter – as the question was evaded). (After a pause) There is something in us that takes the joy of life. I don't mean the vital joy. Normally, it is a certain inner happiness, – you can't... way can psychic depression be overcome ? Sri Aurobindo : There are many ways. If the man is vitally strong then his vital force can help remove the psychic depression. These forces in the inner being can always mutually react. Disciple : What is the vital Force? Sri Aurobindo : It is the life-force in man; there is a certain energy you feel within you which meets the shocks of life ...
... philosophical subjects at the age of fifteen marked the beginning of the manifest influence of my inner being on my surface being, because all aspiration for the higher things of life, says Sri Aurobindo, comes from the inner being. As he states, Page 3 Only a little of the inner being escapes through these centres [of consciousness 3 ] into the outer life, but that little is the... the ethical ideal of service to humanity. There was a yearning in me, as yet unformulated, for something deeper than the philosophical light and the ethical path I had found in Theosophy. What my inner being seemed to be asking for was a spiritual path leading to self-discovery and God-realization. It is such a path that I found in Sri Aurobindo's yoga. Most probably, the reason why the Mother's Prayers ...
... being guided, (2) It is making me fly, I am flying, (2) Higher and higher, higher and higher, (2) The sky is rumbling, the sky is rumbling, (3) The inner being is resounding, the inner being is resounding, The inner being is dancing, the inner being is dancing, (2) That which is unbelievable, (3) Is always happening. (2) Everywhere, everywhere, Your Force is experienced, (2) Is experienced ...
... sooner by more concentration, meditation, etc., disregarding the literary side for the time being? One can get the power of receptivity to inspiration by concentration and meditation making the inner being stronger and the outer less gross, tamasic and insistent. 29 March 1934 I tried to write a poem, but failed in spite of prayer and call. Then I wrote to you to send me some Force. Before the... of kicks and despair? 19 September 1936 Sending Inspiration But what precisely do you mean by sending the inspiration? Page 573 The inspiration comes from above,—through your inner being who, very evidently, is not only a Yogin and a bhakta but a poet of Yoga and bhakti. The Yoga-force which woke up the power in you came from me. It was when you were translating my poems that you... develop this poetic power, and as there is a large opening there it has been an easy matter. As for the Power itself that works, that gives you words and rhythms, you ought to know or at least your inner being knows very well that all divine powers are the powers of the Mother. But the way in which these things work is the occult and not the physical (not the crudely mediumistic) way, and it works in each ...
... change in the subconscient ], only the Supramental could do if it acted directly or some force fully supported by the Supramental, but that occurs rarely. Page 595 The Subconscient, the Inner Being and the Outer Being In our Yoga we mean by the subconscient that quite submerged part of our being in which there is no wakingly conscious and coherent thought, will or feeling or organised reaction... different—they have a larger, plastic, subtler, freer and richer consciousness than the surface vital and physical, much more open to the Truth and in direct touch with the universal. The inner being does not depend on the subconscient, but the outer has depended on it for thousands of lives—that is why the outer being and physical consciousness's habit of response to the subconscient can be... and opposing the continuity of the ascent and bringing the old nature or else the tamas (non-illumination and non-activity) across the descent. It is only if you live wholly and dynamically in the inner being and feel the outer as a quite superficial thing that you can get rid of the obstruction or minimise it until the transformation of the outer being can be made complete. It [ a condition of ...
... But it is impossible to avoid it altogether. What you must do is to learn to get back at once to the inner consciousness—this so long as you are not able to speak always from the inner being or at least with the inner being supporting the action. You have to learn not to allow the speaking to alter your condition or else to recover it as soon as the interruption is over. In speaking there... exhausting effect for the inner energies—unless the inner itself controls the talk. That [ feeling of fatigue after talking ] happens very usually. Talking of an unnecessary character tires the inner being because the talk comes from the outer nature while the inner has to supply the energy which it feels squandered away. Chat of that kind [ about others ] has indeed a very tiring effect when... perseveres, this subconscious mechanical habit runs down like all machinery that is not kept wound up to go on again. Then one can form the opposite habit in the subconscient of admitting only what the inner being consents to think or speak. It is the nervous envelope that is weak—it is this that you saw. The fact that you feel weak when talking with people shows that the origin of the whole trouble ...
... to you in sleep—that is to say, in the inner being, still behind the veil. The moment it came out, the dryness would disappear. 5 February 1937 What the Mother did was to light the fire within—if you did not feel it, it must be because the outer covering has not yet allowed it to come through into the outer consciousness. But something in the inner being must have kept it and opened more widely—that... widely—that is shown by your experience in sleep, for that was evidently an action of the Mother in the inner being. The descent of this current in the spine is always a descent of the Mother's Force working in the centres to open them; the strong force of the current which you felt is an evident proof that the wider opening is there. You have only to persist and the effects both of the fire and the force... force will come out in the surface consciousness—for always there is a preparatory work behind the veil in the inner being before the veil thins or disappears and all the working can be done with the participation of the outer consciousness. 22 April 1937 The Mother's force can come down quite nicely and gently—there is no need of palpitations, giddiness or nausea for that. Page 207 ...
... and dancing? The truth of the matter is this. The movement in the inner being may be perfect; but it puts you in a certain condition Page 10 of receptivity to forces that fill you with intense emotional excitement, if your external being is weak or untransformed. Where the external being offers resistance to the inner being or cannot hold the entirety of the Ananda, there is this confusion... difficulty has disappeared. The outer being is like a crust. In ordinary people the crust is so hard and thick that they are not conscious of the Divine within them. If once, even for a moment only, the inner being has said, "I am here and I am yours", then it is as though a bridge has been built and little by little the crust becomes thinner and thinner until the two parts are wholly joined and the inner and... It is a thing that does not happen to all. It happens to those that are called. Whatever difference there is between the West and the East in relation to spiritual life lies not in the inner being or nature, which is an invariable and constant thing, but in the mental habits, in the modes of outer expression and presentation which are the result of education and environment and other external ...
... consciousness, referred to as our inner being, consists of the inner mental, the inner vital and the inner physical, with the psychic (the soul) as the innermost being which, as an aspect of the central being, supports all the different parts in the manifestation and which develops over the course of evolution an individuality which is called the psychic being. The inner being is also sometimes referred... t (Inconscience) —the most involved state of the Superconscience; all powers of the Superconscience progressively evolve and emerge out of the Inconscient, the first emergence being Matter. inner being —the inner mind, inner vital, inner physical with the psychic behind as the inmost; see also the subliminal. Intuition —1) Insight without conscious reasoning. 2) Plane of consciousness between... to be confused with the subliminal: the subconscient is a nether diminished consciousness, the subliminal is an inner consciousness larger than our surface existence. the subliminal —the inner being, taken in its entirety of inner mind, inner life, inner physical, with the soul or psychic entity supporting them. The subliminal in man is the largest part of his nature; it is not subconscient ...
... you feel, gives you the intuitions of things to be or warns you against the results of certain actions; that is some part of the inner being, sometimes the inner mental, sometimes the inner vital, sometimes, it may be, the inner or subtle physical Purusha. The inner being—inner mind, inner vital, inner or subtle physical—knows much that is unknown to the outer mind, the outer vital, the outer physical... Divine—none could exist without that. But it is quite possible to have a vital and physical being supported by such a soul essence but without a clearly evolved psychic being behind it… The inner being composed of the inner mental, inner vital, inner physical,—but that is not the psychic being. The psychic is the inmost being of all and quite distinct from these. The word psychic is indeed used... discard it… The psychic being is veiled by the surface movements and expresses itself as best it can through the three outer instruments which are more governed by the outer forces than by the inner being or the psychic entity. But that does not mean that they are entirely isolated from the soul. The soul is in the body in the same way as the mind or vital—but the body is not this gross physical body ...
... to speak, the substance benefiting from all the good of physical life, and with her inner being in the best conditions. Of course, the inner being in the best conditions is the case for everyone, for all those who pass away here (but I generally don't have the Page 316 opportunity to let the inner being go out slowly, you understand 4 ). I saw ... you know that when Sri Aurobindo left... She told me you had had a special experience with her mother, in the sense that the consciousness of the cells, the material consciousness of her body's cells, was able to leave along with the inner being, it wasn't lost. Yes, but that is the NORMAL thing. It's the normal thing. But then, it takes time. And the result is that the whole benefit the cells have had isn't lost. Yes, here, they ...
... consciousness is in fact our inner being, our real or whole being, of which the outer waking existence is no more than an instrumental part and a phenomenon, a selective formation for a specific and delimited surface use. "Our waking mind and ego are only a superimposition upon a submerged, a subliminal self, — for so that self appears to us, — or, more accurately, an inner being, with a much vaster capacity... cannot forego its black even when it is washed a hundred times"). 5 Letters on Yoga, p. 355. Page 170 The subliminal : The subliminal proper in us comprises our inner being, that is to say, our inner mind and inner life and inner physical with the soul or psychic entity supporting them. It is of the nature of a secret intraconscient and circumconscient awareness... experiences testifies beyond any pale of doubt to the existence of a range of being superconscient to all the three elements we have so far spoken of. The subliminal proper is no more than the inner being, no doubt luminous, powerful and extended 1 The Life Divine, p. 557. 2 Ibid., p. 556. 3 The Life Divine, p. 557. Page 171 in capacity but yet ...
... of Free Will emerging from the inner self, from the higher self, Swabhava, and to the law of development of the nature of the inner self, Swadharma. Right now, I am knocking the doors of my own inner being to ask : "What is my true nature? What is my true work? And what is the right law of my work?" Page 85 "Excellent," cried out Balwant. I am delighted to hear this. I can now realise how... Vishuddha gave me a long answer. He said: "From my early boyhood, I had a natural inclination to observe myself and to experience varying states of my nature. There was inherent delight in my inner being and there was inexpressible sweetness in my temperament. My natural tendency "was to fall in love with nature, with birds, with animals and human beings. In my solitude in my garden I used to talk... ed thought is innate in our consciousness, but we are not conscious of it. But whenever this Page 168 innate thought begins to vibrate, one begins to experience a true harmony in the inner being. It is this harmony which is the inexhaustible store of inherent delight and sweetness. He pointed out that many young children are unconsciously in contact with the seven-headed thought, as a result ...
... in touch with the inner source of inspiration and intuition, so as to wear thin the crude external crust in the consciousness and encourage the growth of the inner being. The dream you speak of in your medical report shows that the inner being is beginning to awake somewhat, as a result, even in things not having to do with the literary inspiration. For this purpose the "sameness" does not much matter... thought that I shall be able to send you poems again and get back a touch from you is apparently the main cause of joy. I wonder if behind this there is the awakening of the inner being as well. It is certainly the inner being that has the feeling. Today I wrote a poem and it gave me great joy—but I couldn't write the last two days, so I feel gloomy. How do you explain it? The joy is good ...
... the old Nagin to prevent the progress of the sadhana. So you have to change that. I see that the progress of the outer being is practically at a standstill. But what about the inner being? In my unaware-ness is it still rising up or has it fallen like the external being? I suppose it is neither — but is being prepared for a fresh advance. Each part... done which is to be done in the future progress of my sadhana. peace and silence full and lasting in the whole consciousness including the physical, — permanent separateness of the inner being so that the suggestions of the lower nature cannot cover up or invade or get a response, — establishment of the psychic basis so that ego, sex etc. may be eliminated. What is the... I wonder how Z could get such high experiences and realisations with a nature so full of insincerity and ego-centredness. One can realise certain things in the inner being (especially the inner mind) without transformation of the outer nature. Z's inner mind once it opened proved to be extremely receptive — but his inner vital and physical only opened for a while then ...
... concentrate more and more on the Mother in the heart centre, with the attitude: Let me live in her, with her and it is enough. The attitude is good for awakening the psychic and the inner being generally. But if the higher experience comes, it should not be stopped. Along with the ascending movement in the spine, there has been a great intensity in the area of the heart... this morning I was living or rather made to live only inwards. Excepting for the Mother's work, if I spoke even on good subjects some part protested strongly and pressed me to be quiet. Was it the inner being that did it? The psychic probably. While looking at the Mother in the evening, something opened to her from within my heart, just like the disclosing and blooming... meant that usually one comes first and the other after the first, whichever it be, is sufficiently established. Afterwards they progress together 1 . I can see why the mind or the inner being gets veiled by the tamas, but find no reason for the soul or self to be so, especially after a long sadhana. You forget that the self and the soul were covered for a long time, thousands ...
... through the length and breadth of Europe; but that oneness is still a conception, still an ideal, not even a living ideal yet. The inner being has not as yet become conscious and alert about its own personality. But in the case of India the awakening of her inner being has stood by far the first. India's personality of collective existence is indeed a living truth. The unity of the whole of India is... Page 245 gradual ascension to the total consciousness of the inner being from the consciousness of the external physical parts. But in India what happened is the gradual descent to the external physical parts from the total consciousness of the inner subtle being. India first discovered her own inner being. This being of India is ever awake, so in India the manifestation of that being ...
... we shall find, as Sri Aurobindo points out, that cognition and will or impulsive force of the inner being really stands behind the whole conscious becoming; the latter represents only part of its secret endeavour and achievement which arises successfully to the surface of our lives. To know our inner being is, according to Sri Aurobindo, the first step towards a real self-knowledge. "There is indeed... not through outward signs or figures, — a revealing intimation or a self-communicating impact of thoughts, feelings, forces." As Sri Aurobindo explains: "It is by these means that the inner being achieves an immediate, intimate and accurate spontaneous knowledge of persons, of objects, of the occult and to us intangible energies of world-Nature that surround us and impinge upon our own... still farther power of the subliminal is seen in the changes which take effect in our dealings with the impersonal forces of the world that surround us. In the words of Sri Aurobindo: "The inner being not only contacts directly and concretely the immediate motive and movement of these universal forces and feels the results of their present action, but it can to a certain extent forecast or see ...
... we shall find, as Sri Aurobindo points out, that cognition and will or impulsive force of the inner being really stand behind the whole conscious becoming; the latter represents only part of its secret endeavour and achievement which rises successfully to the surface of our life. To know our inner being is, according to Sri Aurobindo, the first step towards a real self-knowledge. There is an... itself, not through outward signs or figures, — a revealing intimation or a self-communicating impact of thoughts, feelings and forces. As Sri Aurobindo explains: 'It is by these means that the inner being achieves an immediate, intimate and accurate spontaneous knowledge of persons, of objects, of the occult and to us intangible energies of world-Nature that surround us and impinge upon our own p... still farther power of the subliminal is seen in the changes which take effect in our dealings with the impersonal forces of the world that surround us. In the words of Sri Aurobindo: 'The inner being not only contacts directly and concretely the immediate motive and movement of these universal forces and feels the results of their present action, but it can to a certain extent forecast or see ...
... didn't see the full glory of the inner being, no, but a beam of the eternal struck his heart, and an inward turn was necessary. He also saw that if he was to remain permanently in the inner self then this inner turn must also become permanent; so he must always be turned inward, whatever he does outwardly must be the result of the dictation or the guidance of the inner being. An inward turn is necessary... There is a height of the vital and there is a depth of the vital; the height of the life and the depth of the life. He finds, when he expands his consciousness from the physical human being to an inner being, that he is a vital being as well as the cosmos; this is the life-belt, the life-universe, which is independent of earth-life since all life is not confined to earth. There is a big belt... are", says Sri Aurobindo, and again, "A spirit that is a flame of God abides... Immortal in our mortal poverty." These are the words of Aswapathy when he first came into contact with his inner being; from the human realm of ideals he rose to this world of self, awaking higher powers in himself. He went to the frontiers of eternity, as we say, and then he was attracted by that world of the spirit ...
... that the body is so attached to this part, that when this part decides to do something the body follows it automatically. Page 126 In your inner being you decide to do a certain thing and your body is so closely tied to your inner being that without thinking of it, without wanting to do so, without making any effort, it follows and does the same thing. Note that in this matter, the physical... waking condition. For instance, it is well known that one can walk in dangerous places where one would find it rather difficult to walk in the waking state. The body follows the consciousness of the inner being and its own consciousness is asleep—for the body has a consciousness. All the parts of the being, including the most material, have an independent consciousness. Hence when you go to sleep dead tired... makes it do things directly. That is how one becomes a somnambulist. According to my experience, the waking consciousness goes to sleep for some reason or other (usually due to fatigue), but the inner being is awake, and the body is so tied to it that it follows it automatically. That is why you do fantastic things, because you do not see them physically, you see them in a different way. It is said ...
... to imagine it is going fast and doing high sadhana. A pure, simple, quiet, well-balanced vital is necessary for this Yoga. The automatic tendency is a good sign as it shows that it is the inner being opening to the Truth which is pressing forward the necessary changes. As you say, it is the failure of the right attitude that comes in the way of passing through ordeals to a change of nature... heart to the Guru and many other things help greatly—it is not perfection or a complete freedom from the dualities or ego that is the indispensable preliminary, but preparedness, a fineness of the inner being which makes spiritual responses and receiving possible. There is no reason therefore to take as gospel truth these demands which may have been right for Krishnaprem on the way he has trod, but... means the purification of the heart, the turning of it wholly to the Divine, the subjection of the mind, of the vital passions, desires, demands, of the physical instincts to the control of the inner being, the soul. What Krishnaprem calls intuitions I would describe as psychic intimations or, as some experience it, the voice of the soul showing the outer members what is the true thing to be done. ...
... ourselves, the whole of us, because living awake on the surface we are conscious of that only. But within, with a sort of wall of obscurity or oblivion between it and the outer being, there is an inner being, an inner mind, vital, physical and an inmost or psychic being of which we are not aware. We are only aware of what comes up from there to the surface and do not know its source or how it comes.... it is said to live in the external being and becomes oblivious of its inner mind and vital and inmost psychic; if it goes inside, puts its centralising stress there, then it knows itself as the inner being or, still deeper, as the Page 20 psychic being; if it ascends out of the body to the planes where self is naturally conscious of its wideness and freedom, it knows itself as the self... nature one can only become fully aware of them by releasing the original limiting stress of the consciousness which makes us live in our external selves and becoming awake and centred within in the inner being. As the consciousness in us, by its external concentration or stress, has put all these things behind—behind a wall or veil—it has to break down the wall or veil and get back in its stress into these ...
... crude external crust in the consciousness and encourage the growth of the inner being. Poetry and Sadhana Of course when you are writing poems or composing you are in contact with your inner being, that is why you feel so different then. The whole art of Yoga is to get that contact and get from it into the inner being itself, for so one can enter directly into and remain in all that is great... not sadhana. Also the poetry must be written in the true spirit, not for fame or self-satisfaction, but as a means of contact with the Divine through aspiration or of the expression of one's own inner being, as it was written formerly by those who left behind them so much devotional and spiritual poetry in India; it Page 78 does not help if it is written only in the spirit of the Western ...
... was receiving an influence (mental light, yellow) from the thinking mind and higher vital which was clearing it of the old habitual lower vital reactions: very often in the sadhana one feels the inner being speaking to the outer or the mind or higher vital speaking to the lower so as to enlighten it. These things that come [ in dreams ] to frighten you are merely impressions thrown on you by... perhaps. But on the other hand, he seems to feel this other voice as if outside him and to have the sense of Page 199 another being than himself, an invisible presence in the room. The inner being is often felt as someone separate from or other than the ordinary self, but it is not usually felt outside. So it may be that in this state of withdrawal he comes into contact with another plane... can say at present. All the other circumstances which you relate 1 are normal and would be the phenomena of an invasion of Ananda occupying the whole instrumental being while the silent inner being within remains separate as it does usually from all that comes from outside. The circumstance that is not clear is the Presence. There is nothing to indicate who or what it is. If it were an undesirable ...
... the use of merely saying that the higher being is wide and infinite? Do these realisations come when you are in the higher being and if not, why not? The inner being easily opens to all these realisations, the outer does not. So unless your inner being becomes conscious of itself, the mere ascent gives only height or some vague sense of other planes, not these concrete realisations. Ascension or Rising... experiences of our Yoga—the unveiling of the psychic and the self-realisation. Pursue your meditations in the same poise. Ascent and the Body The ordinary movement of sadhana is that of the inner being (mind, psychic, higher vital) rising towards the Divine Consciousness,—leaving the external being behind—but for this Yoga that is not enough, the physical and external being must also be able to... personal effort for that. That could have worked all right on two conditions: (1) that the peace and force would come down and occupy all down to the physical, (2) that you succeeded in keeping the inner being unmoved by the outer nature. The physical failed to absorb the peace, inertia arose instead; force could not come down; the suggestions from the outer nature proved too strong for you and between ...
... 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 and can be got... this detachment that is the first thing that must be gained by the sadhak—he must cease to live in these outward things and live in his inner being. The more that is done the more there is a release and peacefulness. Afterwards when one is secure in this inner being, the right thing to do, the right way to deal with men and things will begin to come. It is true that anger and strife are in the ...
... mechanical or impersonal law or of God or prophet, can be, as such, true or right or binding on man: it becomes that only when it answers to some demand or aids some evolution of his inner being. And when that inner being is revealed, evolved, at each moment naturally active, simply and spontaneously imperative, then we get the true, the inner and intuitive Law in its light of self-knowledge, its beauty... action is his first necessary preoccupation and he has to find his poise here and a settled and sanctioned order before he commences securely to go deeper and develop more in the direction of his inner being. It is the ideal mind that brings into this superficial moral sense, this Page 420 relative obligation, the intuition of an inner and absolute ethical imperative, and if it tends to give... its utility for life, its need of knowing rightly in order to act rightly, to deal successfully and intelligently with the world around it, but a necessity of the soul, an imperative demand of the inner being. The pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge is the true, the intrinsic dharma of the intellect and not for the sake primarily or even necessarily at all for the securing or the enlargement ...
... 205 self-disciplining we may grow in consciousness in sleep itself so much so that in the end we may follow in uninterrupted awareness our passage through various realms of our inner being and the return journey therefrom. "At a certain pitch of this inner wakefulness this kind of sleep, a sleep of experience, can replace the ordinary subconscious slumber." 1 It is then... distinguishably active in the waking state. A conscious pursuit of the subconscient wanderings of our sleep-consciousness brings to our notice a class of dreams that "arise from the revenge of our inner being freed for a moment from the constraint that we impose on it. These dreams often allow us to perceive some of the tendencies, tastes, impulses and desires of which we would not otherwise be conscious... culture and training, in acquiring 1 Bulletin, November 1960, pp. 87-89. (Italics ours) Page 208 and retaining the consciousness of the deeper activities of their inner being independently of their cerebral transcription and are able to recall and know them in the waking state in all the plenitude of their faculties.... "How [then] to cultivate this field ...
... transcending the deeper depths of the inner life and inner mind. Occultism also aims at application of the knowledge that it gathers of the subjective inner being as also of the corresponding objective reality which can be contacted by the inner being. In order to understand occultism, it would be convenient to distinguish between the surface consciousness, inner consciousness, (which can be called... d sense. Occultism: Science of the Subliminal Consciousness Occultism is essentially the science of the subtle physical, vital and mental realities that pervade a large part of the inner being of subjective existence" and a large part of the universe in its aspects of objective vital and mental existence. According to occultism, there are powers of the mind and the life-force which are... observe the springs of one's thoughts and feelings, the sources and the motives of one's action and the operative energies that build up one's surface personality. One discovers in oneself, the inner being that secretly thinks and perceives, the vital being that secretly feels and acts upon life through oneself, Page 19 and also the subtle physical being that secretly receives and responds ...
... subconscient that becomes active in ordinary dreams. But in profounder dreams in which one goes out into other planes of consciousness, mental, vital, subtle physical, it is part of our subliminal inner being — inner mental, inner vital or subliminal physical - that is usually active. (What we mean by the subconscient, subliminal, circumconscient and superconscient part s of our being will be explained... vital, physical perturbations and upheavals, in dumb automatic necessities of our obscurest parts of nature." (The Life Divine, p. 559) The 'subliminal' proper in us comprises our inner being, that is to say, our inner mind and inner life and inner physical with the soul or the psychic entity supporting them. It is of the nature of a secret intraconscient and circumconscient awareness... above, there are a few other reasons which militate against the successful retention, in our waking memory, of the dream experiences we may have had during our body's sleep. During sleep the inner being becomes consciously active but the waking being coming to its own at the end of the sleep-period fails to retain any memory of these activities of the night. In any case, the higher and deeper dreams ...
... there was the third part of the nature, the inner being (inner mind, inner vital, inner physical) of which you were not yet aware, but which must also open in time. It is this that has happened in your last experience. What you felt as a part of you, yourself but not your physical self, rising to meet the higher consciousness above, was this inner being; it was your (inner) higher vital being which... above — and it was able to do so because the work of purifying the outer vital nature had begun in earnest. Each time there is a purification of the outer nature, it becomes more possible for the inner being to reveal itself, to become free and to open to the higher consciousness above. When this happens, several other things can happen at the same time. First, one becomes aware of the silent Self... which you can be more capable of the needed transformation. But that is necessarily a matter of time and long working and you are only taking the first steps on this way. When one goes into the inner being, the tendency is to go entirely inside and lose consciousness of the outside world — this is what people call Samadhi. But it is also necessary to be able to have the same experience (of the Self ...
... ज्ञानप्रसादेन विशुद्धसत्त्वस्ततस्तु तं पश्यते निष्कलं ध्यायमानः ॥८॥ 8) Eye cannot seize, speech cannot grasp Him, nor these other godheads; not by austerity can he be held nor by works: only when the inner being is purified by a glad serenity of knowledge, then indeed, meditating, one beholds the Spirit indivisible. एषोऽणुरात्मा चेतसा वेदितव्यो यस्मिन्प्राणः पञ्चधा संविवेश । प्राणैश्चित्तं सर्वमोतं... manifest its power. 8 यं यं लोकं मनसा संविभाति विशुद्धसत्त्वः कामयते यांश्च कामान् । तं तं लोकं जयते तांश्च कामांस्तस्मादात्मज्ञं ह्यचर्येद् भूतिकामः ॥१०॥ 10) Whatever world the man whose inner being is purified sheds the light of his mind upon, and whatsoever desires he cherishes, that world he takes by conquest, and those desires. Then, let whosoever seeks for success and well-being approach... सन्न्यासयोगाद् यतयः शुद्धसत्त्वाः । ते ब्रह्मलोकेषु परान्तकाले परामृताः परिमुच्यन्ति सर्वे ॥६॥ 6) Doers of askesis who have made sure of the aim 11 of the whole-knowledge of Vedanta, the inner being purified by the Yoga of renunciation, all in the hour of their last end passing beyond death are released into the worlds of the Brahman. गताः कलाः पञ्चदश प्रतिष्ठा देवाश्च सर्वे प्रतिदेवतासु ...
... feel, gives you the intuitions of things to be or warns you against the results of certain actions; that is some part of the inner being, sometimes the inner mental, sometimes the inner vital, sometimes, it may be, the inner or subtle physical Purusha. The inner being — inner mind, inner vital, inner or subtle physical — knows much that is unknown to the outer mind, the outer vital, the outer... A Greater Psychology 8 The Psychic Being The inner being is composed of the inner mental, inner vital, inner physical, — but that is not the psychic being. The psychic is the inmost being and quite distinct from these. The word 'psychic' is indeed used in English to indicate anything that is other or deeper than the external mind, life and body, anything ...
... subconscious element which is a receptacle or passage for our dream experiences and itself also a dream-builder; but behind it is the depth and mass of the subliminal, the totality of our concealed inner being and consciousness which is of quite another order. Normally it is a subconscient part in us, intermediate between consciousness and pure inconscience, that sends up through this surface layer... are those which we usually remember; but sometimes the subliminal builder is able to impress our sleep consciousness sufficiently to stamp his activities on our waking memory. If we develop our inner being, live more inwardly than most men do, then the balance is changed and a larger dream-consciousness opens before us; our dreams can take on a subliminal and no longer a subconscious character and... It is the subconscient that is active in the ordinary dreams. But in the dreams in which one goes out into other planes of consciousness, mental, vital, subtle physical, it is part of the inner being, inner mental or vital or physical that is usually active. Letters on Yoga, p. 1487 There are such things as dream inspirations — it is rare, however, that these are of any value ...
... regions,- there is a consciousness much wider, more luminous, more in possession of itself and things than that which wakes upon our surface and is the percipient of our daily hours; that is our inner being, and it is this which we must regard as our subliminal self and set apart the subconscient as an inferior, a lowest occult province of our nature." 27 Sri Aurobindo states further the nature... they withdraw from the surface activities whether by sleep or inward-drawn concentration or by the inner plunge of trance." 29 Page 40 Sri Aurobindo has called the subliminal self the inner being as distinguished from the outer or surface being. Thus he states: "There are, we might say, two beings in us, one on the surface, our ordinary exterior mind, life, body consciousness, another... states: "It (the subliminal] is, according to our psychology, connected with the small outer personality by certain centres of consciousness of which we become aware by yoga. Only a little of the inner being escapes through these centres into the outer life, but that little is the best part of ourselves and responsible for our art, poetry, philosophy, ideals, religious aspirations, efforts at knowledge ...
... pertaining to the psychology of mastery - that of the psychic being. The psychic being is Chaitya Purusha, the Purusha in the heart, which constitutes the inmost being, as distinguished from the inner being which consists of Annamaya Purusha (the Purusha in the physical), Pranamaya Purusha (the Purusha in the vital) and Manomaya Purusha (the Purusha in the mental). The outer, the inner and the inmost... of yoga, the mastery conferred by Sattwa is only a relative one, since Sattwa too is a quality of Prakriti, the outer nature, which in our present state of Ignorance binds the Purusha, the true inner being. As Sri Aurobindo states: "... richness of life, even a sattwic harmony of mind and nature does not constitute spiritual perfection.... Sattwa itself does not give the highest or the integral... Aurobindo thus: "Detachment is the beginning of mastery, but for complete mastery there should be no reactions at all. When there is something within undisturbed by the reactions that means the inner being is free and master of itself, but it is not yet master of the whole nature. When it is master, it allows no wrong reactions - if any come they are at once repelled and shaken off, and finally none ...
... have at the same time developed these other worlds or planes in the subliminal consciousness of the living beings who appear in it. To the subliminal being in life and after death,—for it is the inner being that survives the death of the body,—these worlds might be real because sensible to its wider range of consciousness; it would move in them with that sense of reality, derivative perhaps but convincing... terrestrial being so that he is no longer solely preoccupied with his outermost life or with that and mental pursuits and interests, but has learned to look Page 821 within, to discover his inner being, his spiritual self, to aspire to overpass earth and her limitations. As he grows more and more inward, his boundaries mental, vital, spiritual begin to broaden, the bonds that held life, mind, soul... ground of his normal narrow existence. But if he makes the inward movement which his own highest vision has held up before him as his greatest spiritual necessity, then he will find there in his inner being a larger consciousness, a larger life. An action from within and an action from above can overcome the predominance of the material formula, diminish and finally put an end to the power of the I ...
... the vital man,—a Nietzschean supermanhood, for example,—can only colossalise the human creature, it cannot transform or divinise him. A different possibility opens if we can live within in the inner being and make it the direct ruler of life or station ourselves on the spiritual and intuitive planes of being and from there and by their power transmute our nature. The spiritual man is the sign of... of the mental stage of evolutionary Nature in man; it is the initial step towards a radical transmutation of the Ignorance into the Knowledge. The spiritual change begins by an influence of the inner being and the higher spiritual mind, an action felt and accepted on the surface; but this by itself can lead only to an illumined mental idealism or to the growth of a religious mind, a religious temperament... from within that will determine the reactions of the being to cosmic experience. The whole concentration of the being will be shifted from below upwards and from without inwards; our higher and inner being now unknown to us will become ourselves, and the outer or surface being which we now take for ourselves will be only an open front or an annexe through which the true being meets the universe. The ...
... nothing. True knowledge is to know with the inner being, and when the inner being is touched by the light, then it arises to embrace that which is seen, it yearns to possess, it struggles to shape that in itself and itself to it, it labours to become one with the glory of its vision. Knowledge in this sense is an awakening to identity and, since the inner being realises itself by consciousness and delight ...
... affection by others, the perception that those loved or men generally are not what one thought them to be and a host of other causes; but often the cause is a secret disappointment of some part of the inner being, not translated or not well translated into the mind, because it expected from these things something which they cannot give. It is the case with many who turn or are pushed to the spiritual life... transform gradually and progressively whatever is capable of such transformation. All the things that are not wanted in the relation,—impurity, jealousy, anger, egoistic demand,—drop away as the inner being grows purer and is replaced by the unity of soul with soul and the binding together of the social life in the hoop of the Divine. Your eagerness to bring your friends into the Yoga was perhaps in... forward, relying on the Force behind which supports, there are no troubles, no difficulties, no apparent disasters even which cannot be passed through safely and eventually overcome. Yes. The inner being turned to the Divine naturally draws away from old vital relations and outer movements and contacts till it can bring a new consciousness into the external being. The movement [ of rejection ...
