... nobody could stop you. This is what, perhaps, a human being would say, who has no knowledge of the play of forces? If I have knowledge of the play of forces, why do you want me to ignore the play and work by violence or a miracle beyond the play of forces? It is precisely the play of forces in Y which brought him where he is. Another point—you knew that he had the monster in him, and yet... trick of evasion, Sir! for everything "a play of forces". Therefore no more questions. Long live the play of forces! It is the truth. Why get wild with the truth? It is like knocking your nose against one of Epstein's statues in the hope that it might turn out to be unreal or change into a faery beauty. What I am writing now is not about the play of forces, but about confusion, conflict and despair... him. What do you say? It was not speaking of any personal action but of the play of forces which happens everywhere, but is of course more marked here because of our presence and the work done. Then it means that there is no such thing as accident, chance, or coincidence; all is predetermined—all is a play of forces. Sir C.V. Raman once lectured to us that all these scientific discoveries are ...
... definition. All is done through a play of forces which seems to be a play of different possibles, but there is Something that looks and selects and uses without being either blindly arbitrary (predestination) or capriciously decisive (chance). There is no question of responsibility. 1 The "Something" does not act arbitrarily, paying no heed to the play of forces or the man's nature. "Selects"... mental desire that something should happen, a will-force may go out and try to make that happen. But also forces can go out from the inner mind without any conscious cause on the surface. The Play of Forces My experience shows me that human beings are less deliberate Page 560 and responsible for their acts than the moralists, novelists and dramatists make them and I look rather to see... these invisible forces and can also consciously profit by them or use and direct them. That is all. I have not said [ in the preceding letter ] that everything is rigidly predetermined. Play of forces does not mean that. What I said was that behind visible events in the world there is always a mass of invisible forces at work unknown to the outward minds of men and by Yoga (by going inward and ...
... utilities also. Disciple : Does not the Divine Will foresee? Sri Aurobindo : The Divine Will foresees everything, lays down lines of development and allows the play of forces to work out and in that play of forces it consents to certain things. It does not will for each individual fact. It may include also running away like Krishna who fled from Kala Yavana. Disciple : Is the... think of God as a kind of super-dictator. The Divine Will lays down general lines – but in actual play (Lila) it consents to limitations that are self-imposed. It has also to pay the price in the play of forces. Otherwise you can argue that Rama willed that Sita may be taken away by Ravana! Christ knew that he had to be crucified for the work and yet something in him wished it may be otherwise. So... Aurobindo : Every one who descends for a spiritual purpose, will have to be limited : of course, such a limitation will be self-imposed. That is to say, he will consent to the rules of the play of forces. Page 279 Disciple : Now Hitler is giving bread to German workers. Sri Aurobindo : Yes, he says the German workers are without food and he is going to feed them ...
... to work for something positive is very refreshing, perhaps the only positive thing! It is a grace to be here — a grace immediately threatened, for, and that's where one can clearly see the play of forces, twenty days after Mohini's arrival, the local government was preparing to settle some three or four hundred refugees from Ceylon just below Land's End, with babies, goats and transistors; and... Singh and myself rejected this proposal: the Work must be materially, physically, gathered up and enveloped in one place, which is like Mother's Bastion, without leaving any possibility to the play of forces which will immediately intervene if there is any physical distance between the composition and the printing of the books. Precisely, these forces know perfectly well how to use all the petty... things cannot "work out": they are spoiled. Each thing has its time ; if we miss the Time, the thing is missed. There is an occult aspect, or to say it more simply, an inner aspect of the play of forces that should be understood. We speak of "Mother's battle," Page 100 but where is the battle? It is not enough to say: "Mr. Anceau [from Robert Laffont's technical services] will do ...
... of—without thinking that it is joyful—one speaks of "the play Page 267 of forces"; it is the movement, the interaction. All activities are the play of forces. So one can take it in that sense. But, you see, it means that the divine Force, the divine Consciousness, has exteriorised itself to create the universe and all the play of forces in the universe. That's what it means, nothing else. I ...
... is able to act now, but Page 332 even there there is no idea of punishment; it is a play of forces and when the force of the physical consciousness becomes too prominent it acts according to its dharma and the other forces are covered over for the time. Our own force acts in this play of forces to help the sadhak through till he gets himself into the silence within and the cosmic consciousness... limitations is more and more undergoing the pressure of the Supramental and letting through a greater Light and Power. For so long as the Overmind intervenes (the principle of the Overmind being a play of forces, each trying to realise itself as the Truth) the law of struggle remains and with it the opportunity for the adverse Forces. 10 November 1933 You say [in the preceding letter] that the Overmind ...
... Life through the Eye of the Yogin The Hidden Forces of Life Play of Forces Anyone with some intelligence and power of observation who lives more in an inward consciousness can see the play of invisible forces at every step which act on men and bring about events without their knowing about the instrumentation. The difference created by Yoga or by an inner... sadhana or create difficulties. Evidently he is a man who is psychically sensitive or has become so to that thing which you blindly refuse to recognise even when you are in the midst of it—the play of forces. You can feel your friend’s atmosphere through the letter “so beautiful, so strengthening, so refreshing” and it has an immediate effect on you. But your mind stares like an owl and wonders, “What... intervenes violently in order to keep in power. The Mother Questions and Answers (1953): 7 October 1953 I have not said [in the preceding letter] that everything is rigidly predetermined. Play of forces does not mean that. What I said was that behind visible events in the world there is always a mass of invisible forces at work unknown to the outward minds of men and by Yoga (by going inward and ...
... it predestined that she should be a link between you and me? Had I really no chance independently? Was our union only a play of forces? Predestination and chance are words—words that obscure the truth by their extreme rigidity of definition. All is done through a play of forces which seems to be a play of different possibles, but there is Something that looks and selects and uses without being either... Part passes through and is rejected. It is a constant activity of forces supplied to us out of which (or rather out of a small amount of it) we make what we will or can. But in reality it is all a play of forces, a flux, nothing fixed or stable; the appearance of stability is given by constant repetition and recurrence of the same vibrations and formations. That is why our nature can be changed in spite ...
... give a dangerous hit. He said it is not really like this—rather it happens naturally as the result of a play of forces on the vital plane. It is obviously a wholly Asuric thing to do when it is turned to egoistic purposes or against fellow sadhaks. It is certainly not a natural play of forces over which one has no control. Anybody doing that may get a serious back-blow, especially if it is done ...
... judgment (how shall I put it?) a correct judgment about things, for one does not know what is going on in the world. We do not know the whole, we know nothing of the play of forces. And we say that chance is the result of a play of forces; only, instead of being the expression of divine harmony, it is the expression of conflicting wills. These wills are not all necessarily bad or hostile but they are ...
... not only experienced it in meditation and inner experience. The Overmind, the Intuition and Below The Overmind receives the Divine Truth and disperses it in various formations and diverse play of forces, building thus different worlds out of this dispersion. In the Intuition the nature of Knowledge is Truth not global or whole, but coming out in so many points, edges, flashes of a Truth that... appears to one living at the overmind level: ] As Page 156 a manifestation of the One Divine with a thousand aspects, a development of all the potentialities in the one existence, a play of Forces and Ideas which you can look at from many centres and points of view, each having its own truth in the whole. In the highest overmind all these prepare to meet and reunite themselves in one central ...
... colours, flowers are always seen when there is a working of the forces within at a certain stage of the sadhana. The light of course indicates an illumination of the consciousness, the colour the play of forces mental (yellow), physical and vital, but forces making for enlightenment of these parts of the being. The flowers usually indicate a psychic activity. Different Forms of Light One sometimes... flashes do not as yet bring knowledge—as the sunlight from above the mind does,—but they prepare the consciousness for realisation and knowledge. Sparks or movements of light indicate the play of forces in the consciousness or around it. Any well-formed illumined thought can be seen as a spark of light. A glow means a subdued but rich light or else a sort of warm exhilaration of ...
... have a glimpse of the Truth, one must take at least one step back in one's consciousness, enter a little more deeply into one's being and try to perceive the play of forces behind the appearance, and the Divine Presence behind the play of forces . The Mother, Questions and Answers (1929 - 1931): Niraya (Hell) Here are Sri Aurobindo's words which are quite apt: To look into ourselves and ...
... especially due to the love of the human mind for trenchant solutions. In this case the mind likes to have either Fate or Free-Will, one of the two as the supreme Force, thus refusing to see the complex play of forces that the universe is and treating a partial truth as the whole truth. The force of Fate or Destiny is undeniable. But even where destiny has been foreknown or announced in advance, whether... superior to the one present in utkata karma. Naturally, this force has to be the force of the Spirit. For, amidst the planes of being it is the Spirit that stands at the top, and in the play of forces, although each force appears as supreme on its own plane, ultimately it is modifiable here by the higher or highest force. This can also be seen from the instances where the astrological predictions ...
... front, it is not because I have aspired for them. When the inertia is prominent, it is not that I have wanted it. Of course not. It depends on the play of forces in the consciousness itself. If the play of forces does not depend on us, what is the use of our aspirations? It does depend on you — your consent or refusal which has to be developed till it is ...
... the other centres of consciousness `in the silence'. It is in the Transcendent that you will feel the identification. Later, you will realise this union even in the manifested activity—in the play of forces—and at that moment the union you speak about is possible. I do not yet succeed in realising actually the independence of my real being from my physical body—an independence which I can conceive... keeping it away during meditation. In the vital I feel the same working. Are there two centres, one below and one above the navel? The vital centre is at the navel itself. There is a play of forces between this centre and the chest centre. There is a connection between that part and the more physical part of the mind, the material stuff of mind. Below the centre of the navel there is another ...
... accepts the play of forces and works through that play so that ultimately the Divine Will may prevail and fulfill itself; for a time the opposing forces may conquer and the Divine Will withdraw, as is said in the Bhagavad Gita. Did not Sri Krishna have to leave the battle? The Divine foresees and provides for everything in the original plan but that plan is carried out through the play of forces whatever ...
... more is one astonished to see this miracle of things and the worlds that open before us, carrying the consciousness from one marvel to another, with an unforgettable experience of beauty, of the play of forces, of a serene peace, of a pure sweetness and a power of certitude in all our actions. One begins to see visions, have experiences, one hears voices, distinct directions to be followed, not with... a column of light; or a sovereign peace envelops you, a joy that vibrates with intensity seizes you. You become more and more conscious of your being and also of your surroundings. All kinds of play of forces enthuse you. Sometimes the Kundalini awakes and the centres that lie hidden within you open, to create a direct connection with the consciousness that exists beyond your being, above the head, ...
... vital destiny can be changed. That is why astrologers hardly prove themselves right because they look at the physical whereas there can be a variation in the play of forces of the mental, vital and physical planes. On these a certain play of forces may show as if the destiny was in favour of one or the other group of forces. And this balance can be changed. Page 286 Disciple : ...
... special difficulty, since it has been shown from the beginning that it is through the pranam that Harin receives and to stop it is to risk stopping the sadhana; at the same time owing to a certain play of forces to continue as before was becoming impossible. The Mother gave the pranam elsewhere as the one device that occurred to her and, as it succeeded, thought of continuing it. That is all. I have... ersonal point of view. There is on one side my effort at perfection, for myself and others and for the possibility of a greater perfection in a changed humanity: on the other side there is a play of forces, some favouring it but more trying to prevent it. The challenge ; speak of comes from these forces. On one side it is a pressure from the pro-forces saying "Your work is not good enough; learn ...
... one means—not the only one—of self-mastery; but asceticism that cuts away life is an exaggeration, though one that had many remarkable results which perhaps could hardly have come otherwise. The play of forces in this world is enigmatic, escaping from any rigid rule of the reason, and even an exaggeration like that is often employed to bring about something needed for the full development of human a... different fields of its play and to abolish their distinctions is not the way to arrive at true understanding of experience. Science deals effectively with phenomena and process and the apparent play of forces which determine the process. It can not deal even intellectually in any adequate way with ultimate truths, that is the province of the higher, less external mind—represented up till now by metaphysics ...
... complete. Well, the determination of human life and events is a mysterious thing. Can't help that, you know. Fate is composed of many things—Cosmic Will + individual self-determination + play of forces + Karma + x + y + z + a + b + c ad infinitum. Predictions and Prophecy I am afraid I have no great confidence in Cheiro's ideas and prophecies—some prophecies are fulfilled but most have... plane through which or on which all is foreseeable; if there is a divine Omniscience and Omnipotence it must be so. Even then what is foreseen has to be worked out, actually is worked out by a play of forces,—spiritual, mental, vital, physical forces—and in that plane of forces there is no absolute rigidity discoverable. Personal will or endeavour is one of those forces—Napoleon when asked why he believed ...
... decreed, nothing can prevent it; but all things are worked out here through a play of forces, and an unfavourable atmosphere or conditions can delay even when they cannot prevent. Even when the thing is destined, it does not present itself as a certitude in the consciousness here (Overmind-mind-vital-physical) till the play of forces has been worked out up to a certain point at which the descent not only ...
... have a glimpse of the Truth, one must take at least one step back in one's consciousness, enter a little more deeply into one's being and try to perceive the play of forces behind the appearances and the divine Presence behind the play of forces. 25 July 1958 Page 279 ...
... judgment… (how shall I put it?) a correct judgment about things, for one does not know what is going on in the world. We do not know the whole, we know nothing of the play of forces. And we say that chance is the result of a play of forces; only, instead of being the expression of divine harmony, it is the expression of conflicting wills. These wills are not all necessarily bad or hostile but they are ...
... as I said. NIRODBARAN: Can the Vision of the Supreme be different from the decision of these higher worlds? SRI AUROBINDO: Why not? There can be a variation of the play of forces in the different planes. The play of forces may appear as the destiny were in favour of one or another group of forces and that they were the makers of destiny. There are different layers of destiny, so to say. When ...
... surprised at in that, the man harmonised round something central in him is a rarity. Now about predestination and chance. The ultimate responsibility then lies with this "Something" on which the play of forces is dependent and with those, for instance, who have gone away from here due to hostile influence—it was possible because this Something gave its sanction? No chance exists then and no free will... while we think we are enjoying great freedom. And this play is again guided by Something? There is no question of responsibility. The "Something" does not act arbitrarily, paying no heed to the play of forces or the man's nature. "Selects" does not mean "selects at random." If a man puts himself on the side of or into the hands of the hostile influences and says "This way I will go and no other. I want ...
... evening. There is no "why" for these things that can be specifically stated. It comes out of the total condition of things in the play of forces. Would you please explain to me this important process of sadhana — the play of forces between the higher and the lower? There are higher forces and lower — the lower have to be worked out by contact with the higher ...
... arranged by the Divine how can one's wanting change it? If it is merely a result of the play of forces which seems inevitable, then one can change it by the will, if the will is supported by the Divine. Is every movement, even the future, planned by Nature? In Nature it is by the play of forces that the result is determined. In the ultimate vision of things, can it not ...
... Sri Aurobindo : No, even if I had known for a certainty that it would fail still it had to be done – It is a question of play of forces and the important thing is that the other force should not be there. We cannot explain these things to people – this play of forces – who ask for rational explanation because it is so irrational. Page 318 ...
... sort of counteraction to false ideas and rumours about the Asram and a vague general effect on the public mind. I allow it not because it has any central value for the work, but there is in the play of forces a tendency towards pressure for a more favourable attitude towards the Asram in Pondicherry and elsewhere and some measure of respect in Europe also and this is helpful to a certain extent. Especially ...
... work—the result would be equally unsatisfactory. My concentration is for a particular work—it is not for meditation divorced from life. When I concentrate I work upon others, upon the world, upon the play of forces. What I say is that to spend all the time reading and writing letters is not sufficient for the purpose. I am not asking to become a meditative Sannyasi. Did you not retire for five or six ...
... terms of time. I am not a prophet like Baroda Babu. All I can say is that the coming of independence is now sure (as anyone with any political sense at all can see). As you do not accept my "play of forces", I can say no more than that—for that is all that can be said by the "human time-sense". 20 September 1935 Page 207 The Communal Problem As regards Bengal, things are certainly ...
... things. I am still wondering why there should be doctors and a dispensary at all! Isn't it a paradox—the Divine sending his disciples to the human physician? Rubbish! This is a world of the play of forces, sir, and the Doctor is a force. So why should not the Divine use him? Have you realised that if the Divine did everything, there would be no world, only a show of marionettes? 2 February 1935 ...
... you are no longer a passive instrument, but you become an active agent. You are not only not bound by the consequences of your action, but you can even change the consequences. Once you see the play of forces, once you raise yourself to a plane of consciousness where lie the origins of forces and identify yourself with these dynamic sources, you belong no longer to what is moved but to that which moves ...
... proves that they have come into contact with the vibrations of the thing they had rejected, on a plane where they are vulnerable, the plane of thought, and that for some reason or other in the play of forces, they are open, and it comes back. This is something very well known in yoga. The simple fact of observing the victory one has gained—observing it mentally, you see, thinking about it—is enough ...
... into events and can change the course of things. This is what aspiration can achieve. As for human effort, it is one of the things that are determined and its role is foreseen in the overall play of forces. 9 August 1969 ...
... fear, for in this endeavour an unflinching fearlessness is an essential condition of safety. Page 90 In one of its aspects, occult science is like a kind of chemistry applied to the play of forces and the structure of the worlds and individual forms of the inner dimensions. Just as in the chemistry of Matter the manipulation of certain substances is not without danger, so too in the occult ...
... all kinds of forces to enter in. So long as there is not the supramental consciousness controlling and penetrating everything, in all the being from the overmind downwards, there is an ambiguous play of forces, and each force, however divine in origin, may be used by the Powers of light or intercepted as it passes through the mind and the vital by the Powers of darkness. Vigilance, discrimination, control ...
... mpersonal point of view. There is on one side my effort at perfection, for myself and others and for the possibility of a greater perfection in a changed humanity: on the other side there is a play of forces some favouring it but more trying to prevent it. The challenge I speak of comes from these forces. On one side it is a pressure from the pro-forces saying "Your work is not good enough; learn to ...
... through you in the things of the outward life, there are three necessary conditions: 1) Quietude, equality—not to be disturbed by anything that happens, to keep the mind still and firm, seeing the play of forces, but itself tranquil. 2) Absolute faith—faith that what is for the best will happen, but also that if one can make oneself a true instrument, the fruit will be that which one's will guided by ...
... can vary with the same men. There is no definable reason for it being at a particular time except that it has made itself habitual at that time. The rest is a question of Page 69 the play of forces which is observable but the reasons of which escape mental definition. That is a frequent experience (though I suppose it is not general)—not only with peace, but other things; there is ...
... forces supplied to us out Page 218 of which (or rather out of a small amount of it) we make what we will or can. What we make seems fixed and formed for good, but in reality it is all a play of forces, a flux, nothing fixed or stable; the appearance of stability is given by constant repetition and recurrence of the same vibrations and formations. That is why our nature can be changed in spite ...
... limitation and in the little bit of personal mind and sense dependent on the body—it sees only the outward, sees only things. But the inner consciousness can see behind the thing, it is aware of the play of forces, personal or universal—for it is in conscious touch with the universal action. Page 90 The outer consciousness is that which usually expresses itself in ordinary life. It is the ...
... 548 be declared impossible. There may be some who do alternate. The presence of feminine traits in a male does not necessarily indicate a past feminine birth—they may come in the general play of forces and their formations. There are besides qualities common to both sexes. Also a fragment of the psychological personality may have been associated with a birth not one's own. One can say of a certain ...
... found by Buddha. There are many paths and all need not be one and the same in their teaching. Destruction in itself is neither good nor evil. It is a fact of Nature, a necessity in the play of forces as things are in this world. The Light destroys the Darkness and the Powers of Darkness, and that is not a movement of Ignorance! It all depends on the character of the destruction and the forces ...
... × One may have the experiences on the mental plane without this knowledge coming—for there Mind and Idea predominate and one does not feel the play of Forces—it is only in the vital that that becomes clear. In the mind plane they manifest at most as mental suggestions and not as concrete Powers. Also if one looks at things with the Mind only (even though ...
... Ritam is being organised, but is self-constructive rather than transcendently decisive. Therefore it lacks mastery & self-confidence and fullness. The defect is in tapas-siddhi. There is the play of forces, the acceptance of all forces, the effectivity of tapas in the end. But the balance wavers continually; the tapas effects itself through a struggle of mutual adaptation on the level of this action ...
... quite other sources. Even supposing there is any direct guidance,—most often in these conditions the Divine acts mostly from behind the veil,—it is only occasional and the rest is done through a play of forces; error and stumbling and mixture of Ignorance take place freely and these things are allowed because the sadhak has to be tested by the world-forces, to learn by experience, to grow through im ...
... with life, a violent revolt against what is considered the imposition of an unjust providence or an adverse malignant fate. It has nothing of the sense of freedom behind it, no knowledge of the play of forces behind the exterior life, no means of mastering them or using them as stepping-stones to a higher freedom, a greater destiny. The calm poise of the soul, the peace that surpasseth understanding ...
... will be there. Of course consciousness grows as the opening increases and one result of consciousness is to be able to see in oneself—but not to see the weaknesses only, to see the whole play of forces. Only in the right consciousness one does not regard the weaknesses even in a too personal way so as to get discouraged. One has to see them as the play of nature, mental nature, vital nature, ...
... the Prakriti. You feel it mechanical because you are in the physical consciousness where all is mechanism. On the mental and vital plane one can have the same experience, but of the actions as a play of forces. What is lacking at present to you is the other side of the experience, viz. that of the silent Atman or else of the witness Purusha calm, tranquil, free, pure and undisturbed by the play of the ...
... worlds and universes by the mere fiat of its word. We perceive a process, we are aware of a Law. It is true that this Law when we analyse it, seems to resolve itself into an equilibrium of the play of forces and a determination of that play into fixed lines of working by the accident of development and the habit of past realised energy. But this apparent and secondary truth is final to us only so long ...
... the supreme Consciousness. That's all. Otherwise, one must intervene. And he had that sense to the utmost, you understand, it was with him that I learned not to intervene. Otherwise, it's the play of forces, and it's NECESSARY to intervene. But there, if one is like this ( still gesture, turned upward ), then it's the Supreme Power that comes. Then... It's a frightful ordeal. Yes... yes—to ...
... according to Sri Aurobindo, these colours generally have the following significances, though the exact meaning may vary "with the field, the combinations, the character and shades of the colour, the play of forces": red = physical; orange = supramental in the physical; yellow = thinking mind; green = life; blue = higher mind; violet = divine compassion or grace; gold = divine Truth; white = the light of ...
... under the conditions of mind, life & body, the luminousness becomes divided & broken up into uneven rays, the freedom trammelled by egoism and unequal forms, the effectiveness veiled by the uneven play of forces. We Page 100 have, therefore, states of consciousness, non-consciousness & false consciousness, knowledge & ignorance & false knowledge, effective force & inertia and ineffective force ...
... true, of course). There are all the theories that explain evil as the action of adverse forces in the universe, but that seems quite childish. And as always it showed something VERY subtle in the play of forces (and how, to try and make it [evil] understood, the notion was born of a "succession in time," which is absurd—in other words, successive creations). And there was something very subtle to show ...
... feel it, I know those things, because I feel which Force or Power is acting—when I am with one person or another, there is always something that is the witness and watches Page 20 the play of Forces, and it is this observation that lets me know. If I am asked, "Who is it?"—I know because of this. ADDENDUM ( Extract from "The Mother" by Sri Aurobindo 5 ) Imperial MAHESHWARI ...
... colours, flowers are always seen when there is a working of the forces within at a certain stage of the sadhana. The light of course indicates an illumination of the consciousness, the colour, the play of forces mental (yellow), physical and vital, but forces making for enlightenment of these parts of the being. The flowers usually indicate a psychic activity. The light is often seen in front before ...
... quite other sources. Even supposing there is any direct guidance,—most often in these conditions the Divine acts mostly from behind the veil,—it is only occasional and the rest is done through a play of forces; error and stumbling and mixture of Ignorance take place freely and these things are allowed because the sadhaka has to be tested by the world-forces to learn by experience, to grow through im ...
... life. What happens at a particular juncture of the world-action or the life of humanity, however catastrophic, is not ultimately determinative. Here, too, one has to see not only the outward play of forces in a particular case or at a particular time but also the inner and secret play, the far-off outcome, the event that lies beyond and the Will at work behind it all. Falsehood and Darkness are ...
... yourself with them so long as they remain incognito... One may have the experiences on the mental plane without this knowledge coming — for there mind and idea predominate and one does not feel the play of Forces — it is only in the vital that this becomes clear. In the mind plane they manifest at most as mental suggestions and not as concrete powers. Also, if one looks at things with the mind only (even ...
... functions—I don't know. And beneath, there are still old undercurrents of mental influence, from what we are used to calling the "higher" mind (intuitive mind and so on). And then, all around, a whole play of forces, suggestions, formations, which comes from outside. I say "from outside," but there's no sense of "outside"; there's no such sense, no longer any sense of "these people here" and "those people ...
... conclude that it's a highly superior consciousness which sees things with reasons that completely elude us, sees how things must be done and sets them in motion ( global gesture to indicate the play of forces ) until they are done as they must be done. And where there was a person, it no longer exists—there are no more "persons": there are forces in movement that bring about certain material actions ...