... The Spiritual Transformation Letters on Yoga - III Chapter V Descent and Other Kinds of Experience Descent and Experiences of the Inner Being It is good that you felt the peace within and the movement in the heart. That shows the force is working not only from above but inside you, and this promises a farther progress. The full opening will come in... above the head. It is felt often like a current flowing through the head into the whole body and the first thing it brings is a descent of peace. One result of this descent is that one feels an inner being in oneself which is detached from the outer action, supports it from behind, but is not involved in it—that is the second experience. The third about the sleep is also felt when one has confidence... change the consciousness. When you do not feel it there, when you feel it only as external, it is because you are very much in the external physical consciousness—but in reality it is there in your inner being working in you. When you recover the inner consciousness, you feel it again within and it wakes in you your own true consciousness, the psychic—and it is only the psychic that gives faith and devotion ...
... how she proposes to do it—by giving you the strength you pray for or by breaking the head of the unwelcome lodger or visitor. I hope she will soon do it. A possibility in the soul or in the inner being generally remains always a possibility—at the worst, its fulfilment can be postponed, but even that only if the possessor of the possibility gives up or breaks away from the true spiritual path without... expostulations to you advising you to take the sunlit road, and you have not yet got out of the habit. But that does not mean that you won't get out of the tunnel and when you do you will find your inner being waiting for you on the other side—in the Page 684 sun and not in the shadow. I don't think I am more patient than a guru ought to be. Anyone who is a guru at all ought to be patient,... mistake, don't get distressed because you made a mistake—rather profit by it to see the reason so as to get the right movement in future. This you can do only if you look at it quietly from the inner being without sorrow or disturbance. Of course, one must not make a mistake for the purpose of bringing it out or accept the mistake once made,—but if it comes, one has to take advantage of it to ...
... not mature enough to have an autonomous life. Almost the same in form to these, but more important in their consequences, are the dreams which I mentioned just now, those which arise from the inner being seeking revenge when it is freed for a moment from the constraint that we impose upon it. These dreams often enable us to perceive tendencies, inclinations, impulses, desires of which we were not... our too limited physical faculties do not allow us to perceive. Some people, by a special culture and training, are even able to become and remain conscious of the deeper activities of their inner being, independently of their own cerebral transcription, and thus to evoke them and know them in the waking state with the full range of their faculties. Many interesting observations could be made... put a stop to these activities which in such cases are nearly always useless and even harmful. If our night has enabled us to gain some new knowledge—the solution of a problem, a contact of our inner being with some centre of life or light, or even the accomplishment of some useful task—we shall always wake up with a feeling of strength and well-being. The hours that are wasted in doing nothing ...
... Planes and Parts of the Being Our Many Selves The Subliminal - The Inner Being There is an inner as well as an outer consciousness all through our being, upon all its levels. The ordinary man is aware only of his surface self and quite unaware of all that is concealed by the surface. And yet what is on the surface, what we know or think we know of ourselves... most easily and directly respond to the Divine Light and Power. There is no real Yoga possible, still less any integral Yoga, if we do not go back from the outer self and become aware of all this inner being and inner nature. For then alone can we break the limitations of the ignorant external self which receives consciously only the outer touches and knows things indirectly through the outer mind and... unborn and by conscious recovery of it we transcend the changing personality and achieve freedom and full mastery over our nature. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - III: Three Experiences of the Inner Being … the subliminal in man is the largest part of his nature and has in it the secret of the unseen dynamisms which explain his surface activities. But the lower vital subconscious which is all ...
... but only behind the veil. It is, according to our psychology, connected with the small outer personality by certain centres of consciousness of which we become aware by Yoga. Only a little of the inner being escapes through these centres into the outer life, but that little is the best part of ourselves and responsible for our art, poetry, philosophy, ideals, religious aspirations, efforts at knowledge... knowledge and perfection. But the inner centres are for the most part closed or asleep - to open them and make them awake and active is one aim of Yoga. As they open, the powers and possibilities of the inner being also are aroused in us; we awake first to a larger consciousness and then to a cosmic consciousness; we are no longer little separate personalities with limited lives but centres of a universal action... the latter, as is the surface person, we can become to a certain extent conscious and masters of the play of nature - how far this goes depending on the development of Page 33 the inner being and its opening upward to the higher spiritual levels. At the same time the opening of the heart centre releases the psychic being which proceeds to make us aware of the Divine within us and of the ...
... you feel, gives you the intuitions of things to be or warns you against the results of certain actions; that is some part of the inner being, sometimes the inner mental, sometimes the inner vital, sometimes, it may be, the inner or subtle physical Purusha. The inner being — inner mind, inner vital, inner or subtle physical — knows much that is unknown to the outer mind, the outer vital, the outer physical... Divine Self in each of you creates by his presence, little by little; it is influenced, formed and moved by the Divine Consciousness of which it is a part and parcel. It is in each of you the deep inner being which you have to find in order that you may come in contact with the Divine in you. It is the intermediary between the Divine Consciousness and your external consciousness; it is the builder of ...
... all and all are in God; the world is the manifestation of the One in its process of becoming the Many; there is in fact no sorrow, grief, suffering, and evil but all is an appearance and the Inner Being is indestructible and eternal." Mind you, I am not saying that the reply you imagine is quite off the mark. It has a certain truth, though a limited one: what in it is uncharacteristic of an... things with an easy wave of the hand and a cheerful shutting of Page 44 the eyes as if by ignoring them he could prove them to be not there: he does know that the Inner Being is indestructible and eternal and that behind all the discord and distress the divine felicity abides and the divine unity reigns, but he faces fully the terrible surface of things and regards... no cheap cheerfulness here. Deeply and poignantly the misery of time is felt; but together with it is felt also the possibility of a huge and happy escape by way of love of the Divine, the Inner Being, the indestructible and eternal Reality. Indeed, all Yoga is radiantly realistic - even Buddha with his notion that all cosmos is an illusion recognises intensely the duhkha, the suffering ...
... advocate the psychic change of the nature first — for that means the purification of the heart: the turning of it wholly to the Divine, the subjection of the mind and the vital to the control of the inner being, the soul. Always, when the soul is in front, one gets the right guidance from within as to what is to be done, what avoided, what is the wrong thing or the true thing in thought, feeling, action... as one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us — inner mental, inner vital, inner physical — silent, calm, unbound, unattached, which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds... consciousness that remain resolutely turned towards the Divine and unshaken by all suggestion of doubt, desire, attachment. depression, sorrow, pain, inertia. This is possible when the inner being awakens, when one becomes conscious of the Self, of the inner Mind, the inner Vital, the inner Physical, for that can more easily attune itself to the divine Will, and then there is a division in ...
... man must know that a)although he lives mostly in his surface mind, life and body, there is an inner being within him with greater possibilities to which he has to awake and can awake through the process of the psychological discipline of Yoga; b)he has to open the ranges of this inner being and to live from there outward, governing his outward life by an inner light and force; c)there... Yoga also devises a methodology of its own, precise and potent in its own domain. But the methods of Yoga have to be different from those of the physical sciences, since it seeks to identify our inner being with the Reality behind the appearances and see from there the workings of Nature, while Science endeavours to make us aware of the detailed workings and through them get some indirect glimpse of ...
... body itself participated in an utter stillness and intrinsic ease. It is worth narrating these two accounts for the benefit of the readers; for, they show in a most concrete way what Amal-da is in inner being. Let us now listen to K.D.S.’s own narration so far as the first accident is concerned: “This time - as about 7 in the evening - I took long to get up. The pain was so intense and widespread... anxiety! Utter tranquillity seemed the very substance of my consciousness. I had never realised that such perfect calm had been permanently established in me by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. To the inner being, nothing had happened. I am almost inclined to say that the fall was worth while just for me to discover this profound serenity.” Now about K.D.S.’s second accidental fall which was much more... Aurobindo and invokes their grace to make him a passive but effective channel for their own transmission. Referring to himself he says in the third person: “In his contact with people the out-drawn inner being flows like a warm stream towards them bearing an unspoken benediction from the smiling Splendour that is the Mother and the silent Grandeur that Sri Aurobindo. This kindness, this helpfulness is ...
... can we affirm an undiscoverable latency? If you say it is in the subliminal, I answer that the subliminal is the inner being which is open to the universal and plastic to it. All things exist in the universal, so it is impossible to say what will or will not manifest in the inner being, once the universal acts on it. If the Divine is omnipotent, he can do it. If he can't do it, he is not omnipotent... yet—that is, neither latent nor fully evident. Evidently not there on the surface, but how can you say that it is evidently not there below? You say, if I understand you right, that since the inner being is open to the universal, anything can manifest through it even if it is not there latent ; you further add that it is impossible to say what will or will not manifest once the universal acts upon ...
... internal peace, freedom, wideness, in the inner being. Is it a state surpassing all struggles, dualities and depressions? All these things you mention become incidents in the external being, on the surface, but the inner being remains untouched by them. Are all troubles of the lower nature conquered finally—especially sex? No, sir. But the inner being is not touched. Or is it that sex-desire ...
... consciousness into the different parts of the being. That aided by the psychic development and aiding it changes the external nature. In spite of the massive difficulties not only my inner being but even the outer mind are sure of a final victory. Yes, of course. The obstruction can be only a temporary phase. You might have noticed that during the last two... 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. Do you think that I remained too much in the higher... personal effort for that. That could have worked all right on two conditions: (1) that the peace and force would come down and occupy all down to the physical (2) that you 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 ...
... neutral. Does the presence of silence always include peace? When the silence is there, there ought to be peace — if not anything deeper at least a mental peace in the inner being. Could one stabilise the silence from the beginning? It can be done sometimes — though entire stability is not usual in the beginning. Does the silence... ego, vital and physical practically in the same condition as ever before. Peace is a necessary basis but peace is not sufficient. Peace if it is strong and permanent can liberate the inner being which can become a calm and unmoved witness of the external movements. That is the liberation of the Sannyasin. In some cases it can liberate the external also throwing the old nature out into the... I do find some essential changes in the inner and higher parts of my being, but nothing concrete in the outer nature. If the peace had gone sufficiently into the physical, then the inner being could no more be veiled. You would have found the liberation described above. But the physical consciousness was too tamasic and replied to the descent of peace by inertia. I wonder ...
... for dirt only and clean is the negative way. Can things like depression and despair arise in a person even though he has peace? If there is established peace in the inner being, they can arise but would trouble only the surface — not the inner peace. If there is established peace in the outer being too they will not at all arise in you. Page 128 ... not. One has to be accurate in one's self-observation and not establish wrong notions like that. There can be peace in the mind even when the vital is not quite at rest or peace in the inner being even if the surface is disturbed. Consciousness cannot feel at rest and free, if there is no peace. Can silence and peace be established without the descent of the Higher Consciousness... in the silence and peace. Is it possible to feel peace in the midst of a disturbance in one's being? Of course. It is quite usual to feel an established peace in the inner being even if there is disturbance on the surface. In fact that is the usual condition of the Yogi before he has attained the absolute samata in all the being. In spite of a quiet condition ...
... personification of solitude, but it is something more than that. As I said, it is your other self, your subtle self. The body, the personality that you see externally is only a reflection of the inner being that you are. I don't mean your spiritual personality, but your subtle material self ― which is physically your true personality. And that is inspired by something greater which you all know ―... (Near the cloister wall) "Le mur n'existe plus" (There is now no wall) "Ah! je ne puis rim dire" (Oh! I can't say a thing) Because you always say the contrary. The inner being says: Eh bien, vous vous taisez! (Well, now you'll be quiet!) ¹ Translated by James Kirkup (New Direction). Page 46 The outward person says: I... sometimes only a caricature, but still it tries to reflect, though with difficulty, something of the needs and urges of this inmost reality of yours. Someone has asked me: "How to find, how to know this inner being, the true being in me?" For, as the poet here says, he can't touch you and you can't touch him, but what you want is to touch that person. The fact is that it is not so altogether out of contact ...
... our consciousness, we shall find to our agonised surprise that it is stealthily lying in wait behind the opaque veils of our surface consciousness. In the words of the Mother: "Even if the inner being is enlightened enough to be above all fear, the fear still remains hidden in the cells of the body, obscure, spontaneous, beyond the reach of reason, usually almost unconscious. It is in these obscure... April 23, 1951: "... there is no arbitrary decision! On the contrary, for each one it is the best and most favourable conditions which are given." for the attainment of the maximum progress of the inner being. And such being the case, the Mother has preconised a sure method for the eradication of the fear of death: "... as soon as one begins to feel afraid of something... [the best course] is to... so-called death is a prelude to a greater and more glorious life beyond. Also, it serves the purpose and interest of life itself. It has an important function to fulfil for the further progress of the inner being of man. Its advent at a particular moment of an individual's life is neither accidental nor arbitrary. It has its meaning, necessity and proper time. Hence, to the clearsighted sadhaka, death is ...
... seven of the earlier series represent the line of our externalised consciousness already manifest. But these powers or functions cannot get their full play by remaining confined to the field of our inner being. In order to make them active and fruitful and effective in practice, Power is needed, the power of work. Hence, under this category of Power, are grouped the fourfold series that constitute in essence... base, in order to attain mastery there. Once the base got firmly established, the consciousness had to take another turn and enter upon a new stage of its progress. This was in the realm of the inner being. In this stage, there was gained the acquaintance and control of the functions and powers that work from behind the physical mind. From here there is the ascent to the fourth step while still keeping... estab- lished. If, for example, peace is established in the first state of mind, in its physical functioning, the same state of peace has to be established over and over again in the depths of the inner being and on its ascending peaks. A somewhat similar method or process of working is noticeable in the path shown here by Rishi Sanatkumara to Narada. At the beginning of the series is the physical mind ...
... had dawned upon me that the outer was nothing else than the inner. Old habits and customs had lost all meaning and looked like worm-eaten things to me. I had to pass through a period when my inner being would say one thing and my outer life would express something else. Gurudeva, whom I had not yet seen with naked eyes, caught hold of my heart and brought about its radical change. Bharati was... with words of kindness. Iyengar's departure was but an excuse for me to be in that condition. There was created a vacuum in me. The parental affection could not fill it. The one chosen by my inner being only could make this emptiness disappear. Bejoykanta was a help in reaching the Guru's Feet. (8) I began now to pass more time in Sri Aurobindo's house and less in mine. I would... Master's command had been otherwise, even if he had expressly told me nothing? Many great movements were, of course, going on, but they did not seem to me to reflect in any way the truth of man's inner being. They were conceived and carried on in the rush-light of the human mind. Sri Aurobindo had somehow put away from us all outer attractions, turned our gaze inwards and made it centre in him ...
... internal peace, freedom, wideness, in the inner being. Is it a state surpassing all struggles, dualities and depressions? All these things you mention become incidents in the external being, on the surface—but the inner being remains untouched by them. Are all troubles of the lower nature conquered finally—especially sex? No, sir. But the inner being is not touched. Or is it that sex-desire ...
... and, if you cannot call the Mother, think of her and expect the help of the Force. These attacks are always on the outer part of the consciousness covering up the inner being. One should always try to detach (separate) the inner being and look at the attack as a movement of the surface. 13 June 1935 We will send you help, so that you may get rid of the obstruction. Never allow this idea "I... this? These come from a certain restlessness in the vital. Most people put a control of the will on these things and try to get rid of them in that way. But they disappear fully only when the inner being is awakened and a new Force (the Mother's) begins fully to work on the nature. 9 April 1937 Do not admit these suggestions of despair or impatience. Give time for the Mother's force to act ...
... for illness and outer pressure of unfavourable circumstances. But for that a certain attitude is necessary—either a strong faith in the mind and vital or a habit of reception and response in the inner being. Where this habit has been established, I have seen it to be almost unfailingly effective, even when the faith was uncertain or the outer expression in the mind vague, ignorant or in its form mistaken... thinks that as soon as you read our letters we get the necessary help. In my own case I get relief only after Mother's touch at Pranam. Prayers are not heard then? It depends on how far the inner being is awake—otherwise one needs a physical avalambana . There are some people who get Page 458 the relief only after we read a letter, others get it immediately they write or before it... man, I mean, I could enforce absolute rest to the eyes and issue a bulletin. [ Underlining "absolute rest": ] It does not exist in this world—not even in the Himalayas—except of course for the inner being which can always be in absolute rest. 9 March 1935 Page 468 I have today fifty letters each 2000 pages long—of course this is not a mathematically accurate statement, but it expresses ...
... your last letter I would say that when you have had the experiences and realisation you have described, nothing ought to discourage you. It is true that even after one has the consciousness in the inner being, it is still difficult to bring out it or its results in the outer being and the life. But that is a difficulty which all have and it can be overcome by patient sadhana and time. One thing these... anything that may happen, knowing that all happens for the best by the inscrutable Will—and the instrumentation of the Divine Force in the adhara. These must be established in the Page 419 inner being, but also as much as possible in the outer nature. Men and circumstances may not come up to your expectation or to your demand on them—they seldom or never do, but it is not on them but on the Divine... not think that I am likely to abandon you or withdraw my spiritual and practical support for any reason or that I find any fault with you. You may be sure of my help and blessings always. In the inner being you know that I am with you, in the outer life I hope that developments will soon take place which will make it possible for the nearness to be externally realisable. 1.12.35 Sri Aurobindo ...
... tone: "I will not bear these things—it is better for me to go away from here etc." These are the old suggestions, not the attitude of your inner being which was to Page 435 give yourself and leave all to the Mother. The attitude of your inner being must also extend to your attitude to these outer things—knowing that whatever imperfections there are have to be worked out from within by each... considered and fondled, but to abnegate the ego and seek only after the Divine. 10 November 1936 It is very good that you have spoken and cleared up things. Certainly, it is quite true that the inner being should be turned to the Mother and her alone. As for the work, the inner development, psychic and spiritual, is surely of the first importance and work merely as work is something quite minor ...
... those who have progressed is with the external man. Even among those who follow the old ideal, the external man of the sadhak remains almost the same even after they have 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... darkness. 30 March 1930 The Mother has told me what you said to her. In other circumstances I would have asked you to stay on in the confidence that, however sharp the struggle might be, the inner being in you aided by the Divine Force would prevail over the other and foreign influence. But in the condition of mind described by you some relief and rest from the inner struggle seems to be necessary... Obviously to give the movement any kind of scope would be no conquest. One day it will give up coming of itself, as it has done with others, when the external vital nature has got as convinced as the inner being of the imperativeness of its spiritual destiny. 23 October 1933 I do not understand the meaning of the complaint in your letter. I am not aware that there was any maltreatment of you by us ...
... advocate the psychic change of the nature first — for that means the purification of the heart: the turning of it wholly to the Divine, the subjection of the mind and the vital to the control of the inner being, the soul. Always, when the soul is in front, one gets the right guidance from within as to what is tO be done, what avoided, what is the wrong thing or the true thing in thought, feeling, action... formula, of the foundations or superstructure of our present nature. A highest spiritual transformation must intervene on the psychic or psycho-spiritual change; the psychic movement inward to the inner being, the Self or Divinity within us, must be completed by an opening upward to a supreme spiritual status or a higher existence. This can be done by our opening into what is above us, by an ascent of... as either mind, life or physical consciousness are the leading powers of being or have any dominance. The admission of such a change can only be brought about by a full emergence of the soul and inner being, the dominance of the psychic and spiritual will and a long working of their light and power on the parts of the being, a psychic and spiritual remoulding of the whole nature. A unification ...
... superficiality and outwardness by unexplained warnings, premonitions, attractions and repulsions, ideas, suggestions, obscure intuitions, the little it can get through imperfectly to the surface. The inner being not only contacts directly and concretely the immediate motive and movement of these universal forces and feels the results of their present action, but it can to a certain extent forecast or see... these run too in cosmic waves and currents no less than the forces of physical Nature. All this action is veiled from our surface mind’s direct sense and knowledge, but it is known and felt by the inner being, though only through a direct contact; when the being enters into the cosmic consciousness, it is still more widely, inclusively, intimately aware of this play of cosmic forces. Sri Aurobindo... own control and that he can become an instrument in the hands of Energies of a cosmic character without knowing the origin of his actions. It is by stepping back from the physical surface into his inner being and subliminal consciousness that he becomes directly aware of them and is able to know directly and deal with their action upon him. He grows aware of interventions which seek to lead him in one ...
... 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 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... or wicked. If some part 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... is something more inward. I mean not to be interested in outward things for their own sake, following after them with desire, but at all times to be intent on one's soul, living centrally in the inner being and its progress, taking outward things and action only as a means for the inner progress. The Power of Creative Formation It [ feeling that the Mother and Sri Aurobindo are looking at one ...
... through Work Letters on Yoga - II Chapter II Becoming Conscious in Work Working from Within You must learn to act always from within—from your inner being which is in contact with the Divine. The outer should be a mere instrument and should not be allowed at all to compel or dictate your speech, thought or action. All should be done quietly... concentration. It is a little difficult at first to combine the inward condition with the attention to the outward work and mingling with others, but a time comes when it is possible for the inner being to be in full union with the Mother while the action comes out of that concentrated union and is consciously guided in all its details so that some part of the consciousness can attend to everything... upon it. There are then two parts of the being, one inner looking at and witnessing and knowing, the other executive and instrumental and doing. This gives not only freedom but power—and in this inner being one can get into touch with the Divine not through mental activity but through the substance of the being, by a certain inward touch, perception, reception, receiving also the right inspiration or ...
... total consciousness is not able to remain always in the above experience [ of the higher force working powerfully ]. The point is that in the intervals there should be quietude, at least in the inner being, no Page 59 restlessness, dissatisfaction or struggle. If that point is attained, then the sadhana can go on smoothly—not that there will be no difficulties, but there will be no disquietude... difficulties come all the same because they are inherent in human nature. Even the best sadhaks have these periods of suspension of the sadhana, of nothing happening, of the absence of the urge of the inner being. It is when some difficulty arises in the physical nature that has to be dealt with or when a pause has to be made for a veiled preparation, or for some similar reason. Even when the working of the... assimilation periods afterwards is that certain things remain settled while the assimilation applies to others that are not yet settled in the system. E.g. one feels always a constant peace in the inner being, but disturbances go on on the surface, till the surface also has assimilated peace. Or perhaps peace is settled everywhere and always there but knowledge comes and goes or strength comes and goes ...
... forms the mind gives it. The truth is that there was a connection in past lives, but the forms given by the mind are likely to be mistaken. It is not the ego, but the inner being that remembers the past lives—and the inner being as a rule is perfectly detached about them. The different and contrasting phases through which you pass are obviously due to the emergence of different personalities... to some human rebirth (of course with a psychic in it) which has some affinity and therefore does not object to or resist their inclusion. The fragments [ of a dead person ] are not of the inner being (who goes on his way to the psychic world) but of his vital sheath which falls away after death. These can join for birth the vital of some other Jiva who is being born or they can be used by a vital ...
... the train in the ascent of the mountain—they circle round but always nearer and nearer to the goal. The experience is correct. 1 Everything is prepared above, then worked out through the inner being till the results are accomplished and perfected in the outer personality. Therefore the sadhak ought not to allow himself to be alarmed, upset or grieved or made despondent by any apparent difficulties... one begins to be conscious in the way you have begun and something from within raises up all that was hidden, it means that the Mother's grace is on your nature and her force is working and your inner being is aiding the Mother's force to get rid of all these things. So you must not be sorrowful or discouraged or fear anything, but look steadily at all that comes out and have the will that it should... which can shake them off once it emerges. By taking the right attitude of selfless devotion within and persisting in it in spite of the surface nature's troublesome self-repetitions one enables this inner being and consciousness to emerge and with the Mother's Force working in it deliver the being from all return of the movements of the old nature. Why do you indulge in these exaggerated feelings ...
... there always, fixed. If it is dependent on an urge, not self-dependent, it can also be knocked down by inertia. The Need of Aspiration It is good. When the external consciousness covers the inner being, then it is by a calm and patient aspiration—without Page 713 restlessness or disturbance—that the inner state must be called back until the external consciousness itself gets so habituated... endeavour. If not a will, you have a wish in you or an aspiration; the word does not matter, the thing is there. If it gets clouded over, it is not the less there. There are the two things—the inner being with its aspiration, the physical and material with its obscurity and depressions. If you lay stress on the former instead of constantly denying its presence, that would make the progress easy; by... the difficulty has to be rejected by all the parts of the being. The Force can only help or enable them to do that, but it cannot replace this necessary action by a summary process. Your mind and inner being must impart their will to the whole. Yes. So long as there is not a constant action of the Force from above or else of a deeper Will from within, the mental will is necessary. You had ...
... limited human mind accustomed to live securely only within its normal limits,—but in either way, safe or unsafe, the thing can be done. What we discover within this secret part of ourselves is an inner being, a soul, an inner mind, an inner life, an inner subtle-physical entity which is much larger in its potentialities, more plastic, more powerful, more capable of a manifold knowledge and dynamism than... universal Life, even into a oneness with universal Matter. That, however, is still an identification either with a diminished cosmic truth or with the cosmic Ignorance. But once this entry into the inner being is accomplished, the inner Self is found to be capable of an opening, an ascent upwards into things beyond our present mental level; that is the second spiritual possibility in us. The first most... lighting up local points and stretches of country in our consciousness,—which can bring the concealed truth of things nearer to our comprehension, and, by opening ourselves more widely first in the inner being and then as a result in the outer surface self also to the messages of these higher ranges of consciousness, by growing into them, we can become ourselves also intuitive and overmental beings, not ...
... can in its more powerful action begin with it and at once, instead of seeking to know the inner being through the evidence of the outer expression, understand rather Page 859 all the outer expression in the light of the inner being. Even so, completely, the supramental being knows his own inner being and nature. The supermind can too act with equal power and observe with direct experience ...
... genius of some of its greatest or most sensitive representative spirits" 1 . Literature truly can induct us into the inner workings of the author; it can be the first introduction to his inner being and the inner mind. Of course, the inner mind itself has a very wide range that includes both 'reflected' and 'authentic' realisations, visions that arc contemplative and ruminative as well... should seek and express their joyous interfusion and oneness, and support, and promote a harmonious immixture of light and love. Great literature has its source in the heart of one's inner being; it is the creation of the seeing spirit. At the same time it is in intimate association with outer life, and recasts it in the light of an inner truth and beauty. To give a new significance... the initiative. Great literature can be a part of sadhana when it is taken up by a deep urge to realise and serve the Divine in humanity, for then. it encourages the growth of the inner being. The new age in literature is moving steadily from a fully realised and utilised intellectuality towards the fullness of experience of the intuitive mind. It is in need of the experience of ...
... We have had occasion to mention more than once that our body's sleep by no means connotes the sleep of our whole being nor the total abeyance of all consciousness. As a matter of fact our inner being is always awake and it is only the surface physical mind's waking activity or its cessation that determines the waking or sleep of common parlance. Thus, in ordinary sleep, when this activity... symbolic of what we actually experience in us or around us while in those subliminal realms of our existence. The subliminal in us, as we have mentioned before (Chapter III), is our concealed inner being comprising an inner mind and inner life and inner physical with the soul or psychic entity supporting them all. It "is not, like our surface physical being, an outcome of the energy of the Inconscient;... existence that ordinarily functions behind the veil and thus remains mostly unknown to our waking consciousness. Although our dreams are very often constructions of our subconscient, when our inner being develops by Sadhana and we live more and more inwardly away from the madding to-and-fro run of our surface existence, a larger and richer and nobler dream-consciousness opens before us and our ...
... finding expression through these old forms. And I am happy and proud that you have mingled me with the spontaneous approach you have to the World-Mother. To be remembered in the movements of your inner being as at the same time a fellow-devotee and an intimate brother is indeed good fortune for me and gives an extra intensity to my own turning towards the Divine. Looking at the beautiful photographs... Utter tranquillity seemed the very substance of my consciousness, I had never realised that such perfect calm had been permanently established in me by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, To the inner being, nothing had happened. I am almost inclined to say that the fall was worthwhile just for me to discover this profound serenity. In former days I had found myself facing calamitous events as if... big one in the course of time. And when I say "a big one" I do not mean merely a growth in size. Of course, the bodily welfare has to be looked to, but equally momentous is the development of the inner being. And this Page 268 development depends to a considerable extent on its environment, especially its psychological environment. A child is extremely sensitive and easily absorbs ...
... and matter to shape a new external personality for himself. What prevents the Divine from doing the same? What is continued from birth to birth is the inner being." Evidently the Avatar is not only a descent from above but also an "inner being", a soul, evolving from below an individual psychic entity passing from life to life with a new mind, vital being and body are each birth in order to compass... them was made manifest not only within but also in the most external field. The identity can be guessed from some remarks of Sri Aurobindo's about the spiritual light characterising his inner being: "The pale whitish blue light is 'Sri Aurobindo's light' — it is the blue light modified by the white light of the Mother...¹ A whitish blue like moonlight is known as Krishna's light or Sri ...
... towards an ever growing complexity/consciousness...."23 By the words "inner being" in his own passage, Teilhard does not mean just the "within" as a counterpart to the "without". The "within" would always, in one degree or another, be "spiritual stuff": it does not need to be so described. When Teilhard talks of "inner being" he is referring to the question: What "basically" is the cosmos? Is it... poles of the universe, the conscious and the unconscious. If the cosmos were basically material, it would be physically incapable of containing man. Therefore, we may conclude... that it is in its inner being made of spiritual stuff." 22 Here we may remark that Teilhard goes beyond what Wildiers, in his Foreword to the volume including the three essays we have named, ascribes to him: "the ...
... dawned upon me that the outer was nothing else than the inner. Old habits and customs had lost all meaning and looked like worm-eaten things to me. I had to pass through a period when my inner being would say one thing and my outer life would express something else. Gurudeva, whom I had not yet seen with naked eyes, caught hold of my heart and brought about its radical change. Bharati... words of kindness. lyengar's departure was but an excuse for me to be in that condition. There was created a vacuum in me. The parental affection could not fill it. The one chosen by my inner being only could make this emptiness disappear. Bejoykanta was a help in reaching the Guru's Feet. (8) I began now to pass more time in Sri Aurobindo's house and less in mine. I would go... Master's command had been otherwise, even if he had expressly told me nothing? Many great movements were, of course, going on, but they did not seem to me to reflect in any way the truth of man's inner being. They were conceived and carried on in the rush-light of the human mind. Sri Aurobindo had somehow put away from us all outer attractions, turned our gaze inwards and made it centre in him. Politics ...
... Barbarism, 259, 271-74 passim and civilisation distinguished, 274-75 and culture, 281 economic, 272-74 cf. Savage Being, central, see Central Being emotional, 63 inner, see Inner being outer, see Outer being parts and planes, 336-337, 348-49 physical, see physical, the psychic, see Psychic being structure and organisation of, 336-60 true, 91 vital, see Vital... Individuality, 129-38 passim, 365- 67, 370-74 passim, 384-86 in Adwaita (Monism), 126, 374 and ego, 348-49, 398-99 and the Overmind, 154 and universality, 78 Inner being, 13-15, 22-27 passim, 26, 72-83, 84, 87, 337, 342-44, 363 See also Subliminal, the, Inner mind (mental), see Subconscious mind Inner senses, see Senses, inner... 290- 91, 337 Subliminal (being, self), the, 4, 12, 13, 23, 38, 72-83, 307, 342-44, 362-63 and psychical phenomena, 248-49 and the subconscient, 72 See also Inner being Subliminal consciousness, 291-92 See also Psychical consciousness Subliminal mind, see Subconciou (inner) mind Superconscient (superconscious), the, 6, 14-15, ...
... contemporary educationist's discovery of the child. Formerly, education was merely a mechanical forcing of the child's nature into arbitrary grooves of training and knowledge in which the child's own inner being was the last thing considered. The discovery that education must mean bringing the drawing out of the child's total potentialities to their highest possible value, and that it must be based on the... possible misuse. At the same time, it confirms that freedom is essentially of the nature of the noblest psychological being. It points out, however, that freedom is only one of the vibrations of our inner being, and that there are two others of the same order; it is only when freedom is united with these that an inner law of discipline can emerge. These two are: the quest for truth and the austerity... of harmony. It proposes, therefore, not liberty alone, but a trinity of truth, harmony and liberty as the fundamental principles of New Education. These three constitute the serenity of the inner being, and if these three vibrate united also in the atmosphere, then, in this serene atmosphere, by the power of inner and outer environment, true knowledge can be stimulated to grow in the inner hearts ...
... psychic movement inward to the inner being, ...must be completed by an opening upward to a supreme spiritual status." 2 Now, this is the second — and from our point of view, much more momentous — consequence of an accomplished inward living. For, it is found that once the entry into the inner subliminal realms is successfully undertaken, the inner being exerts a growing pressure on the... supporting the individual nature. Now, an enlargement and completion of our actual evolutionary status becomes the very first consequence of such an inwardization of consciousness. For, our inner being is found to possess a dynamism and potentialities much superior to those of our surface mind and life and body. As a -matter of fact, "it is capable of a direct communication with the universal ...