... tolerated because they're part of the tapasya [discipline], so it doesn't refuse them—it doesn't complain, doesn't refuse—but... it's a fierce tapasya. Page 258 And it's not merely the play of forces: it's conscious. 3 It's conscious and has the obstinacy of a conscious will. ( long silence ) I saw P.L. [the disciple from the Vatican] yesterday. Have you seen him? Yes. He ...
... have a global consequence?... I don't know. Or is it truly the first sign of something very... very momentous? ( silence ) One day (for me now, everything is part of an extremely precise play of forces)... and one day I had a sort of sensation of one of those profound upheavals... something very widespread and full of GREAT pain. So something in me spontaneously sprang up from the individual ...
... guru announcing his coming visit: ) ...He has sent me his usual message: it's a sort of picture with all the colors. You know that Tantrism attributes a value to each color; they make a sort of play of forces with all those colors, depending on what they want to say or express—they're lights, very brightly colored lights. It's very particular; the first time I saw that, it was connected with Tantrism ...
... evident. You know, I am like a speck of... ( [Mother makes a gesture in the hollow of a Hand] how can I explain it?...) of dust, but a dust that suffers, that's the trouble. Very sensitive. But the play of forces is growing increasingly clear and powerful, and over an increasingly extensive field. And directly HERE [in matter], with extraordinary precision and force. It's a consolation. Let's just not ...
... meaning, perhaps it has to be discovered in this possibility of an adventurous experiment in delight. Vedic parables are always rich in several hues of a basic truth-principle operating in the play of forces and have the power to actualise the realisable. Savitri belongs to these. And there is always the benign hand leading and guiding a true aspirant to his goal of sunlit immortality. Take, for ...
... and in the little bit of personal mind and sense dependent on the body — it sees only the outward, sees only things. But the inner consciousness can see behind the thing, it is aware of the play of forces, personal or universal — for it is in conscious touch with the universal action. Letters on Yoga, p. 312 ...nothing is more difficult than to bring home the greatness and uplifting ...
... Yoga, p. 317 The spiritual consciousness is that in which we enter into the awareness of Self, the Spirit, the Divine and are able to see in all things their essential reality and the play of forces and phenomena as proceeding from that essential Reality. Letters on Yoga, p. 316 The higher consciousness lives always in touch with the Self— the lower is separated from it by ...
... plane through which or on which all is foreseeable; if there is a divine Omniscience and Omnipotence, it must be so. Even then what is foreseen has to be worked out, actually is worked out by a play of forces—spiritual, mental, vital and physical forces—and in that plane of forces there is no absolute rigidity discoverable. Personal will or endeavour is one of those forces. Napoleon when asked why he ...
... offer Rs.300 even — (Sri Aurobindo's note :) One may have the experiences on the mental plane without this knowledge coming—for there Mind and Idea Predominate and one does not feel the play of Forces—it is only in the vital that that becomes clear. In the mind plane they manifest at most as mental suggestions and not as concrete Powers, Also, if one looks at things with the Mind only (even ...
... will immediately take place, or that all difficulties will be abolished and everything will be like a fairytale. It is not like that. It is something more profound. Nature has accepted into her play of forces the newly manifested Force and has included it in her movements. But as always, the movements of Nature take place on a scale infinitely surpassing the human scale and invisible to the ordinary ...
... Sri Aurobindo: Well, the determination of human life and events is a mysterious thing. Can't help that, you know. Fate is composed of many things - Cosmic Will + individual self-determination + play of forces -I- Karma -t-x + y + z-i-a + b + c ad infinitum. 38 NB: Some say that the Divine's Way would have been to try to turn the wife also this way or to help Sri Aurobindo: God only knows ...
... sadhana or create difficulties. Evidently he is a man who is psychically sensitive or has become so to that thing which you blindly refuse to recognize even when you are in the midst of it—the play of forces. You can feel your friend's atmosphere through the letter "so beautiful, so strengthening, so refreshing" and it has an immediate effect on you. But your mind stares like an owl and wonders "What ...
... of the kind. I don't even know what this "undesirable activity" can mean. The Nirvanic peace and calm has a perpetual support but not a refuge in which one can avoid the necessary struggle and play of forces that occur in the movement of transformation. These things can go on without breaking the supporting calm and peace. For the past few days, I feel much too void or neutral. But ...
... display one sees before the sun rises, only infinitely grander. I don't remember whether your image flashed through before or after the vision. Has it any significance? The play of colours is the play of forces and on the east indicates something that is beginning or about to begin. December 27, 1933 Mother, your reproachful look in the morning put me out of all good cheer. Is it due to a ...
... work—the result would be equally unsatisfactory. My concentration is for a particular work—it is not for meditation divorced from life. When I concentrate I work upon others, upon the world, upon the play of forces. What I say is that to spend all the time reading and writing letters is not sufficient for the purpose. I am not asking to become a meditative Sanyasi. Did you not retire for five or six years ...
... status the past and the future are rolled together in the eternal present and all exist there as an accomplished fact: there is nothing there to be worked out and achieved. But lower down there is a play of forces, of conflicting possibilities and the resultant is a balance of these divergent lines. When one identifies oneself with the higher static consciousness one finds nothing to be done, all is rea ...
... everything seems to remain the same, yet it is not so in reality; always a new element is being poured into the existing circumstances, always an additional spark or influence enters into actual play of forces. It is the accumulated presure of all the variables that brings about the great changes upon earth and in humanity which are summed up in the word evolution—changes cosmological and psychological ...
... special purpose. Man is not a fabrication of the Lower Maya, a formation thrown up in the evolutionary course by a temporary idea in the Page 43 Cosmic Mind and developed through the play of forces; on the other hand, it is a typal reality, a Real-Idea—a formation of the original truth-consciousness, the Divine's own transcendental existence. Man is the figure of the Divine Person. The Impersonal ...
... mantra—in spite of its musty covering, it carries the purest nugget of gold. Indeed, Right, Duty and Dharma are three terms that represent the three stages of an ascending consciousness in its play of forces. At the base and beginning the original and primary state of consciousness is dominated by the mode of inertia (tamos), in that state things are an inchoate mass and are simply jumbled together; ...
... who have come in has some chance to go through if he can hold on to it. Disciple : There is also a chance of failure. Sri Aurobindo : Of course, and besides, the whole universe is a play of forces and one can't always wait till all the conditions of success have been fulfilled. One has to take risks and take his chance. Disciple : What is meant by "chance" ? Does it mean that it is ...
... disappears, what is the explanation? Sri Aurobindo : But what is dematerialisation? In fact, we must ask : what is Matter? It is made of certain forces Page 196 or a play of forces holding up, or maintaining, the physical form is it not ? Disciple : In that case can we not speak of "life" Of an atom? Sri Aurobindo : The explanation can be that when an object ...
... mantra-in spite of its musty covering, it carries the purest nugget of gold. Indeed, Right, Duty and Dharma are three terms that represent the three stages of an ascending consciousness in its play of forces. At the base and beginning the original and primary state of consciousness is dominated by the mode of inertia (tamas); in that state things are an inchoate mass and are simply jumbled together; ...
... special sense and for a special purpose. Man is not a fabrication of the Lower Maya, a formation thrown up in the evolutionary course by a temporary idea in the Cosmic Mind and developed through the play of forces; on the other hand, it is a typal reality, a Real-Idea – a formation of the original truth-consciousness, the Divine's own transcendental existence. Man is the figure of the Divine Person. The ...
... everything seems to. remain the same, yet it is not so in reality; always a new element is being poured into the existing circumstances, always an additional spark or influence enters into actual play of forces. It is the accumulated pressure of all the variables that brings about the great changes upon earth and in humanity which are summed up in the word evolution – changes cosmological and psychological ...
... MANILAL: It was not done by the intervention of the Mother? SRI AUROBINDO: Maybe, but it was not a miracle, it was the result of a Contact with some forces that brought down the rain. It was a play of forces. Any number of people have done that sort of thing. There is the story of some European who prayed to save the ship he was on in the midst of a heavy storm, and it was saved. Then the well-known ...
... vibrations and tuning in elsewhere, as we please. Hence, contrary to all the old saws, human nature can be changed. Nothing in our consciousness or nature is fixed once and for all; everything is a play of forces or vibrations, which gives the illusion of "natural" necessity by virtue of repetition. This is why Sri Aurobindo's yoga envisions the possibility of an entire reversal of the ordinary rule of ...
... Supermind), but the Mother also asked her audience of 1 January 1958 not to jump to conclusions and expect a spate of miraculism on the physical plane: It is something much deeper: Nature, in her play of forces, has accepted the new Force which has manifested and included it in her movements It is an inner, psychological possibility which has come into the world rather than a spectacular change in earthly ...
... her day's work. 19-12-1933 My concentration is for a particular work – it is not for meditation divorced from life. When I concentrate, I work upon others, upon the world, upon the play of forces. What I say is that to spend all the time reading and writing letters is notsufficient for the purpose. I am not asking to become a meditative Sannyasi.³ 19-12-1934 If we had lived ...
... But during the intervening thirty years Sri Aurobindo made a series of discoveries —stupendous discoveries to found his system of Yoga. Very early on he found out that "the whole universe is a play of forces." Fire, hurricane, or earthquake and flood, eruption of volcanoes, each elemental force of Nature is directed by a specific force. If one can learn to master that specific 'force' one gains control ...
... system of manifestation 4) It is the last journey 5) It is the last journey in the intellectuality The action of the tapas-siddhi is now revealed in three forms, the nervous with the play of forces, action & reaction, resistance etc, the mental, with perceptions realising themselves if vijnanamaya, acting as forces, if pranamaya, & the ideal working by the swabhava. The fourth is not yet ...
... inspiration, it was he. Song, he records somewhere, came to him spontaneously, without any conscious mental effort: it fountained from inner depths, whole and perfect. There is here indicated a play of forces that are beyond the poet's personality and though their nature is, as a rule, adapted to the bent and colour of that personality they are something greater than he and have a direction of their ...
... is indicative of the psychic being. The light, colours and flowers are seen when there is a working of forces. The light indicates an illumination of the consciousness, the colour indicates the play of forces—mental, vital, physical—for the enlightenment of various parts of the being. The flowers indicate psychic activity, a blossoming of the consciousness. It is, therefore, evident that during this ...
... meaning, perhaps it has to be discovered in this possibility of an adventurous experiment in delight. Vedic parables are always rich in several hues of a basic truth-principle operating in the play of forces and have the power to actualise the realisable. Savitri belongs to these. And there is always the benign hand leading and guiding a true aspirant to his goal of sunlit immortality. Take, for instance ...
... constant activity of forces supplied to us out of which (or rather out of a small amount of it) we make what we will or can. What we make seems fixed and formed for good, but in reality it is all a play of forces, a flux, nothing fixed or stable; the appearance of stability is given by constant repetition and recurrence of the same vibrations and formations. That is why our nature can be changed in spite ...
... life. What happens at a particular juncture of the world-action or the life of humanity, however catastrophical, is not ultimately determinative. Here, too, one has to see not only the outward play of forces in a particular case or at a particular time but also the inner and secret play, the far-off outcome, the event that lies beyond and the will at Work behind it all. Falsehood and Darkness are strong ...
... materialist idea, it is form which precedes consciousness and makes it possible for consciousness to manifest. For those who have some knowledge of the invisible worlds and a direct perception of the play of forces, there is no possible doubt: it is necessarily consciousness which produces a form in order to manifest. The way things are arranged on earth, it is quite certainly a consciousness of a higher ...
... without any background information? What notion do we have of the echoes vibrating in her words? What notion did her still so young audience have of her multidimensional presence, of the complex play of forces they were involved in, focused on that apparently frail, white, small but so powerful figure sitting there in front of them? ‘For instance, in whatever happens, there is at the same time its e ...
... divineness. The background Yoga can be of diverse kinds. People may feel an action from above, illumining both mind and heart and opening an inner eye to strange glorious scenes or to a play of forces seeming to affect the very body although actually the occult or spiritual phenomena have the subtle-physical part of us as their field and the gross-physical form experiences no more than a mi ...
... await the people who have the strength to acquire it and the diligence to cultivate it. Nature knows no political frontiers. She begins by establishing life on this globe and then watches the free play of forces. Those who show the greatest courage and industry are the children nearest to her heart and they will be granted the sovereign right of existence.” 352 “We put an end to the perpetual Germanic ...
... Rauschning. “War is always. There is no beginning, there is no peace at the end. War is life.” 292 “Nature knows no political borders. She puts the living beings on this planet and looks on at the free play of forces. Who has the strongest courage and industry obtains then, as her dearest child, the right of the lordship over all beings.” 293 One Nazi leader summed it up: “National Socialism is applied biology ...
... down the Supermind? Are these conditions interdependent? A. To a certain extent. If the Supramental descent is decreed, nothing can prevent it; but all things are worked out here through a play of forces, and an unfavourable atmosphere or conditions can delay even when they cannot prevent. Even when the thing is destined, it does not present itself as a certitude in the consciousness here (overmind ...
... for a few. None of these things are secure or certain, even the last being certain only if it is followed with an absoluteness which only a few are willing to give. The life of the Ignorance is a play of forces through which man seeks his way and all depends on his growth through experience to the point at which he can grow out of it into something else. That something else is in fact a new conscious ...
... limitations is more and more undergoing the pressure of the Supramental and letting through a greater Light and Power. For so long as the Overmind intervenes (the principle of the Overmind being a play of forces, each trying to realise itself as the Truth) the law of struggle remains and with it the opportunity for the adverse Forces. It is not immortality of the body, but the consciousness of ...
... Avidya, but the Divine Consciousness, Power, Light, Para Prakriti to whom we turn for the release and the divine fulfilment. The realisation of the Purusha Consciousness calm, free, observing the play of forces but not attached or involved in them is a means of liberation. The calm, the detachment, a peaceful strength and joy ( ātmarati ) must be brought down into the vital and physical as well as into ...
... the hidden secrecy within them, and therefore the mind following their line of manifestation misses that which determines them and can only see a part of the actually present outward executive play of forces that help to give them their immediate character and direction. It is only the consciousness that reigns above, that of the supreme Ishwara, and is present in their secret heart, hṛddeśe tiṣṭhati ...
... Page 287 Vedic Rishis. The human individual is an organised unit of existence which reflects the constitution of the universe. It repeats in itself the same arrangement of states and play of forces. Man, subjectively, contains in himself all the worlds in which, objectively, he is contained. Preferring ordinarily a concrete to an abstract language, the Rishis speak of the physical consciousness ...
... limitation by His unity; all-powerful, He is able to conceive Himself from multiple centres in multiple forms from which and upon which flow multiple currents of energy, seen by us as actions or play of forces. When He is thus multiple, He is not bound by His multiplicity, but amid all variations dwells eternally in His own oneness. He is Lord of Vidya and Avidya. They are the two sides of His self- ...
... Ordinary Consciousness 1) The spiritual consciousness is that in which we enter into the awareness of Self, the Spirit, the Divine and are able to see in all things their essential reality and the play of forces and phenomena as proceeding from that essential Reality. 2) The cosmic consciousness is that in which the limits of ego, personal mind and body disappear and one becomes aware of a cosmic vastness ...
... colours, it is not always easy to define exactly, because it is not rigid and precise, but complex, the meaning varying with the field, the combinations, the character and shades of the colour, the play of forces. A certain kind of yellow, for instance, is supposed by many occultists to indicate the buddhi , the intellect, and it often has that sense, but occurring among a play of vital forces it could ...
... feeling which, so embodied, will reach him. But I don't suppose mere mechanical thoughts or ill-formed imaginations would do that—at any rate it must be rare and need exceptional conditions or a play of forces in which a trifle counts. Yes, one's bad thoughts and good thoughts can have a bad or a good effect on others, though they have not always because they are not strong enough—but still that ...
... ordinary life naturally has its mental, vital and physical pleasures, but it is of a superficial character and there is no firm foundation of the consciousness anywhere—all is at the mercy of the play of forces. In Yoga there is the period of struggle and difficulty in which the difficulty and suffering can be acute and the period of the foundation in the true consciousness after which there is no serious ...
... play and to abolish their distinctions is not the way to arrive at true understanding of experience. Science deals effectively with phenomenon and process and Page 90 the apparent play of forces which determine the process. It cannot deal even intellectually in any adequate way with ultimate truths, that is the province of the higher, less external mind—represented up till now by metaphysics ...
... have plenty of weaknesses and wrong movements. It is blindness not to be able to see that; only it should not lead to a criticising or condemnatory attitude on persons—it should be regarded as the play of forces which have to be overcome. 1933 To be turned wholly to the Mother and have nothing but friendly relations with the sadhaks, the same for all, is a counsel of perfection; but not many can ...
... it seems absurd and foolish to think that anybody knows more about people than Mother. It is a favourite form of criticism and quite natural to the human mind which knows nothing about the play of forces through which the Divine Movement has to make its way under the conditions laid down by the play of the Ignorance. 7 May 1933 I am often guilty of a feeling of ingratitude towards the Mother ...
... and life. What happens in a particular juncture of the world-action or the life of humanity, however catastrophical, is not ultimately determinative. Here too one has to see not only the outward play of forces in a particular case or at a particular time but also the inner and secret play, the far-off outcome, the event that lies beyond and the Will at work behind it all. Falsehood and Darkness are strong ...
... own or those of others, those also are simply mental images or vital formations. The true significant ones are those that come of themselves and correspond to things, states of consciousness or a play of forces that are actual and not determined mainly by one's ideas, will or feelings. Visions are of all kinds—some are merely suggestions of what wants to be or is trying to be, some indicate some ...
... Page 373 the transformation of mind, life and body into the instruments of a spiritual and supramental perfection. The universe is not only a material but a spiritual fact, life not only a play of forces or a mental experience, but a field for the evolution of the concealed spirit. Human life will receive its fulfilment and transformation into something beyond itself only when this truth is seized ...
... of a hundred, what you do does not give the expected result. Not one person in a million would do his work if he were told: "Do this, but the result will not be at all what you want." But in the play of forces many must work for the aggregate of forces, for the totality of forces, although individually this work has no personal utility for the one who does it. So, if the individual had the knowledge ...
... and are in danger of falling into an abyss. When one truly attains wisdom, the true wisdom, the wisdom Sri Aurobindo is speaking of here, there is no longer higher and lower; there is only a play of forces in which each thing has its place and its importance. And if there is a hierarchy it is a hierarchy of surrender to the Supreme. It is not a hierarchy of superiority with regard to what is below ...
... but the Divine Consciousness, Power, Light, Para Prakriti to whom we turn for the release and the divine fulfilment. The realisation of the Purusha consciousness calm, free, observing the play of forces but not attached or involved in them is a means of liberation. The calm, the detachment, a peaceful strength and joy ( ā tmarati) must be brought down into the vital and physical as well as into ...
... constant activity of forces supplied to us out of which (or rather out of a small amount of it) we make what we will or can. What we make seems fixed and formed for good, but in reality it is all a play of forces, a flux, nothing fixed or stable; the appearance of stability is given by constant repetition and recurrence of the same vibrations and formations. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - I: The ...
... other sources. Even supposing there is any direct guidance, - most often in these conditions the Divine acts mostly from behind the veil, - it is only occasional and the rest is done through a play of forces; error and stumbling and mixture of Ignorance take place freely and these things are allowed because the sadhak has to be tested by the world-forces, to learn by experience, to grow through im ...
... happen immediately; that all difficulties will be Page 245 done away with and everything will be as it is in fairy-tales. It is not that. It is something much deeper: Nature, in her play of forces, has accepted the new Force which has manifested and included it in her movements. And as always, the movements of Nature are on a scale which is infinitely beyond the human scale and not visible ...
... materialist idea, it is form which precedes consciousness and makes it possible for consciousness to manifest. For those who have some knowledge of the invisible worlds and a direct perception of the play of forces, there is no possible doubt: it is necessarily consciousness which produces a form in order to manifest. Now, the way things are arranged on earth, it is quite certainly a consciousness of a ...
... debarred Himself from folly. Why does God need to be weak? Sri Aurobindo does not say that God has any need of weakness. He says that in any particular whole, for the perfection of the play of forces, a moment of weakness may be just as necessary as a display of strength. And he adds, somewhat ironically, that since God is almighty force, He can at the same time afford to be weak, if necessary ...
... government is righteous and compassionate? In their outward dealings they are all the same. "Then why do you support one against another?" This is quite another matter and depends on the play of forces acting behind the surface. Some forces are working for the Divine, some are quite anti-divine in their aim and purpose. If the nations or the governments who are blindly the instruments of the ...
... according to Sri Aurobindo, these colors generally have the following significances, though the exact meaning may vary "with the field, the combinations, the character and shades of the color, the play of forces": red = physical; orange = supramental in the physical; yellow = thinking mind; green = life; blue = higher mind; violet = divine compassion or grace; gold = divine Truth; white = the light of ...
... road: it is he who is victorious. That's it, it clearly demonstrates the kind of relationship between truth and its expression. So, if one enters into that consciousness where one perceives the play of forces and sees the world like that, it's very interesting; and that's how, when I was in that state, it was told to me, clearly shown (it's inexpressible because it is not in words, but in facts): "That's ...
... can take up the path of religion. For occultism we must already have come to a second stage of development and be more conscious in the vital world to be able to come into contact with the play of forces, which is indispensable in order to manipulate them. As for spiritual philosophy, only the few who have a fairly complete mental development and are fully conscious on the intellectual plane ...
... another there is no need for any means of transport, to feed ourselves it is not necessary to put external things into the body, to dress ourselves we have no need to put on clothes, etc ... . The play of forces is the spontaneous expression of Truth and of the true Will, the true vision. The question remains: for those who have seen and to whom things have happened in this way (like the little child ...
... will immediately take place, or that all difficulties will be abolished and everything will be like a fairy tale. It is not like that. It is something more profound. Nature has accepted into her play of forces the newly manifested Force and has included it in her movements. But as always, the movements of Nature take place on a scale infinitely surpassing the human scale and invisible to the ordinary ...
... didn't want me to walk on the edge, on the rugged stones of the road, and that's why he left... It has left me with an absolutely unforgettable impression because it was a revelation of the play of forces—of what things TRULY are in spite of their appearances, which are deceptive. ( silence ) Page 48 His head was a splendor. And it dominated everything, that was what did the directing—it ...
... world, because they influence receptive brains in any land, and are expressed by corresponding thoughts in the appropriate language). And above this zone, free of form, sound and though, is the play of forces appearing as colored lights. And when you go there and have the power, you can combine those forces so Page 389 that they eventually materialize as creations on earth (it takes some ...
... the road—he is the real victor. That's how it is, it clearly shows the kind of relationship between the truth and the expression. Then, if you enter the consciousness in which you perceive the play of forces and see the world in that light, it's very interesting. And that's how, when I was in that state, I was told, clearly shown (it's inexpressible because it isn't with words, but these are facts): ...
... sense of ego completely disappears, it does not exist. There isn't "a person" in front of others, you understand, receiving and sending influences—it's no longer like that at all. It's a general play of forces ( Mother makes a vast, fluid gesture ) in which everyone spontaneously plays his part. Several times the body has had that experience. It remains in that for a long time. Now it's almost... ...
... sex cannot be declared impossible. There may be some who do alternate. The presence of feminine traits in a male does not necessarily indicate a past feminine birth—they may come in the general play of forces and their formations. There are besides qualities common to both sexes. Also a fragment of the psychological personality may have been associated with a birth not ones own. One can say of a certain ...
... mysterious word. Well, the determination of human life and events is a mysterious thing. Can't help that, you know Fate is composed of many things—Cosmic Will + individual self-determination + play of forces + Karma + x + y + z + a + b + c ad infinitum. Suicides and accidents are supposed to be due to hostile Forces. Not Forces hostile to our work, but hostile to the suicide and to the accidented ...
... secret." Then he said something about the Mother testing him. The Mother had come into the room meanwhile and had been listening to him. THE MOTHER: Testing is not the practice here. It is the play of forces or at times the adverse forces that do the testing in order to measure your strength. If you refuse to listen to them and remain firm, they withdraw. People have enough difficulties already; ...
... sex cannot be declared impossible. There may be some who do alternate. The presence of feminine traits in a male does not necessarily indicate a past feminine birth - they may come in the general play of forces and their formations. There are besides qualities common to both sexes. Also a fragment of the psychological personality may have been associated with a birth not ones own. One can say of a certain ...
... with people and even can vary with the same man. There is no definable reason for it being at a particular time except that it has made itself habitual at that time. The rest is a question of the play of forces which is observable but the reasons of which escape mental definition. There is a certain amount of peace and silence so long as I keep myself plunged in writing. But when I go for ...
... be facing while supramen-talising the whole material Nature! How do you manage it? The attacks must be coming on your physical body also. When one knows that it is like that and sees the play of forces one does not get disturbed. There is the inner position described by the Gita, "Whatever comes or goes, sattwa, rajas or tamas, the Yogi regards calmly and is not elated or depressed by it." ...
... is yours then? SRI AUROBINDO: As for me, there is the Force, the doctor and the medicine. It is the combination of all these that brings about the cure. From my point of view, a disease is a play of forces. If you make a combination of one kind of forces, it gives one result, a different combination a different result. But in Nishtha's case the main credit, goes to the chicken (laughter) and one ...