... personification of solitude, but it is something more than that. As I said, it is your other self, your subtle self. The body, the personality that you see externally is only a reflection of the inner being that you are. I don't mean your spiritual personality, but your subtle material self—which is physically your true personality. And that is inspired by something greater which you all know — your... the cloister wall) "Le mur n'existe plus" (There is now no wall) "Ah! je ne puts rien dire" (Oh! I can't say a thing) Because you always say the contrary. The inner being says: (Eh bien, vous vous taisez!) (Well, now you'll be quiet!) The outward person says: I can't walk "Je ne puts pas bouger", (I cannot move) "Vous marchez sur la route"... sometimes only a caricature, but still it tries to reflect, though with difficulty, something of the needs and urges of this inmost reality of yours. Someone has asked me: "How to find, how to know this inner being, the true being in me?" For, as the poet here says, he can't touch you and you can't touch him, but what you want is to touch that person. The fact is that it is not so altogether out of contact ...
... seven of the earlier series represent the line of our externalised consciousness already manifest. But these powers or functions cannot get their full play by remaining confined to the field of our inner being. In order to make them active and fruitful and effective in practice, Power is needed, the power of work. Hence, under this category of Power, are grouped the fourfold series that constitute in essence... base, in order to attain mastery there. Once the base got firmly established, the consciousness had to take another turn and enter upon a new stage of its progress. This was in the realm of the inner being. In this stage, there was gained the acquaintance and control of the functions and powers that work from behind the physical mind. From here there is the ascent to the fourth step while still keeping... established. If, for example, peace is established in the first state of mind, in its physical functioning, the same state of peace has to be established over and over again in the depths of the inner being and on its ascending peaks. A somewhat similar method or process of working is noticeable in the path shown here by Rishi Sanatkumara to Narada. At the beginning of the series is the physical mind ...
... left another, both arranged in rows. The right side of the Mother represented Light, on the left was Power. Each of us found a seat to her right or left according to the turn of our nature of the inner being. I was to her right, Amrita sat on her left. A strange thing used to happen every day at these meditations. Purushottam was one of our number in those days. He used to sit directly in front of... endeavour at that time was for a new creation, the creation here of a new inner world of the Divine Consciousness. She had brought down the Higher Forces, the Gods, into the earth atmosphere, into our inner being and consciousness. A central feature of that endeavour was that she had placed each of us in touch with his inner godhead. Every individual has what may be described as his line of spiritual descent... not been her aim. The new creation must embrace the entire human race, a new race of men must be created and not merely a small select group. And in that new creation must be included not only the inner being of man but also his vital and physical life. In other words, we have to come down to the lower levels and work for the purification there, in order to raise them beyond themselves by the infusion ...
... Vast. It is this that one has to be conscious of, this that one has to open oneself to and make the connection with — so that these establish themselves in you. And once the contact with the inner being is established, then everything changes, the perspective, the attitude, even the way of living. This is what is essential, the thing to be done. It is this the raison-d’être of our existence. But... presence. This cannot be confused or veiled.” You see then what is the influence of the psychic, and it depends much on the state one is in. At first when you enter into this immense cave of your inner being and you begin to perceive it like a tiny support which is like a magnet that pulls you more and more within, and spontaneously by its influence the mind becomes quiet, — no more thoughts, no longer... effort and a greater intensity of aspiration, as in a calm and resigned attitude, one plunges once again and perceives something like a glimmer, the spark that scintillates in the obscurity of our inner being. Then, more and more, with persistence and a constant effort, we begin to see by an inner transmutation that it is a flame, no longer a spark, but a flame that bums but does not scorch, which is ...
... created by her wonderful voice and its power. One felt as if the full-throated solemn voice was rising from a deep bass and its vibration carried aloft our consciousness somewhere and drew out the inner being to the surface. Nothing can express the strange ecstasy of that experience. When the song and music had stopped, we went to her one by one and returned with her blessings and some fruits or sweets... If, of course, the person himself wants no interference, it is different. Otherwise I have seen that a single word at time produces a striking effect so much so that everything changes, and the inner being takes the right bend and all becomes safe — this has often happened. It was so in the case of my mother. Does it then mean nothing? My wrong belief? Please let me know the truth.” Sri Aurobindo... muddy and from where starts all pain and suffering. Regarding this condition, Sri Aurobindo wrote to me the following letter: “The automatic tendency is a good sign as it shows that it is the inner being opening to the Truth which is pressing forward the necessary changes. “The attitude you describe (in regard to your going to X’s) is quite the right one, — also in regard to Y’s affair. “As ...
... ourselves as the centre of the universe and incites us to take up arms and impose our abusive conviction. Just as there will be no true harmony between peoples until a harmonization of our inner being has first been achieved, there will be no veritable access to stellar depths without our having changed significantly within. We are at present still too superficial to view more than the surface... case of the new beings this perception will be purely and simply replaced by another, more complete and true. It will therefore not always be necessary to take recourse to the stimulation of the inner being by psycho-physical practices in order to open oneself to this dimension, as yogis currently do. This dimension will no longer be occult. It will be part of the spheres of external consciousness for ...
... and show us that this being is still not organised or ordered within us.... Almost the same in form to these, but more important in their consequences, are the dreams... which arise from the inner being seeking revenge when it is freed for a moment from the constraint that we impose upon it. These dreams often enable us to perceive tendencies, inclinations, impulses, desires of which we were not... from all material activity, were able to concentrate solely on the subject of their interest. If our night has enabled us to gain some new knowledge—the solution of a problem, a contact of our inner being with some centre of life or light, or even the accomplishment of some useful task—we shall always wake up with a feeling of strength and well-being. The hours that are wasted in doing nothing ...
... consciousness has winged upward: the hippogriff — half horse and half eagle — is a form of this kind and no arbitrary futuristic figuration. And the worlds explored by that dynamic denizen of the inner being are real, concrete, objective. Sri Aurobindo transmits his experience of them to us in words charged with the very vision and vibration of the consciousness pervading those worlds. That is why the... influences, in order to become dynamic in toto, must assume poetic shape as a correlate to the actual living out of them in personal consciousness and conduct. In that shape they can reach man's inner being persistently and ubiquitously over and above doing so with a luminous and vibrant sugges-tiveness unrivalled by any other mode of literature or art. But scattered and short pieces of poetry cannot ...
... the description of Savitri as "a prodigal of her rich divinity'"' who gave herself and all she was to men. He speaks of Aswapati, the human king, as "a colonist from immortality" because in his inner being he was conscious of his origin in the Eternal. He sees the relation between Eternity and Time-movement: Ascending and descending twixt life's poles The seried kingdoms of the graded... influences, in order to become dynamic in toto, must assume poetic shape as a correlate to the actual living out of them in personal consciousness and conduct. In that shape they can reach man's inner being persistently and ubiquitously over and above doing so with a luminous and vibrant suggestiveness unrivalled by any other mode of literature or art. But scattered and short pieces of poetry cannot ...
... with the subliminal (inner mind, inner vital, inner physical), such as clairvoyance, telepathy, etc. Page 413 Psychical consciousness — the consciousness of the subliminal or inner being. Psychic being —the divine portion in the individual which evolves from life to life, growing, by its experiences until it becomes a fully conscious being. The term "soul" is often used... it includes the larger part of the physical mind, the vital being and the body-consciousness. Subconscious mind — the inner or subliminal mind. the Subliminal —comprises the inner being, taken in its entirety of inner mind, inner life, inner physical with the soul or psychic entity supporting them; (sometimes) all that lies outside the surface consciousness, including the su ...
... descended into that which we call the Inconscient and constitutes and directs its subconscient existence by His supramental will and knowledge, has ascended out of the Inconscient and dwells in the inner being constituting and directing its subliminal existence by the same will and knowledge, has cast up out of the subliminal our surface existence and dwells secretly in it overseeing with the same supreme... upwards is not sufficient, — to that vertical ascent towards summit Light there must be added a vast horizontal expansion of the consciousness into some totality of the Spirit. At the least, the inner being must already have replaced by its deeper and wider awareness the surface mind and its limited outlook and learned to live in a large universality; for otherwise the overmind view of things and ...
... submental and the subconscient which appears to us as if it were inconscient, comprising the material basis and a good part of our life and body; there is the subliminal, which comprises the inner being, taken in its entirety of inner mind, inner life, inner physical with the soul or psychic entity supporting them; there is this waking consciousness which the subliminal and the subconscient throw... high above it: that too is ourselves, other than our surface mental personality, but not outside our true self; that too is a country of our spirit. For the subliminal proper is no more than the inner being on the level of the Knowledge-Ignorance luminous, powerful and extended Page 14 indeed beyond the poor conception of our waking mind, but still not the supreme or the whole sense ...
... for truth and falsehood, Do not get involved. (3) With sincerity and goodwill, (3) Mingle with all with love. (3) Look, look within your inner being: It is coming, (3) The wonderful Peace (3) In your inner being. (3) She will establish Peace in every cell of your body. She alone will stabilise all. (3) The Mother of Compassion, Bliss and Peace Will establish ...
... are all mixed up together in the external consciousness with their real status behind in the inner being, one can only become fully aware of them by releasing the original limiting stress of the consciousness which makes us live in our external being and become awake and centred within in the inner being. As the consciousness in us, by its external concentration or stress, has to put all these ...
... was counting on it to prepare you for living within in the inner being more than in the outer consciousness. The outer can grow in faith, fidelity to the Divine, reverence, love, worship and adoration, great things in themselves – though in fact these things too come from within – but realisation can only take place when the inner being is awake with its vision and feeling of things unseen. Till ...
... That this should be the first thing shown when the power of vision broke through its state of latency is very significant; it proves that you are in contact, the touch is already there is your inner being and that His force of presence and protection is already around you or over you as an environing influence. "Develop this power of that inner sense and all that it brings you. These first seeings... another letter he wrote commenting on an experience of mine: " I repeat what I have said before — though your physical mind does not yet believe — that these experiences show at once that your inner being is a Yogi capable of trance, ecstasy, intensest bhakti, fully aware of Yoga and Yogic consciousness and showing himself the very moment you get inside yourself even as the outer man is very much ...
... compose great music; few people can do it, as things are, — not even one in a million: for poetry and music come from the inner being and to write or to compose true and great things one has to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something in the inner being. That is why you got the poetic power as soon as you began Yoga — Yogic force made the passage clear. It is the same with ...
... is, to my mind, bunkum and a wasteful sidetracking of our energies which should be concentrated on psychic and spiritual unfolding and calling, if possible, the Supramental Consciousness into our inner being and letting it have a general influence on the outer being. 1 know that some people believe that they are undergoing the Supramental change in their bodies. A professor at Kuruk-shetra University... would accept a scoundrel in the Ashram. She said "Yes" - and meant that if a particular scoundrel had a tiny bit of turning towards Sri Aurobindo and her, she could work through that slit for the inner being to peer out, not only for his good but also upon the whole world of scoundrelism and create slit after slit in that multitudinous darkness. Sri Aurobindo has said too that if he accepted none save ...
... handed to me at the Samadhi, has one outstanding burst of felicitous originality: "Why the hell does the inner being continue to be inner still?" You have summed up there, most poignantly, most wittily, the first call of the Aurobindonian Yoga upon us - the "psychic transformation" by which the inner being is no longer something to which we have to go, leaving the outer to its Page 146 own ...
... a flower - A sun grown soft and small. I shall end with these lines which are themselves the end of a poem of mine. (4.7.1986) 1 quite understand your dichotomous condition - the inner being clear and calm and enveloped by the Mother, the outer being confused, hurt and restless. As long as the inner is not lost in the outer's turmoil, you are basically safe and the shore is in sight... When we turn to the Divine in that act of self-consecration which is Yoga and even the body seems to pray, it is not Page 51 actually the body's prayer that goes forth; it is the inner being who is praying through the body and not only for the body. The outer self is affected, even occasionally pervaded in the midst of its frailties by the inner's light: it joins its palms in supplication ...
... richly imaginative "Hindustan Hamara" wouldn't. So too would I deem Tagore a rishi in his intensest ecstasy of utterance only where he reveals, in the light of his own word-plane, realities of the inner being or of Super-Nature. And here I should like to point out that in all true rishi-poems there is illumination as well as rapture, a seerhood no less than the soul's lyricism. Certain parts of Gitanjali... profound wisdom. Yeats's verse is most enchanting, most haunting - exquisite in suggestion, exquisite in rhythm. His Page 9 suggestion is not always strictly formulable but has on our inner being an impact which thrills and illumines in an unforgettably subtle way. I remember a chorus in one of his dramas: the refrain is -"God has not appeared to the birds"- and it seems to mean that ...
... first to result; whatever gaps had been there were filled by means of a conscious entering into the mood of the existing lines to create a continuation. This conscious effort must have pulled at the inner being which had come into contact with the afflatus at night. For, soon two new poems quite apart from what had been scribbled took shape. They were in a different tempo, so to speak--more lyrical—but... there was little now of the piecemeal writing and the long and careful chiselling to which 1 had been accustomed in the old days of poetic composition. I seemed to be plastic in the lands of the inner being. As the heart-specialist called by my doctor had found my electrocardiogram clearly indicative of muscular strain, I had been ordered to be in bed for at least eight weeks—until the "muffled first ...
... intuitive language. The secret motive-force behind all these attempts, the fundamental endeavour of the Time-Spirit, as Sri Aurobindo calls it, has been to break open the doors of our luminous inner being and to express its truth, beauty and light in its own rhythmic terms. This secret urge, however, finds its full voice in only a few (not always well- known) poets; the rest find it difficult... inner self, each with its characteristic movements, forms and forces which express themselves intuitively through poetry when an opening is made to them. Broadly speaking, we can say that our inner being is composed of three parts: first, a luminous subliminal being behind each aspect of our surface personality - the inner mind, the inner vital and the subtle physical; second, an inmost psychic ...
... - Call of the One! Stamp there thy radiance, never to part, O living Sun. 3 He expressed what he experienced or aspired and his expressions became beauty and truth of his inner being. I consider yogi Amal Kiran a seeker of the Truth and discoverer of cosmic splendour as a poet of Integralism. His characterisation of his own poems published under the title, The Secret Splendour... formless glory turn to love And mould Thy love into a human face. 6 In ancient India, the Seers were the poets of spirituality. They had heard the eternal Truth whispering in their inner being and seen the infinite Truth within and without. Their revelations were mantric in nature. We are fortunate to have Amal Kiran among us as an Aurobindonian poet, which he has characterised as follows ...
... that the line even in its original form is good poetry and is further uplifted by rising towards its subsequent context which gives it its full poetic meaning and suggestion, the evolution of the inner being and the abrupt end or failure of all that had been done unless it could suddenly transcend itself and become something greater. I do not think that this line in its context is merely passable, but... possibility of the line being merely passable as it raises both the idea and the expression through the vividness of image which makes us feel and not merely think the living evolution in Aswapati's inner being. 1946 General Comments on some Criticisms of the Poem Now as to the many criticisms contained in your letter I have a good deal to say; some of them bring forward questions of the technique ...
... the Ajnachakra, the centre of the inner will, also of the inner vision, the dynamic mind etc. (This is not the ordinary outer mental will and sight, but something more powerful, belonging to the inner being.) When this centre opens and the Force there is active, then there is the opening of a greater will, power of decision, formation, effectiveness beyond what the ordinary mind can achieve. ... of light or images through the subtle vision in the forehead centre or psychic experiences Page 238 and perceptions in the heart, become frequent—gradually one becomes aware of one's inner being as separate from the outer and what can be called a Yogic consciousness with all its deeper movements develops in the place of the ordinary superficial mental and vital movements. A third ...
... subconscious element which is a receptacle or passage for our dream experiences and itself also a dream-builder; but behind it is the depth and mass of the subliminal, the totality of our concealed inner being and consciousness which is of quite another order. Normally it is a subconscient part in us, intermediate between consciousness and pure inconscience, that sends up through this surface layer its... are those which we usually remember; but sometimes the subliminal builder is able to impress our sleep consciousness sufficiently to stamp his activities on our waking memory. If we develop our inner being, live more inwardly than most men do, then the balance is changed and a larger dream consciousness opens before us; our dreams can take on a subliminal and no longer a subconscious character and ...
... of past action or past causes to the superficial conscious being,—that is indeed the true rationale of what is called Karma. It is or can be aware too of the future, for there is somewhere in the inner being a field of cognition open to future knowledge, a prospective as well as a retrospective Time-sense, Time-vision, Time-perception; something in it lives indivisibly in the three times and contains... being in us uses a reverse action of its power of exclusive concentration; it quiets the frontal movement of Prakriti in the individual consciousness and concentrates exclusively on the concealed inner being,—on the Self or on the true inner, psychic or mental or vital being, the Purusha,—to disclose it. But when it has done so, it need not remain in this opposite exclusiveness; it can resume its integral ...
... physical plane and the physical life: it would be sufficiently evolved to subsist in the subtle body which we know to be the characteristic case or sheath and the proper subtle-physical support of the inner being. It is the soul-person, the psychic being, that survives and carries mind and life with it on its journey, and it is in the subtle body that it passes out of its material lodging; both then must... intricate operations of cosmic Nature or on the action of the supreme Wisdom and supreme Good which draws or raises us towards itself by a spiritual power working slowly in ourselves through our inner being and not by a law of temptation and compulsion upon our outer vital nature. If the soul is passing through an evolution by a many-sided and complex experience, any law of Karma or return to action ...
... outer vital nature also is so difficult and there are so many wrong movements and happenings in him,—because his vital is easily open to all these earth movements. In order to get rid of them, the inner being must wake and grow and its nature replace the outer nature. Sometimes serpents indicate energies simply, not harmful ones; but more often it is the other way. On the other hand the peacocks you saw... Truth. Duck The duck is the symbol of the soul—silvery colour = the spiritual consciousness—golden wings = the power of the Divine Truth. The duck is usually a symbol of the soul or inner being; perhaps it was the four beings—mental, psychic, vital and physical—that you saw. 3 Crane The crane is the messenger of happiness. Peacock The peacock is the Bird of Victory. ...
... 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; give the adhesion of your full will and faith and, whatever the difficulty, it will be done. Obviously one must not get egoistic about it [ one's sadhana ]... them—this psychic process is much easier and more effective than that of a severe tapasya of purification. The higher consciousness in descending brings peace and purity into all the inner parts; the inner being separates itself from the imperfect outer consciousness and at the same time the peace that comes carries in it a power which can throw out what contradicts the peace and purity. Ego can then slowly ...
... The absence of hunger and thirst and the eating only for maintenance of the body without any feeling of having eaten is a state that sometimes comes when one is living more and more in the inner being and less in the body. Quantity of Food What is necessary is to take enough food and think no more about it, taking it as a means for the maintenance of the physical instrument only. But just... I think it is not safe to admit any suggestion of not eating—sometimes it opens the door for the non-eating force to take hold of the mind and there is trouble. That comes easily because the inner being of course does not need any food and this non-need is attempted to be thrown by some forces on the body also which is not under the same happy law. It is better to allow the condition [ of peaceful ...
... say, 1 but that is always the difficulty of the physical consciousness until it has been enlightened from within. It is the peace you feel—the peace that is taking little by little hold of the inner being—that has to deepen and strengthen itself till it can take hold of the physical also. When it can do that, the externalised physical consciousness will feel it no longer alien to itself. The Peace... vibrations. The peace and clarity must acquire such a force that they will remain even if these forces come back—then there will be the phenomenon of the inner peace remaining undisturbed in the inner being even while the outer is superficially disturbed. This is a well-marked stage in the progress. Afterwards a force can be brought down strong enough to fill the outer being also with so strong a peace ...
... them. It is the right fundamental consciousness that you have now got. The tamas and other movements of the lower universal Nature are bound to try to come in, but if one has the calm of the inner being which makes them felt as something external to the being, and the light of the psychic which instantly exposes and rejects Page 450 them, then that is to have the true consciousness which... higher being as a first station. The question was about enforcing the peace of the higher being in the lower parts down to the physical so as to (1) create that separateness which would prevent the inner being Page 452 from being affected by the superficial disturbance and resistance, (2) make it easier for the force and other powers of the higher being to descend. Peace can be brought ...
... forces—these attacks very ordinarily become violent when the progress is becoming rapid and on the way to be definite—especially if they find they cannot carry out an effective aggression into the inner being, they try to shake by outside assaults. One must take it as a trial of strength, a call for gathering all one's capacities of calm and openness to the Light and Power so as to make oneself an instrument... the outer being ] are felt as suggestions, or a touch on the surface mind, vital, physical or as movements in the atmosphere (the personal or the general environmental consciousness)—but for the inner being it is like gusts or storms outside. If they penetrate by chance into the house, they are immediately ejected and the doors and windows banged on them—there is nothing that accepts or tolerates them ...
... s or else the uplifting into what is above the cosmic; one experiences the separation of Purusha from Prakriti and is liberated from the shackles of the outer nature; one becomes aware of one's inner being and feels the outer as an instrument; one feels the universal Force doing one's works and the Self or Purusha watching or witness but free; one feels all one's works taken from one and done by the... not been done in the past. The including of the outer consciousness in the transformation is of supreme importance in this Yoga—meditation cannot do it. Meditation can deal only with the inner being. So work is of primary importance—only it must be done with the right attitude and in the right consciousness, then it is as fruitful as any meditation can be. You need not have qualms about ...
... above, there might be interruptions and probably would be, the system not being able to absorb a continuous flow, but the peace would remain in the inner being. Or there might even be something like periods of struggle on the surface, but the inner being would remain calm and still, watching and undisturbed and, if there is knowledge established within, understanding the action. Only for that the whole ...
... Why am I so far from the Mother? How can I get over this? Reject the suffering. Reject every vital movement that would take you away from the Mother. Cling close to her always with your inner being—without demand or question, in perfect faith. There are always in a sadhak two sides of the nature, one that wants the Divine, the other that wants only its own way and will and expects the... happy; when you indulged the second, then all went wrong. Your mistake recently has been to indulge this second part too much. But you can always recover the constant closeness of the Mother in your inner being and happiness and progress in the sadhana. But to do so you must make it a point to give your love without asking for anything at all except the inner nearness—for unless you do that very strongly ...
... its birth takes from the cosmic mind, life and matter to shape a new external personality for himself. What prevents the Divine from doing the same? What is continued from birth to birth is the inner being. 18 December 1935 The Avatar and the Earth Consciousness We are a little puzzled when you give your own example to prove your arguments and defend your views, because that really proves... ideas and for me to pursue my "Avataric" sadhana (not for myself, but for this confounded and too confounded earth race). 14 February 1935 You say, if I understand you right, that since the inner being is open to the universal, anything can manifest through it even if it is not there latent; you further add that it is impossible to say what will or will not manifest once the universal acts upon ...
... consciously, to keep yourself open to it and let it go on working with a full adhesion, with a constant support of your consent, with a constant rejection of all that is not that, till all the inner being is tranquillised and filled with the Mother's Force, Peace, Joy, Presence—then the outer nature will be obliged to follow suit in its turn. 8 May 1933 In a dream I saw a dull painting with... be the reason for this? You may have allowed your consciousness to go too much outward and get taken up by ordinary things. It is usually when the outer physical consciousness covers up the inner being that this happens. The aspiration is not gone, but it no longer rises to the surface. If you remain very quiet inwardly and call to the Mother, it should come back. 13 July 1933 When I awoke ...
... the very opposite thing to what should have been done—trying to get away in front of the car instead of behind it. But the true cause was something more internal—one of those choices made by the inner being (not necessarily known to the conscious mind) which bring these things as a response. 27 January 1936 The experience you had of the power of the Name and the protection is that of everyone... Page 308 It is not because the Mother has withdrawn her protection—she has not done that. It is more likely that it [ the difficulty ] came because you have been going too much out of your inner being and externalising yourself. It is better to draw back within again and recover the inner calm and peace. ...
... the whole higher consciousness, its Peace, Power, Knowledge, Love, Ananda. Moreover, the descent may be enough to liberate, but not to perfect, or it may be enough to make a great change in the inner being, while the outer remains an imperfect instrument, clumsy, sick or unexpressive. Finally, the transformation effected by the sadhana cannot be complete unless it is a supramentalisation of the being... come when the Supramental change takes place. Till then the nature remains full of many imperfections, but the self in the higher planes does not mind them, as it is itself free and unaffected. The inner being down to the inner physical can also become free and unaffected. The Overmind is subject to limitations in the working of the effective Knowledge, limitations in the working of the Power, subjection ...
... open yourself and you will feel it. 1 May 1929 The presence whose fading he regrets can only be felt if the inner being continues to be consecrated and the outer nature is put into harmony or at least kept under the touch of the inner spirit. But if he does things which his inner being does not approve, this condition will be inevitably tarnished and, each time, the possibility of his feeling the ...
... They may join there, speak to each other and have all the relations you can have upon earth. Some know of these relationships, some do not know. Some, as are indeed most, are unconscious of the inner being and the inner intercourse, and yet it will happen that, when they meet the new face in the outer world, they find it somehow very familiar, quite well-known. Are there no false visions? There... and see whether you have an answer or have no answer, whether you feel supported or contradicted, not by the mind or the vital or the body, but by that something which is always there deep in the inner being, in your heart. Is not an increasing effort of meditation needed and is it not true that the more hours you meditate the greater progress you make? Page 19 The number of hours spent ...
... being and its parts" 19 —a concentric system and a vertical system. The concentric system is like a series of rings or sheaths, consisting of the outer being, the inner being and the inmost being. The outer being and the inner being behind it constitute our phenomenal or instrumental being and are said to belong to Nature or Prakriti. They have three corresponding parts—physical, vital, mental. The ...
... vital and body but is in union with the supreme Self or with the universal (cosmic) consciousness or with some deeper consciousness within in which one is aware of one's own soul, one's own inner being and of the real truth of existence. In the Yogic consciousness one is not only aware of things, but of forces, not only of forces, but of the conscious being behind the forces. One is aware of all... growth of the new consciousness and at once grows with it and helps it to come about and to perfect itself. This force is the Yoga-Shakti. It is here coiled up and asleep in all the centres of our inner being (Chakras) and is at the base what is called in the Tantras the Kundalini Shakti. But it is also above us, above our head as the Divine Force - not there coiled up, involved, asleep, but awake, scient ...
... is just the contrary. It is precisely because the body decays, declines and ends in a complete degradation that death becomes necessary. But if the body followed the progressive movement of the inner being, if it had the same sense of progress and perfection as the psychic being, there would be no necessity for it to die. One year added to another need not bring a deterioration. It is only a habit... in your body this is reproduced somewhere. You try to arrange it in your body and you find out that to get back to the source of this physical disharmony, you have to find out the defect in your inner being. And then you begin to work and the result is obtained. You don't know to what an extent the body is plastic! From another standpoint, I would say it is terribly rigid and that is why the body ...
... is it something else? Sleep can be a very active means of concentration and inner knowledge. Sleep is the school one has to go through, if one knows how to learn his lesson there, so that the inner being may be independent of the physical form, conscious in itself and master of its own life. There are entire parts of the being which need this immobility and semi-consciousness of the outer being,... absolutely at rest, but a repose which is not a fall into the inconscient—this is one of the conditions. And the vital must be in a repose of silence. Then if you have these three things at rest, the inner being which is rarely in relation with the outer life, because the outer life is too noisy and too unconscious for it to be able to manifest itself, can become aware of itself and awaken, become active ...
... It is certainly better if the psychic is conscious and active before there is the removing of the veil or screen between the individual and the universal consciousness which comes when the inner being is brought forward in all its wideness. For then there is much less danger of the difficulties of what I have called the Intermediate Zone. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - III: The Intermediate... advocate the psychic change of the nature first—for that means the purification of the heart: the turning of it wholly to the Divine, the subjection of the mind and the vital to the control of the inner being, the soul. Always, when the soul is in front, one gets the right guidance from within as to what is to be done, what avoided, what is the wrong thing or the true thing in thought, feeling, action ...
... you feel, gives you the intuitions of things to be or warns you against the results of certain actions; that is some part of the inner being, sometimes the inner mental, sometimes the inner vital, sometimes, it may be, the inner or subtle physical Purusha. The inner being—inner mind, inner vital, inner or subtle physical—knows much that is unknown to the outer mind, the outer vital, the outer physical ...
... according to the place we must occupy. Sweet Mother, I would like to add: the more we are in contact with our inner being, the more exact are the means given us. Oh, that's good! (Mother writes:) The more we are CONSCIOUSLY in contact with our inner being, the more are the exact means given to us. It's getting interesting! That gives them a basis. Oh, but ...
... till then the individual must be preoccupied with his own problem of entirely changing his mind and life into conformity with the truth of the spirit which he is achieving or has achieved in his inner being and knowledge. Any premature attempt at a large-scale collective spiritual life is exposed to vitiation by some incompleteness of the spiritual knowledge on its dynamic side, by the imperfections... only effect various mechanisations, manipulations, developments and formulations. But neither is mind as a whole, even spiritualised, able to change it; spirituality liberates and illumines the inner being, it helps mind to communicate with what is higher than itself, to escape even from itself, it can purify and uplift by the inner influence the outward nature of individual human beings: but so long ...
... established, a sadhak is only an ignorant and imperfect human being struggling with the evils of the lower nature.... What is created by spiritual progress is an inner closeness and intimacy in the inner being, the sense of the Mother's love and presence etc." 24 February 1965 Sweet Mother, What is the best way of expressing one's gratitude towards man and towards the Divine? Why do... Sweet Mother, It is said that nothing is in us, everything comes from outside. It is also said elsewhere that our vision of the outside (of the world around us) is the reflection of our inner being. Could you explain these two sentences a little? In order to understand these apparent contradictions, one has to rise to the intellectual level on which all opposite ideas can be set face to ...
... worlds, a whole range of more and more subtle worlds approaching nearer and nearer to the Supreme. So, since you carry within yourself a corresponding range, by studying and becoming aware of your inner being you gradually make yourself capable of becoming aware also of these invisible worlds. For example, the mind: if the mind is conscious, coordinated, well controlled, it can move about it in the mental... develop them, make them conscious, independent and precise in their perceptions. That is the second stage. It may take time, it may come quickly, it depends on the degree of development of your inner being. After that—this is only a beginning—after that, you must learn to isolate yourself from all the other parts of the being, to concentrate on the one where you want to have the experience and ...
... have something to say? Very often, afterwards when I am in front of you, I feel... I can't hear. After Satprem leaves, I come and do my pranam. 3 Then, in front of your gaze, my true inner being seems to come to the front. Yes. And curiously, I have the sensation of a force of... Do you know the Ganges, the goddess Ganga? I feel an affinity with her. With the river? Page... ( Mother plunges in ) Do you get a special sensation when you have that? Do you feel something special? (Sujata:) Right now, it's as if very interiorized, and at the same time with the inner being in front: both at the same time, like that. Yes. ( Mother plunges in again ) × The two words are similar ...
... ess has to be "spiritually awake" 1 and "as open in the waking consciousness as in sleep." 2 We have somehow to "arrive at a point when one remains outwardly conscious and yet lives in the inner being and has at will the indrawn or the outpoured condition." 3 It is thus evident that the irresistible bouts of unconsciousness of sleep to which our body's waking status occasionally succumbs... our nights more fatiguing than the day. On the contrary, "if our night granted us the acquisition of new knowledge, the solution of an absorbing problem, the establishment of contact in our inner being with some centre of life or of light, or even the accomplishment of some useful work, we should always get up with a feeling of vigour and well-being. It is the hours wasted in doing nothing ...
... specific intention of awakening the consciousness of the child and of giving him or her especially the body, emotions, and mind. The ultimate aim of this activity is to indicate to the child how the inner being, and even the inmost being may be contacted so that it may take charge of the child's life and development. There are many skills and qualities that are touched in the Awareness through the... become an impartial observer or witness who looks at all that happens as a spectator without active interest or preference, being neither pleased nor repulsed. By developing an awareness of the inner being in all parts and actions of our personality, our consciousness begins to become an instrument of our soul rather than remaining primarily in the domain of our physical body, mind and emotions. ...
... man, I mean, I could enforce absolute rest to the eyes and issue a bulletin. [ Underlining "absolute rest" ]: It does not exist in this world—not even in the Himalayas—except of course for the inner being which can always be in absolute rest. March 9, 1935 I am pursuing a policy of non-interference with others' patients according to medical etiquette. For instance D.R.R. called in Dr... necessary help and not before that. In my own case I got relief only after Mother's touch at Pranam or after I had written my whole trouble. Prayers are not heard, then? It depends on how far the inner being is awake—otherwise one needs a physical avalambana. 76 There are some people who get the relief only after we read a letter, others get it immediately they write or before it has reached us ...
... remarkable maturity of the poetic power. Which seems to suggest that the periods of sterility were not so sterile after all or were rather an incubation period, a work of opening going on in the inner being behind the veil before it manifested in the outer. Let us hope the same is going on in the direct sadhana. Today at Pranam I felt a somewhat "blocky" feeling, if you know what I mean? Yes... general opening when it is done under the pressure of Yoga, but it is at first something special, like the opening of the subtle vision or subtle senses. It is the opening of a special capacity in the inner being. Though maturity has come in, the substance and depth are remarkably lacking—I think they've come in J's poems. There is a much greater ripeness in the thought-substance as well as the rest ...
... but the outer human nature remains almost the same. Outer human nature can only change either by an intense psychic development or a strong And all-pervading influence from above. It is the inner being that has to change first—a change which is not always visible outside. That has nothing to do with the development of the faculties which is another side of the personality. Wouldn't it be wiser... It came of itself through the sincerity of her will to open and to live for the Divine—there was insincerity and ego on the surface but the psychic could make itself heard owing to this—so the inner being slowly grew. November 19, 1936 I have a bad frontal headache, feeling feverish, hope no complication of left frontal sinus suppuration! Help, Guru! [Sri Aurobindo drew an arrow from ...
... his inner being and acquired its powers, then things like this would be possible. Such things are now mystical or magical or extraordinary because man has been looking at them from his present poise. They are mysterious because they are exceptional. But if, just as people are advancing in physical science and trying to explore every possible secret of Nature, they also went into the inner being and ...
... than a cultivated art and the sense for rhythm and subtle sound-body of words which comprise the essence of the poetic faculty is native to his temperament. It would seem that the poet, in his inner being, is in direct contact with some far-away Land of Felicity where the Muse of Poetic Beauty reigns supreme and the unearthly strains of music and the magical hues of that land flow through him unhindered... not sadhana. Also the poetry must be written in the same spirit, not for fame or self-satisfaction, but as a means of contact with the Divine through aspiration or of the expression of one’s own inner being, as it was written formerly by those who left behind them so much devotional and spiritual poetry in India; it does not help if it is written only in the spirit of the Western artist or littérateur ...
... possible misuse. At the same time, it confirms that freedom is essentially of the nature of the noblest psychological being. It points out, however, that freedom is only one of the vibrations of our inner being, and that there are two others of the same order; it is only when freedom is united with these that an inner law of Page 32 discipline can emerge. These two are: the quest for truth... harmony. It proposes, therefore, not liberty alone, but a trinity of truth, harmony and liberty as the fundamental principles of New Education. These three constitute the serenity of the inner being, and if these three vibrate united also in the atmosphere, then, in this serene atmosphere, by the power of inner and outer environment, true knowledge can be stimulated to grow in the inner hearts ...
... this? Page 30 You may have allowed your consciousness to go too much outward and get taken up by ordinary things? It is usually when the outer physical consciousness covers up the inner being that this happens. The aspiration is not gone, but it no longer rises to the surface. If you remain very quiet inwardly and call to the Mother, it should come back. 13.7.33 Sri Aurobindo... These also come from a certain restlessness in the vital. Most people put a control of the will on those things and try to get rid of them in that way. But they disappear fully only when the inner being is awakened and a new Force (the Mother's) begins fully to work in the nature. Mother, How can I do yoga when I do not know anything about your yoga? I do not also know what to do ...
... of aspiration that rises upwards in order to bum and bum steadily, constantly and ever-increasingly, to grow in leaps of fire in order to bum away all that tends towards extinction, to build our inner being and all members of the being, — body, life, and mind and all our faculties, actual and latent, — so that all of them make an ascent in all consuming zeal to unite with all that is or felt or conceived... concentration of consciousness on the inward. A passage is then made in the inner realm of consciousness, and light that is inherent in consciousness discloses realities which lie hidden in our inner being. Inner realities are to be discovered, they are visited repeatedly, and thus they become permanently disclosed; they are then said to be realised. The simple miracle of this discovery and realisation ...
... subconscient which appears to us as if it were inconscient, Page 31 comprising the material basis and a good part of our life and body; there is the subliminal, which comprises the inner being, taken in its entirety of inner mind, inner life, inner physical with the soul or psychic entity supporting them; there is this waking consciousness which the subliminal and the subconscient throw... high above it: that too is ourselves, other than our surface mental personality, but not outside our true self; that too is a country of our spirit. For the subliminal proper is no more than the inner being on the level of the Knowledge-Ignorance luminous, powerful and extended indeed beyond the poor conception of our waking mind, but still not the supreme or the whole sense of our being, not its ultimate ...
... us found a seat to her right or left according to the turn of our nature or the inner being.... The Mother's endeavour at that time was for a new creation, the creation here of a new inner world of the Divine Consciousness. She had brought down the Higher Forces, the Gods, into the earth atmosphere, into our inner being and consciousness.' In one of her talks in later years the Mother herself referred ...
... experience? The Mother is not an "experience", she is the Being and Page 157 the Consciousness and the Power that contains the experience. At present my inner being wants to impose one simple and straight attitude on my outer being — "Accept heartily whatever the Divine Mother does." This indeed is a very essential thing to be realised if any real or lasting... lasting progress is to be achieved. Yes, it is essential. Early in the morning, among the flood of ideas, particularly this one flashed through me very clearly: "Your inner being should now adopt this attitude to any difficulty, fall or attack: 'It is not of your own nature, if belongs to the general Nature.' One who is accepted by the Mother gets an automatic protection ...
... is not my mind alone that aspires but also some being from within joins with it! What is more is that it aspires more constantly than the outer mind. What is that being? It may be the inner being or part of it — may be the psychic. Page 77 What should be our preparation to bring out the psychic from its veil? Aspiration for devotion, and refusal of... the mental will to direct the actions in the right way or reject the things that have to be rejected. But this you had stopped when the silence, emptiness etc. came down. Today my inner being collected all its diffused energy of will-power and fought out the inertia massed within me. Was the force used rajas, the vital push, something unspiritual? It was not a silent duel. There were ...
... collaboration. This may not always mean that all is easy and difficulty is simply not, once the psychic is there. It becomes so when the psychic is there fully in front; even otherwise when the inner being is in the background, still sensed and, on the whole, obeyed, although there are battles, hard battles to be fought and won, then even a little of this Consciousness saves from a great fear. For... and strength that buoy you up and carry you through. Like the individual, nations too have their sunlit path and the path of the doldrum as well. So long as a nation keeps to the truth of its inner being, follows its natural line of development, remains faithful to its secret godhead, it will have chosen that good part which will bring it divine blessings and fulfilment. Page 95 ...
... garland of bones. My love churns the lake and devours the lotus-stalk – I will beat and batter you, take your life out of you! PARAPHRASE The inner being – the soul – lives outside the pale of the ordinary consciousness. It is, as it were, an outcaste from the civilised, cultured, moral, ceremonial social mentality. Even so, the best minds... I seized the whole treasure of illusion and swallowed it. He sleeps unaware of the rift between mine and others, The nude Kanhu is full of sleep of the Inner Being: There is no awareness, no sensation; He is gone into the depth of sleep. He has accomplished all and lies happy in his sleep. I saw in sleep the three worlds a Void ...
... of matchless and unique beauty is unveiled before the mind's eye! That is the true Rabindranath, the creator of such magic wonders. Perfect 'perfection of beauty is inherent in the nature of his inner being. The advance he has made in respect of knowledge and power has been far exceeded by that of beauty. Knowledge and power have a subordinate place in his consciousness. Page 148 ... and outer activities.¹ He was all along creating beauty around him and. proceeding from beauty through higher beauties towards the supreme Beauty. It has been already said that Rabindranath's inner Being was a creator of beauty. But this beauty he has expressed more through the vibrations of rhythm than through the modelling of form except in some of his supreme utterances. We notice that the greater ...
... interests and the ideals of teachers and parents. Even today, the behaviourist pedagogy prescribes principles and methods of teaching that aim at development of behaviour rather than the development of inner being and inner personality of the learner. Even today, even where behaviouristic pedagogy is not preponderate, importance is attached to the external and mechanical means of imparting information and... seated within the cave of the inner heart". Finally, this knowledge had profound basis in the study of righteousness and of the secrets of self-mastery and of the conditions in which peace of the inner being can be perpetually held in the body, life and mind. The Tattiriya Upanishad gives us, in brief, the quintessence of this science and art of living in brief but instructive terms. Page ...
... ...according to the place we must occupy. Sweet Mother, I would like to add: the more we are in contact with our inner being, the more exact are the means given us. Oh, that's good! (Mother writes:) The more we are CONSCIOUSLY in contact with our inner being, the more are the exact means given to us. It's getting interesting! That gives them a basis. Oh ...
... one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us inner mental, inner vital, inner physical silent, calm, unbound, unattached which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds... the whole higher consciousness, its Peace, Power, Knowledge, Love, Ananda. Moreover, the descent may be enough to liberate, but not to perfect, or it may be enough to make a great change in the inner being, while the outer remains an imperfect instrument, clumsy, sick or unexpressive. Finally, transformation effected by the sadhana cannot be complete unless it is a supramentalisation of the ...
... the sole ideal of the Vedic Rishis. The principal instrument, of their knowledge was neither the senses nor even the mind or intellect but the subtle concentrated insight and perception of the inner Being. In its introspection for discovering this fundamental power of knowledge the Kena Upanishad says, "By whom missioned falls the mind shot to its mark?.. That which is hearing behind the hearing,... something entirely comprehensible by the intellect. We put it syllogistically and understand it part by part separately. The ancients used to grasp the truth through the fullness of their heart, the inner being. So it could manifest as an indivisible embodiment of mundane forms and supraphysical concepts. To us the truth has three distinct forms: in the material, vital and mental worlds. Each is different ...
... compose great music; few people can do it, as things are, - not even one in a million; for poetry and music come from the inner being and to write or to compose true and great things one has to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something in the inner being.... "You ask me whether you have to give up your predilection for testing before accepting and to accept everything in ...
... Sāvitrī as "a prodigal of her rich divinity" (Book I, Canto i) who gave herself and all she was to men. He speaks of Aswapathy, the human king, as "a colonist from immortality" because in his inner being he was conscious of his origin in the Page 42 Eternal. He sees the relation between Eternity and Time- movement: "Ascending and descending twixt life's poles The serried... influences, in order to become dynamic in toto, must assume poetic shape as a correlate to the actual living out of them in personal consciousness and conduct. In that shape they can reach man's inner being persistently and ubiquitously over and above doing so with a luminous and vibrant suggestiveness unrivalled by any other mode of literature or art. But scattered and short pieces of poetry cannot ...
... and not from imagination. Disciple : Cannot one write about .spiritual truths sometimes, even without having any experience or being conscious of them? Sri Aurobindo : Why not? The inner being can have the vision and can express it. Disciple : Can one who is not a mystic himself write mystic poems? Sri Aurobindo : One can; if one has a tradition inspiring him or a mystic... way. Disciple : Yes. I remember that line, ''A fathomless beauty in a sphere of pain", coming to me as if someone had whispered it into my ear. Sri Aurobindo : Quite. It is the inner being but sometimes one may be deceived. Inspiration from the lower planes also can come in an automatic way. Disciple : Oh yes. I have been deceived many times like that. Lines which came at ...
... That is the dawn. It can come in the midst of life, dawn can come in the midst of the most ordinary experience of life. Dawn does not come only when you are in a pious mood, dawn comes when your inner being is ready, in a flash; it is thrown across the face of life and then you suddenly see that there is something greater than everything that the world can offer, something which is the object of existence... giving the example of Gautama Buddha leaving his house at dead of night to relieve the suffering of mankind. It is an action which he did intuitively, instinctively or under an inspiration of his inner being. When he did it, even fifty square miles around they did not know anything about that action. It was an age when transport and communication were very primitive. Gautama Buddha's abandonment of his ...
... the plasticity you advocate. So why not give me some practical hints as to how I am to set about it?" : " . . . Didn't I advise you in so many of my letters to get into contact with your inner being, to try to live within, to take the help of your poetry and music, for instance, because these promote your devotion – bhakti – and help you take up the right attitude? I have told you – and... radiant crystal of joy and faith and strength even when I am, in dull earnest, just sad and weak and lonely. How is that?" "That's simple enough," he said, "they only come in contact with your inner being in which these are sparkling all right. ..." (When he said this I was reminded of a curious experience in 1936 .... ) He seemed to read my thoughts. For he said: "Such things do happen ...
... MYSELF: Mother dear, I used to have such experiences at one time; I could then separate my inner being, but not in the way Sri Aurobindo has indicated. I remember that the suffering of the body used to appear as something quite different, I could see that it was the outer being that suffered, the inner being was not involved, there was a division into two parts in the being. SRI AUROBINDO: It is ...
... happy to work hard to satisfy them. I want to draw your attention to this aspect. Another thing I notice nowadays: whenever something seems impossible to me, I try to ignore this ‘I’ and open my inner being towards your light so that a descent may take place from it. I feel such a movement within and wish to concentrate on it. In other words an aspiration rises to invoke something above that will give... AUROBINDO: It is the right fundamental consciousness that you have now got. The tamas and other movements of the lower universal Nature are bound to try to come in, but if one has the calm of the inner being which makes them felt as something external to the being and the light of the psychic which instantly exposes and rejects them, then that is to have the true consciousness which keeps one safe while ...
... hyarcayed bhūtikāmaḥ. 10 Mundaka Upanishad 3.1. 8 , 9 , 10 Eye cannot seize, speech cannot grasp Him, nor these other godheads; not by austerity can he be held nor by works: only when the inner being is purified by a glad serenity of knowledge, then indeed, meditating, one beholds the Spirit in-divisible. This self is subtle and has to be known by a thought-mind into which the life-force... all the conscious heart of creatures is shot through and inwoven with the currents of the life-force and only when it is purified can this Self manifest its power. Whatever world the man whose inner being is purified sheds the light of his mind upon, and whatsoever desires he cherishes, that world he takes by conquest, and those desires. Then, let who-soever seeks for success and well-being approach ...
... mastering assimilation is a serious deficiency and a danger to the existence. To a healthy individuality the external impact or entering energy, idea, influence may act as an irritant awakening the inner being to a sense of discord, incompatibility or peril, and then there is a struggle, an impulse and process of rejection; but even in this struggle, in this process of rejection there is some resultant... knocking at locked doors and arousing slumbering energies. It may come in as a possible material which has then to be reshaped to a form of the inner energy, Page 49 harmonised with the inner being, reinterpreted in the light of its own characteristic self-consciousness. In a great change of environment or a close meeting with a mass of invading influences all these processes work together ...
... 1930 It is the outer nature that is obscure and when it is at ease, feels no necessity of remembering the Mother—when the difficulty comes, then it feels the necessity and remembers. But the inner being is not like that. 11 May 1933 There must be something soiled in human love—otherwise why should I feel like this? After some problem with X in which he told me some unpleasant things, my vital... throughout my days far away and come back safely to my home here at your feet. Remember the Mother and, though physically far from her, try to feel her with you and act according to what your inner being tells you would be her will. Then you will be best able to feel her presence and mine and carry our atmosphere around you as a protection and a zone of quietude and light accompanying you everywhere ...
... hall before the Mother came down, I saw in meditation: "The Mother is absorbed in deep concentration." Why did I see her like that? The Mother is always in a concentrated consciousness in her inner being—so it is quite natural that you should see like that. 5 July 1933 About the dream of which I wrote yesterday, you have written, "It has a reality and a significance", but you have not written... strength. In the second vision why did I see the Mother's image exactly as we see her every day? It indicates an aspiration and an action for realisation in the external nature and not only in the inner being. When it is an inner action or action of another plane one can see the Mother in any of her forms, but for realisation in the physical her appropriate form is that which she wears here. 15 July ...
... chief concern to know and realise, putting all things else in the background or holding them to be of no account, or else you have been seeking with your mind, through the thought, and not with your inner being, your soul and spirit. No suggestions of any practice can be given you unless you write more fully and state how you have tried hitherto, by what kind of practice etc. 19 July 1927 All is... can assimilate. 4 July 1936 Page 550 You can write to him in Bengali and tell him that Sri Aurobindo has seen the letters and says that the vision is interesting as showing that his inner being which came up in the dream is capable of receiving the Light which descends from above through the head into the other centres of the being. It is too early to say more. But he can continue with ...
... October 1954 This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo's Bases of Yoga , Chapter 1, "Calm—Peace—Equality". Sweet Mother, what is "the freedom of the Self"? It means that in the true inner being one feels perfectly free, and is free from everything. One has the feeling of a complete freedom—free from all external influences, free from all lower impulses, free from all bondage of thoughts... pity themselves greatly and lament their own difficulties, their own miseries, their own sufferings, and caress themselves gently: "Oh, my poor little one, how unhappy you are!" But it is their inner being which has done everything. There we are. Au revoir , my children. Page 387 ...
... know. Some, as are indeed most, are unconscious of the inner being and the inner intercourse, and yet it happens that when they meet the new face in the outer world, they find it very familiar, quite well known." Questions and Answers 1929-1931 ( 21 April 1929 ) That depends very much upon the level of consciousness in one's inner being. For most people, all that is a mixture in the mental ...
... me the last time, what shall I do to fulfil the capacity? It is something in the inner being that has the power of which the Mother spoke, not the external human part. I think you are seeking the power in the external being, but that can only raise up difficulties. Awaken the psychic in you, let the inner being come out and replace the ego, then the latent power also will become effective. You can ...
... being? Ask X for the proper word—if there is any. 15 June 1931 Page 151 Can antarātmā or hṛt-puruṣa do for "psychic being"? Or your own term caitya puruṣa? Antarātmā is the inner being—it is a larger term than the psychic being. Hṛt-puruṣa or caitya puruṣa would do. June 1931 As directed, "psychic being" has been translated as caitya puruṣa. Does this mean the puruṣa... descent of the whole higher consciousness, its Peace, Power, Knowledge, Love, Ananda. Moreover, the descent may be enough to liberate, but not to perfect, or enough to make a great change in the inner being, while the outer remains an imperfect instrument, clumsy, sick or unexpressive. Finally, the transformation effected by the sadhana cannot be complete unless it is a supramentalisation of the being ...
... compose great music. Few people can do it, as things are,—not even one in a million; for poetry and music come from the inner Page 227 being and to write or to compose true and great things one has to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something in the inner being. That is why you got the poetic power as soon as you began Yoga—Yoga-force made the passage clear. It is the same with ...
... times the call for the Mother going on from there. It comes more easily in sleep or in a half-waking condition because then the surface mind is not active so that what is going on within in the inner being can manifest itself. 29 October 1934 When I spoke of "loneliness", I meant that some part of the being feels that although the Mother loves me very much, I am unable to love her—as if there... It does not allow any other thought, not even higher or spiritual thoughts. How do you look upon this attitude? Page 469 The attitude is good for the awakening of the psychic and the inner being generally. But if higher experience comes, it should not be stopped. 12 March 1935 Am I right that for the last four years my psychic is always active and in front? Can the Mother now deal ...
... Force can take advantage of this key to open the deeper dedication within." May I know in what terms this deeper dedication can be expressed? One begins to feel a double consciousness, one an inner being within which is always dedicated, spontaneously and silently full of the devotion to the Mother or aware of her Force working or of her presence or all these together and another the outer through... feelings but only for the Divine's sake without thought of self that work becomes fully a sadhana and the internal and the external nature can arrive at a harmony. It makes it more possible for the inner being to take up and enlighten the outer action and grow conscious of the Mother's force behind it guiding it in its works. 3 January 1937 Should one try to put out the Mother's Force during work ...
... surface mind, life and body but there is an inner being within him with greater possibilities to which he has to awake—for it is only a very restricted influence from it that he receives now and that pushes him to a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. The first process of Yoga is therefore to open the ranges of this inner being and to live from there outward, governing ...
... Divine Self in each of you creates by his presence, little by little; it is influenced, formed and moved by the Divine Consciousness of which it is a part and parcel. It is in each of you the deep inner being which you have to find in order that you may come in contact with the Divine in you. It is the intermediary between the Divine Consciousness and your external consciousness; it is the builder of... difficulty has disappeared. The outer being is like a crust. In ordinary people the crust is so hard and thick that they are not conscious of the Divine within them. If once, even for a moment only, the inner being has said, "I am here and I am yours", then it is as though a bridge has been built and little by little the crust becomes thinner and thinner until the two parts are wholly joined and the inner and ...
... existence in the terrestrial being so that he is no longer solely preoccupied with his outermost life or with that and mental pursuits and interests, but has learned to look within, to discover his inner being, his spiritual self, to aspire to overpass earth and her limitations. As he grows more and more inward, his boundaries mental, vital, spiritual begin to broaden, the bonds that held life, mind, soul... ground of his normal narrow existence. But if he makes the inward movement which his own highest vision has held up before him as his greatest spiritual necessity, then he will find there in his inner being a larger consciousness, a larger life. An action from within and an action from above can overcome the predominance of the material formula, diminish and finally put an end to the power of the I ...
... are analogies; but they are associations with the experience of impressions which give a great deal of force and concrete reality to the experience. As when one goes on the discovery of one's inner being, of all the different parts of one's being, one very often has the feeling that one is entering deep into a hall or room, and according to the colour, the atmosphere, the things it contains, one... put in their place; it is as though one had arranged the household, one cleans up, puts it in order, and it is always the same house. This house is the image, a kind of objective image, of your inner being. And in accordance with what you see there or do there, you have a symbolic representation of your psychological work. It is very Page 267 useful for concretising. It depends on people ...
... Introduction Our Many Selves The Inner Being (The Subliminal) Behind the surface or frontal consciousness of the outer being there is an inner or subliminal consciousness upon all the three levels—physical, vital, mental. Thus there is an inner mind, an inner vital and an inner physical. The inner mind is in touch with the universal mind, the inner vital... inner physical with the universal physical forces around us. Thus whereas the outer being knows things only indirectly from their outer touches as perceived though the senses and the outer mind, the inner being is directly aware of the surrounding universal forces that act through us. Environmental Consciousness (The Circumconscient) The inner or subliminal being receives the contacts of the environing ...
... call in the being for the Divine or for the higher things that belong to the Divine Consciousness. (To "aspire" always means to call for higher things.) Aspiration is a turning upward of the inner being with a call, yearning, prayer for the Divine, for the Truth, for the Page 56 Consciousness, Peace, Ananda, Knowledge, descent of Divine Force or whatever else is the aim of one's endeavour... calm and peace and joy in the mind and heart, and a confidence that all will be done in its due time. There can be an intense but quiet aspiration which does not disturb the harmony of the inner being. Yes—that is the way. The intensity of the aspiration brings Page 59 the intensity of the experience and by repeated intensity of the experience the change. The impatience ...
... transform the human into the divine. But in human love itself there are several kinds of motive-forces. There is a psychic human love which rises from deep within and is the result of the meeting of the inner being with that which calls it towards a divine joy and union; it is, once it becomes aware of itself, something lasting, self-existent, not dependent upon external satisfactions, Page 341 ... moods as if human love, even with some of these lower ingredients, were the only thing possible to you. But that is not so at all, for it contradicts your own deepest experiences. Always what your inner being has asked is Love, Bhakti, Ananda and whenever it comes to the surface it is, even if only in a first elementary form, the divine love which it brings with it. A basis of deep and intense calm and ...
... Chapter II Asceticism and the Integral Yoga Not an Ascetic Path It is not indispensable to be an ascetic—it is enough if one can learn to live within in the inner being instead of on the surface, discover the soul or true individuality which is veiled by the surface mind and life forces and open the being to the superconscient Reality. But in this one cannot succeed... on the Divine. I prefer myself the calmer way of equality, the way pointed out by Krishna, than the more painful one of Vairagya. But if the compulsion in one's nature—or the compulsion of one's inner being forcing its way by that means through the difficulties of the nature—is on that line, it must be recognised as a valid line. What has to be got rid of in that case is the note of despair in the vital ...
... most easily and directly respond to the Divine Light and Power. There is no real Yoga possible, still less any integral Yoga, if we do not go back from the outer self and become aware of all this inner being and inner nature. For then alone can we break the limitations of the ignorant external self which receives consciously only the outer touches and knows things indirectly through the outer mind and... distributed all over the body—but the vital physical action is concentrated in its origin between the Muladhara and the centre just above it. The Sheaths of the Indian Tradition Yes [ the inner being is made up of sheaths ]. Sheaths is simply a term for bodies, because each is superimposed on the other and acts as a covering and can be cast off. Thus the physical body itself is called the food ...
... especially the inmost, the soul, the psychic Purusha which is always in its essence pure, divine, turned to all that is good and true and beautiful. The exterior being has to be taken hold of by the inner being and turned into an instrument no longer of the upsurgings of the ignorant subconscient Nature, but of the Divine. It is by remembering always that and opening the nature upwards that the Divine ... recognisable difference between the two functionings. It [ the memory of things ] is not in the mind alone; it is stored in the subconscient (mind, vital and physical) as impressions—also in the inner being all is present but held back as a store of past experience. All that our consciousness meets in day-to-day experience is Page 224 registered in subconscient memory and from there ...
... touch the true being. If one is in the true being, they are not felt as belonging to oneself, but as outside or surface movements which leave one unmoved and unidentified with them. The true inner being—the true mental, the true vital, the true physical represent each on its plane and answer to the central being, but the whole of the nature and especially the outer nature does not nor the ordinary... lower centres and pervade the body down to the feet and even below. Once established, it holds the ego-forces outside or, even if they come, whether in rajasic or tamasic obstructive form, keeps the inner being totally detached and unmoved all the time by their environmental presence. The consciousness of the mind, life, body in each person is ordinarily shut up in itself; it is narrow, not wide ...
... narrated about Bijoykrishna or another. That, I have said, is a question not of faith but of mental belief—and faith is not mental belief in outward facts, but an intuition of Page 344 the inner being about spiritual things. Krishnaprem means the same thing when he says that faith is the light sent down by the higher to the lower personality. As for the epithet "blind" used by Ramakrishna, it... me that you mean by faith a mental belief in an alleged fact put before the mind and senses in the doubtful form of an unsupported asseveration. I mean by it a dynamic intuitive conviction in the inner being of the truth of supersensible things which cannot be proved by any physical evidence but which are a subject of experience. My point is that this faith is a most desirable preliminary (if not absolutely ...
... poem or compose great music. Few people can do it, as things are,—not even one in a million; for poetry and music come from the inner being and to write or to compose true and great things one has to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something in the inner being. That is why you got the poetic power as soon as you began Yoga—Yoga-force made the passage clear. It is the same with Yogic ...
... movements quite on the surface. It is always better to have peace. As for the vital, there is always something in it that resists and tries to retard, but if the inner being opens sufficiently and you can live in the inner being, peace can descend and establish itself there in such a way that the vital movements of the surface may be there but will not be able to break the inner peace. Vital ...
... sixty that the renewal becomes difficult—even then health and strength can be kept or recovered enough to keep the body in a good condition. I do not also quite catch what you mean about the inner being. If you mean by the vikās the development of the sadhana, to recover health and strength is very necessary for that. The body is an instrument for the sadhana no less than the mind and vital, and... auto-suggestions [ of being restored to good health ]—it is really faith in a mental form—act both on the subliminal and the subconscient. In the subliminal they set in action the powers of the inner being, its occult power to make thought, will or simple conscious force effective on the body—in the subconscient they silence or block the suggestions of death and illness (expressed or unexpressed) that ...
... darkness when it has felt itself hurt. This is a thing that everybody must get rid of who wants to progress. Do not go on identifying yourself with this part and calling it yourself. Get back into your inner being and look at this only as a small though obstinate part of the nature that has to change. For apart from its insistence there is no reason why your way should enter into a desert. It should enter... back to a point in the past; but it is always possible for you to go forward, recovering the force for propulsion of what you then gained and have certainly still within you assimilated in your inner being. If you want to carry on some part of the Yoga by your active efforts and aspiration, there is no reason why you should not find back that capacity; but the first effort to be made is to reject ...
... believe everything people tell you—why not make a useful use of it in refusing to believe these things? That would be better than to make a useless use of it in doubting the experiences of your own inner being which are a thousand times more reliable than this imaginative chit-chat built upon nothing. If the Mother makes you a communication when you are in your inner consciousness, why not put your faith... want to see you or to smile on you, prefers others to yourself, etc., etc. However, I will not insist; I will wait for these disturbances to pass away from you in the due course of the Yoga, as the inner being develops and takes charge of the lower vital nature.... Finally, I will call your attention to what I have said very plainly that you have in no degree contributed to bring about the Mother's ...
... of the inner being in a conscious dream state, svapna-samādhi . The numbness and the feeling of being about to lose consciousness are always due to the pressure or descent of a Force to Page 129 which the body is not accustomed, but feels strongly. Here it was not the physical body that was being directly pressed, but the subtle body, the sūkṣma śarīra in which the inner being more intimately ...
... unquestioning and entire turning and surrender to the Mother. But also it sometimes comes of itself when the Adhar is ready. 5 May 1933 Is our inner being already open to the Mother or does it open in the course of the sadhana? The inner being does not open except by sadhana or by some psychic touch on the life. 30 November 1933 When I think of the Mother's compassion, I start weeping ...
... own control and that he can become an instrument in the hands of Energies of a cosmic character without knowing the origin of his actions. It is by stepping back from the physical surface into his inner being and subliminal consciousness that he becomes directly aware of them and is able to know directly and deal with their action upon him. He grows aware of interventions which seek to lead him in one... one with the self of all beings. This self-realisation liberates and universalises; even if our action still proceeds in the dynamics of the Ignorance, it no longer binds or misleads because our inner being is seated in the light of self-knowledge. The third step is to know the Divine Being who is at once our supreme transcendent Self, the Cosmic Being, foundation of our universality, and the Divinity ...
... truth of that: for the natural individual, the nature-being, is indeed a product of the universal Energy, but is at the same time a nature-personality of the soul, an expressive formation of the inner being and person, and this soul is not a perishable cell or a dissoluble portion of the cosmic Spirit, but has its original immortal reality in the Transcendence. It is a fact that the cosmic Being expresses... the intellect must seek after truth for its own sake without any illegitimate interference of a preconceived idea of life-utility. But still the truth, once discovered, must be realisable in our inner being and our outer activities: if it is not, it may have an intellectual but not an integral importance; a truth for the intellect, for our life it would be no more than the solution of a thought puzzle ...
... ...according to the place we are to occupy. Mother, I'd like to add: The more we are in contact with our inner being, the more the exact means are given to us. Oh, that's fine ( Mother writes ): Page 226 The more we are CONSCIOUSLY in contact with our inner being, the more the exact means are given to us. It'll become interesting! It gives them the basis. Oh, ...
... result; whatever gaps had been there were filled by means of a conscious entering into the mood of the existing lines and creating a continuation. This conscious effort must have pulled at the inner being which had come into contact with the afflatus at night. For, soon two new poems quite apart from what had been scribbled took shape. They were in a different tempo, so to speak—more lyrical— but... there was little now of the piecemeal writing and the long and careful chiselling to which I had been accustomed in the old days of poetic composition. I seemed to be plastic in the hands of the inner being. As the heart-specialist called by my doctor had found my electro-cardiogram clearly indicative of muscular strain, I had been ordered to be in bed for at least eight weeks—until the "muffled ...
... into another body—his soul was not satisfied, it had not finished its experience (there was a whole combination of circumstances) and it wanted to continue to live on earth. Then, that night, his inner being went to find V., lamenting, saying he was dead and hadn't wanted to die, that he had lost his body and wanted to continue to live. V. was very perplexed. He let me know about it in the morning: 'Here's... complaint. V. told him very clearly, 'Here is what Mother says, here is what she is going to do; come now, be calm and don't torment yourself.' And he saw in I.B.'s face that he had understood (the inner being was taking on I.B.'s physical appearance, naturally); his face relaxed, he became content. He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put him ...
... concentrated on the change of the inner being alone, leaving the outer nature to go its old way, is much easier to accomplish than to objectivise this spirituality in the dynamic life of a free world-action. In the course of our Spiritual Sadhana, our totality of existence very soon and very easily dissociates into two fields, an inner one and an outer one. The inner being and nature has always a much ...
... Outer (Surface) Being The outer consciousness is that which usually expresses itself in ordinary life. It is the external mental, vital, physical. It is not connected very much with the inner being except in a few — until one connects them together in the course of the sadhana. Letters on Yoga, p. 311 The outer being is a means of expression only, not one's self. One must not... lust, greed of all kinds, vanity, small ambitions, petty anger, envy, jealousy are its ordinary guests, — still there is another side to it which makes it an indispensable mediator between the inner being and the outer life. Letters on Yoga, pp. 338-39 Vital... is a thing of desires, impulses, force-pushes, emotions, sensations, seekings after life-fulfilment, possession and enjoyment; ...
... surface mind, life and body, but there is an inner being within him with greater possibilities to which he has to awake—for it is only a very restricted influence from it that he receives now and that pushes him to a constant pursuit of a greater beauty, harmony, power and knowledge. The first process of Yoga is therefore ro open the ranges of this inner being and to live from there outward, governing ...
... on is the saving grace and the significant prelude to his regaining of Eden on the one side and his subsequent entry into Heaven on the other, the question of questions is: 'What happens to his inner being, his 'spirit', when the body dies - what happens to it in the period between the body's death and the physical resurrection?" Ordinarily, we should suppose this crucial query in a Christian... lines, has seen the light in English: Savitri, A Legend and a Symbol, whose lines add up to 23,837. Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga envisages a total transformation - not only the liberation of our inner being into the Infinite and Eternal but also a divinisation of our entire nature culminating in a spiritualised earthly body. The bodily transformation would be the result of a descent or manifestation ...