... issue has been decided by the Divine Vision and there can be no change. But nobody knows what the decision is." These two long extracts are enoughto show clearly Sri Aurobindo's vision of the play of forces, how they try through the use of human instruments to fulfil their purpose and also what Sri Aurobindo's part was in this mysterious play. I shall now give some extracts from our talks to demonstrate ...
... things. I am still wondering why there should be doctors and a dispensary at all! Isn't it a paradox—the Divine sending his disciples to the human physician? Rubbish! This is a world of the play of forces, sir, and the Doctor is a force. So why should not the Divine use him? Have you realised that if the Divine did everything, there would be no world, only a show of marionnettes? D also thinks ...
... not be Asuric, they may be quite gentlemanly Forces thinking they are in the right. Or two Divine Forces might knock at each other for the fun of the thing. Infinite possibilities, sir, in the play of Forces.) Even if it can't be wrong, its efficacy will vary with the power of the communicant. For instance there will be a difference between Ramakrishna's and Vivekananda's Force, and therefore in ...
... does it differ from the central vital? It is the small vital that brings small desires, greeds, jealousies, angers etc. The other is a larger movement of ambition, power, play of forces, effectuation of work etc. What are doubts and hesitations? From where do they pay us an uninvited visit and how to get the Page 45 upper hand over them? Such ...
... status the past and the future are rolled together in the eternal present and all exist there as an accomplished fact: there is nothing there to be worked out and achieved. But lower down there is a play of forces, of conflicting possibilities and the resultant is a balance of these divergent lines. When one identifies oneself with the higher static consciousness one finds nothing to be done, all is realised ...
... Utopian. A deeper vision, to which the materialist is usually averse, would reveal the truth that what is in the causal or seminal state passes into the subtle or subliminal through a complex play of forces and, in the same way and in its own time, manifests in the material. The material self-projection of the causal Idea is what is known as the physical universe, to which materialism keeps its ...
... revolt, suffering, struggle, and difficulty. But the world could have evolved differently – more like a flower blooming from inside to outside. But the forces of the Asura-type entered the universal play of forces and perverted it. This is the truth known to almost all the religions : the snake – the evil, tempting Prakriti – Eve, – Prakriti deceiving Purusha – Adam. The Purusha consented and they fell ...
... years more scrupulously than any scientist his theory or his method on the physical plane." ( 18-8-1932 )10 (2) " When I concentrate, I work upon others, upon the world, upon the play of forces." (19-12-1934).11 (3) " The invisible Force producing tangible results both inward and outward is the whole meaning of the yogic consciousness. Who would be satisfied with such ...
... Roger [the architect of Auroville] or even to you?... I am very fond of Roger whom I hold in high esteem and I have always done my best to support him, but he would not really understand the play of forces at work behind appearances, neither would it do good to speak about these things without absolute necessity. My struggle is difficult enough as it is. ......... I do not do a private, personal ...
... through all these beings, through the forces at play in the world and the law of these forces and their results -- it is only when we open ourselves and get out of the ordinary consciousness that we can feel it intervening as an independent power and overriding the ordinary play of the forces. Then too we can see that even in the play of the forces and in spite of their distortions the... distorted by our own ignorance, weaknesses and mistakes, and by the clash of conflicting forces. That is why faith and equanimity are indispensable. We have to have the faith that in spite of our ignorance and errors and weaknesses and in spite of the attacks of hostile forces and in spite of any immediate appearance ofeach failure the Divine Will is leading us ...
... from the lower Prakriti with its play of ignorant Forces to the Supreme Divine Shakti, the Mother. Sometimes when I feel the necessity of standing apart from the play of Prakriti, I also have the counteracting feeling that this would mean a belittlement of the Mother. It is a mistake to identify the Mother with the lower Prakriti and its mechanism of forces. Prakriti here is a mechanism only... Page 62 of the Ignorance,—it appears as the lower nature and the lower nature makes you do wrong things. The Divine allows the play of these Forces so long as you do not yourself want anything better. But if you are a sadhak, then you do not accept the play of the lower nature, you turn to the Divine Mother instead, and ask her to work through you instead of the lower Nature. It is only when ...
... works through all these beings, through the forces at play in the world and the law of these forces and their results. It is only when we open ourselves and get out of the ordinary consciousness that we can feel it intervening as an independent power and overriding the ordinary play of the forces. Then too we can see that even in the play of the forces and in spite of their distortions the Cosmic... Sri Aurobindo The Synthesis of Yoga - I: The Supreme Will The universal forces move by their own force and the consciousness within them—but there is also the Cosmic Spirit who supports them and determines by his on-look and disposing will their play—although the direct action is left to the forces—it is the play of universal Prakriti with the universal Purusha watching behind it. In the individual... who can, if he wills, not merely assent to the play of Prakriti, but accept or reject or will for its change. All that is in the play itself as we see it here. There is something above—but the action of that is an intervention rather than a moment to moment control; it can become a constant direct control only when one replaces the play of the forces by the government of the Divine. Sri Aurobindo ...
... s and enabling them, by grouping them together, to reconstitute better and better Thy consciousness, at once single and multiple, it was possible for me to see clearly what love is in the play of universal forces, what its place and mission; it is not an end in itself but it is Thy supreme means. Active, everywhere, between all things, everywhere it is veiled by the very things it unites, which, though ...
... 2nd January, 1939 Disciple : I think the Mother is testing me. Mother : That is not the habit here. It is the play of the forces, or rather the play of adverse forces, that tries to test the Sadhak. If you refuse to listen to them or remain firm, then they withdraw. People here have plenty of difficulties already. Why, add new ones? To ...
... August 18, 1914 Let me turn to Thee in a profound and silent contemplation; let me place this integral being and its multiple activities at Thy feet as an offering; let me stop all the play of these forces, unify all these consciousnesses, so that one alone may persist, the one which is able to hear Thy command and understand it; let me plunge again into Thee as in a sovereignly beneficent sea ...
... the moment, as it is practised by human beings, it is a direct and conscious perception of the forces behind appearances and the play of these forces, and because one has the direct perception of them, one has the power to act on them, and one makes some higher will intervene in the play of these forces in order to obtain a required result. In the supramental world one will have these powers s... learns to play the piano! ( Laughter ) But it is not quite like that, anyway, that things happen. In fact, those who have no special aptitude could read all the books on occultism in the world and never know how to practise it. It needs a special capacity. It is true that you may also read all the books in the world on how to play the piano—if you do not play, you will never know how to play. But there... about occultism, it is the science which shows us things that are invisible to us, the invisible world, the invisible forces... But in the supramental world all this will be known. What do you understand by occultism? The knowledge of the invisible world and invisible forces. And so—I don't quite understand. In the supermind one will no longer have any knowledge, or what? One will have ...
... are tiny, round and of different colours—white, gold, green, blue and yellow. What are they? When you write, you put yourself probably in contact with the Mother's forces—these lights of different colours are the play of her forces. 14 October 1933 Looking at the Mother on the terrace in the evening, I saw a dark blue light around her like the colour of the flower named "Radha's consciousness"... around her many times, and sometimes a pretty pale blue light. There are various lights around the Mother indicating the forces that come from her. White is her own characteristic light, the pale blue is mine,—the golden, dark blue and others correspond to various other forces. 26 October 1933 We normally see your force working in us as a pale blue light and the Mother's force working as a... lotus flower. Was this your force too? It must have been a special force working. The blue light is the characteristic force as the white is of the Mother, but we are not limited to that, the other forces and therefore the other lights are also ours. 24 November 1933 Today I saw emerging from the Mother the whitish blue light of Sri Aurobindo. Why did I see it so? Is it because both are the same ...
... accumulated in the subconscient, and it comes back in the form of "dreams." And naturally (that's quite a common experience, which is known to all those who are even slightly familiar with the play of occult forces), when someone in your dream comes and gives you blows and attacks you, it's absolutely sure that you've had bad thoughts for him—bad thoughts or bad feelings. That's what comes back to you... farther I go, the more I have a sense of a... very, very sweet, very full Nothingness, but still a Nothingness. It's absolutely void, yet it's full, and very sweet, but there's nothing. You are playing on words. No, no! Ultimately, this taste for Nothingness is the most harmonious way to put an end to the ego. It's the ego coming to an end. It's, yes, the most harmonious way, the higher way ...
... into the earth-life. Or it may be an impulse in the vital or other plane itself, e.g., a vital being moved to extend his action towards the earth and establish there a kingdom for himself or the play of the forces for which he stands in his own domain. Or it may be a pressure from above; let us say, some supramental or mental power precipitating its formation from above and developing forms and movements... detail, particular forces, movements, powers, beings of a higher World can throw themselves on the lower to establish appropriate and corresponding forms which will connect them with the material domain and, as it were, reproduce or project their action here. And each thing created here has, supporting it, subtler envelopes or forms of itself which make it subsist and connect it with forces acting from above... order that this plasticity may not be lost to our View. First, each plane, in spite of its connection with others above and below it, is yet a world in itself, with its own movements, forces, beings, types, forms existing as if for its and their own sake, under its own laws, for its own manifestation without apparent regard for the other members of the great series. Thus, if we regard ...
... the lower creation it is always a play of divergent forces and the individual being is only a field, a passive field for the play of cosmic or collective forces. It is in, man, with the awakening of an individual consciousness in him, that a movement of self-assertion, of willed reaction has started in nature, that is to say, one is no more content with playing the role of a slave executing helplessly... are a prey to all kinds of forces and beings outside yourself and over which you have no control. You are a plaything in the hands of any power or influence that seeks to possess you and when you are in such a state it is the undesirable powers that seek and secure hospitality in you. It is only when you become conscious that you begin to react to the outside forces that try to control you or utilise... not done by mere mechanical exercises. Even the body does not reach its true perfection unless the exercises are attended with consciousness, awareness, a play of light into the movements of the body, into the limbs that participate in the play of the exercises. Naturally the vital does not need any exercise for its development, it is naturally exercised, much exercised. It has to be not ...
... In the lower creation it is always a play of divergent forces and the individual being is only a field, a passive field for the play of cosmic or collective forces. It is in man, with the awakening of an individual consciousness in him, that a movement of self-assertion, of willed reaction has started in nature, that is to say, one is no more content with playing the role of a slave executing helplessly... you are a prey to all kinds of forces and beings outside yourself and over which you have no control. You are a plaything in the hands of any power or influence that seeks to possess you and when you are in such a state it is the undesirable powers that seek and secure hospitality in you. It is only when you become conscious that you begin to react to the outside forces that try to control you or utilise... not done by mere mechanical exercises. Even the body does not reach its true perfection unless the exercises are attended with consciousness, awareness, a play of light into the movements of the body, into the limbs that participate in the play of the exercises. Naturally the vital does not need any exercise for its development, it is naturally exercised, much exercised. It has to be not exercised ...
... moment? That depends. On certain planes there are consciousnesses that form, that make formations and try to send them down to earth and manifest them. These are planes where the great forces are at play, forces struggling with each other to organise things in one way or another. On these planes all the possibilities are there, all the possibilities that present themselves but have not yet come to... invent a novel, narrate stories, produce all kinds of phenomena; it amuses them very much. It is a plane of form-makers and they are there imagining all kinds of circumstances and events; they play with the forces; they are like the authors of a drama and they prepare everything there and see what is going to happen. All these formations are facing each other; and it is those which are the strongest, ...
... by his onlook and disposing will their play—although the direct action is left to the forces—it is the play of universal Prakriti with the universal Purusha watching behind it. In the individual also there is the individual Purusha who can, if he wills, not merely assent to the play of Prakriti, but accept or reject or will for its change. All that is in the play itself as we see it here. There is something... exceptional in the ordinary play of the cosmic forces. Page 289 The Entry of the Universal Forces There is no rule for that [ the points at which the universal forces enter one ]. The human being is ordinarily conscious only on the surface—but the surface records only the results of subliminal agencies at work. It is often through the centres that the forces come in, for then they get... of that is an intervention rather than a moment to moment control; it can become a constant direct control only when one replaces the play of the forces by the government of the Divine. One can live in contact with the Divine even amidst the universal forces—but to live in the Divine one must be able to rise beyond the lower universal nature or to call down the Divine consciousness here. The ...
... must acknowledge, for example, the role or the participation of certain spirits or certain forces and enter into a friendly relationship or collaboration with these forces in order to obtain an immediate result, is it not so?' Then he told me, 'Yes, otherwise it leaves an indefinite time to the play of the forces, and you don't know when you will get the result of your puja.' That interested me very... much. Because one of the obstacles I had felt was that although the Force was acting well, there was a time lag that appeared inevitable, a time element in the work which seemed unavoidable—a play left to the forces of Nature. But with their knowledge of the processes, the tantrics can dispense with all that. So I understood why those who have studied, who are initiated and follow the prescribed methods... for making it act immediately was missing—though not totally; I know from the psychological standpoint, but there is something other than the psychological power, there is the whole play of conscious, individualized forces that are everywhere in Nature and that have the right to exist. Since it was created this way, it must express something of the supreme Will, otherwise He wouldn't have made use of ...