... had dawned upon me that the outer was nothing else than the inner. Old habits and customs had lost all meaning and looked like worm-eaten things to me. I had to pass through a period when my inner being would say one thing and my outer life would express something else. Gurudeva, whom I had not yet seen with naked eyes, caught hold of my heart and brought about its radical change. Bharati was very... with words of kindness. lyengar's departure was but an excuse for me to be in that condition. There was created a vacuum in me. The parental affection could not fill it. The one chosen by my inner being only could make this emptiness disappear. Bejoykanta was a help in reaching the Guru's Feet. (8) I began now to pass more time in Sri Aurobindo's house and less in mine. I would go ...
... column of worlds upon worlds rising from the plinth of Matter and ascending into the unknowable summits of the Spirit, and also it describes how this macrocosm is reflected in the microcosm of our inner being. Canto 2 describes Aswapati's experience of the Kingdom of Subtle Matter; l0 Ibid, p. 135. 11 Ibid, p. 98. Page 275 Cantos 3-9 describe the various... superior gradations of our conscious existence becomes possible when we break the wall between our external and our subliminal self. What we then discover are the secret parts of ourselves—an inner being, a soul, an inner mind, an inner life which are more plastic, more powerful, more capable of a manifold knowledge than our surface mind, life and body. The inner parts of ourselves are capable ...
... of things. Mother will see about the time to be fixed for the music. February 18, 1933 At least the inner being, the psychic, is nowadays sufficiently awake not to acquiesce in the "reasonings" of the vital—your dream was the voice of the inner being, its reply showing you the truth within you and the real demand of the spirit. It was the dissatisfaction of the soul with the ...
... flame of aspiration that rises upwards in order to bum and bum steadily, constantly and ever-increasingly, to grow in leaps of fire in order to bum away all that tends towards impurity, to build our inner being and all members of the being, — body, life, and mind and all our faculties, actual and latent, — so that all of them make an ascent in all-consuming zeal to unite with all that is or felt or conceived... concentration of consciousness on the inward. A passage is then made in the inner realm of consciousness, and light that is inherent in consciousness discloses realities which lie hidden in our inner being. Inner realities are discovered, they Page 15 are visited repeatedly, and thus they become permanently disclosed; they are then said to be realised. The simple miracle of this discovery ...
... Consciousness, and Process of Psychic Transformation In order to arrive at the widest totality and profound completeness, one has to shift the centre of consciousness from the surface to the inner being both in its static and dynamic positions. The outer nature has to undergo change of poise, and there must grow up within oneself or there must manifest a consciousness more and more open to the deeper... both psychic and spiritual, will become effected. It is true that at a certain stage, particularly, when one can stand back from the activities of Prakriti, it becomes possible to realize one's inner being as a silent impersonal self, the witness Purusha. In this state, one may not arrive at a discovery of the psychic being or psychic entity in their fullness, but one may be led to a spiritual realization ...
... d speed in the whole process of evolutionary progression upon earth. In the words of Sri Aurobindo: "The increased rapidity is possible ... because the conscious participation of the inner being is there and the power of the Super-nature is already at work in the half-transformed lower nature, so that the steps which would otherwise have had to be taken tentatively in the night of Inconscience... when the power of the conscious spirit has prepared the field and the supramental Force has begun to use its direct influence." 2 Now, this process of supramental transformation of the inner being and consciousness of man is bound to have its effect and repercussion on his physical being and system as well. The ascent of the individual from the physical-mental to the supramental consciousness ...
... But the deplorable fact is that all these four types of harmony have eluded the grasp of man. Even a cursory look at the affairs of the world and a glancing introspection into the state of his own inner being cannot but convince any discerning man that something is terribly amiss somewhere in his upbringing and education, which has brought him to the brink of the abyss. All man's agelong efforts at remedying... admirably his place in its life, helped its maintenance and continuity and taken from it his legitimate and desired satisfactions, there still remains the greatest thing of all, his own self, the inner being, the soul which is a spiritual portion of the Infinite, one in its essence with the Eternal. This self, this soul he has to find, he is here upon earth for that. He has to come out of his ego-im ...
... leading to the realisation? About poetry or any literary work, you have said that very often one's inner being comes to the front, and that is used by a higher Power. Is that the reason then why Poetry is such a quick process? Don't recognise the quotation or recall the context. But the inner being can come to the front under any provocation, why of Poetry alone? Venkataram says that he feels ...
... became clouded and tortured by the struggle between these influences and the Truth pressing upon him. Page 240 I thought he was living in his inner being. What do you mean by the inner being? Y was not living in his psychic but in his vital. X did the same. It is one thing to live within with the Mother and with the Truth in the psychic being and ...
... almost ashamed to write about it. I heard someone saying to me in Bengali, "In Shiva's ansha 9 is your birth", as soon as I got up I was in a flood of joy and devotion for Shiva. Everyone's inner being is born in the ansha of some Devata. Birth and tradition of this life are not everything—there have been previous lives also which one carries on into this one and a future also which is already... sooner by more concentration, meditation, etc., disregarding the literary side for the time being? One can get the power of receptivity to inspiration by concentration and meditation making the inner being stronger and the outer less gross, tamasic and insistent. You have said that inspiration comes as a result of a certain state of receptivity. Are we supposed to be more receptive at times that ...
... considered them experiences." How do you know that E's sayings are only imaginations? If so, they are very remarkable imaginations for a child of that age. They might be the communications of her inner being to her mind which she was to express in. A few children have that in a degree; in some it takes the form of imagination—E had it in a very unusual degree. I hope the elders will not knock this rare... often, but he said it was nothing concrete or spiritual, only ordinary peace. Also he did not want peace but bhakti. He got some experiences, even sometimes a descent as the result of which his inner being showed itself and wept profusely. But he did not think much of his experiences—not what he wanted. He got bhakti sometimes—but afterwards said he had no bhakti. So on with all the rest. Naturally ...
... What ensues is a series of surprises for both of them, surprises which are loaded with meaning. The little prince is a symbol of the inner being of man who appears in different traditions and cultures under various names. In the Katha Upanishad, the inner being is described as something "not bigger than a man's thumb" (angushthamatram) The early Greeks called it the psyche. In other traditions ...
... a vow ordained by something higher than man, and she does so in the end. There is shown in this play another clash or conflict which takes place within Antigone herself, in the depths of her inner being. This concerns her intimate personal feelings, the satisfaction and fulfilment of her own life, the hidden secret of her love. We have seen a king renounce his throne for the sake of his personal... full of calm and quiet, order and light. The language of the Greeks has been a simple easy and natural instrument in their hands for the work of purifying the heart and clarifying the mind and the inner being. (4) That was the golden age of Greece and Athens, famed in history as the Age of Pericles. Pericles was the leading man in his city, the chief Archon of the state, and a man of great genius ...
... happiness of growing, maturing in your consciousness. You have infinite freedom here so that you may grow in your consciousness infinitely. I was speaking of self-control, self-discipline in your inner being, that is to say, with regard to your desires and impulses and feelings. It is however the same discipline as you follow with regard to your body in the playground. Physical education means nothing... brighter and brighter. By your faith and trust you increase the power of your discrimination, increase the force of your character, increase the influence of a growing light upon your nature and your inner being; your true person in you grows in stature, grows in strength and beauty. In this path there is another line for growth and development which is of considerable importance as you will see. You ...
... voice and articulation. Hence the inner Being, the true Being of delight, does not always relish even the sweet noise – as Hamlet speaks out: it is all words, words, words – or as Jayadeva declares: Mukharam adhiram tyaja mañjiram (Take away your restless garrulous anklets.) Pasyanti vak is the spontaneous voice, the soundless sound of this inner Being; it is the truth-vision's own lovely ...
... collaboration. This may not always mean that all is easy and difficulty is simply not, once the psychic is there. It becomes so when the psychic is there fully in front; even otherwise when the inner being is in the background, still sensed and, on the whole, obeyed, although there are battles, hard battles to be fought and won, then even a little of this Consciousness saves from a great fear. For... strength that buoy you up and carry you through. Like the individual, nations too have their sunlit path and the path of the doldrum as well. So long as a nation keeps to the truth of its inner being, follows its natural line of development, remains faithful to its secret godhead, it will have chosen that good part which will bring it divine blessings and fulfilment. But sometimes a nation has ...
... common. When one feels the wideness, a vastness as if one were expanding, that increases the opening. The heart can expand just as the mind can. (Turning to Dr. Manilal) Have you never felt your inner being? DR. MANILAL: I have. Sir. I told you how I had found it and then lost it through fear. I felt as if I "were going to die". SRI AUROBINDO (laughing) : Ah, I forgot that tragedy! DR. MANILAL:... be a great conquest. When I had the experience of Nirvana, I forgot myself completely. I was a sort of nobody. What's the use of Dr. Manilal So-and-so living with this "I"? If in discovering your inner being, you had even died, it would have been a glorious death. DR. MANILAL: What happens when the human consciousness is replaced by the divine consciousness? SRI AUROBINDO: One feels a perpetual ...
... any trace. A woke up, felt great relief, light and joy. He happened to look in a mirror in his room and saw a splendid light on his face. SRI AUROBINDO: His inner being has rejected sex altogether. NIRODBARAN: A has asked if the inner being means the psychic being. SRI AUROBINDO: It also means the inner physical, the inner vital and the inner mental being. The psychic is the inmost being. ...
... out by constant rejection until there is the descent of the Force in such a way as to make one with the peace and silence — these being so strong that nothing will be able to touch or cover the inner being. The year 1934 There is a doubt in the physical mind whether, when the mental proper and the vital are not totally quieted, the purification of the physical can begin... into divine Light. As for remaining quiet when tamas is there, there can also be a tamasic quiet. During the general morning concentration, my human consciousness went deep into the inner being and began to aspire. There it felt the working of the Mother's Force which slowly became more and more intense. My body could not bear its pressure for a long time. So I brought my consciousness ...
... I fell into deep sleep, I think. But I had also some visions which seemed to be quite distinctly outside me. SRI AUROBINDO: Then why do you call it sleep? It may be the psychic being or the inner being watching what was happening. Sometimes one goes into a deep state and remembers nothing of the outer consciousness though many things may be occurring on the surface. What is called dreamless sleep... also go into other worlds with a part of one's being and meet all kinds of forms. This is, of course, the first stage and a kind of beginning of Samadhi. From what you describe, it may be an inner-being experience and not a psychic one. Even then, there is no doubt that your face is beaming with Ananda. It is on seeing it like this that I thought you had gone within. NIRODBARAN: Can one get diagnoses ...
... maturing in your consciousness. You have infinite freedom here so that you may grow in your consciousness infinitely. I was speaking of self-control, self-discipline in your inner being, that is to say, with regard to your desires and impulses and feelings. It is however the same discipline as you follow with regard to your body in the playground. Physical education means nothing... brighter and brighter. By your faith and trust you increase the power of your discrimination, increase the force of your character, increase the influence of a growing light upon your nature and your inner being; your true person in you grows in stature, grows in strength and beauty. In this path there is another line for growth and development which is of considerable importance as you will see. You ...
... desire but of Truth. The outer person of desire is made of ignorance and unconsciousness, the true person or soul is made of truth and consciousness. Always there is a struggle between the two, the inner being, your true divine being is always trying to express itself through the lower and outward limbs, impress itself upon them but normally with very little result. These outer limbs are more obedient... them my slaves." God said: "My sons can never be your bond-slaves. You may test and try them, you may believe for a time you have won but your trials and ordeals only make them stronger in their inner being and they all come back to me." The soul is never lost, there is no eternal hell. But man, the human soul, has to go through hell, that is to say, through trials and tribulations and ordeals ...
... that far exceed the possibilities of our outer being and can do for us things that we are normally incapable of doing: One had to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something in the inner being... for they (the Yogic consciousness and its powers) are already there within you, 32 and the best way of "clearing" the passage is to silence the mind. We do not know who we are, and still... awakens to a life truer than life. These various inner levels of our being may appear in sleep as rooms, or houses, in which the slightest detail is significant: When one sets out to explore one's inner being , explains the Mother, and the different parts that form it, one often has the impression of entering a hall or a room; according to the color, the atmosphere, and the objects it contains, one gets ...
... evaporated.... Sri Aurobindo promptly replied: "It has not evaporated but drawn back from the surface." 54 The normal feeling used to be that, after darśan or darśan and pranām, one's inner being had been recharged (as batteries are) by the Divine, and with that spiritual renewal the sadhak felt that he would be able to stand the buffets of everyday life for many a long day. "If you get something... .it is in the waking state that this realisation must come and endure in order to be a reality of the life. If experienced in trance it would be a superconscient state true for some part of the inner being, but not real to the whole consciousness. Experiences in trance have their utility for opening the being and preparing it, but it is only when the realisation is constant in the waking state that ...
... has disappeared. The outer being is like a crust. In ordinary people the crust is so hard and thick that they are not conscious of the Divine within them. If once, even for a moment only, the inner being has said, 'I am here and I am yours,’ then it is as though a bridge has been built and little by little the crust becomes thinner and thinner until the two parts are wholly joined and the inner... whether you have aw answer or have no answer, whether you feel supported or contradicted, not by the mind or the vital or the body, but by then something which is always there deep in the inner being, in your heart.”¹ In short, the Mother says that our will must always endeavour' to attune itself to and put itself at the disposal of the divine Will and help its realisation. The combined ...
... " In it the gods offer Faith. " Even some Vedic words find a symbolic meaning in the Upanishads ( Ayasya is one of the seers of the Rig Veda ). One who sits in the inner being is Ayasya. " Likewise, of that Mind sky is the body. Its light form is you Sun. As far as Mind extends, so far extends the sky, so far Sun. " I. 5. 12. These two, Sun and Fire... or attachment for the fruit of action. Gita suggests a further step. On the basis of the Sankhya realisation it speaks of the two parts of human consciousness, a realisable dichotomy in the inner being. There is in each individual a part that can separate itself from his nature, from the mind and all its ideas, suggestions, movements, from the emotions, feelings and their actions and reactions ...
... into another body—his soul was not satisfied, it had not finished its experience (there was a whole combination of circumstances) and it wanted to continue to live on earth. Then, that night, his inner being went to find Vishwajit, lamenting, saying he was dead and hadn't wanted to die, that he had lost his body and wanted to continue to live. Vishwajit was very perplexed. He let me know about it in... Vishwajit told him very clearly, 'Here is what Mother says, here is what she is going to do; come now, be calm and don't torment yourself.' And he saw in Indra B.'s face that he had understood (the inner being was taking on Indra B.'s physical appearance, naturally); his face relaxed, he became content. He went away and he never came back. That is, he stayed tranquilly with me, until I was able to put ...
... functions of the Maruts with a greater clearness than most of the suktas addressed to these deities; for in these others the material symbol is so prominent as to veil for modern minds the truths of our inner being and experience which it symbolises. I take first the second of the two hymns, because it is the simplest in language and its indications are quite lucid and definite. Maruto yasya hi kshaye ...
... philosophy & science, ignorant of the world, yet realised in himself all the spiritual wisdom of the ages, shed in his brief sayings a light so full, so deep on the most difficult profundities of our inner being, the most abstruse questions of metaphysics that the most strenuous thinkers & the most learned Pandits were impressed by his superiority. By what process did he arrive at this great store of living ...
... and noble pride; in the mind wisdom and intelligence and love of learning, knowledge of all the best thought, an openness to poetry, art and beauty, an educated capacity and skill in works; in the inner being a strong religious sense, piety, love of God, seeking after the Highest, the spiritual turn; in social relations and conduct a strict observance of all the social dharmas, as father, son, husband ...
... gods are real and the worlds beyond not so much beyond as immanent in our own existence. That which to the Western mind is myth and imagination is here an actuality and a strand of the life of our inner being, what is there beautiful poetic idea and philosophic speculation is here a thing constantly realised and present to the experience. It is this turn of the Indian Page 327 mind, its spiritual ...
... sympathy and oneness; it laid the inspired basis of wonderful spiritual philosophies; it examined the secrets of external nature and discovered and lived the boundless and miraculous truths of the inner being; it fathomed self and understood and possessed the world. As the civilisation grew in richness and complexity, it lost indeed the first grand simplicity of its early order. The intellect towered ...
... follows in it a progressive law of his development determined by an inner law of his being; his cast of spirit makes out his cast of mind and life, his swabhava. Each man has a swadharma, a law of his inner being which he must observe, find out and follow. The action determined by his inner nature, that is his real Dharma. To follow it is the true law of his development; to deviate from it is to bring in ...
... to get out of the sex-clutch laid by the death-haunted consciousness of man as he is and escape the body's barrennes caused by replacing that clutch with no other physical process, not only the inner being but the outer as well must be able to partake of the Divine's nature: then alone the rush for sexual self-completion and for vicarious immortality through one's children will be checked — then alone ...
... the same time to represent the vital plane characteristic of the life in the West, amidst which you outwardly are, and the Universal Consciousness of the Divine that is a Super-Life all about your inner being and that can extend anywhere, even to the farthest West and its vitalistic existence. I put together the pretty triviality of that umbrella and the Divine Universality because of the way the dream ...
... happened in Nirod is a clear example of what is called 'reversal of consciousness'." The phrase employed means in general a sudden shift of an individual's habitual poise from the outer to the inner being and it signifies in particular, as it did in Nirod's case, such a shift from the mental-vital-physical complex to the true soul. I have known Nirod and held him in great affection ever ...
... than gross ramifications that the life of Yoga is meant to free us from. We distinguish two sides of our self: the so-called normal personality which is distinct from every other person, and the inner being which is an individual expression of the one divine Self in all and so is in spontaneous sympathy with all beings and all things. The first side we call "ego". We do not mean merely that part of ...
... form has to dissolve, the procreative desire cannot from the beginning drop out of love: almost the whole subconscious has its face turned towards the sex-act. What, however, can happen when the inner being is highly developed and sensitively attuned to the subtleties of Eros is that in the course of time an intense joy, a passionate fulfilment, becomes possible without coitus. One may even Page ...
... Master's command had been otherwise, even if he had expressly told me nothing? Many great movements were, of course, going on, but they did not seem to me to reflect in any way the truth of man's inner being. They were conceived and carried on in the rush-light of the human mind. Sri Aurobindo had somehow put away from us all outer attractions, turned our gaze inwards and made it centre in him. Politics ...
... that often defeat medical science, and then messages of thanksgiving for relief and remedy by spiritual means. No, Sri Aurobindo, the Yogi of the Supermind descending into the outer as well as the inner being and bringing a divine life on earth in addition to the infinite immortality of the Beyond, cannot be looked upon as passing away on account of old age and physical causes. Whatever the purely clinical ...
... Master’s command had been otherwise, even if he had expressly told me nothing? Many great movements were, of course, going on, but they did not seem to me to reflect in any way the truth of man’s inner being. They were conceived and carried on in the rush-light of the human mind. Sri Aurobindo had somehow put away from us all outer attractions, turned our gaze inwards and made it centre in him. Politics ...
... become a source of possible superstition and fanaticism. There is the eye within all of us, which, during the long and silent hours of contemplation and deep meditation, can lead us to develop our inner being, purify our emotions and thoughts. The discordant elements of mind and heart can be harmonized allowing the seed of spirit to grow. ...
... cannot easily be grasped within a clear definition. However, when we study mystic poetry we discern two main movements: the psychic and the spiritual. The psychic is an inward movement "to the inner being, the Self or Divinity within us," and the spiritual is an upward movement "to a supreme spiritual status or a higher existence. 2 When the poetic sight reaches the inmost soul what it ...
... Then she starts speaking about my sister Minnie. She says: "I wish to bring Minnie near me. I know she has been full of love for me, but I have understood that this love was meant to be in her inner being and not come at all into her outer. The outer was meant to be different. But now I want her to stay Page 120 near me." I remark: "Mother, whatever you do in this way is just what ...
... this whole process of growth in a growing perspective of wholeness. My question was: What is outer progress in the light of the Mother? Is it a shaping of the outer personality in harmony with the inner being? Is this what she meant? Years followed with intellectual enrichment and varied cultural inputs, new ideas, new forces rushing in with always an inner base to receive them. A re-reading of Sri A ...
... tion of the physical proceeds. “By the blow of the golden hammer the part of the inner physical which resists is thrown out. The way is opened for the Mother's golden light to descend in our inner being and stay, illumine and spread there. “In addition to the cosmic form of the Mother, Her eternal luminous golden form is also seen. We have the vision of both, the form of Light and the formless ...
... wanted him to speak until the light would enter her heart. In her words there was a "passionate urgency", in her imploration the wish to feel through his words the significance of her own deathless inner being. Yet Savitri had to meet the existential crisis, epitomised in the death of her husband. The waging of last battle thus becomes inevitable. In it Death's recourse is, to put it from the point of ...
... silent warrior paced in her city of strength Inviolate, guarding Truth's diamond throne. 72 "Inviolate" signifies both pure and unassailable. Diamond as a symbol of Savitri's inner being focuses on two things: the strength that gathers intensity in silence and the invincible characteristic of Truth she has come to establish on earth. Similar is Satyavan's experience in ...
... also aware of all my being and all its parts, all the cells of my body as made out of the Mother's substance and consciousness and it gives me a feeling of complete unity with the Mother. 3) The inner being wants that the exterior being with all its energy should be entirely consecrated to the service of the Mother and I have the full confidence that nothing else is required. 29.8.1930 ...
... use the energies received from the Divine for perfection rather than for aggrandisement. An illness of the body is always the outer expression and translation of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being. Unless this inner disorder is healed the outer cure cannot be total and permanent. Disease is needlessly prolonged and ends in death oftener than is inevitable, because the mind of the patient ...
... the desire nature; it can only exercise a certain control over impulses and desires. But whereas Sri Aurobindo regards such a control of the vital by exercise of the mental will or the will of the inner being as indispensable until one can call down the Divine Force, Eckhart's message is simply to bring Presence into whatever arises in one's nature. People who come to him, he says, seem to be ready for ...
... one's ordinary consciousness to the Divine. I have come to understand that what Eckhart calls Presence is not a mere mental witnessing and awareness but the witnessing and awareness of the inner being, the Purusha as it is called in Sankhya. Mental awareness can lead only to mental control. What Eckhart teaches is allowing rather than controlling, but allowing, he says, always implies awareness ...
... the process, that itself, on participation in the endeavour, becomes their reward. Page 126 The gods and the sages help mankind grow in the dharma, which is in fact the law of the inner being in perfect accord with spiritual truths. That is the work of supreme sacrifice, of the offering of the will-to-be, of the bright Yajna dear to the creator and to the builders of society cherishing ...
... messages. Not only that. He sees the secret divinity ready to emerge from the soul of Savitri. Behind her life is concealed the life that is to be. Perhaps man has not established contact with his inner being and possibly he understands not what eternity through her speaks to him. Yet that acquiescent attitude cannot be for his good and he must come out of it. There is a mighty Presence in her and ...
... the emergence of humanity, is in line with Nature's precedents.... 15 In order to accomplish the leap beyond mind, it is necessary to grow inwards and enter the consciousness of the inner being and discover the inner Person behind the outer personality, or to grow upwards and ascend to the higher planes above the mind. Only thus can a radical change be brought about in human consciousness ...
... But if I begin with doubt and go on with more doubt, how far am I likely to go on the journey? Letters on Yoga, p. 166 I mean by it [faith] a dynamic intuitive conviction in the inner being of the truth of supersensible things which cannot be proved by any physical evidence but which are a subject of experience. My point is that this faith is a most desirable preliminary (if not ...
... impact on the substance of mind itself, not through outward signs or figures, — a revealing intimation or a self-communicating impact of thoughts, feelings, forces. It is by these means that the inner being achieves an immediate, intimate and accurate spontaneous knowledge of persons, of objects, of the occult and to us intangible energies of world-Nature that surround us and impinge upon our own ...
... oneself 149-50 and stress 145 and vibrations of disorder 158 Impatience 98-100 Inconscience (Inconscient) 8, 30 and the subconscient 8fn, 34 Indecision 95-96 Inner being see under Being Insanity 113 Introspection 17,57 James, William 24,117 Jung, Carl 7,9,23,29,38,53, 57,67, 111 on ego 19,111 and Freud 6,27-29 and Sri ...
... is not a treatise on metaphysics or spiritual philosophy or a tract of yogic practices though all these abound in it in their functional richnesses. After all it has a far greater appeal to our inner being than his deeply philosophical Amritanubhava . If we were to see Jnaneshwari merely as a literary creation we would miss much of its aesthetic delight which flows from its spiritual inspiration ...
... possible. Do not let your vital get rest less,—keep a firm and quiet inner seat. You have progressed much more than you know. Never mind Russell and his shallow materialistic externalism. It is in the inner being that there are the riches and the colour and the immortal joy— but, to get them, first peace, quietude, self-mastery are indispensable. December 25, 1930 Radharani's (?) ...
... Spirit of Time, Mahakala , who manifests in him is the sovereign moulder of their destiny. When the Mantra is established in a definite way Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Joy course through the inner being of the receiver. In the silence of his mind the quiet listener gets the message and The Word repeats itself in rhythmic strains: Thought, vision, feeling, sense, the body’s self Are seized ...
... and magic, in Persia the Magi, in India the Rishis. The preoccupation of the Mystics was with self-knowledge and a profounder world knowledge; they found that in man there was a deeper self and inner being behind the surface of the outward physical man, which it was his highest business to discover and know. 'Know thyself was their great precept, just as in India to know the Self, the Atman, became ...
... the higher vital. Why then find fault with the Divine for misleading you when it turned you to the Yoga or Page 71 brought you here? It was simply answering to the demand of your inner being and the higher parts of your nature. If you have so much difficulty and become restless, it is because you are still divided and something in your lower vital still regrets what it has lost, or, ...
... the soul in them directly into contact with their true, their divine Being, with the One she called the Lord, present in everything but thickly veiled. She took away as many of those veils as the inner being of the person in front of her could stand, for even the angels protect their eyes with their wings from the naked flaming Presence, ‘brighter than a thousand suns.’ (Of herself, she said: ‘I always ...
... scientists have found something I do not know of … It is the leap, you see, that seems so enormous to me. I conceive without difficulty of a being that could, by spiritual power, the power of its inner being, absorb the necessary forces, renew itself and remain always young. One conceives this without any difficulty, even that some suppleness can be given to change the form if need be. But the total ...
... to me the last liberation. My heart, even this morning so heavy with anguish and care, my head surcharged with responsibility, are delivered of their burden. Now are they light and joyful as my inner being has been for a long time past. My body smiles to Thee with happiness as before my soul smiled to Thee. And surely hereafter Thou wilt withdraw no more from me this joy, O my God! for this time, I ...
... miraculous things narrated about Bijoykrishna or another. That, I have said, is a question not of faith but of mental belief — and faith is not a mental belief in outward facts but an intuition of the inner being about spiritual things. Krishnaprem means the same thing when he says that faith is the light sent down by the higher to the lower personality. As for the epithet 'blind' used by Sri Ramakrishna ...
... too much hurry of the first. I am sending the three flowers with blessings. Glad to hear of your good experience in the dream as also of the experience of descent you had the other day. The inner being is evidently awake. With our love and blessings 2 April 1941 ...
... the outer human nature remains almost the same. Outer human nature can only change either by an intense psychic development or a strong and all-pervading influence from above. It is the inner being that has to change first—a change which is not always visible outside. That has nothing to do with the development of the faculties which is another side of the personality. Sir ...
... spiritual and the supramental. During the working out of Sri Aurobindo’s yoga, an important change had taken place. At the beginning he practised and recommended the technique of distancing the inner being from the outer, the Purusha from the Prakriti, according to the Sankhya system of yoga. Gradually, however, and especially after the final arrival of the Mother, he recommended more and more the ...
... her way to set about what she had accepted to do, or what she was inspired to do, with supernal Power and without delay, if possible. ‘The Mother is always in a concentrated consciousness in her inner being,’ 48 wrote Sri Aurobindo. And in his correspondence with Nirodbaran we read: ‘Mother’s pressure for a change is always strong – even when she doesn’t put it as a force it is there by the very ...
... means that the supramental world is a unity-world in which everything is present to everything else and participates in its being. Sri Aurobindo could be there because he had supramentalized his inner being, consisting of the sheaths or bodies in which he lived after his departure from the gross material world. It may be said that Sri Aurobindo formerly, as the evolutionary Avatar, had built his stations ...
... become dynamic in toto, must assume Page 38 poetic shape as a correlate to the actual living out of them in personal consciousness and conduct. In that shape they can reach man's inner being persistently and ubiquitously over and above doing so with a luminous and vibrant suggestiveness unrivalled by any other mode of literature or art. But scattered and short pieces of poetry cannot ...
... Thus alone can the disciple open himself thoroughly to the Divine Power streaming through the Guru and put away the gross physical consciousness which is the main obstacle to the growth of the inner being. I do not know whether the Mother ever exercised the right of faith-test in the strict sense. She was too modern to go in for traditional methods. I have found her always ready to be corrected ...
... wistfully at it. I never had any special inclination towards them and I had also heard that they had said some unpleasant things about me to some mutual friends, but I saw that here was a need of the inner being and, putting aside personal dislike, I spoke to the Mother about them. I told her that if she could somehow let them know they were still welcome they would run back to her. I do not know what ...
... his mysticism is won Known for its large, comprehensive, balanced and harmonious character—a mysticism eminently healthy with its stress on a transformation of physical life no less than of the inner being. Again, all the world has recognised in him an intellect that has marshalled and organised the results of his integral spiritual experience in a most wide-sweeping yet systematic philosophy: Sir ...
... melopoeia — "lum-bago" is surely melopoeia in epic form. And, I may add, the way to deal with it must also be epic. We must face it like heroes — but, in a spiritual Ashram, we have to be heroes of the inner being and use mind-force, if not soul-force. I shall tell you how I am going to make history by my battle with this hellish visitor whose Page 136 sound entitles it to be almost a compeer ...
... to me spent less than a minute in their pranam to her. Within that short time there was a perfect give-and-take. Many took much longer. Whenever the length of time had a special movement of the inner being behind it, the Mother always had a patient appreciative concentration in answer to it. But often she seemed to be just indulgent and kind. I know that she set no great store by mere ceremony. This ...
... done by him serves to invite the inner to come out and be present as a quiet active force in his day-to-day life. Rarely, if ever, does he flare up, and in his contact with people the out-drawn inner being flows like a warm stream towards them bearing an unspoken benediction from the smiling Splendour that is the Mother and the silent Grandeur that is Sri Aurobindo. This kindness, this helpfulness ...
... should be seen as wasms today and a novel drive felt to render actual the dream of fraternity which got lost in the nightmares of liberty and equality in the forms attempted by men in whom the inner being could not have its full say in the outer. My notion that the crumbling of the Berlin Wall should direct us beyond the values of the 'isms cherished by the modern world finds a supporting ...
... working. But whether physical or psychological it will miss its aim if it does not bring about a change of one's Page 245 common outer character as a consequence of a working on one's inner being. How much equarLimity , how much serenity are established in one's day-to-day living? - how much of disinterested action is one capable of as an outflow of one's self-offering to the Divine - how ...
... One point we may grant the preposterous Mr. Lai. If poets like him tried to write in Sri Aurobindo's vein without any of the Aurobindonian discipline of consciousness and mystical drive of the inner being, they might very well turn out in verse a painted anaemia of pseudo-spirituality. Spiritual poetry cannot be written on the cheap, but that does not mean that what Sri Aurobindo writes answers ...
... me a bunch of red roses and told me to put them on my head. Receiving red roses from the Mother in a dream seems rather appropriate if they point to the Order she has mentioned, for it is to the inner being that the honour and the duty of it are given. To be asked to put the roses on the head is directly symbolic of the role allotted, since the mental self is the chief warrior in the lists of Truth ...
... words. These words, especially when plucked from the Veda, the Upanishads or the Gita, carry the double aspect which I have spoken of, for they have what Sri Aurobindo calls "undertones" of the inner being and "overtones" of the higher, or, as a line from Savitri about the Mantra puts it in a Mantric way: Sight's sound-waves breaking from the soul's great deeps. The unfathomable suggestions ...
... The rest is admirable, though it has not quite the same intuitive edge; but still it is the right thought with the just, poetic expression. I don't know exactly what plane, but it comes from the inner being—there is a fine psychic touch in stanzas 1, 2,4. 5, 7 and it is the psychic truth that is expressed throughout." (Would the emergence of the psychic being make the writing of "above-head" ...
... of Iqbal in his Hindustan Hamara would not. So too would I deem Tagore a rishi in his intensest ecstasy of utterance only where he reveals, in the light of his own word-plane, realities of the inner being or of Supernature. And here I should like to point out that in the true rishi-poems there is illumination as well as rapture, a seerhood no less than the soul's lyricism. Certain poems of Tagore's ...
... and often several times a day: "I was writing with a kind of automatic energy. It was as if I were a mere gate through which poems strode out...I seemed to be plastic in the hands of the inner being." On the very day after the heart attack, Sethna wrote three lyrics, each in a different measure. Here are the opening lines of the first, Seated Above: Seated above in a measureless ...
... personality ." The same grand note 33 is heard again: "If the cosmos were basically material, it would be physically incapable of containing man. Therefore, we may conclude...that it is in its inner being made of spiritual stuff." Face to face with such stuff, Teilhard 34 could well say: "...humanity has reached the biological point where it must either lose all belief in the universe or quite ...
... colourful violence, the multitudinous leaping lights and shadows that are Shakespeare's. He surcharged himself with past poetry to such an extent that he won access to some single supernal spring in the inner being from which all European verse had gushed through the ages in various directions. All those directions fused in Milton and were changed into his distinct individuality when the hour struck for him ...
... truth of that: for the natural individual, the nature-being, is indeed a product of the universal Energy, but is at the same time a nature-personality of the soul, an expressive formation of the inner being and person, and this soul is not a perishable cell or a dissoluble portion of the cosmic Spirit, but has its original immortal reality in the Transcendence.... But equally any view that sees the ...
... sounds) which seemed to ask: "Now do you understand?" The explanation cannot be that Savitri had grown in stature and significance during the intervening years, but that something in my inner being had undergone an unsuspected metamorphosis in the interval. Thence followed the lightning-flash of recognition. "Only like can recognize like", as the Mother said somewhere. Perhaps, for all ...
... turn for help and contact during my stay in Bombay? "Remember the Mother and, though physically far from her, try to feel her with you and act according to what your inner being tells you would be her Will. Then you will be best able to feel her presence and mine and carry our atmosphere around you as a protection and a zone of quietude and light accompanying you ...
... one begins to respond from a higher level of one's own being. In his company, no matter how short or long, I become a better me. The mind stretches its limits, the expressions heighten and the inner being revels. In retrospect, I realise that Amal, by his mere being, helps raise the consciousness of those around him, of those who are fond of him and who cherish him. For in true admiration, somewhere ...
... instance, she said, in connection with a woman who had died in the Ashram, that it was normal that the material consciousness of the body cells of that woman had left her body together with the inner being, ‘and this means that everything the cells have gained is not lost.’ It was the answer to her question of some time earlier, whether at the time of death nothing but dust remains of the cells and ...
... in times of upheaval, when storms are wailing or the moon makes the nights ominous. “Wotan” is from the same root as “Wut”, which means rage or fury. “We have to become the berserkers of our inner being and our faith”, wrote Goebbels in his diary, and: “We are the berserkers of the new German idea.” 513 Spengler, at the end of his famous book, had pointed in a similar direction: “The race pushes ...
... was my via media to develop one side of my sadhana as work was the means to develop another side of my sadhana. As the Mother says in About Savitri : For those who are more developed in the inner being than in the body, those who come down upon earth fully conscious and had their consciousness veiled and dulled by the contact of Matter, sleep is often a revelation. Because the body is asleep, inactive ...
... head or tail out of these paintings. Afterwards I never attempted to repeat my stupidity, because I knew that this type of painting was beyond my capacity. I needed the Mother's direct help. Now my inner being warned me to wait for the Mother to teach me, to guide me according to her vision and will. Mr. Purani came to my apartment and saw the paintings. Then he entered my meditation room, remained ...
... e. If we need any personal and inner witness to this indivisible all consciousness behind the ignorance,—all Nature is its external proof,—we can get it with any completeness only in our deeper inner being or larger and higher spiritual state when we draw back behind the veil of our own surface ignorance and come into contact with the divine Idea and Will behind it. Then we see clearly enough that ...
... its birth takes from the cosmic mind, life and matter to shape a new external personality for himself. What prevents the Divine from doing the same? What is continued from birth to birth is the inner being. Page 471 Each being in a new birth prepares a new mind, life and body—otherwise John Smith would always be John Smith and would have no chance of being Piyush Kanti Ghose. Of course ...
... is something permanent and unchangeable, then that cannot be accepted. But if religion here means one's way of communion with the Divine, then it is true that that is something belonging to the inner being and cannot be changed like a house or a cloak 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 ...
... essential consciousness of the being—in other words they are not mental but spiritual formations. As one might say, instead of cittavṛtti they are sattvapreraṇā , direct indications from the inner being of what is to be thought, felt or done. When the chitta is no longer active and the mind silent—which Page 172 happens when the mukti comes and no one can be Jivanmukta without that—then ...
... s,—lust, greed of all kinds, vanity, small ambitions, petty anger, envy, jealousy are its ordinary guests,—still there is another side to it which makes it an indispensable mediator between the inner being and the outer life. It is not a fact that every psychic experience embodies itself in a purified and rightly directed vital current; it does that when it has to externalise itself in action. Psychic ...
... This happens with most sadhaks. Two things are necessary—(1) to open fully the physical to the higher forces, (2) to reach the stage when even if the forces attack, they cannot come fully in, the inner being remaining calm and free. Then even if there is still a surface difficulty, there will not be these overpowerings. The Environmental Consciousness and the Subconscient They [ the environmental ...
... crystal clear,—is due to his writing of things that are not familiar to the physical mind and writing them with fidelity instead of accommodating them to the latter. In reading such writing the inner being has to feel first, then only the mind can catch what is behind. 27 July 1936 You said that Blake put down with fidelity whatever came down. I didn't mean that he never altered. I don't ...
... meant [ by vaiśvānara, taijasa and prājña in the Mandukya Upanishad ]. The terms waking, dream, sleep are applied because in the ordinary consciousness of man the external only is awake, the inner being is mostly subliminal and acts directly only in a state of sleep when its movements are felt like things of dream and vision; while the superconscient (supermind, overmind, etc.) is beyond even that ...
... turn the mind of ignorance, with which we begin, increasingly though not perfectly into a mind of self-forgetful knowledge constantly illuminated with intimations and upsurgings from the inner being, antarātman , rays from the still concealed awareness of its whole self and infinite contents and from the awareness—representing itself here as a sort of memory, a recalling or a bringing out—of ...
... self-consecration from the first, still the mind has taken its bent and persists and returns with an ever-increasing effect upon its leading preoccupation. There is an ineluctable persistence of the inner being, and against it circumstances are in the end powerless, and no weakness in the nature can for long be an obstacle. But this is not always the manner of the commencement. The sadhaka is often led ...
... s mind and the surface life-force into subactive life and either the whole man has lapsed into the subconscious existence or else he has withdrawn his outer life into the subconscious while his inner being has been lifted into the superconscient. But the main point for us at present is that the Force, whatever it be, that maintains dynamic energy of life in the body, has indeed suspended its outer ...
... inwardly there is the purity and poise of the Spirit. 7 Or if there is an ordered dynamism in the outward nature, it may be a continuation of superficial ego-action witnessed but not accepted by the inner being, or a mental dynamism that cannot be perfectly expressive of the inner spiritual realisation; for there is no equipollence between action of mind and status of spirit. Even at the best where there ...
... the influence, Yoga enters into the presence and fills itself with the influence; where that is only aware of the workings and through them gets some glimpse of the Reality, Yoga identifies our inner being with the Reality and sees from that the workings. Therefore the methods of Yoga are different from the methods of the lower knowledge. The method of Yoga in knowledge must always be a turning ...
... is adored. Page 572 And one element of this consecration must be a self-purifying so as to become fit for the divine contact, or for the entrance of the Divine into the temple of our inner being, or for his self-revelation in the shrine of the heart. This purifying may be ethical in its character, but it will not be merely the moralist's seeking for the right and blameless action or even ...
... endeavour, the race must become immobile and stagnant or even sink towards darkness and the dust. Even where life rejects the spirit or the spirit rejects life, there may be a self-affirmation of the inner being; there may even be a glorious crop of saints and hermits in a forcing-soil of spirituality, but unless the race, the society, the nation is moved towards the spiritualisation of life or moves forward ...
... with the awe and alarm of that experience. The submission to Indra has been made; Agastya now appeals to the Maruts to accept the terms of the reconciliation, so that the full harmony of his inner being may be restored. He approaches them with the submission he has rendered to the greater god and extends it to their brilliant legions. The perfection of the mental state and its powers which he desires ...
... can answer yourselves. Dissolve him if you will, leave him if you will not—There is nothing else to be done with him—If he is to be anything, he must first dissolve—No, the constitution of his inner being must be entirely changed first, but that would mean a great disintegration first & to begin with the loss of his evil power—What force?—Ah yes; it will be done at the right time, in this body or ...
... qualities moral, intellectual and dynamic by which average humanity is exceeded. In this idea there is a certain truth. The Avatar is at the same time the Vibhuti. This Krishna who in his divine inner being is the Godhead in a human form, is in his outer human being the leader of his age, the great man of the Vrishnis. This is from the point of view of the Nature, not of the soul. The Divine manifests ...
... universal self and this transcendent Spirit. The Gita Page 559 indicates that in order that that may wholly be, the surrender must be without reservations; our Yoga, our life, our state of inner being must be determined freely by this living Infinite, not predetermined by our mind's insistence on this or that dharma or any dharma. The divine Master of the Yoga, yogeśvaraḥ kṛṣṇaḥ , will ...
... outset as a benedictory prelude and sanction to all act of sacrifice, all act of giving and all act of askesis; it is a reminder that our work should be made an expression of the triple Divine in our inner being and turned towards him in the idea and motive. The seekers of liberation indeed do these actions without desire of fruit and only with the idea, feeling, Ananda of the absolute Divine behind their ...
... demonstration. We must recognise these different types and variously formulated motions of the one universal Force, and it will not do to say from the beginning that the measure and quality of my inner being is some result of the output of a physical energy translated into mental and moral energies,—for instance, that my doing a good or a bad action or yielding to good or to bad affections and motives ...
... his utmost fullness. (2) He who is alike the tranquillity of the pure and the force of the strong enjoyers, comes upon us as if pouring from above. (3) For his forceful delight thus in one’s inner being the sea maintaineth as it were its full expanse. (4) He is here with thee, and thou comest straying back like a dove to the home of its young; that is the word which is given us for our mind’s ...
... perfection of language and technique. To anyone familiar with occult phenomena and their analysis, these things will seem perfectly normal and intelligible. The vision-mind in us is part of the inner being, and the inner mind, vital, physical are not bound by the dull and narrow limitations of our outer physical personality and the small scope of the world it lives in. Its scope is vast, extraordinary ...
... human progress. But the true turning-point will come with the farther step which initiates the attempt to govern life by that of which thought itself is only a sign and an instrument, the soul, the inner being, and to make our ways of living a freer opportunity for the growing height and breadth of its need of self-fulfilment. That is the real, the profounder sense which we shall have to learn to attach ...
... may help to give a final shape, a great and large form, saṁ mahemā manīṣayā , as the Vedic poets said of the Mantra, but the word must start first from a more intimate sense in the heart of the inner being, hṛdā taṣṭam ; it is the spirit within and not the mind without that is the fount of poetry. Poetry too is an interpreter of truth, but in the forms of an innate beauty, and not so much of intellectual ...
... perfect Truth of this Divine Union in action can come. Outer Worship There is no restriction in this Yoga to inward worship and meditation only. As it is a Yoga for the whole being, not for the inner being only, no such restriction could be intended. Old forms of the different religions may fall away, but absence of all forms is not the rule of the sadhana. I was thinking [ in writing "Old forms ...
... more conscious in your sleep than in your waking condition. This is because of the physical consciousness which is not yet sufficiently open; it is only just beginning to open. In your sleep the inner being is active and the psychic there can influence more actively the mind and vital. When the physical consciousness is spiritually awake, you will no longer feel the trouble and obstruction you now have ...
... psychic weeping that does not open the door to these forces—but that weeping is without affliction, tears of bhakti, spiritual emotion or Ananda. Your experience was a very beautiful one—the inner being realises by such experiences that which must be established in the waking state as the foundation of the spiritual consciousness and spiritual life. Psychic Yearning The yearning of the heart ...
... habitual ways of consciousness as opposed to the higher things from above or from the psychic within. Page 350 The Psychic Opening and the Inner Centres There is no doubt that the inner being and the psychic in you are opening and that the psychic is influencing all including the physical centre. As to the centres. The psychic is placed behind the heartlotus, the centre of the emotional ...
... by it that there is in oneself no response to anything hostile. If there is a protecting envelopment, an inner purifying descent and, as a result, a settling of the higher consciousness in the inner being and finally, its substitution even in the most external outwardly active parts in place of the old ignorant consciousness, then the world and the hostile forces will no longer matter—for one's own ...
... attainable. The whole being has to be pervaded by calm and peace; the nerves and cells of the body have to be full of calm and peace. Until then what one has to strive to attain is an inner calm in the inner being which remains even when the outer is disturbed by invasions of grief, unease or anger. The Yogi arrives first at a sort of division in his being in which the inner Purusha fixed and calm looks at ...
... only. It is here that we see the necessity of some change. Loyalty, fidelity, capacity, strength of will and other qualities in the work you have in plenty—a full calm and equality not only in the inner being where it can exist already, but in the outer nervous parts is a thing you have to get completely. Avoiding Harshness, Severity, Anger There are always defects on both sides which lead to this ...
... them perhaps; but it is not perturbed by anything. What you have written about your condition seems to be correct as a whole. There is certainly a greater calm within and a freedom of the inner being which was not there once. It is this which gives you the equality you feel there and the capacity to escape from the more serious disturbances. When one has this basis of inner calm, the difficulties ...
... Divine, not as a personal object of the sadhana. Not Liberation But Transformation Peace is a necessary basis, but peace is not sufficient. Peace if it is strong and permanent can liberate the inner being which can become a calm and unmoved witness of the external movements. That is the liberation of the Sannyasin. In some cases it can liberate the external also, throwing the old nature out into ...
... bringing knowledge, joy, love and other spiritual feelings and inner activities, but yet at the same time there is a fundamental silence or quietude. Both are necessary in the development of the inner being. The absolutely silent state, which is one of lightness, voidness and release, prepares the other and supports it when it comes. The passive silence is that in which the inner consciousness ...
... The use of your writing is to keep you in touch with the inner source of inspiration and intuition, so as to wear thin the crude external crust in the consciousness and encourage the growth of the inner being. Mother does not disapprove of your writing the book—what she does not like is your being so lost in it that you can do nothing else. You must be master of what you do and not possessed by ...
... this object. As to the hours devoted to work, needs, family, etc., hey can be made an aid only on the following conditions. (1) To regard all these things as not belonging to yourself, your inner being, but as things external, work to be done so long as it remains on your shoulders to the best of your ability without desire or attachment of any kind. (2) To do all work as a sacrifice without ...
... the assent of the nature, of the outward man to the inner voice, is necessary so that it may be effective. He is standing at the turning point and has been given an indication of the new road his inner being, the Antaratman, wants him to follow—but, as I say, the assent of his mind and vital is necessary. If he can decide to consecrate, he must make the saṅkalpa of consecration, offer himself to the ...
... Prakriti to which these things belong, learn to look upon them and in the end to feel them as not yourself, not a part of the inner or true being but occurring on the surface, and to experience the inner being as the Purusha eternally calm, silent and immovable. This separation once done, learn by abhyāsa to give the effective command of the Purusha to the movements of the Prakriti to cease—refusing ...
... give that impression always. It is also quite according to the rule of these reactions that it should have come immediately after a considerable progress in bhakti and the will to surrender in the inner being—for it comes from the spirit of darkness which attacks the sadhak whenever it can, and that spirit resents fiercely all progress made and hates the very idea of progress and its whole policy is to ...
... and the Intellectual Limitations of the Intellect Intellect is part of Mind and an instrument of half-truth like the rest of the Mind. Intellectual activities are not part of the inner being—the intellect is the outer mind. Its [ the intellect's ] function is to reason from the perceptions of the mind and senses, to form conclusions and to put things in logical relation with each ...
... public worship. It was this that was disapproved of by the Mother. There is no restriction in this Yoga to inward worship and meditation only. As it is a Yoga for the whole being, not for the inner being only, no such restriction could be intended. Old forms of the different religions may fall away, but absence of all forms is not a rule of the sadhana. c. January 1934 You have written [in ...
... indeed to carry within itself. The mantra OM should therefore lead towards the opening of the consciousness to the sight and feeling of the One Consciousness in all material things, in the inner being and in the supraphysical worlds, in the causal plane above now superconscient to us and, finally, the supreme liberated transcendence above all cosmic existence. The last is usually the main pre ...
... close while doing any work. Is this all right? If you are working you have to see your work, so it is no use closing the eyes; but one can always do the work in a concentration in which the inner being is turned towards the Mother while the outer does the Mother's work. 12 February 1933 The adverse forces have been active the last two days, but each time they came I sent them away. The report ...
... the inner and the outer existence. But to know the outer Mother truly one must know what is within her and not look at the outer appearances only. That is only possible if one meets her with the inner being and grows into her consciousness—those who seek an outer relation only cannot do that. 10 August 1936 The spiritual union must begin from within and spread out from there; it cannot be based ...
... developed can be developed without disturbance or trouble. 3 June 1936 The direct relation with the Mother is always open 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 ...
... the supramental Light and Force and guide its transformation into a divine nature. It is because there is this Power in her that she has been entrusted with the work. But all are free in their inner being, free to accept or refuse, free to receive or not to receive, to follow this way or another. What the Mother can do for the disciple depends on his willingness or capacity to open himself to her ...
... him and mentally accept his dictates. But if it is merely mental, that does not carry you very far. Of course, there is no harm in having that also. But by itself it does not open the whole of the inner being; it only establishes a mental contact. The vital Bhakti demands and demands. It imposes its own conditions. It surrenders itself to God, but conditionally. It says to God, "You are so great," ...
... feeling comes from the psychic consciousness and it is the growth of the psychic consciousness that makes the constant Presence at last possible. The feeling comes from the psychic and is true of the inner being—its not being yet fulfilled in the whole does not make it an imagination; on the contrary, the more it grows the more is the likelihood of the whole being fulfilling this truth; the inner bhāva ...
... 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 in the inner being, for there are a 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 groove. X 's case does not matter—his ...
... contained in your letter. There is no need for you to change the line of life and work you have chosen so long as you feel that to be the way of your nature ( svabhava ) or dictated to you by your inner being, or, for some reason, it is seen to be your proper dharma . These are the three tests and apart from that I do not think there is any fixed line of conduct or way of work or life that can be laid ...
... vital and physical being without a clearly evolved psychic being behind it. Still, one cannot make general statements that no aboriginal has a soul or there is no display of soul anywhere. The inner being is composed of the inner mental, inner vital, inner physical,—but that is not the psychic being. The psychic is the inmost being and quite distinct from these. The word 'psychic' is indeed used in ...
... own movement. We can call it the Divine Grace; we can call it the Self within choosing its own hour and way to manifest to the mental instrument on the surface; we can call it the flowering of the inner being or inner nature into self-realisation and self-knowledge. As something in us approaches it or as it presents itself to us, so the mind sees it. But in reality, it is the same thing and the same process ...
... that is to be formed. The blue colour must here be the Krishna light—so it is a creation under the stress of the Krishna light. All these are symbols of what is Page 102 going on in the inner being, in the consciousness behind, and the results well up from time to time in the external or surface consciousness in such feelings as the awareness of a softening and opening which you had, devotion ...
... pranayama or japa can tell you that the running of the name in the breath is not a small phenomenon but of great importance in these practices and, if it comes naturally, a sign that something in the inner being has done that kind of sadhana in the past. As for the current it is the familiar sign of a first touch of the higher consciousness flowing down in the form of a stream—like the "wave" of light of ...
... things nobody yet is ready for. Some people believe that the inner touch is not essential; whatever is necessary can be had through meditation or otherwise. Whatever is necessary for the inner being, yes. As a matter of fact, plenty of people are glad because now they can do whatever they please. But there was never any necessity for such people coming to the Pranam! It is not obligatory ...
... Union with the Mother You write যতদিন না আমার psychic being জাগে. 1 But your psychic being is already awakened, if it were not, you would not have these experiences. The inner being which you feel in union with the Mother is the psychic being. As you probably have not quite understood what I wrote to you, it might be better if you show Nolini my letter and ask him to explain ...
... inertia would get transformed into peace without rising up and darkening the other parts of the being. Page 202 Yes, that is how it should happen—but it is difficult so long as the inner being is not conscious and receptive at all times and in all conditions—and it is difficult and takes time to establish such a condition. 23 January 1935 ...
... 1951 "The outer being is like a crust. In ordinary people the crust is so hard and thick that they are not conscious of the Divine within them. If once, even for a moment only, the inner being has said, 'I am here and I am yours', then it is as though a bridge has been built and little by little the crust becomes thinner and thinner until the two parts are wholly joined and the inner and ...
... interest you, does not belong to you, which belongs to the world and not to you—but it is only by doing this that you can succeed. This demands a kind of liberation of spirit and a confidence in your inner being: you must believe that if you take the right attitude, it is the best that will happen to you; but if you are afraid when something unpleasant happens to you, then you can do nothing. You must have ...
... all problems, all questions disappear rather than receive an answer. They seem no longer of any importance. But still this is not "going from knowledge to knowledge". This is an opening of the inner being to the divine Presence in the psychic centre, and there you know at every moment not only what must be done but why it should be done and how it should be done, and you have the vision of the truth ...
... Well, this happens very strongly to people who seek for a spiritual life through the classical methods of Page 193 a renunciation of the material consciousness, a concentration on their inner being and identification with it. If I gave you the names of some, you would be quite astonished. They construct for themselves a conception in which one finds all the gradations of the mind, a construction ...
... spirituality into the religion. Put anywhere else, born into any other cult, they would have found there and lived there the same spiritual life. It is their own capacity, it is some power of their inner being and not the religion they profess that has made them what they are. This power in their nature is such that religion to them does not become a slavery or a bondage. Only as they have Page 78 ...
... people walk too fast for children in their company; they have to stop at times and wait till the child who is lagging behind comes up and overtakes them. This divergence between the progress in the inner being and the inertia of the body often creates a dislocation in the system, and that manifests itself as an illness. This is why people who take up Yoga frequently begin by suffering from some physical ...
... And in the order of things, the outer contact should come only as a crowning and an aid so that the body—the material physical consciousness and the body—may be able to follow the movement of the inner being. Page 306 But if you believe that this contact is going to replace the inner receptivity, you are mistaken, it is not much use. For example, people who are quite closed up, who receive ...
... you come to the supreme inner Witness who can judge all things. But generally it may be said that it is always a part of the mind, more or less enlightened, in a little closer contact with the inner being, which observes and judges. What is consciousness? ( After a silence ) I am trying to choose among several explanations! One, which is a joke, is that consciousness is the opposite of un ...
... spirituality into the religion. Put anywhere else, born into any other cult, they would have found there and lived there the same spiritual life. It is their own capacity, it is some power of their inner being and not the religion they profess that has made them what they are." Questions and Answers 1929 ( 9 June ) Are all religions mental constructions? All religions were perhaps not that ...
... exactly understand by Purusha?... The ego? (Nolini) No, it is the conscious being. There is the being and the becoming. The conscious being is Purusha, the becoming is Prakriti. But then each inner being has its Purusha? Or is there one Purusha in all the beings? (Nolini) In each part of the being: that is, there is a vital Purusha, a mental Purusha, a physical Purusha.... It is what we call ...
... soul element in the psychic influence cannot be easily distinguished when it manifests in our mind, vital or physical because when the psychic influence comes up to the surface, an action of the inner being (inner mind, inner vital, inner physical) mixes with and "distorts or diminishes its self-expression, even causes it to deviate and stumble or stains it with the impurity, smallness ...
... physical consciousness that remain resolutely turned towards the Divine and unshaken by all suggestion of doubt, desire, attachment, depression, sorrow, pain, inertia. This is possible when the inner being awakens, when one becomes conscious of the Self, of the inner Mind, the inner Vital, the inner Physical, for that can more easily attune itself to the divine Will, and then there is a division in ...
... doing a good deed is a day without a soul. The Mother To be yogis The aim must be the Divine and the work can only be a means. The use of poetry etc. is to keep one in contact with one's inner being and that helps to prepare for the direct contact with the inmost, but one must not stop with that, one must go on to the real thing. If one thinks of being a literary man or a poet or a painter as ...
... from the spiritual point of view. Source Spiritual Life: East and West Whatever difference there is between the West and the East in relation to spiritual life lies not in the inner being or nature, which is an invariable and constant thing, but in the mental habits, in the modes of outer expression and presentation which are the result of education and environment and other external ...
... Integral Yoga In a certain sense the various Purushas or beings in us, psychic, mental, vital, physical, are projections of the Atman, but that gets its full truth only when we get into our inner being and know the inner truth of ourselves. On the surface in the Ignorance, it is the mental, vital, physical Prakriti that acts and the Purusha is disfigured, as it were, in the action of Prakriti. ...
... passage in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and action is put at our disposal according to the place we must occupy. The more we are in conscious contact with our inner being, the more will the exact means be given to us. 4.Work, even manual work, is something indispensable for the inner discovery. If we do not work, if we do not put our consciousness into matter ...
... someone, or one may have mental appreciation for some great intellect. But if it is merely mental, it does not carry matters very far; it is not sufficient by itself. It does not open the whole of the inner being; it only establishes a mental contact. Of course, there is no harm in having that. When K came here he had that mental admiration for what I have written in the Arya. One can get something from ...
... lasts eternally. If we want things to go fast (relatively fast according to the rhythm of our life), this smack of the whip is necessary. I am convinced of it, because as soon as you are within your inner being you look upon that with contempt (as regards oneself). But then, all of a sudden, when there comes this true Compassion of the Divine Love, and when one sees all these things that appear so horrible ...
... learn to be an artist with tricks —it is as if you wanted to realise the Divine by imitating religious ceremonies. Above all and always the most important thing is Sincerity . Develop your inner being—find your soul, and at the same time you will find the true artistic expression. With my blessings. 25 May 1963 Why do you want to do the details? That is not at all necessary. Painting ...
... Before answering your questions I wish to tell you something which you know no doubt, but which you must never forget if you wish to learn how to lead a wise life. It is true that we are, in our inner being, a spirit, a living soul that holds within it the Divine and aspires to become it, to manifest it perfectly; it is equally true, for the moment at least, that in our most material external being ...
... concrete! Concrete like this ( Mother touches the arms of her chair ), like what the physical consciousness usually considers as "others", concrete like that. That is to say, it did not pass through an inner being, through the psychic being, it came directly upon the body. What is it?... Yes, perhaps it is this... Since it came, the feeling of the body is a kind of certitude, a certitude as though now ...
... passage in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and to our action is put at our disposal according to the place we must occupy. The more we are consciously in contact with our inner being, the more are the exact means given to us. 4) Work, even manual work, is something indispensable for the inner discovery. If one does not work, if one does not put his consciousness into matter ...
... mind which makes you answer unknowingly to the insistence of a pressure coming from outside? In that case the problem would have to be considered from another angle. It is obvious that your inner being is not very strong and does not have the power to counteract the pernicious influence of an environment full of sterile doubts, defeatist pessimism, egoism and unfaithfulness. Our path is not ...
... to lose everything that we may gain everything; we must be able to shed the past like a dead body that we may be reborn into a greater plenitude.... It is so that the constant aspiration of the inner being expresses itself; turned to Thee, it wants to reflect Thee in an ever purer mirror; and Thy unchanging Beatitude is translated in it into a propelling force of progress of an incomparable intensity; ...
... consciousness which climbs from below, the seed of the Divine developing through time till it meets the Force from above and takes the impress of the supramental Truth. This psychic consciousness is the inner being of a man, the material from which his true soul or jiva can be fashioned when, in response to its aspiration, the Supramental descends to give it a consistent personality. The exterior being of man ...
... as one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us—inner mental, inner vital, inner physical —silent, calm, unbound, unattached which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds ...
... religion is something permanent and unchangeable, then it cannot be accepted. But if religion here means one's way of communion with the Divine, then it is true that that is something belonging to the inner being and cannot be changed like a house or a cloak 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 ...
... not Page 167 non-violence—it is not "Ahimsa." True Ahimsa is a state of mind and does not consist in physical or external action or in avoidance of action. Any pressure in the inner being is a breach of Ahimsa. For instance, when Gandhi fasted in the Ahmedabad mill-hands' strike to settle the question between mill-owners and workers, there was a kind of violence towards others ...
... (1957-1958) 18 June 1958 " There are four main lines which Nature has followed in her attempt to open up the inner being,—religion, occultism, spiritual thought and an inner spiritual realisation and experience: the three first are approaches, the last is the decisive avenue of entry. All these four powers have worked ...
... accomplished through all kinds of other intermediaries. It is the leap, you understand, that seems to me tremendous. I conceive very well a being who could, by spiritual power, the power of his inner being, absorb the necessary forces, renew himself and remain always young; that one conceives very well, even for giving a certain suppleness so as to be able to change the form, if need be. But the total ...
... that Your Grace may act upon it, but I am not anxious about what happens to the body. My body is Your instrument, and You alone know how to free it from all illness and transform it. As for my inner being, it is immersed in Your Love Page 347 and filled with it. Your Love is my life, my only support, my peace and my joy. Keep your faith intact and remain immersed in the eternal love ...
... not quite human capacities, but they are so veiled by a tiny human personality that scarcely anyone but I can see them). And in the experience there was no difference between my physical and my inner being (actually, it's that way more and more for me); even physically, externally, there was a kind of love full of adoration, and so spontaneous—not even any sense of wonder! And there was such a formidable ...
... Divine's Force and Help. But often the vital being or some part of it takes a kind of perverse pleasure in giving a dramatic importance to each and every difficulty and thus cuts the contact with the inner being and the Divine's Force. Page 230 This bad habit which is common to many people must be stopped and then each one can and will feel that he receives very concretely the help he needs to ...
... passage in the material world, what is indispensable to our life and action is put at our disposal according to the place we should occupy there. The more we are consciously in contact with our inner being, the more exact are the means we are given. 3 June 1970 What is truly needed will surely come. Things must be asked for only when truly needed. What is bad is slavery. Slavery ...
... doing the work regularly and well. Page 130 My blessings are always with you. Sleep is the school one must pass through if one knows how to learn one's lesson there, so that the inner being may become independent of the physical form, conscious in its own right and master of its own life. There are entire parts of the being that need this immobility and semi-consciousness of the outer ...
... supports and dwells upon the disease of the body", 1 and I add, Page 137 "An illness of the body is always the outer expression and translation of a disorder, a disharmony in the inner being; unless this inner disorder is healed, the outer cure cannot be total and permanent." 1 October 1959 Physical troubles always come as lessons to teach equality and to reveal what in ...
... culminated in the defeat and distress of the stars - extension to whatever participation in the supernatural principle of the anti-divine might occur anywhere, in any state of existence including the inner being of man. 20. Paradise Lost, Bk. I, 11.546-547. Page 32 To return to our discussion. If the stars can be put in relation to the forests of the night and if the Tyger is set ...
... rest is admirable, though it has not quite the same intuitive edge; but still it is the right thought with the just, poetic expression. I don't know exactly what plane, but it comes from the inner being—there is a fine psychic touch in stanzas I, 2, 4, 5, 7 and it is the psychic truth that is expressed throughout." (Would the emergence of the psychic being make the writing of "above-head" ...
... shifted, the functioning completely changed—but then all those cells are so anxious to see that everything goes ACCORDING TO HABIT.... ( silence ) Terrible. A strange difficulty. If the inner being—the true being—is the ruler, the power of the true being makes the body act automatically; but then it doesn't grow conscious of its own change, it doesn't collaborate in its change, so for the change ...
... kinds of other intermediaries? You understand, what I find formidable is the switch from one to the other. I can very well conceive of a being who could, through spiritual power, the power of his inner being, absorb the necessary forces, renew himself and remain ever young; that's quite easily conceivable; even providing for a certain suppleness so as to be able to change the form if necessary. But the ...
... good look this time) is that at the moment of his best, most complete receptivity, I had to come down to X's most material form to find a form—all the rest, there was no more form. Which means the inner being isn't individualized: it's identified, merged. And that's precisely what Sri Aurobindo explains so well: the difference between one who identifies with the Supreme through self-annihilation and one ...
... out... and make use of it as one wants; one should be the master of Matter, not Matter sitting on top of you and coercing you—what's that! And that's the point, it's because one has in one's inner being the memory of a Freedom that one revolts against the slavery here (a disgusting slavery); only, one lacks the knowledge that consciousness alone can change everything. Throwing everything out of ...
... quite recently. We think we're wise, we think we're intelligent... There. ( Mother takes Satprem's hands ) I want it to be, for you tomorrow, really a new birth—but not a new birth to an inner being: an opening to something not yet manifested in the world. That's what you are destined for. × Among the questions ...
... Page 51 Apart from monotony, the pitfall to avoid is insincerity and rhetoric—the hollow Hugoesque shout. In poetry that is deeply felt, these so-called abstractions live in the inner being, they create a sort of powerful subjective space—for vision to fill and illuminate. Vision—the seizing of actual presences and their interplay, the contacting of the shape and tint of hidden realities ...
... colour-fulness drops with a winged burst of revelatory light into a hidden depth in order to bring up from this depth some life-nourishing secret. We have the poetic intuition falling into the poet's inner being and capturing its contents for the poet's self-expression. And just remember that a darkling pool closely resembles an eye wait-ing with in-drawn expectant stillness for a shining disclosure from ...