... I wanted to know the difference between the Yogi's cosmic experiences and his spiritual experiences. The Yogi's cosmic experiences are spiritual experiences — experiences of the play of the Forces and its relation with the Self, the action of the Guide, what is behind the appearance of things, occurrences etc. etc., the actual relations of the workings of Purusha and Prakriti etc. The... exis- Page 266 tence, wideness, silence, freedom, peace that is felt — that is called Atman or Self. When action takes place, it is according to the realisation either felt as forces of Nature working in that wideness, as the Divine Shakti working or as the Cosmic Divine or various powers of his working. It is not felt that the Self is acting. Is not the self a... the way) will have any lasting effect on us. Yes, that is the first necessity. That inner contact with the Mother automatically weakens the fundamental power of the forces of the Darkness and Ignorance. This perhaps is one of the highest gains in our sadhana. Yes. We are not fully conscious all the time and in all conditions. Therefore ...
... way in which it was done. The Force comes from above or in descending it envelops and comes from without inside or it comes out from inside after descending there. When you are conscious of the play of the Forces, then you feel the working. 5 May 1933 When I got up from sleep, I found that a cold had already entered my head. My consciousness brought down the Mother's Force and the cold disappeared ...
... Consciousness in which things are seen in their true essence and their true relation to the Divine and to each other. The Yogi's cosmic experiences are spiritual experiences—experience of the play of the Forces and its relation with the self, the action of the Guide, what is behind the appearance of things, occurrences etc. etc., the actual relations of the workings of Purusha and Prakriti etc. The... all Cosmos and that which is expressed in the apparent universe. There are in the cosmic consciousness two sides—one the contact with and perception of the ordinary cosmic forces and the beings behind these forces, that is what I call the cosmic Ignorance—the other is the perception of the cosmic Truths, the realisation of the one universal, the one universal Force, all the Vedantic truths of... cosmic Mind and the mental forces that move there and how they work on one's mind and that of others and one is able to deal with one's own mind with a greater knowledge and effective power. There are many other results, but this is the fundamental one. This is of course if one opens in the right way and does not merely become a passive field of all sorts of ideas and mental forces. The opening to ...
... and vicissitudes of our lives consists in the fact that all life is a play of hidden forces; we live and move in a world of forces of which we are almost totally unaware. In a sense, all forces are secret, because, as Sri Aurobindo points out, all forces, whether physical or nonphysical, are invisible. However, physical forces, such as electricity and magnetism, though invisible, are no longer a... the different planes, their forces, their beings - that is universalisation. " 3 "It [consciousness] begins to know inwardly and directly and not merely by external observation and contact the forces at play in the world, feels their movement, distinguishes their functioning and can operate immediately upon them as the scientist operates upon physical forces .... " 4 Such an inward... may be some play of mental intuition, deeper psychic seeing or impulsions, spiritual intimations, etc. — but in the ordinary consciousness these are incidental only and do not modify its fundamental character." 2 It is when the consciousness develops and becomes more subtle that it comes into a more direct contact with the inner reality of things and gains an awareness of forces. In Sri Aurobindo's ...
... The Ideals of Human Unity THE unification of humanity is also a thing decreed. For it is the goal towards which Nature is proceeding slowly but inevitably, bringing into play factors and forces that work out that consummation. Man is a gregarious animal, a social being. He forms groups and collectivities and lives as a member among others with whom he is related and connected... consciousness; but that may change when it is seen and experienced that the procedure does not pay, and a more natural and healthier approach may be adopted. Now out of this complex of forces and ideals, what seems to stand out clearly is this: (i) the family unit remains for practical purposes, – whatever breaking or modification affects its outward forms, the thing seems to be a permanent ...
... SOCIETY The Ideals Of Human Unity The unification of humanity is also a thing decreed. For it is the goal towards which Nature is proceeding slowly but inevitably, bringing into play factors and forces that work out that consummation. Man is a gregarious animal, a social being. He forms groups and collectivities and lives as a member among others with whom he is related and connected... national consciousness; but that may change when it is seen and experienced that the procedure does not pay, and a more natural and healthier approach may be adopted. Now out of this complex of forces and ideals, what seems to stand out clearly is this (i) the family unit remains for practical purposes,—whatever breaking or modification affects its outward forms, the thing seems to be a permanent ...
... rest of the universe; but these are conflicts and plays of forces that are formidable in proportion to human consciousness. These are things that in comparison with human duration last almost eternally. So, in time it is immensity, in space it is immensity, and for the human consciousness it is something almost incomprehensible. But to these forces, human dimensions and movements have truly almost... instruments: some were playing this, others playing that, yet others playing other things, sometimes all together, at other times one after another (it is very complicated, not a simple thing), well, there, while playing, hearing or even reading (sometimes he took the score and read it) he knew which notes had to be distributed to which instrument, which notes had to be played by another, and so on... receptive and passive and a good Page 260 musician, his hands would enter the hands of those who were playing—the person who was playing at the time could play well but in an ordinary way; but at that moment he became not merely a virtuoso but a wonderful artist during the time he played. It was the hands of the other that were making use of his. This is a phenomenon I know. I have seen the same ...
... works through all these beings, through the forces at play in the world and the law of these forces and their results. It is only when we open ourselves and get out of the ordinary consciousness that we can feel it intervening as an independent power and overriding the ordinary play of the forces. Then too we can see that even in the play of the forces and in spite of their distortions the Cosmic... can be distorted by our own ignorance, weaknesses and mistakes, and by the clash of conflicting forces. That is why faith and equanimity are indispensable. Page 90 We have to have the faith that in spite of our ignorance and errors and weaknesses and in spite of the attacks of hostile forces and in spite of any immediate appearance of failure the Divine Will is leading us, through every... questionings and repinings at each moment because you have not yet reached, only delay and keep an impeding curtain before the heart and the eyes. For at every step when one makes an advance, the opposite forces will throw this doubt like a rope between the legs and stop one short with a stumble—it is their métier to do that. One must not give them that advantage. Instead of saying, "I want only the Divine ...
... nearer to the truth. Hitler was certainly bluffing … Tactics and diplomacy were used, but on the other hand, behind every human will there are forces in action whose origin is not human and which move consciously towards certain goals. The play of these forces is very complex and generally eludes the human consciousness. But for the sake of explanation and easy understanding, they can be divided into... fulfilment of the Divine Work upon earth and those that are opposed to this fulfilment … Hitler is a choice instrument of these anti-divine forces which want violence, upheavals and war, for they know that all this delays and hinders the action of the divine forces. That is why disaster was very close although no human government consciously wanted it.” 977 In one of the Mother’s recorded talks to... Führer – in whispers, of course.” 982 “To be a successful instrument of the Asuric forces is easy, because they take all the movements of your lower nature and make use of them, so that you have no spiritual effort to make.” (Sri Aurobindo 983) “There is always somebody to receive the influence [of the demonic forces] and who then immediately thinks that he is a very superior being. For this gives people ...
... becoming increasingly clear that the balance sheet of science is a mixed one, particularly because when science Turns to apply its discoveries and inventions to life situations, it tends to become a playing of forces over which it has little control. Modern commercialism, which is actually economic barbarism, derives much of its brutal sharpness from technology that science has provided to the society. There... hope to derive from it helpful light and guidance. For Veda is not a mere book of rituals and ceremonies, nor is it a record of primitive or barbaric expression of fear and propitiation of Nature- Forces. Veda is, in the first place, a book of consummate poetry, lyric in intensity and epic in elevation, surcharged with the force of rhythmic word, expressing high substance of thought and experience ...
... seeing and understanding the nature of the Self and its relations with the manifestation, living in that or in contact with it, calm, wide and awake to higher knowledge, not perturbed by the play of the Forces. When it gets its full liberated movement, its central station is very usually felt above the head, though its influence can extend downward through all the being and outward through space. ... desires. Otherwise these things will come in with force and claim to be intuitions, inspirations and the rest of it. Or if any intuitions come, they can be twisted and spoiled by the mixture of these forces of the Ignorance. It [ intuition ] is the power of knowing any truth or fact directly without reasoning or sense-proof, by a spontaneous right perception. Page 162 As for in ...
... it may be an impulse in the vital or other plane itself, e.g. a vital being moved to extend his action Page 130 towards the earth and establish there a kingdom for himself or the play of the forces for which he stands in his own domain. Or it may be a pressure from above, let us say some supramental or mental power precipitating its formation from above and developing forms and movements... predominate. The forces and beings of the vital world have a great influence on human beings. The vital world is on one side a world of beauty,—the poet, artist, musician are in close contact with it; it is also a world of powers and passions, lusts and desires,—our own lusts and desires, and passions and ambitions can put us into connection with the vital worlds and their forces and beings. It is... mind consciousness through which the light of the higher can pour out—here it is the Mother's white light that was pouring out through the opening. The lights you saw were the many lights (powers, forces full of light) of the higher consciousness, the Truth consciousness or divine consciousness. Their pouring down was preceded and made possible by the appearance of the moon, the spiritual light. It ...
... 1 Hamlet - A Crisis of The Evolving Soul THE consciousness that rules over the tragedy of Hamlet, the destiny that works itself out in the play of the forces portrayed in that great drama, are the consciousness and the destiny of the human soul at a most fateful crisis, a crucial turning-point in the course of its evolution. The soul, lodged in the... secret of Deliverance. He has had a glimpse of the divine portals from a distance; but he did not know how to proceed in the straight and narrow path; he is diverted into an Asuric handling of the forces of lower nature and is himself broken in the process. A poignant vision or experience of evil in God's world which otherwise appears so work living in, the perception of the canker in the rose... almost at its start – a nature primitive and barbarian. We seem to go back into a prehistoric world, a paleolithic age – the domain of utter ignorance, of vulgar greed and hunger, where one sees the rank play of a raw and crude and aboriginal nature. Man is here simply the eater, a true brother of the rest of the animal kind, one in blood with the tiger and the wolf. He is the sheer biological or vital ...
... it very high. It is Dryden and Juvenal who have oftenest made some thing like genuine poetry out of satire, the first because he often changes satire into a vision of character and the play of psychological forces, the other because he writes not from a sense of the incongruous but from an emotion, from a strong poetic "indignation" against the things he sees around him. Aristophanes is a comic c... However there have been attempts at an irregular sonnet rhyme-sequence. Keats tried his hand at one a century ago and I vaguely believe (but that may be only an illusion of Maya) that modern poets have played loose fantastic tricks of their own invention; but I don't have much first-hand knowledge of modern (contemporary) poetry. Anyhow I have myself written a series of sonnets with the most heterodox rhyme... in its rhythmical turns, yet in that apparent simplicity a considerable, though very delicate subtlety is possible. A certain liquidity of sound is essential, but so long as you keep that, you can play variations to a great extent. I don't think an identical regularity or unbroken recurrence is imperative—though equivalence of sound values may be. It is a matter of the inner ear and its guidance rather ...
... not feel them as such, in the way I feel other kinds of thoughts, and why are they in a greater number than before? I said that probably they are from outside — that is from the play of the forces of the Nature, it is not therefore surprising if they are more in number than before. What is the connection between the sexual sensations and the inertia? They... some pressure or presence of the sex force indeterminate and without form. Am I more open than others to the universal forces so as to receive any bad influence from anywhere? You have the same suggestions and invasions of these forces as others have. While reading a famous mans biography I found that a sexual sensation came into me. How did this happen... other day you wrote to me: "If ego cannot trouble the being why should sex trouble it?" Is it not possible that one may be disturbed by one and not by the other? They are both rajasic forces of vital nature. It (ego) is a difficulty as sex is a difficulty. The inner being can put both out and regard them as foreign things. For a long time, my consciousness did not come ...
... and obtaining as much as one can. Tactics Page 9 and diplomacy were used, but on the other hand, behind every human will there are forces at work whose origin is not human and which move consciously towards certain ends. The play of these forces is very complex and generally eludes the human consciousness; but for ease of explanation and understanding, they may be divided into two main... certainly not unfounded. In their ignorant unconsciousness men set moving forces they are not even aware of and soon these forces get more and more out of their control and bring about disastrous results. The earth seems to be shaken almost entirely by a terrible fit of political and social epilepsy through which the most dangerous forces of destruction do their work. Even here, in this poor little nook,... As for the anti-divine forces they have only too many to choose from, and always they find wills which they enslave and individuals whom they turn into docile but nearly always unconscious puppets. Hitler is a choice instrument for these anti-divine forces which want violence, upheaval and war, for they know that these things retard and hamper the action of the divine forces. That is why disaster was ...