... concrete! Concrete like this ( Mother touches the arms of her chair ), like what the physical consciousness usually regards as "others," as concrete as that. Which means it didn't come through some inner being, through the psychic being: it came DIRECTLY onto the body. What is it?... Yes, it may be that.... The body's feeling since that took place has been a sort of certitude; a certitude as if now ...
... why. And he told you how to do it. But that I can repeat to you; I can repeat the "how to do it": he told you that your body is still in a condition in which it has to go to school, and it's your inner being, your consciousness, your true self that must teach it. He said, "It is still at a stage when it must be taught its lesson, and so it must learn its lesson." There. It's very interesting, and ...
... Sri Aurobindo, Conversations avec Pavitra , Fayard, 1972.)] You know that I used to see Pavitra every day, in the evening. He was in a poor state. But I had been forewarned (long ago) that his inner being was waiting for A. 1 to return before it would leave. I don't know whether he was aware of something in his outward consciousness, but at any rate he had never said anything. But I knew... The ...
... No, Mother. The mail works very poorly these days.... Did you keep a copy? ( Mother goes within for 25 minutes ) Do you have a question? You know, I think I've seen Malraux's inner being. Really! Yes, just the day before I received his card, at night I saw a being dressed in golden clothes, all golden, and he was even wearing a golden turban. And he came to me and offered ...
... Recently I read some of his letters about me.... How? It's really a miracle that I survived [his passing].... My whole... [being collapsed]. He was such a marvelous protection and support! The inner being wasn't affected because that remained the way it was—the closeness, the intimacy remained the same—but the physical being.... It's a miracle it survived. Several days ago I saw Sri Aurobindo ...
... are really absent there. Deep concern for earth, poignant eagerness to make the heart of man find true bliss are the basic motives but what is built spaciously on the base and set vibrant in the inner being through canto after canto lessens their impact. Over and above the mighty adventure of love's conquest of death and its transformation of terrestrial life into a life divine by means of a new power ...
... Aurobindo has taken the trouble to distinguish its sources in terms of planes. Thus some lines of "The Sacred Fire" he characterises as felicitously intense with an intuitive edge — an outflow from the inner being not only uttering the psychic truth but also bearing "a fine psychic touch". The second of the two stanzas I am excerpting from this poem of nine stanzas may well represent this touch which is spread ...
... that often defeat medical science, and then messages of thanksgiving for relief and remedy by spiritual means. No, Sri Aurobindo. the Yogi of the Supermind descending into the outer as well as the inner being and bringing a divine life on earth in addition to the infinite immortality of the Beyond, cannot be looked upon as passing away on account of old age and physical causes. Whatever the purely clinical ...
... One point we may grant the preposterous Mr. Lal. If poets like him tried to write in Sri Aurobmdo's vein without any of the Aurobindonian discipline of consciousness and mystical drive of the inner being, they might very well turn out in verse a painted anaemia of pseudo-spirituality. Spiritual poetry cannot be written on the cheap, but that does not mean that what Sri Aurobindo writes answers to ...
... imagination is in marked play. The sharp seeing eye has taken in the physical appearance with intense originality. There is also the sense of how the earthly form of things is so often a travesty of the inner being. And yet the recognition is present of even a caricature's capacity to transmit the brightnesses and nobilities of the soul if a harmonious and integrating imagination is brought to bear upon it ...
... holding that "mortal" when applied to the enemies of the mortal Rishi connotes "body-slayer" without implying a human agency. Thus there may be, on the one hand, inner enemies who could hurt the inner being of the Rishi and, on the other hand, those who could destroy his outer being by an occult power. In that case the "mortal foe" employing "magic" would be the sort of supernatural demonic agency that ...
... power — and a great deal does lie in it. What Sri Aurobindo has termed psychicisation and spiritualisation are within our capacity. We are capable too of at least a touch of the Supermind in our inner being and perhaps some reflection of this touch in our outer nature. But a full establishment of the Supermind in Page 234 anyone cannot be hoped for unless the Mother comes back to the ...
... Supermind, the divine Gnosis and the Truth-Consciousness (ṛta-cit) of Sachchidananda, possesses this power of integral transformation. And that is why a subjective spiritual liberation of our inner being and an inner change of consciousness alone, although the essential precondition for any attempt at physical transformation to be at all made feasible, is not as a general rule sufficient by itself ...
... time that I went to Her for the distribution (on the first of the month) without wanting anything. I did not want Her to look at me, to give me anything, to fill me. I just prostrated myself in my inner being at Her feet and I was giving and giving all I could and I never knew before that I can give so much to God. Or it probably seems to be much... oh, you mind, go away-you do not belong to me..... ...
... Though detained in his gynaeceum, kept hidden and guarded by frightful ogresses of a cruel mind, she kept her mind focused on you and looked on you as her ultimate resort. (8) With her inner Page 244 being constantly dwelling in you, the princess of Mithilā never thought of that rākshasa, even while being tempted in various ways and threatened (by him). (9) Accept the sinless princess ...
... Sudaksinā, to go to the hermitage of Vasistha, his mentor, place his grievances before his Guru and get this defect rectified once for all through Guru's advice. Dilīpa was greatly affected in his inner being and felt acutely this particular shortcoming, that for him all other achievements without a suitable progeny appeared to be meaningless. R. D. Karmarkar says: Dilipa's address to Vasistha ...
... being to the Divine who is adored. And one element of this consecration must be a self-purifying so as to become fit for the divine contact, or for the entrance of the Divine into the temple of our inner being, or for his self-revelation in the shrine of the heart. This purifying may be ethical in its character, but it will not be merely the moralist's seeking for the right and blameless action or even ...
... Indian epics, a struggle between two ideal forces, universal and opposing. One can read the story as a parable which by means of very ancient symbols tells us the adventure and battles of man's inner being led from darkness to light by the sheer power of love.What Nala and Damayantiexperienced at the very start of the story, the deep emotion that caught hold of them, as wonderful and fresh ...
... CHAMPAKLAL: Except for causing disturbance to others, does snoring harm one in any way? SRI AUROBINDO: Harm? You mean, is it immoral? ( Laughter ) There is no harm; while the body sleeps, the inner being meditates. It does not mean this happens in all cases. All cases of snoring are not meditation. CHAMPAKLAL: Why does one snore? SRI AUROBINDO: You mean why does the physical body snore? For ...
... can get direct guidance in work. SRI AUROBINDO: Guidance from whom? From me? I am not a doctor. NIRODBARAN: No, inner guidance. SRI AUROBINDO: One can get guidance by the opening of the inner being, the psychic, the inner mental or even the inner vital. Only, the psychic is more sure. DR. MANILAL: How to open the psychic? SRI AUROBINDO: There are many ways. DR. MANILAL: Please tell ...
... are many kinds of voices. Some are of greater beings who have more knowledge than human being. Some voices come from one's own mental, vital and physical planes. And then there are voices of the inner being which are very difficult to distinguish. PURANI: In external affairs too he is guided by his voices, for example, in connection with changing houses. He gets warnings about accidents also. ...
... not from any power of imagination. NIRODBARAN: But sometimes cannot one write truly about spiritual things without experiencing them or being conscious of them? SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? The inner being can have the vision and express it, without the outer having the least awareness of it. NIRODBARAN: Can one who is not a mystic write mystic poems? Tagore —or Harin before he came here? SRI ...
... ces, the pressure of environment or simply the momentum of custom or habit compel them to choose the easiest and the readiest way that may lie before them. They do not consult the demand of the inner being but the requirement of the moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure the impulsions that thrill the hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify the immediate ...
... has been precisely working in the line of a perfect solution of this supreme problem. Islam comes with a full-fledged spiritual soul and a mental and vital formation commensurable with that inner being and consciousness. It comes with a dynamic spirit, a warrior mood, that aims at conquering the physical world for the Lord, a temperament which Indian spirituality had not, or had lost long before ...
... when traced further up to the very source, will carry us straight into Asia's lap, perhaps India's. And Europe in accepting or embracing Asia comes back to the fountain-head pf her own inner being and nature. Page 153 ...
... replace; you will only replace it by a greater and more disastrous illusion, you must yourself have the full vision of the truth, you must yourself realise and establish it in yourself, in your inner being as well as your outer personality. Then only you will have secured full authority (Ramakrishna's chaprash , badge) to make and unmake. If you have not the needed authority, then you must obey implicitly ...
... the ONE I had been seeking since childhood, the ONE who could help me, that here was SHE who could release me from the dreadful confusion in which I had been struggling all those years. Then my inner being murmured, "Yes, this is the TRUTH and LOVE I have been seeking and aspiring for." Her sparkling eyes and sweet smile captured my entire self. Suffering was lost in her immortal smile. || ...
... Supermind, this divine Gnosis and the Truth-Consciousness ( ṛ ta-cii) of Sachchidananda possesses this power of integral transformation. And that is why a subjective spiritual liberation of our inner being and an inner change of consciousness alone, although the essential precondition for any attempt at physical transformation to be at all made feasible, cannot be as a general rule sufficient by ...
... consciousness under its control into a dog or some habitual movement of excessive greed may carry part of the vital consciousness into a pig.... "The fragments [of a dead person] are not of the inner being [which goes on its way to the psychic world] but of his vital sheath which falls away after death." (Letters on Yoga, p. 446) Let us now mention what happens after the mental sheath, in ...
... and harmonised. This perhaps is the most important part of education for character development. Here we have to focus upon the process by which students can gradually become conscious of their inner being, of their potentialities, of their own character so that students can take upon themselves the task of fashioning and perfecting what is best in them. Page 87 ...
... be" is distinct from the ideal of "to acquire" and "to possess". The ideal of "to be" refers to that direction of effort which leads individual to look deeply within himself and to find in his inner being the source of his varied potentialities, and the source of a fulfillment in some kind of perfection that transcends egoism and which rests in a vast and integrated self-hood. It is pertinent ...
... you have to do is resolutely and persistently to say No; for then the hostile force loses its strength and can do nothing. The other details of the dream were all symbolic of the approach of your inner being to the Mother. 1.11.32 Sri Aurobindo Mother, It was early morning between 5.30 to 5.45 a.m. I was standing with Champaklal in the corner of his terrace ladder. There was ...
... Mother Divine! O My Dear Mother - Though I do not know how to pray to Thee, yet I like to pray at Thy Lotus feet, at Thy holy feet, and like to live only for my Divine Mother. Ma — if my inner being is not wishing for Thee, I pray Thee to make it wish. 9.3.33 Mother, Light the fire in my heart for Thy service and to be faithful to the Divine Mother. 11.3.33 Mother ...
... and harmonised. This is perhaps the most important part of education for character development. Here we have to focus upon the processes by which students can gradually become conscious of their inner being, of their potentialities, of their own character so that students can take upon themselves the task of fashioning and perfecting what is best in them. Whether we are dealing with the curriculum ...
... it when you have managed this relaxation. And all of a sudden this little flame rises slowly into an aspiration for the divine life, the truth, the consciousness of the Divine, the union with the inner being, it goes higher and higher, it rises, rises, like that, very gently. Then everything gathers there, and if at that moment you fall asleep, you have the best sleep you could possibly have. If you ...
... truth of the Spirit. The Upanishads are Vedanta, a book of knowledge, but knowledge understood not as a mere thinking but as a seeing with the soul and total living in it with the power of inner being, a spiritual seizing by a kind of identification with the object of knowledge. Through this process of knowledge by identity or intuition the seers of Upanishads came easily to see that the self ...
... Japanese tradition, and these starting points make a difference in the creativity of forms and in the emphasis that Page 15 one lays in expressing the inner and the truer, the-inner being or the inner form of the object. Every artistic creation has an object and a field of the intuitive vision or of the depth of experience; every artistic creation has a method of working out ...
... degree than the Vedas. The Upanishadic knowledge is Jnāna, — not a mere thinking and considering by the intelligence, — but a seeing of truths with a soul and a total living in it with the power of inner being, a spiritual seizing by a kind of identification with the object of knowledge. It was by an integral knowing of self, it was by living in and attaining knowledge by identity that the Vedantic sages ...
... Divine who is adored, and this consecration must be a process of self- purification directed towards a growth towards the divine contact or for the entrance of the Divine into the temple of the inner being in order that the divine consciousness and divine being is revealed in the shrine of the heart. The process of purification may be only ethical, but at the point where yoga Page 68 ...
... which is thou, that of It which is in the gods." The method is that of a synthesis of the development of faculties in their universality, symbolically described as the gods, and the discovery of the inner being, that which is deepest in the individual self. In this Upanishad also, the yoga-siddhi is described as follows: "The name of That is That Delight'; as that Delight one should follow after It ...
... really profit by giving it up I shall do so. If you can give up, it is all right—if you can't or have to force yourself too much, wait till you can. The important thing is the opening of the inner being. September 11, 1934 Since I seem to have a possibility of opening in the direction of poetry, may I not direct my aspiration mainly towards it? It seems to me that the aspiration ...
... generous in your explanation so that I may put in some more vigour to find him in reality? And why does it make you glad simply because I have found him in my dream? What is once found in the inner being is likely to be found in the outer consciousness—that is why. June 3, 1937 [Question by J:] P says that he is going to write an article on "the only vernacular epic", Tulsi Ramayan ...
... , its peculiar common religion and culture. The whole basis of the Indian mind is its spiritual and inward turn; its propensity has always been to seek the things of the spirit and the inner being first and foremost and to look at all else as secondary, dependent, to be handled and determined in the light of the higher knowledge; the outer world was seen as an expression, a preliminary field ...
... 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 and with full ...
... working more and more I would be able to bring out love and rasa 1 in the work. You cannot bring love and rasa merely by increasing work. These are inward things and depend on the inner being. Fourthly, it is said that for fatigue or inertia the best thing is not to indulge it by allowing the body to rest more, but to work and work until it goes. It may ...
... As soon as I got up from the subconscient sleep, I was attacked by the lower forces. I fried but could do nothing about the mad invasion. It continued fill I was completely exhausted. Then my inner being gathered some of its scattered threads by concentration and aspiration. That is what you should do always. As soon as some energy was collected I fought back furiously ...
... being consolidated in him. But even then, if he is sufficiently conscious and watchful, he will find that it is only from the surface consciousness that they are withdrawn. The inner Page 292 being still has them in the deeper regions of the consciousness. For, if he is fully aware of his true self with a ceaseless aspiration, he will not be denied the experiences for a long ...
... takes place. Till then the nature Page 280 remains full of many imperfections, but the Self in the higher planes does not mind them, as it is itself free and unaffected. The inner being down to the inner physical can also become free and unaffected. The Overmind itself is subject to limitations in the working of the effective Knowledge, limitations in the working of the Power, subject ...
... Yes. We are not fully conscious all the time and in all conditions. Therefore we shall miss that unity at times, especially when the darkness has veiled the heart and the inner being. Even then the self ought not to be veiled — it must recover consciousness. As one part of our being is always in the Mother it will become a channel to the other ...
... into its peace and silence and fills it with power also and Ananda and the light of knowledge. If my mind is right, the Mother has opened me to some higher plane. And that is why my inner being remains in constant touch with the above-world. Yes. Page 38 ...
... Put your body and your mind in a state of harmony. Release all your natural vitality. Obtain the maximum from yourself. Remarkably, this effort was also directed at small movements in his inner being — that which people less conscious than Monnet would call unimportant details. Here is an example also Page 56 taken from his personal notebooks, Alpe d'Huez, Isere, 1946 ...
... it is more difficult to become aware of what the Mother is bringing. It is not thoughts she brings, but the higher light, force etc. Does the Mother's Light always remain in the inner being even when due to engrossment in the external activities we do not feel it? It is always there in the inner Purusha consciousness — but identification with the mental, vital and ...
... has been precisely working in the line of a perfect Solution of this supreme problem. Islam comes with a full-fledged spiritual soul and a mental and vital formation commensurable with that inner being and consciousness. It comes with a dynamic spirit, a warrior mood, that aims at conquering the physical world, for the Lord, a temperament which Indian spirituality had not, or had lost long before ...
... es, the pressure of environment or simply the momentum of custom or habit compel them to choose the easiest and the readiest way that may lie before them. They do not consult the demand of the inner being but the requirement of the moment. Our bodily needs, our vital hungers and our mental prejudices obsess and obscure the impulsions that thrill the hidden spirit. We hasten to gratify the immediate ...
... preserving one's unsaintliness behind a smoke-screen of the utmost physical tapasya. Real Tapasya, however, is not in relation to the body and its comforts and discomforts; it is in relation to the inner being, the consciousness and its directives and movements. Tapasya, austerity, consists in reacting to the downward pull of the ordinary consciousness, turning and attuning it to the rhythm of higher levels ...
... accustomed track, if under pressure of past habits, under the temptation of immediate selfish gain, under the sway of narrow parochial egoism, we suppress or maim the wider consciousness of our inner being or deny it in one way or another, then surely we shall wheel back and fall into the .clutches of those very hostile powers which it has been our determined effort to overthrow. Even if we gain an ...
... it by its touch or contiguity then is accomplished the real death. Then it is said the outer existence, the material life does not continue long, it comes sooner or later to a dead stop. Thus the inner being is liberated completely and is freed into the life beyond, the Divine Existence, the Brahman. It is said that when each and every seed of the various elements that compose the being, that sprouts ...
... gift to all of you, to each one of you here. She has given you your soul. I have often said that it is a special privilege here for each one of us, for each one of you, to carry this being, this inner being, this intimate person, the Divine Child who is you. It is this that is building your divine personality, it is this that will give you in the end a mind beautiful, a vital beautiful, a body beautiful ...
... very core of a centre is this Presence. A centre grows and can grow perfectly only around the Mother's Presence and Consciousness. As the ideal for the individual is to be conscious of its central inner being and relate all its parts and all its movements to that, central reality, organise itself in perfect harmony around this core of its being, even so a group-centre has to organise itself in perfect ...
... consciousness I mean a true and harmonious consciousness. It can come, in the first place, from the depths of our inner and inmost being; that is the consciousness of the inner self, the indwelling inner Being. It may be called the inner consciousness. And secondly, the right consciousness can come, not from within or at least not primarily from there but from the environment, from a wider expanse, a universal ...
... accustomed track, if under pressure of past habits, under the temptation of immediate selfish gain, under the sway of narrow parochial egoism, we suppress or maim the wider consciousness of our inner being or deny it in one way or another, then surely we shall wheel back and fall into the clutches of those very hostile powers which it has been our determined effort to overthrow. Even if we gain an ...
... something unpleasant or contrary to your expectations, you are equally unperturbed and tranquil. In the beginning you make a general surrender or submission, in principle, as it were: it is in your inner being. It must be brought forth gradually in the outer being, carried out in all the details of life. That is how difficulties arise. You have made your offering, you say, even you have worked at it for ...
... very core of a centre is this Presence. A centre grows and can grow perfectly only around the Mother's Presence and Consciousness. As the ideal for the individual is to be conscious of its central inner being and relate all its parts and all its movements to that central reality, organise itself in perfect harmony around this core of its being, even so a group-centre has to organise itself in perfect ...
... ry crisis of earth and humanity. The ordinary average man is part and parcel of Nature's movement and his life is almost wholly moulded by circumstances: he has not developed an independent inner being that can react against the universal Nature's current, that is to say, the Nature as it is, as it is actually and dynamically expressed. He is the creature, described graphically in the Gita, as ...
... worked out here and now. The ideal of the Life Divine embodies a central truth of existence, and however difficult or chimerical it may appear to be to the normal mind, it is the preoccupation of the inner being of man – all other ways or attempts of curing human ills are faint echoes, masks, diversions of this secret urge at the source and heart of things. That ideal is a norm and a force that is ever dynamic ...
... the yogi, the Divine, the Impersonal man in Sri Aurobindo was the real person always there from the very birth. Thus we see him starting life exactly with the thing where every one ends. In his inner being he had not to pass through the gradations that lead an ordinary person gradually towards the widening ranges of consciousness and existence. In all the stations of his life, in every sphere and status ...
... realisation. Inevitably this means as I have said the assumption of all the ills of nature; for the very purpose of incarnation is to purify the external nature, so that it becomes one with the inner being. So, all terrestrial human beings share in the impurity of the ignorant ordinary nature and share also, as secretly conscious entities although outwardly almost absolutely unconscious, in the ...
... the whole world. So what is required is to discover the universal soul in the heart and not outside. And, for that, three boundaries have to be crossed, three walls overleaped and this also in our inner being, in our inner chamber. The Vedic sage Shunahshepa says that the God Varuna has three knots and they have to be cut away: then and then alone man will ascend to the infinite wideness of Varuna and ...
... Spirit. According to Sri Aurobindo, it is only by an opening into the cosmic consciousness that the Overmind ascent and descent can be made wholly possible. An important precondition is that the inner being must already have replaced by its deeper and wider awareness the surface mind and its limited outlook and learn to live in a large universality, but when one learns to live in overmental consciousness ...
... the whole higher consciousness, its Peace, Power, Knowledge, Love, Ananda. Moreover, the descent may be enough to liberate, but not to perfect, or it may be enough to make a great change in the inner being, while the outer remains an imperfect instrument, clumsy, sick or unexpressive. Finally, transformation effected by the sadhana cannot be complete unless it is a supramentalisation of the being. ...
... experience of any object, — even a leaf or a stone or an event or Nature, or God or Spirit, provided that the experience is turned inward so as to create self-vision in the profounder depths of the inner being of the poet, which is thrown out in rhythmic movement by the discovery of the word or image or a figure or a symbol, which has, in its turn, the capacity of disclosing to the hearer the truth of ...
... come when desireless contact with objects, the unsensuous use of the senses, becomes possible. It is possible by the vision of the Supreme, and by living in Yoga, in union or oneness of our entire inner being with the Soul. For the one Soul is calm, satisfied in its own delight, and that delight free from duality can occur, once we see the Supreme thing in us and fix the mind and will on that. This is ...
... and noble pride; in the mind wisdom and intelligence and love of learning, knowledge of all the best thought, openness to poetry, art and beauty, an educated capacity and skill in works; in the inner being piety, love of God, seeking after the highest, the spiritual turn; in social relations and conduct a strict observance of all social obligations as father, son, husband, brother, kinsman, friend ...
... the Upanishadic sages. The Upanishads are Vedanta, a book of knowledge, but knowledge understood not as a mere thinking but as a seeing with the soul and total living in it with the power of inner being, a spiritual seizing by a kind of identification with the object of knowledge. Through this process of knowledge by identity or intuition the seers of Upanishads came easily to see that the self ...
... all as an adventure and has the joy of battle and the warrior spirit that can taste of victory only when hard fought and won. That is how we meet not unoften a considerable discrepancy between the inner being of a man and his earthly tenement, his soul and his external Page 71 character and physical nature. There is a meaning in the choice, a significance in the utilisation of unfavourable ...
... count of the strange desires and impulses that play about there, If the brain is a market-place, the heart is no better than a madhouse. Well, I shall not now enlarge further on the state of our inner being. One of the things the Mother has been trying to teach us both by her word and example is this, namely, that to keep our outer life and its materials in proper order and neat and tidy is a very necessary ...
... of evolution that marks the life of man upon earth. This spiritual evolution, however, may not be obviously visible in the external life and character of man: it has been a phenomenon more in his inner being and consciousness, an occult phenomenon. Hence there has intervened a veil, a wall of separation between the two. The veil has not been rent precisely because the very highest spiritual potential ...
... crisis of earth and humanity. The ordinary average man is part and parcel of Nature's movement and his life is almost wholly moulded by circumstances: he has not developed an independent inner being that can react against the universal Nature's current, that is to say, the Nature as it is, as it is actually and dynamically expressed. He is the creature, described graphically in the Gita, as ...
... The birthday-celebration is not for recording the progress in our age, how we are progressing year by year in our age, that is, how we are getting old – No, it is to note the progress made in the inner being and consciousness. Each birthday is to be a landmark of the forward march of your consciousness, not the greyness of your head. The touch of your soul will inspire you not merely to do the right ...
... Something vague, misty, wordy. The perception is not concrete to you. You can doubt, deny, refuse credence as you like. But if you once experience it, Page 90 hold it in your inner being and consciousness, in however small way, however little of it, if you get the direct contact in whatever manner—well, the thing is unforgettable, it lives, lives for ever. If the whole world denies ...
... as writers and orators, it was their greatness of character that mattered more. By a great character I mean one in whom there has awakened in a certain measure and manifested to some extent the inner being and the indwelling spirit; this is what Vivekananda used to call the awakening of the Brahman in the individual. I had come to know Sri Manoranjan Guhathakurta personally and I had been to his house ...
... not the one thing needful. Of course, these things may serve some purpose and may be useful to some extent, but so long as you do not find anything solid within yourself, and make it part of your inner being, this kind of eagerness to launch upon ever-new activities is merely a sign of restlessness and impatience, and these are nothing else than smoke and foam. Simply to work at random does not mean ...
... mistake. One thing leads to another and we get caught up. From a spiritual angle impatience is childish, immature. It betokens a want of trust in the Divine, a lack of harmony between the inner being of peace and faith and the outer person tossed from keen expectation to quick disappointment. Published November 1983 Page 109 ...
... the principles of common morality." — Tilak 38. Social usage and observances. Page 188 causal. As the gross body of the individual is only the outer crust or coating of the inner being, so the physical body of the nation is only its mutable material covering. To see only its material covering or shell, its social and political configuration, and regard that alone as one's nation ...
... But it is still there as our inner ruler and guide in spite of and through all obscurities and aberrations. The next step, the second part of her work, was to build around this soul, this inner being, a body, a material vehicle to express it. To give a concrete divine shape to this soul-reality was her labour at this point. The soul was there, but a god has to come and inhabit it; this godhead ...
... deliberately tested has often been reported by teachers. The end of childhood and the beginning of adolescence is marked by the appearance of a new object of interest for the child: it is his own inner being. There is a withdrawal within, an inner search. The child tries to understand his feelings, his emotions, his passions and to establish his relations with the world and peoples; he is looking for ...
... to remain absorbed in a state of permanent contentment," he answered and in that brief reply cleared my mind completely. That was the first time I came to know consciously what my inner being longed for. In this way in 1942, when I first came to the Ashram, I got an uninterrupted and inexhaustible supply of love and affection from Noloni-da. Whenever I came in front of him, I felt ...
... tell me?" Mother countered: "Why do you wish to write them down?" I said: "These are valuable words, what if I forget them later?" Mother said: "All that I tell you, I say to your inner being. Your soul can never forget them. You'll remember them whenever they're needed." (6) O ne day Mother told me how two opposing dharmas are found side by side in a most wonderful manner ...
... spiritual life stands for. Q: Isn't our attitude toward suffering also a means for growth ? A : Suffering, if rightly taken, certainly tends to growth. It gives a good formation to the inner being, and if it is rightly taken and reacted to correctly, from the spiritual point of view, then it is a great gain. Q: Does this refer to aspiration ? A : To an understanding of life, ...
... 'Resemblance'. It is "Correspondence". That is to say, the painting must "correspond" to the inner purpose, the inner objective of the artist. The impulse to create tends to take a form in the inner being of the artist. He must, after getting the impulse to create, wait and allow a certain inner saturation to be reached before beginning to create his form. He must not allow each random suggestion ...
... In fact the study of psychology can hardly be taken up seriously unless one decides the question of fundamental importance, namely: "Is matter or spirit its basis ?" What is the origin of man's inner being, of his psychology ? The question might be put differently : "Who is it that experiences all the multifarious phenomena in man?" Where, i, e. in what medium do these take place? Do they occur ...
... experience of himself and...it as best he can with a limited mind and senses. The door that has been shut to all but a few may open; the kingdom of the Spirit may be established not only in man's inner being but in his life and his works. Poetry also may have its share in that revolution and become part of the spiritual empire." Page 371 APPENDIX II SAVITRI'S APPEARANCE ...
... ear." while pursuing the place of their origin Savitri "saw a spiritual immensity" "pervading and encompassing, the world-space". The cosmic Thoughts came from there. When they entered Savitri's inner being they "met a barring will"—"a blow of Force", and "sank vanishing in the immensity". Page 328 All then became silent in her, "a silent spirit pervaded silent Space". "In that absolute ...
... Divine Self in each of you creates by His Presence, little by little; it is influenced, formed and moved by the Divine Consciousness of which it is a part and parcel. It is in each of you the deep inner being which you have to find in order that you may come in contact with the Divine in you. It is the intermediary between the Divine Consciousness and your external consciousness; it is the builder of ...
... supreme heroism and self-sacrifice in its cause. Along with philosophy it marks the limit the human mind has reached in its highest activities.”¹ The main work of religion is to awaken the inner being of man and give it an ample scope for self-development and self-perfection. It is like a bridge for the human consciousness to pass from Nature to the Spirit. It should be primarily concerned ...
... vacant Infinite in a very tangible way. This experience left a deep impression upon his mind. Poetry is not autobiography except in the sense of being an expression of the experience of the inner being. Sri aurobindo’s visit to Kashmir seems to have given him the inspiration for the poem which is reproduced here: ADWAITA I walked on the high-wayed Seat of Solomon ¹ Where Shankaracharya's ...
... Become as large as this town. Spread yourself into every being. Love them all. Spread your ‘I’ to the farthest corner of the world.” The heart would be filled with awe, joy and gratitude. Our inner being would humbly bow down to the Mother. This is how we can make everyone our own, through Love! And we did not even know this! Here I remember another incident. The Mother used to stand at about ...
... Sometimes meditation used to come to me spontaneously at my place and I used to get into a condition when I would be compelled to sit down to meditate. Sri Aurobindo : It was probably the inner being insisting on it. It is always better to allow it to work. Disciple : It used to happen even when I would be leaving for my work. For days I used to feel that my head was resting on the Mother's ...
... this the Overmind helped Sri Aurobindo as a medial force, a bridge, and for the time being he was content to operate from that bridge, to use that force, with the Supermind always poised in the inner being, ready for deployment in an emergency. It would be clear from the foregoing that Sri Aurobindo's 'retreat' was no running away from the demands of life but rather a different way of ...
... singing quite clearly. What an amazingly melodious voice She had! I had never imagined that someone could look so beautiful while singing. In rapt enchantment I went on gazing at the Mother. My inner being was filled with an unearthly experience… This class with the Mother started in a strange way. The Mother had asked four or five of us to go to a lady for our French classes. We used to go to her ...
... quiet for some time. Then She laughed and said: “Your seeing humans as boy or girl is not quite right. When I talk to you, I don’t think this is Manoj or that is Priti. I talk to the soul or the inner being that is within each one of you. This soul is not male or female. So don’t rack your brains with all these outer differences. You know that I am neither male nor female. One day you will realise who ...
... Supreme Being that we want to realize is not an impersonal Infinite but a Divine Personality; and in order to realize Him we have to grow conscious of our own true personality. You must know your own inner being. This Personality is not the inner mental, the inner vital and the inner physical being and its consciousness as is many times wrongly described, but it is your true Being which is in direct co ...
... 09 April 1931 You write “যতদিন না আমার 9 psychic being জাগে 10 ” But your psychic being is already awakened, if it were not, you would not have these experiences. The inner being which you feel in union with the Mother is the psychic being. As you probably have not quite understood what I wrote to you, it might be better if you show Nolini my letter and ask him to explain ...
... feedback. Hardly had I entered his room that he exclaimed, "Shobha, your programme yesterday was good. The Mother was very pleased. A deep depression was descending upon the earth. Seeing that, your inner being went straight up to the Mother and said forcefully, 'I shall not let this get into me.' The Mother was greatly pleased with this." Then, Nolini-da remained silent for a while. After some time, he ...
... sympathy and oneness; it laid the inspired basis of wonderful spiritual philosophies; it examined the secrets of external nature and discovered and lived the boundless and miraculous truths of the inner being; it fathomed self and understood and possessed the world. 12 It was a delicate balance, but as long as it was maintained, people lived freely and purposively, participating in the delight ...
... not seek the truth with your mind!. .. All that you have done so far, all that you have learnt ought to be put aside. What holds you back is your education and your mental habits. ... Your inner being opened, put itself in a receptive attitude which allowed the descent. Instead of trying to reason, plunge into the experience itself. 30 They had a meditation together on 12 October, and ...
... Keep doing this practice. Keep chanting Om. Do this as many times Page 84 as possible. One day, you will see you have reached the end of this tunnel - in the deepest part of your inner being - there the Lord resides, your inner deity dwells there. This practice is very hard and demands a lot of sadhana. But if you practise it regularly, then one day you are bound to succeed." After saying ...
... lips, as She kept looking at me. There was neither anger nor any kind of reproach in Her look, just compassion! Gently laughing, She said, "Why are you crying? Your recitation was fine! While your inner being was having that experience, your outer being continued with the recitation. You did not make a single mistake in the recitation. You did well." What a solace I found in those words of ...
... customary atmosphere of our self-centred existence as positively boring and suffocating. And seeking and longing for the soul, we advance, step by firm step, through the long, dim passage of our inner being till, one day, as the Mother says, the passage suddenly dissolves in a splendour of light, or a door swings open upon a flaming Presence, or it is a well or abyss of dazzling effulgence in which ...
... all spread out, but the struggle was going on only when the other part was refusing to listen to the psychic. SRI AUROBINDO: It is very good and shows that you have got a firm foundation in the inner being. It was of course the psychic that made the vital feel about the concealment and compelled it to assent to the working. That also is good, for if the psychic control is not yet so complete (as it ...
... darkness when it has felt itself hurt. This is a thing that everybody must get rid of who wants to progress. Do not go on identifying yourself with this part and calling it yourself. Get back into your inner being and look at this only as a small though obstinate part of the nature that has to change. For apart from its insistence there is no reason why your way should enter into a desert. It should enter ...
... still in going in aspire to be conscious and master of the trance movement so that you can go in at will and come out at will. It is probably a rush of the consciousness to go inside deep into the inner being or to go up above the mind; but the more consciously this is done the better. (21.5.37) ...
... all kinds of other intermediaries. You understand, what I find formidable is the leap from one to the other I can very well conceive of a being who could, through spiritual power, the power of his inner being, absorb the necessary forces, renew himself and remain ever young—that’s quite easily conceivable, even providing for a certain suppleness so as to be able to change the form if necessary. But the ...
... count of the strange desires and impulses that play about there. If the brain is a market-place, the heart is no better than a mad- house. Well, I shall not now enlarge further on the state of our inner being. One of the things the Mother has been trying to teach us both by her word and her example is that to keep our outer life and its materials in proper order and neat and tidy is a very necessary element ...
... the unconditioned Absolute derives a part of its stimulus from the apparently irredeemable character of the physical mind, and the constant resistance it opposes to the expansive movement of the inner being. An increasing resort to meditation and a withdrawal from the activities of life are the usual means adopted for an escape from the dull bondage of the physical mind and its engrossing material ...
... shows us the boundless and innumerable riches that lie hidden and unexplored. "The door that has been shut to all but a few may open; the kingdom of the Spirit may be established not only in man's inner being but in his life and works." Savitri traverses world after inner world, following the God of Death who is carrying away Satyavan, and who tries to persuade her to return to the mortal world, to renounce ...
... remember Sri Aurobindo wishing: "Just as people are Page 306 advancing in physical science and trying to explore every possible secret of Nature, so also if they went into the inner being and tapped the powers from the unusual ranges of Nature then there could be no limit to possibilities." Oh, how astonishing it is that those two worlds, both available to our eye, yet remain ...
... books, and also questions about my work and my life. What follows are questions and answers on sadhana and life. They reflect the Mother’s patient and loving guidance towards the growth of my inner being. ...
... Works of The Mother , but are being published here as a collection for the first time showing how the Mother patiently and persistently helped and guided a young girl towards the discovery of her inner being and held out Her ever helping hand, nurtured her growth, and led her on to the path of spirituality. This long overdue book contains my correspondence and conversations with the Mother between ...
... assertion that even the Shudra or Chandala can by turning his life Godwards climb straight to spiritual liberty and perfection. The fundamental truth is not this outward thing, but a force of our inner being in movement, the truth of the fourfold active power of the spiritual nature. Each Jiva possesses in his spiritual nature these four sides, is a soul of knowledge, a soul of strength and of power ...
... what may be called the self-creative power of the consciousness. What the thought, the inner regard, the faith, śraddhā , settles itself upon with a complete and definite insistence, into that our inner being tends to change. This tendency becomes a decisive force when we go to those higher spiritual and self-evolved experiences which are less dependent on external things than is our ordinary psychology ...
... emotions, habitual ways of perceiving, thinking and feeling obeys this action of the senses; the reason too carried away by the mind gives itself up to this life of the senses, this life in which the inner being is subject to the externality of things and cannot for a moment really get above it or outside the circle of its action upon us and its psychological results and reactions within us. It cannot get ...
... Nature, untouched by her Gunas, free from her shows of good Page 231 and evil, suffering and happiness. The natural being, the mind, body, life, still remain, Nature still works; but the inner being does not identify himself with these, nor while the gunas play in the natural being, does he rejoice or grieve. He is the calm and free immutable Self observing all. Is this the last state, the ...
... the pure intensities of meaning of the universal beauty it has revealed or hidden in creation; the indulgence of the eye's desire in perfection of form and colour becomes an enlightenment of the inner being through the power of a certain spiritually aesthetic Ananda. Page 302 The Indian artist lived in the light of an inspiration which imposed this greater aim on his art and his method sprang ...
... and considering by the intelligence, the pursuit and grasping of a mental form of truth by the intellectual mind, but a seeing of it with the soul and a total living in it with the power of the inner being, a spiritual seizing by a kind of identification with the object of knowledge is Jnana. And because it is only by an integral knowing of the self that this kind of direct knowledge can be made complete ...
... upon a practical crisis in the application of ethics and spirituality to human life. For what that crisis stands, what is the significance of the battle of Kurukshetra and its effect on Arjuna's inner being, we have first to determine if we would Page 12 grasp the central drift of the ideas of the Gita. Very obviously a great body of the profoundest teaching cannot be built round an ordinary ...
... the latter a contradiction of the peculiar mentality of the people. The whole basis of the Indian mind is its spiritual and inward turn, its propensity to seek the things of the spirit and the inner being first and foremost and to look at all else as secondary, dependent, to be handled and determined in the light of the higher knowledge and as an expression, a preliminary, field or aid or at least ...
... and only you are left out, is the usual delusion that comes when one allows despondency to rise. Almost all have these difficulties to overcome and these difficulties rise again and again till the inner being is sufficiently developed to make them impossible. There is therefore no reason to suppose that others will be able and you will not be able. The change of the old habitual movements of the nature ...
... ded one's mind is not fixed on the karma to the exclusion of the Divine. The aim must be the Divine and the work can only be a means. The use of poetry etc. is to keep one in contact with one's inner being and that helps to prepare for the direct contact with the inmost, but one must not stop with that, one must go on to the real thing. If one thinks of being a "literary ", a poet, a painter as things ...
... too much stress on it which is after all more a general than a personal occasion—for the individual any day in the year may be the 15th—that is, the birthday or a birthday of something in the inner being. It is with that feeling that one should do the sadhana. 13 September 1935 Remarks on Darshan It would be very good if you could come out to give Darshan once a month instead of only three ...
... s which climbs up from below, the seed of the Divine developing through time till it meets the Force from above and takes the impress of the supramental Truth. This psychic consciousness is the inner being of a man, the material from which his true soul or jiva can be fashioned when, in response to its aspiration, the Supramental descends to give it a consistent personality. The exterior being of ...
... stone in the end. And as the body is no longer able to adapt itself to the movement of inner transformation, it drags, it ages and cannot keep pace any more, it dries up. After death, does the inner being continue to progress? That depends altogether upon the person. For everyone it is different. There are people—for example, writers, musicians, artists—people who have lived on intellectual heights ...
... learn something, not like that. They are a part of your normal working, that is, usually it is the head, the brain which goes on working. Sometimes, when one is in slightly higher states, it is an inner being that enters into activity, goes to its own domain and lives there its own life. But all these things are not artificially organised for some reason or other. They are a part of the body's functioning ...
... those who have progressed is with the external man. Even among those who follow the old ideal, the external man of the sadhak remains almost the same even after they have 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 ...
... managed this relaxation. And all of a sudden this little flame rises slowly into an aspiration for the divine life, Page 351 the truth, the consciousness of the Divine, the union with the inner being, it goes higher and higher, it rises, rises, like that, very gently. Then everything gathers there, and if at that moment you fall asleep, you have the best sleep you could possibly have. I guarantee ...
... explained it to that lady. She had put to me the question: "How did I happen to come here?" I told her that it was certainly not for reasons of the external consciousness, it was something in her inner being that had pushed her. Only the awakening was not strong enough to overcome all the rest and she returned to the ordinary life for very ordinary reasons of living. Outwardly, it was a funny thing ...
... shut her up to the Mother's influence. Page 181 Mother has written to her that Y had said nothing and that she knew things about X , independently of any information, from X 's inner being itself which comes to her constantly and tells her or shows her what is in the nature. The Mother besides sees things in vision and receives the thoughts of the sadhaks at Pranam and other times ...
... growth of this new consciousness and at once grows with it and helps it to come about and to perfect itself. This force is the Yoga shakti. It is here asleep and coiled up in all the centres of our inner being (chakras) and is at the base what is called in the Tantras the Kundalini Shakti. But it is also above us, above our head as the Divine Force—not there coiled up, involved, asleep, but awake, scient ...
... satisfaction of his egoistic desire, he failed and had to go away. 25 June 1935 You wrote once: "Those are the Mother's children and closest to her who are open to her, close to her in their inner being, one with her will—not those who come bodily nearest to her." 1 I do not deny the truth of this. But why then has the Mother taken a body and why are we in Pondicherry? One can have an inner relation ...
... interview] about things in the exterior consciousness coming in disguise. Mother only remembers to have said that there were many things in the exterior consciousness that obscured and veiled the inner being—this was in connection with what you said about the heart not opening. Perhaps she may have said that these things do not always show themselves in their own forms, so that one is not conscious of ...
... individual being, individualised, "personalised" around the divine centre. Normally, all the experiences of the external life (unless one does yoga and becomes conscious) pass without organising the inner being, while the psychic being organises these experiences serially. It wants to realise a particular attitude towards the Divine. Hence it looks for all favourable experiences in order to have the complete ...
... one with the self of all beings. This self-realisation liberates and universalises; even if our action still proceeds in the dynamics of the Ignorance, it no longer binds or misleads because our inner being is seated in the light of self-knowledge. The third step is to know the Divine Being who is at once our supreme transcendent Self, the Cosmic Being, foundation of our universality, and the Divinity ...
... is something permanent and unchangeable, then that cannot be accepted. But if religion here means one's way of communion with the Divine, then it is true that that is something 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 ...
... been having—here it was the test of temptation by power, comfort, riches, attractive things, as it was formerly the test by fear, difficulty, trouble. The evidence of all these tests is that your inner being is perfectly ready and free to go unwaveringly to the goal. There is nothing there that is wrong or defective. Keep the reliance steady in your heart and do not allow self-distrust, depression ...
... value on propaganda, but still work of that kind can be her work. Only it has to come from her impulsion, be done with quietude, with measure, in the way she wants it to be done. It is from the inner being that it should be done in union with the Mother's will, not from the vital mind's eager impulse. To concentrate most on one's own spiritual growth and experience is the first necessity of the sadhak—to ...
... mastery over one's mind is perfectly within the possibilities of anyone who has the faith and will to undertake it. 5 August 1932 Literature and art are or can be first introductions to the inner being—the inner mind and vital; for it is from there that they come. And if one writes poems of bhakti, poems of divine seeking etc., or creates music of that kind, it means that there is a bhakta or seeker ...
... sense of strong nourishment, even in the physical being. When she presses her fingers on the opening point of the spinal cord at the top of my head, I feel something subtle coming in which makes my inner being overflow with joy. This sense of nourishment (as if a new substance is being created within) is so strong that even when I am unwell and weak, it completely dominates with its sense of joy and security ...
... in yourself and the Mother. 1 October 1933 I am not doing any drawing or painting based on inspiration from Nature because I am not inclined to it nowadays. Instead I feel a movement in my inner being in which I aspire for the divine Truth to manifest through my art; when this movement is going on, I see hazy forms in a variety of colours coming down, but it is disturbed by some mental movement ...
... April 1935 False suggestions have been telling me that I have no love for the Mother. But on every non-pranam day the sadhana refuses to move forward. How can this happen unless not only the inner being, but even the mind and the physical have a good deal of love for her? Only my love for the Mother is not outwardly expressed because it wants to take a psychic form, not a vital one. But as long ...
... own movement. We can call it the Divine Grace; we can call it the Self within choosing its own hour and way to manifest to the mental instrument on the surface; we can call it the flowering of the inner being or inner nature into self realisation and self-knowledge. As something in us approaches it or as it presents itself to us, so the mind sees it. But in reality, Page 231 it is the same ...
... into what is above the Page 48 cosmic; one experiences the separation of Purusha from Prakriti and is liberated from the shackles of the outer nature; one becomes aware of one's inner being and sees the outer as an instrument; one feels the universal Force doing one's works and the Self or Purusha watching or witness but free; one feels all one's works taken from one and done by the ...
... being, individualised, "personalised" around the divine centre. Normally, all the experiences of the external life (unless one does yoga and becomes conscious) pass without organising the inner being, while the psychic being organises these experiences serially. It wants to realise a particular attitude towards the Divine. Hence it looks for all favourable experiences in order to have the complete ...
... difficulty has disappeared. The outer being is like a crust. In ordinary people the crust is so hard and thick that they are not conscious of the Divine within them. If once, even for a moment only, the inner being has said, “I am here and I am yours”, then it is as though a bridge has been built and little by little the crust becomes thinner and thinner until the two parts are wholly joined and the inner and ...
... representative all the time is concealed behind the mind, vital and physical—it is the psychic, our inmost being. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - I: The Jivatman in the Integral Yoga The true inner being—the true mental, the true vital, the true physical represent each on its plane and answer to the central being, but the whole of the nature and especially the outer nature does not nor the ordinary ...
... feel their influences which act upon the material world and the life-plane but which at present we can only infer and cannot directly experience. inner physical — the physical part of the inner being. inner vital Intuition — see under spiritualised mind. Ishwara — Lord, the Divine. Page 123 mind (the mental) — "mind" and "mental" connote specially ...
... learn to be an artist with tricks it is as if you wanted to realise the Divine by imitating religious ceremonies. Above all and always the most important thing is sincerity. Develop your inner being find your soul, and at the same time you will find the true artistic expression. With my blessings. 25 May 1963 * I have seen your paintings and certainly there has been progress ...
... refined, rich, developed, fully conscious, the work of transformation will be more effective. The Mother Acting always from within You must learn to act always from Within - from your inner being which is in contact with the Divine. The outer should be a mere instrument and should not be allowed at all to compel or dictate your speech, thought or action. Sri Aurobindo Page ...
... Divine Self in each of you creates by his presence, little by little; it is influenced, formed and moved by the Divine Consciousness of which it is a part and parcel. It is in each of you the deep inner being which you have to find in order that you may come in contact with the Divine in you. It is the intermediary between the Divine Consciousness and your external consciousness; it is the builder of ...
... being, individualised, "personalised" around the divine centre. Normally, all the experiences of the external life (unless one does yoga and becomes conscious) pass without organising the inner Page 149 being, while the psychic being organises these experiences serially. It wants to realise a particular attitude towards the Divine. Hence it looks for all favourable experiences in order to have ...
... and see whether you have an answer or have no answer, whether you feel supported or contradicted, not by the mind or the vital or the body, but by that something which is always there deep in the inner being, in your heart." Questions and Answers 1929 ( 21 April ) It is always the same thing, this is our screen before which we must pass everything to know whether one may accept it or whether ...
... to relive it, go to the depths of the experience, recall it, aspire, concentrate. This is the starting-point, the end of the guiding thread, the clue. For all those who are destined to find their inner being, the truth of their being, there is always at least one moment in life when they were no longer the same, perhaps just like a lightning-flash—but that is enough. It indicates the road one should ...
... the knowledge if within you you do not have the being capable of having this knowledge. Therefore, the conclusion is that this kind of experiment is absolutely useless. For those who have an inner being, one day or another, life will see to it that they awaken and will bring them into contact with what they need in order to know. I consider these things to be an unhealthy curiosity, that's all ...
... individual can perceive this Supermind acting in the earth-atmosphere. Those who, for some reason or other, have developed this perception, can see it. But those who are not even conscious of an inner being―just slightly within―and who would be quite at a loss to say what their soul is like, these certainly are not ready to perceive the difference in the earth-atmosphere. They still have a long way ...
... constraint. One cannot love through compulsion, you cannot be compelled to love, it is no longer love. Therefore, as soon as compulsion intervenes, it becomes a falsehood. All the movements of the inner being must be spontaneous movements, with that spontaneity which comes from an inner harmony, an understanding—from a voluntary self-giving—from a return to the deeper truth, the reality of being, the ...
... l greatness of the man — or Guru, but it is merely mental; it does not carry the matter very far. Of course there is no harm in having that also. But by itself it does not open the whole of the inner being; it only establishes a mental contact. Page 86 The vital bhakti demands and demands. It imposes its own conditions. It surrenders itself to God, but conditionally. It says to ...
... value on propaganda, but still work of that kind can be her work. Only it has to come from her impulsion, be done with quietude, with measure, in the way she wants it to be done. It is from the inner being that it should be done in union with the Mother's will, not from the Vital mind's eager impulse. To concentrate most on one's own spiritual growth and experience is the first necessity of the Sadhak ...
... studied. Only, because of his very constitution, because there hardly exists a human being who hasn't at least a reflection, or a shadow, or a beginning of a relation with his subtle being, his inner being, his soul—because of that there is always a flaw in their denial. But they consider that to be a weakness—it is their only strength. ( Silence ) It is really when one has the experience—the ...
... life that is independent of every form, but which manifests in all forms. This gives the indispensable psychological basis with which to confront the problem, for the problem remains. Even if the inner being is enlightened enough to be above all fear, the fear still remains hidden in the cells of the body, obscure, spontaneous, beyond the reach of reason, usually almost unconscious. It is in these obscure ...
... sea. It is at all times that you must be able to receive it from above—then there will be a true foundation of the sadhana. You must establish a basis of equanimity within—the peace of the inner being which these surface movements cannot touch,—then if they come on the surface, there will be no violent reaction and they can be rejected with more ease. The sadhak has to keep his quietude ...
... is shown by two things. If one is conscious of the force working in one, then one is open. But even if one is not conscious, yet if results of the working happen, then that also means that in the inner being some opening has been made. Aspiration, sincerity and the quietude of the mind are the three best conditions for opening. These [ calling the Mother, praying to her ] are acts of the mind ...
... of some part of the being to live according to the highest light one has or to equate the outer with the inner man, then this part is always insincere in all. The only way is to lay stress on the inner being and develop in it the psychic and spiritual consciousness till that comes down in it which pushes out the darkness from the outer man also. It is not sincerity to express only what the adverse ...
... the higher mind and the higher vital. Why then find fault with the Divine for misleading you when it turned you to the Yoga or brought you here? It was simply answering to the demand of your own inner being and the higher parts of your nature. If you have so much difficulty and become restless, it is because you are still divided and something in your lower vital still regrets what it has lost or, as ...
... philosophising or moralising in skilled verse, even if it has vision and intellectual beauty, suffers always by lack of fire and body, wants perfection of grasp and does not take full hold on the inner being to seize and uplift as well as sweeten and illumine, as poetry should do and all great poetic writing does. The function of the poet even when he is most absorbed in thinking, is still to bring out ...
... discover itself and altogether realise its own characteristic greatness and perfection. Mankind is moving to another spirit in its thought and life founded on another and deeper and larger truth of its inner being than it has yet in the mass been able to see, hold and put into form of living. This change must find its echo and interpretation or even some of its power of revelation and initiation in poetry ...
... contained in your letter. There is no need for you to change the line of life and work you have chosen so long as you feel that to be the way of your nature ( svabhāva ) or dictated to you by your inner being or, for some reason, it is seen to be your proper dharma. These are the three tests and apart from that I do not know if there is any fixed line of conduct or way of work or life that can be laid ...
... as one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us—inner mental, inner vital, inner physical—silent, calm, unbound, unattached which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds ...
... even carry the mind Page 424 along with it. As the Gita says, the senses (vital) carry away the mind even of the sage who sees, as the wind carries away a ship on a stormy sea. (3) The inner being may have the realisation strongly and live in the oneness, calm, peace, but the interior parts of the outer may feel the reactions of desire etc. In this case the reactions are more superficial; ...
... ded one's mind is not fixed on the karma to the exclusion of the Divine. The aim must be the Divine and the work can only be a means. The use of poetry etc. is to keep one in contact with one's inner being and that helps to prepare for the direct contact with the inmost, but one must not stop with that, one must go on to the real thing. If one thinks of being a "literary man", a poet, a painter as ...
... pressure to go inside and the habit of meditation makes it possible to turn the sleep that comes into a kind of sleep-samadhi in which one is conscious of various experiences and progresses in the inner being. If you mean that after this kind of samadhi [ during the afternoon rest ], you feel a greater emptiness or voidness, it is quite natural. To void the being of the old consciousness and its ...
... matter of habit than anything else, because the mind is accustomed to absorb in the reading or work and forget all else for the time being. But once one gets the right poise and can keep in the inner being during work, that difficulty disappears. Page 54 × The correspondent wished to compile a "Journal of ...
... born of these ideas, then there is a hope of some advance in the not distant future. And here the first essential sign must be the growth of the subjective idea of life,—the idea of the soul, the inner being, its powers, its possibilities, its growth, its expression and the creation of a true, beautiful and helpful environment for it as the one thing of first and last importance. The signals must be ...
... purity, love or selflessness of an action or course of action; for action is always relative, it is mixed and uncertain in its results, perplexed in its occasions. But it is possible to relate the inner being to the eternal and absolute good, to make our sense and will full of it so as to act out of its impulsion or its intuitions and inspirations. That is what the ethical being labours towards and the ...
... humanity has been obliged in an intellectual age to mask its true character of a religion and a thing of the soul and the spirit and to appeal to the vital and physical mind of man rather than his inner being. It has limited his effort to the attempt to revolutionise political and social institutions and to bring about such a modification of the ideas and sentiments of the common mind of mankind as would ...
... phenomena. By dwelling on an idea, by tapas on it, we can create not only the image of that idea in our minds, but its form in emotion, its truth in quality of character, its experience in terms of inner being. By dwelling with the will on the idea of courage or virtue it has been found that we can create courage or virtue in ourselves where they were formerly wanting. By brooding on an object with the ...
... very spirit and reality? And is man a biological creation of a brute energy which has somehow unexpectedly and quite inexplicably managed to begin to feel and think, or is he in his real self that inner Being and Power which is the whole sense of the evolution and the master of Nature? Is Nature only the force of self-expression, self-formation, self-creation of a secret spirit, and man however hedged ...
... intellect could make no difference. Yes, you need not listen to the "common sense" of others at least; usually there is much that is common in it but very little that is sense. What your inner being feels is rather to be followed than the superficial reasonings of the outer intelligence. How can Reason be the sole arbiter [ in the quest for Truth ]? Whose reason? The reason in different ...
... But why do you suppose that you alone are made of the lower nature? Every earthly being is so made. The higher nature is there but behind and above. It has to be brought forward from the inner being or brought down from above constantly and persistently till the lower is changed. The Three Planes of the Lower Hemisphere and Their Energies There is a vital plane (self-existent) above the ...
... striving to know himself and it as best he can with a limited mind and senses. The door that has been shut to all but a few may open; the kingdom of the Spirit may be established not only in man's inner being but in his life and his works. Poetry also may have its share in that revolution and become part of the spiritual empire. I had intended as the main subject of this letter to say some thing about ...
... fixed time in the morning and wakes exactly at that hour and minute—it is something in the subliminal being that recorded the time and vigilantly executed it. When one begins to feel the inner being and live in it (the result of the experience of peace and silence) the ordinary time sense disappears or becomes purely external. The present is a convention or only a constant movement out ...
... only know them by their results—one can see that this or that is or must be a movement of the vital etc.; but the direct concrete experience comes only when one begins to live deeper down in the inner being. Page 128 × The correspondent had asked to see the Mother for five minutes a day in order to have a short ...
... 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. Reading ought not to absorb the consciousness—there ought to be the larger part behind detached and conscious in a larger way. The only way [ ...
... to understand; he thinks one must be either all gloomy and cold and grave or else bring the vital bubble and effervescence into the inner life. A quiet, happy and glad control of the vital by the inner being is a thing he is not able as yet to conceive. Happiness and Contentment Happiness in the ordinary sense is a sunlit state of the vital with or without cause. Contentment is less than happiness—joy ...
... effort. It is certainly better if the psychic is conscious and active before there is the removing of the veil or screen between the individual and the universal consciousness which comes when the inner being is brought forward in all its wideness. For then there is much less danger of the difficulties of what I have called the intermediate zone. Page 307 ...
... human mind. He can reach them only in a deep inner condition or trance and the higher he goes the less easy is it for him to be conscious of them even in trance. If you are not conscious of your inner being, then it is more difficult to be conscious in trance. Living in a Higher Plane To live in a higher plane and see the action on the physical from it as something separate is a definite stage ...
... essential purity in which all parts of the being can share. Or, even if the exterior being does not share actively in it, it may fall quiescent so that there is nothing to interfere with the whole inner being realising the truth of a certain experience. The state does not last because it is only a preparatory touch, not the full or permanent descent; but while it is there it is real. The sex-sensation ...
... physical consciousness that remain resolutely turned towards the Divine and unshaken by all suggestion of doubt, desire, attachment, depression, sorrow, pain, inertia. This is possible when the inner being awakens, when one becomes conscious of the Self, of the inner mind, the inner vital, the inner physical, for that can more easily attune itself to the divine Will, and then there is a division in ...
... light is the same Light acting as a diffused Power on the ordinary consciousness which is seen as the night of Ignorance. The call Page 119 brought the Light etc. streaming down into the inner being. It is not balls or flashes of light [ seen around the Mother ], but a flow or sea of Light entering into the body and surrounding it and illumining the whole field of consciousness. There ...
... Asram. That this should be the first thing shown when the power of vision broke through its state of latency is very significant; it proves that you are in contact, the touch already there in your inner being and this force of presence and protection is already around you or over you as an environing influence. Hanuman Hanuman stands for Bhakti. Hanuman = complete bhakti. Page 157 ...
... realisation approaching. They come very commonly when the inner or subtle consciousness is awake. The hearing of the bells has always been considered a sign or a premonition of the opening of the inner being to spiritual experience. It [ the sound of the conch ] is one of the many symbol sounds one hears in Yoga. The conch shell is the sound of victory. Page 112 Both of these [ ...
... you have incurred our displeasure. I have said that we are always with you and it is true, but to feel it you must Page 207 draw back from your vital and be able to concentrate in your inner being. If you do that faithfully and sincerely, after a time you will feel the connection and the support. The meaning of the phrase you speak of is this, that usually the vital tries to resist the ...
... touch. There may be some difficulty because the physical consciousness is uppermost, but a persistent aspiration will bring it back. When once you again feel the connection reestablished between the inner being and the outer, call down the peace and light and power into the latter so as to build up a basis for a constant consciousness in the most external mind and being which will accompany you in work ...
... working so slowly? If she worked in the form of Mahakali, everything troubling me would flee from fear and the Mother's luminous Sun would rise in me. Mahakali can work only when there is a calm inner being and a resolute will facing without disturbance all the difficulties. When there is not that, then it is only possible for Maheshwari to work in order to bring her calm and wideness into the being ...
... and courage necessary for following the path of the sadhana. You must dismiss these suggestions from you. 8 October 1936 Frequently when I put a strong suggestion or pressure upon you, your inner being becomes conscious of it and something of it comes to your surface perceptions; but also, usually, your external mind, which is always busy and active trying to take a hand in everything, gives it ...
... Mother's Presence? No doubt can remain if there is the realisation of the Divine Consciousness and the Mother's Presence. Imperfections may remain in the outer being, but they do not trouble the inner being and can be got rid of quietly. Page 176 In your letters you say always that the Mother has withdrawn from you and you think she does it deliberately because of some fault or defect ...
... lower existence. × Swarajya. Swarajya and Samrajya, perfect empire within and without, rule of our inner being and mastery of our environment and circumstances, was the ideal of the Vedic sages, attainable only by ascending beyond our mortal mentality to the luminous Truth of our being, the supramental infinities ...
... magic, in Persia the Magi, in India the Rishis. The preoccupation of the Mystics was with self-knowledge and a profounder world-knowledge; they found out that in man there was a deeper self and inner being behind the surface of the outward physical man, which it was his highest business to discover and know. "Know thyself" was their great precept, just as in India to know the Self, the Atman became ...
... of the Life-Force and its activities, any rejection of the manifestation in the earth-nature. It may be necessary for the seeker at any period to withdraw into himself, to remain plunged in his inner being, to shut out from him the noise and turmoil of the life of the Ignorance until a certain inner change has been accomplished or something achieved without which a further effective action on life ...
... all, yet there is no longer a free soul in it anywhere. These two different and opposite states of being alternate in him or else stand simultaneously over against each other; one silent in the inner being observes but is unmoved and does not participate; the other active in some outer or surface self pursues its habitual movements. He has entered into an intense separative perception of the great ...
... of the larger, deeper and more forceful dynamic action of our surface mind; this, when we become conscious of it or of its impress on us, is our first idea or our first realisation of a soul or inner being, Purusha. 1 But this life mentality also, though it may get free from the error of body, does not make us free from the whole error of mind; it is still subject to the original act of ignorance ...
... in all functionings of the mentality four elements, the object of mental consciousness, the act of mental consciousness, the occasion and the subject. In the self-experience of the self-observing inner being, the object is always some state or movement or wave of the conscious being, anger, grief or other emotion, hunger or other vital craving, impulse or inner life reaction or some form of sensation ...
... consciousness, partly conscient, partly subconscient or subliminal to our active mentality. When it is struck by the world's impacts from outside or urged by the reflective powers of the subjective inner being, it throws up certain habitual activities, the mould of which has been determined by Page 648 our evolution. One of these forms of activity is the emotional mind,—the heart, as we may ...
... world and a free repossession of its Prakriti by the Purusha in us, we become Page 442 conscious not only of the bodies and outward self-expression of others, but intimately of their inner being, their minds, their souls and that in them of which their own surface minds are not aware, then we see the real Being in them also and we see them as selves of our Self and not as mere names and ...
... s of its day and night, our exiles from the light; but as we grow in the power to hold this new existence, we become able to look long on the sun from which this irradiation proceeds and in our inner being we can grow one body with it. Sometimes the rapidity of this change depends on the strength of our longing for the Divine thus revealed, and on the intensity of our force of seeking; but at others ...
... reality and it is only in abnormal states that it opens to other kinds of conscious experience. But in fact there are immense ranges behind of which we could be aware if we opened the doors of our inner being. These ranges are there already in action and known to a subliminal self in us, and much even of our surface consciousness is directly projected from them and without our knowing it influences our ...
... to which he is ordinarily in the habit of relating nine tenths if not the whole of his inner thinking and experience,—then on the changing actualities of the more superficial part of his inner being. As he increases in mind, he goes more freely beyond these to potentialities which arise out of them and pass beyond them; his mind deals with a larger field of possibilities: but these for the most ...
... [bliss].... And that was one of the things I told him about: the being manifesting in this body, and consequently the body (because even from a very young age, the body had tried to surrender to the inner being, not to remain independent), in the body itself, there had never been either the feeling or the need, or even the intent of living in Ananda. Since it was very small, the body was built with... I ...
... be properly understood - in the very sense in which you speak of "man" "since in our nature we are already what we should become". Yes, in Sri Aurobindo's spiritual experience not only man in his inner being but also apparently brute matter holds the supramental light and love and bliss secret within. That is why evolution follows as a natural consequence of involution of divinity. There is, no doubt ...
... introduced some ever-resistant element of the undivine into all our parts of nature, an enigmatic māyā which, being unconquerable, has to be evaded by a world-exceeding absorption of the inner being into an infinity that has no form, an eternity that has no movement. Even the less intransigent masters felt that ultimately the world was the field of a play, līlā, without a denouement, a ...
... indefiniteness, his projection of weird influences from hidden worlds into the midst of primitive and symbolic or else idealistic and rhapsodical thinking - Words-worth's pantheistic entry into Nature's inner being of infinite peace and also his elevated ethical thought in tune with that empathy and his occasional snatches of regions beyond the intellect which are the soul's home before physical birth and which ...
... এতেই নবজন্ম হয় ৷ 3.11.35 ন: আমি আজও তােমা হতে বহুদূরে আছি বলে কেন মনে করছি, মা? উ: কেন মনে করছ? তােমার physical mindকে [= দ্বারা] তােমার inner beingকে ঢেকে দিতে allow করছ বলে ৷ তােমার inner being অর্থাৎ psychic beingই সৰ্ব্বদাই আমি মায়ের শিশু বলে নিজেকে চেনে, মায়ের কাছে, মায়ের কোলে থাকে – physical mind সেই কথা ভাবতে সেই সত্য উপলব্ধি করতে সহজে পারে না ৷ সেই জন্য সর্বদা গভীরে psychicএ থাকতে ...
... governs the world either for the sake of that union in itself or for the purpose of increasing or modifying our manifest being, knowledge, faculty, force or delight. Any system which organises our inner being & our outer frame for these ends may be called a system of Yoga. Page 19 ...
... few it is seldom active, in many hardly perceptible. The soul and spirit in man seem rather to exist above and behind his formed nature than to be a part of its visible reality; subliminal in his inner being or superconscient above in some unreached status, they are in his outer consciousness possibilities rather than things realised and present. The spirit is in course of birth rather than born in Matter ...
... conscious neither of themselves nor of us. It is doubtful whether belief in Fate or free-will makes much difference to a man's action, but it certainly matters a great deal to his temperament and inner being; for it puts its stamp on the cast of his soul. The man who makes belief in Fate an excuse for quiescence, would find some other pretext if this were lacking. His idea is only a decorous garment ...
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