... n of a very tiny part of the action. For when the action is integral and perfect, to this purely material knowledge there is added an internal knowledge, and a power to bring into play forces like the supramental forces, which can do instantaneously what takes in the material world a fairly long time, you see. There too, when one succeeds in bringing in not only the material knowledge which allows... understand these things with a positivist mind; you must have a little feeling for the harmony of words and phrases. "Maheshwari lays down the large lines of the world-forces...." What does this mean: "the large lines of the world-forces"? Page 282 It means that she makes the plan of what the world ought to be. So she lays down the large lines of the plan, of what the world should be, of... everyone at the same time is a set of determinisms which seem quite absolute, and has a total freedom to bring in the intervention of states of being or states of consciousness or forces of a higher domain; and calling these forces and bringing them into the external determinisms alters everything completely.And it is only thus that things can give the impression of the unexpected, the unknown and of freedom ...
... inclusively, intimately aware of this play of cosmic forces. Sri Aurobindo The Life Divine - I: Knowledge by Identity and Separative Knowledge Each man has his own personal consciousness entrenched in his body and gets into touch with his surroundings only through his body and senses and the mind using the senses. Yet all the time the universal forces are pouring into him without his knowing... Cosmic and Universal Forces The Hidden Forces of Life Nature and Action of Universal Forces Universal forces means all forces good or bad, favourable or hostile, of light or of darkness that move in the cosmos. Sri Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - III: The Universal or Cosmic Forces They [the cosmic forces] act on everyone, according to the person‘s... Aurobindo Letters on Yoga - III: The Universal or Cosmic Forces These we know only by their results, by the little that we can seize of their visible action and consequence. Among them it is mostly the physical world-forces of which we have some knowledge, but we live constantly in the midst of a whirl of unseen mind-forces and life-forces of which we know nothing, we are not even aware of their ...
... a false Infinite, An eternity of disastrous absolutes. 1 Here are the forces that pull down and lure away to perdition all that man's aspirations and the world's urge seek to express and build things divine. It is the world in which the forces of the original inconscience find their primitive play. They are dark and dangerous: they prey upon earth's creatures who are not content with... human being proper, he has attained his own humanity. Here he has received the light of knowledge, a wider and deeper consciousness, he has unveiled the secret mysteries of Nature, brought to play hidden forces that were unknown and untapped. All these achievements have been possible for man because it is the Mother of Light that is behind and has come forward to shed something of her luminous presence... respective regions. In this way Aswapati passes on into the higher vital, into the border of the mental. Aswapati now observes with a clear vividness that all these worlds and the beings and forces that inhabit them are stricken as Page 52 it were with a bar sinister branded upon their bodies. In spite of an inherent urge of ascension the way is not a straight road but ...
... the false Infinite, An eternity of disastrous absolutes." 1 Here are the forces that pull down and lure away to perdition all that man's aspirations and the world's urge seek to express and build of Divine things. It is the world in which the forces of the original inconscience find their primitive play. They are dark and dangerous: they prey upon earth's creatures who are not content with... human being proper, he has attained his own humanity. Here he has received the light of knowledge, a wider and deeper consciousness, he has unveiled the secret mysteries of Nature, brought to play hidden forces that were unknown and untapped. All these achievements have been possible for man because it is the Mother of Light that is behind and has come forward to shed something of her luminous presence... respective regions. In this way Ashwapati passes on into the higher vital, into the border of the mental. Ashwapati now observes with a clear vividness that all these worlds and the beings and forces that inhabit them are stricken as it were with a bar sinister branded upon their bodies. In spite of an inherent urge of ascension the way is not a straight road but devious and crooked breaking into ...
... false Infinite, An eternity of disastrous absolutes... 1 Here are the forces that pull down and lure away to perdition all that man's aspirations and the world's urge seek to express and build of Divine things. It is the world in which the forces of the original inconscience find their primitive play. They are dark and dangerous: they prey upon earth's creatures who are not content with... human being proper, he has attained his own humanity. Here he has received the light of knowledge, a wider and deeper consciousness, he has unveiled the secret mysteries of Nature, brought to play hidden forces that were unknown and untapped. All these achievements have been possible for man because it is the Mother of Light that is behind and has come forward to shed something of her luminous presence... this way Ashwapati passes Page 1 on into the higher vital, into the border of the mental. Ashwapati now observes with a clear vividness that all these worlds and the beings and forces that inhabit them are stricken as it were with a bar sinister branded upon their bodies. In spite of an inherent urge of ascension the way is not a straight road but devious and crooked breaking into ...
... progress—he wanders about in the jungle of his own imaginations without any discrimination or critical sense or among a play of confused forces he is unable to understand or master. Forces can come anywhere. The Asuras have their forces, but without peace, light or love—only they are forces of darkness. The man there [ in the correspondent's dream ] symbolises that ego-tendency in the human nature... s. Realisations are the reception in the consciousness and the establishment there of the fundamental truths of the Divine, of the Higher or Divine Nature, of the world-consciousness and the play of its forces, of one's own self and real nature and the inner nature of things, the power of these things growing in one till they are a part of one's inner life and existence,—as for instance, the realisation... forward. The mind and vital, especially the vital, receiving these forces, can with difficulty resist the tendency to seize on and use them for the ego's objects or, which comes practically to the same thing, they mix the demands of the ego with the service of a higher object. Page 30 There is [ when one receives forces without a basis of peace, light and love ] more a sense of having ...
... the false Infinite, An eternity of disastrous absolutes 1 . Here are the forces that pull down and lure away to perdition all that man's aspirations and the world's urge seek to express and build of Divine things. It is the world in which the forces of the original inconscience find their primitive play. They are dark and dangerous: they prey upon earth's creatures who are not content... human being proper, he has attained his own humanity. Here he has received the light of knowledge, a wider and deeper consciousness, he has unveiled the secret mysteries of Nature, brought to play hidden forces that were unknown and untapped. All these achievements have been possible for man because it is the Mother of Light that is behind and has come forward to shed something of her luminous presence... respective regions. In this way Ashwapati passes on into the higher vital, into the border of the mental. Ashwapati now observes with a clear vividness that all these worlds and the beings and forces that inhabit them are stricken as it were with a bar sinister branded upon their bodies. In spite of an inherent urge of ascension the way is not a straight road but devious and crooked breaking ...
... of the false Infinite, An eternity of disastrous absolutes ¹ Here are the forces that pull down and lure away to perdition all that man's aspirations and the world's urge seek to express and build of Divine things. It is the world in which the forces of the original inconscience find their primitive play. They are dark and dangerous: they prey upon earth's creatures who are not content with... human being proper, he has attained his own humanity. Here he has received the light of knowledge, a wider and deeper consciousness, he has unveiled the secret mysteries of Nature, brought to play hidden forces that were unknown and untapped. All these achievements have been possible for man because it is the Mother of Light that is behind and has come forward to shed something of her luminous presence... the respective regions. In this way Ashwapati passes on into the higher vital, into the border of the mental. Ashwapati now observes with a clear vividness that all these worlds and the beings and forces that inhabit them are stricken as it were with a bar sinister branded upon their bodies. In spite of an inherent urge of ascension the way is not a straight road but devious and crooked breaking into ...
... to the forces which, later, will become invisible to them—but at this moment are not. It is not unusual for children to have some sort of fits of fear or even of joy in their sleep, from dreams. Children are afraid of all sorts of things which for older people don't exist any more. Their vision is not solely material. They have a kind of perception, more or less exact and precise, of the play of the... the forces behind. So, being in that state they are influenced by forces which otherwise have no hold over people who are shut up in themselves and more gross. And these forces—the forces of destruction, for example, or forces of cruelty, forces of wickedness, of ill-will—all, all these things are in the atmosphere. When one is more conscious and well-formed within, one can see that they are outside ...
... concluded that objective necessities are by law of Nature the only really determining forces, all else is result or superficial accidents of these forces. Scientific history has been conceived as if it must be a record and appreciation of the environmental motives of political action, of the play of economic forces and developments and the course of institutional evolution. The few who still valued ...
... 90 THE UNIVERSAL POISE The universal Mother, Mahâshakti, stands over the worlds, which She projects out of Herself, and dominates- and directs all their complex play of manifesting forces. She is concerned with the perfect working out of whatever is transmitted to Her by Her transcendent consciousness from the Absolute. With the assistance of Her emanations that prepare or... of inconceivable . ¹ Prayers and Meditations of the Mother. ² ibid. Page 98 labour and toil, carried on from day to day in the teeth of the direst opposition from the forces of darkness, and AC indifference or cold scepticism even of those for otiose liberation and perfection She toils. Those who have lived at Her feet know what it means for Her, an image of immaculate... vision embraces in its sweep at once the ultimate objectives of creation and the minute details of the working of every force and energy, every rule or rhythm; and Her unsleeping Power keeps the cosmic play in a perpetual progressive motion, and prevents it from tumbling into disintegrating chaos. 'But there are many planes of Her creation, many steps of the Divine Shakti. At the summit of this ...
... cosmic Self, of the consciousness of the cosmic Nature, of the forces playing in it, etc. He feels all that as he now feels physical things and impacts. He finds it all to be one with his larger or universal self. There is the universal mental, the universal vital, the universal physical Nature and it is out of a selection of their forces and movements that the individual mind, vital and physical... passions, energies of action, will of desire, reactions of the desire-soul in man and of all that play of possessive and other related instincts, anger, fear, greed, lust, etc., that belong to this field of the nature. Mind and vital are mixed up on the surface of the consciousness, but they are quite separate forces in themselves and as soon as one gets behind the ordinary surface consciousness one sees them... is the outer or executive side of the Shakti or Conscious Force which forms and moves the worlds. This outer side appears here to be mechanical, a play of the forces, Gunas, etc. Behind it is the living Consciousness and Force of the Divine, the divine Shakti. The Prakriti itself is divided into the lower and higher, - the lower is the Prakriti of the Ignorance, the Prakriti of mind, life and Matter ...
... nationalities; but in international politics which is still a play of natural forces and interests and in which ideals are only a comparatively recent development of the human mind, principles can only prevail where and so far as they are consonant with interests, or where and so far as, being hostile to interests, they are yet assisted by natural forces strong enough to overbear these interests which oppose... action and reaction, valid even in physical Science, is in human action, which must always depend largely on psychological forces, a more constant and pervading truth. That in life to every pressure of active forces there is a tendency of reaction of opposite or variative forces which may not immediately operate but must eventually come into the field or which may not act with an equal and entirely... , may be taken as well established. It is both a philosophical necessity and a constant fact of experience. For Page 523 Nature works by a balancing system of the interplay of opposite forces. When she has insisted for some time on the dominant force of one tendency as against all others, she seeks to correct its exaggerations by reviving, if dead, or newly awakening, if only in slumber ...
... temperament, and its law of being and becoming. We see teeming millions of our nation at work and in an ever- continuing labour, greatly deter-mined and determining environmental motives, a play of economic forces, and a gradual course of institutional evolution. We go deeper and witness those exceptional individuals whose lives and examples have moulded the national thought and character and shaped ...
... ng those one is talking to, and obtaining as much as one can. Tactics and diplomacy were used, but, on the other hand, behind every human will forces are acting whose origin is not human and who strive consciously for certain goals. The play of those forces is very complex and generally eludes the human consciousness. But for the sake of explanation and understanding they can be divided into two main... fulfilment of the Divine Work upon earth and those who are opposed to this fulfilment … Hitler is a choice instrument for the anti-divine forces who want violence, upheavals and war, for they know that these things delay and hinder the action of the divine forces. That is why disaster was very close although no human government consciously wanted it. But there was to be no war at any cost, and that... avoided … for the time being.’ 14 These rather abstract sounding sentences tell us the following: 1. The dangerous international situation was the work of forces inimical to the Divine Work. 2. Hitler was an instrument of those forces. 3. War could have erupted at that moment but was provisionally prevented. The Divine Work was the effort of materializing a higher consciousness, the Supermind ...
... difficulties in one's being may not be amenable except to what Sri Aurobindo has called Supermind, the highest dynamic divine consciousness. These difficulties may be due to one's karma or to the play of universal forces or to the folly of other people. Take, for instance, the attack of polio which my left leg suffered when I was two and a half years old. Much was done by way of surgical intervention in London... point raised was whether the accident had been due to what is called utkata karma. Sri Aurobindo ruled out this explanation and referred to the constant battle he had been waging against "adverse forces" that were ever on the alert to baulk him. He did not comment Page 254 further on this kind of karma. I don't recollect anything written by him on the subject. What we may suppose... person has to be understood by the deepest heart and not by the superficial mind - the deepest heart which instinctively knows the Divine's wonderful way with the soul. In the ras lila, the traditional play of the Divine with the human, every Gopi felt that Krishna was all hers and that she was the whole world to him and that he gave her a supreme value. The Lord, we are told, multiplied himself innumerably ...
... temperament, and its law of being and becoming. We see teeming millions of our nation at work and in an ever-continuing labour, greatly determined and determining environmental motives, a play of economic forces, and a gradual course of institutional evolution. We go deeper and witness those exceptional individuals whose lives and examples have moulded the national thought and character and shaped ...
... What is meant by Prakriti or Nature is the outer or executive side of the Shakti or Conscious Force which forms and moves the worlds. This outer side appears here to be mechanical, a play of the forces, Gunas, etc. Behind it is the living Consciousness and Force of the Divine, the divine Shakti. The Prakriti itself is divided into the lower and higher, — the lower is the Prakriti of the Ignorance... tends to preserve in his subjective experience or to establish; whatever she perceives it to be his pleasure to cease to see, she tends to renounce and abolish. Whatever he consents to in her, she forces on him and is glad of her mastery and his submission but whenever he insists, she is bound eventually to obey. Early found to be true in our subjective experience, this ultimate principle of things... phenomena. The Purusha and Prakriti are therefore not only the Witness and the Activity witnessed, but the Lord and his executive energy. The Purusha is Ishwara, the Prakriti is His Shakti. Their play with each other is both the motive and the executive force of all existence in the universe. The Hour of God and Other Writings, pp. 51-52 This division was made most clearly by the ...
... obscurity, inertia, tamas, a passive acceptance of the play of wrong forces, inability to change, attachment to habits, lack of plasticity, forgetfulness, loss of experiences or realisations gained, unwillingness to accept the Light or to follow it, incapacity (through tamas or through attachment or through passive reaction to accustomed forces) to do what it admits to be the Right and the Best. ... spiritual. But it happens to many that they lose it before the other is ready or while it is still imperfect and then the Nature-forces act in the physical consciousness which is sometimes held by the descending Peace or Power from above, sometimes by the ordinary Nature-forces. This alternation happens at one stage at least to almost everybody until the higher state prevails. This over-sensitive brooding... an ache or uneasiness or other sign in the body—this is because these movements are becoming foreign to the consciousness, even the physical, and so produce a discomfort. Sometimes when these forces cannot have a success in attacking the vital directly because the psychic rejects the attack, they try to fall on the physical consciousness and the body (the emptiness, headache, disturbance in the ...
... of the mind, vital and physical? Are not the vital's thoughts and actions derived from desire or ego? Yes, from some vital movement. Vital thought expresses vital movements, the play of vital forces. It does not think freely and independently of them as the thinking mind can do. The true thinking mind can stand Page 26 above the vital movements, watch and observe and judge... relation with others —or with the universal forces. It is through this that there [enter] forces or thoughts or feelings of others. It can become silent when there is the wideness. One can become conscious of it and deal with what passes through it. A man without it would be without contact with the rest of the world. Can the hostile forces attack us on the mental plane as they do... thing one feels: one cannot say more than what everybody knows. As for how these come, they come as movements of universal Nature, taking form in the person if they are admitted, just as other natural forces move about in waves or currents and take form or act for particular purposes in a suitable receptacle. You wrote to me the other day that X's thought and desire may have taken form in my ...
... passions, energies of action, will of desire, reactions of the desire soul in man and of all that play of possessive and other related instincts, anger, fear, greed, lust etc. that belong to this field of the nature. Mind and vital are mixed up on the surface of the consciousness, but they are quite separate forces in themselves and as soon as one gets behind the ordinary surface consciousness one sees them... propensities and the vital mind that predominate. The thinking mind with most men is, in matters of life, only an instrument of the vital. Vital thought expresses vital movements, the play of vital forces. It does not think freely and independently of them as the thinking mind can do. The true thinking mind can stand above the vital movements, watch and observe and judge them freely as it would... The Mind proper is divided into three parts—thinking Mind, dynamic Mind, externalising Mind—the former concerned with ideas and knowledge in their own right, the second with the putting out of mental forces for realisation of the idea, the third with the expression of them in life (not only by speech, but by any form it can give). The word "physical mind" is rather ambiguous, because it can mean this ...
... wants Yudhishthira to have a deeper understanding of the play of invisible forces in life. He reminds him that there are times in one's life when one can become a plaything in the hands of some of those forces, which are out to obstruct and destroy; but he shows him how, even in these circumstances, one can be protected and guided by some other forces, and how one can get free from one's fear and destructive... appealing at once to the soul and the imagination and the intelligence." The Vedic Rishis had spoken of life as a battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. They had said that there are forces that help you in this battle, and there are forces that obstruct you. They had said that life is a sacrifice, and that as you burn your imperfections in the fire of sacrifice, you move... true that the life of a man is a "search after pure Truth and unmixed Bliss", what are the helps in this search? And if it is true that human life is susceptible to deviation, how can those deviating forces be conquered? Since it contains many secrets about these questions, the story of Nala and Damayanti is considered an invaluable lesson in human life. There is nothing surprising in the fact that ...
... prevail over them. His will is not 'free' because it is not strong enough to be 'free', it is the slave of the forces that act on or in his vital and physical nature. Page 240 "[In the strong-willed person] the will is so far free that it stands above the play of these forces and he determines by his mental idea and resolve what he shall or shall not do.... the Purusha has begun to... the inner dynamism he is setting into operation in a particular situation is indeed a genuine will and not simply its deformation or simulacrum? For in man's psychology there are quite many forces which Hp with a great spurt of energy and one-pointed vehemence, and bay make one believe that he is applying his 'will', when it is not so at all. If we indulge in any of these imitation-forms of... to emancipate itself and decide what it shall accept or shall not accept — the conscious being has begun to impose itself on the forces that act on it." (Letters on Yoga, pp. 473-74) (vii) A hierarchy of values has to be established in the consciousness of the sadhaka. A clear and unhesitant awareness of this hierarchy will help the sadhaka to make the right choice whenever he is confronted ...
... of certain human bodies - Hitler's, for example - and "played a big role in the recent history of the earth". Even now, in league with Death, he is very influential, and "catches you with a contagion as strong as that of contagious diseases". But whatever the traps and quicksands of a situation in the apparent grip of the hostile forces, and especially of the Lords of Falsehood and Death and... of the adverse forces... trying to push back the divine Realisation... this conflict... has come to its crisis. It is their last chance... it is upon earth that the first victory has to be won - the decisive victory, a victory which will determine the course of the earth's future. 18 It may be there are blandishments and solicitations enough, it may be the Lord of Falsehood plays his seductive... looks steep and slippery; but there is no occasion to be daunted, or deflected from the Path Divine. Simply and sincerely to say "I want only You" to the omnipresent Divine is at once to call into play forces entirely favourable to the fruition of one's deepest aspiration, and then "the victory is ultimately certain". Once the election "I want only You" has been made, neither Asura nor man, neither the ...
... is something wide and universal, untroubled and firm even when it is intense. This is in the basic cosmic oneness. There is also the surface cosmic consciousness which is an awareness of the play of cosmic forces—here anything may rise, sex also. It is this part that needs the perfect psychisation, otherwise one cannot even hold, contain and deal with it in the proper way. I do not quite understand... consciousness deepens, heightens and changes that that greater eternal love can grow in it and openly 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... basis, in wishing you to conquer this Page 343 other movement, I am only pointing you to the true way of your own nature—of which the psychic bhakti, the true vital love are the real moving forces, and the other is only a superficial immixture. Human Love and Divine Love May I put in a plea for my poor Supramental against which you seem to have something like a grudge? I should like to ...
... to watch, distinguish between the good and the bad, the beneficial and the harmful elements and energies of human nature, and strives to acquire a deciding and determining voice in the complex play of the forces. This part of his consciousness tries to know and understand, to rescue his being from the helpless goad of automatic instincts and appetites, and exercise a sort of control, very partial and... falling into an unbalance.”² There is another point to consider in this connection. Those who have gone far in the study of human nature and acquired an insight into the working of the subtle forces of the supra- physical worlds surrounding our material existence, know that influences and suggestions are always streaming into us from them. We do not see where these influences come from, and... evil and harmful; and it is this medley of heterogeneous elements that renders our life so confused and miserable. Reason is our only safeguard against the inroads of the unfriendly or unhelpful forces. Its discrimination protects us from many a dangerous snare. It is true that our reason itself is often deluded, ¹ & ² Bulletin of Physical Education, Feb. 1957. Page 206 ...
... they are in the right. Or two Divine Forces might knock at each other for the fun of the thing. Infinite possibilities, sir, in the play of the Forces.) What I want to know is whether the Force applied or directed is always the right Force. Can there be any mistake in the Force, either in its application or in any other way, resulting in its failure to get the desired result? What is a mistake... are Asuric Forces, rajasic Forces, all sorts of Forces. Apart from that one can use a mental or vital Force which may not be the right thing. Or one may use the Force in such a way that it does not succeed or does not hit the General on the head or is not commensurate with the opposing Forces—(opposing Forces need not be Page 492 Asuric, they may be quite gentlemanly Forces thinking they... to believe in and experience the invisible and the supraphysical, and then by experience, by the opening of new capacities it becomes conscious of these forces and can see, follow and use their workings just as the scientist uses the unseen forces of Nature. Or one must have faith and watch and open oneself and then it will begin to see how things happen; it will notice that when the Force was called ...
... of the forces playing in it, etc. He feels all that as he now feels physical things and impacts. He finds it all to be one with his larger or universal self. 7 The cosmic consciousness is that in which the limits of ego, personal mind and body disappear and one becomes aware of a cosmic vastness which is or filled by a cosmic spirit and aware also of the direct play of cosmic forces... Aurobindo uses the term "cosmic consciousness" in a more specific sense: The cosmic consciousness is that of the universe, of the cosmic spirit and cosmic Nature with all the beings and forces within it. All that is as much conscious as a whole as the individual separately is, though in a different way. The consciousness of the individual Page 371 is part of this... forces,... It is not that the ego, the body, the personal mind disappear, but one feels them as only a small part of oneself. One begins to feel others too as part of oneself or varied repetitions of oneself, the same self modified by Nature in other bodies. Or, at the least, as living in the larger universal self which is henceforth one's own greater reality. 8 Regarding the way ...
... Banerji, a quondam disciple of Gurudev. I remember his deep misgivings about the feasibility of transforming human nature. He said to me that he had definitely "experienced" that Yoga could bring into play forces which not only made a difference but sometimes even bordered upon the miraculous. But for all that, he had remained unconvinced, he added, about its ability to transform our natural and basic impulses... showed him a letter which Gurudev had written to me in 1935: "These things should not be spoken of but kept under cover. Even in ordinary non-spiritual things the action of invisible or subjective forces is open to doubt and discussion in which there could be no material certitude — while the spiritual force is invisible in itself and also invisible in its action. So it is idle to try to prove that... in new ranges of knowledge, master the vital movements, change the character, influence men and things, control the conditions and functionings of the body, work as a concrete dynamic Force on other forces, modify events, etc. etc., we would not speak of it as we do. Moreover, it is not only in its results but in its movements that the Force is tangible and concrete. When I speak of feeling Force or ...
... the mind falls silent. What are these things we call thoughts? They are forms of the play of mental forces. These mental forces come from general Nature and make use of the individual mind for expressing themselves. Usually the mental Purusha accepts and allows the play - if he draws back and refuses his consent, then they persist for a time, but afterwards lose their control ...
... on the contrary, is "a direct and conscious perception of the forces behind appearances and the play of these forces". 15 Occultism may in fact be described as dynamic spirituality; for what it attempts is to discover and bring to the material life the potencies and puissances of the Spirit through the agency of the subtler forces of the Mind, the Vital and the Physical. And Sri Aurobindo clinches... piano, she used to play from time to time. Once, however, she heard an unusual sound "Poff" while she was playing, and on turning round she saw that the sound had come from a big toad sitting there and listening to her music. When Mirra stopped playing, the toad repeated "Poff", as if asking her to continue, "Go on! don't stop! play again!" And henceforth, every time Mirra played on the piano, the... clinches the whole issue in the following passage: Its most important aim must be the discovery of the hidden truths and powers of the mind-force and the life-power and the greater forces of the concealed spirit. Occult science is, essentially, the science of the subliminal, the subliminal in ourselves and the subliminal in world-nature ... and the use of it as part of self-knowledge and ...
... n by which we can arrive at sure data and sure results in ourselves verified [by] equally sure data [and] results in our observation of others and of the hidden psychological world and its play of unseen forces. The physical is the outwardly seen and sensed and needs physical instruments for its exploration; the psychological is the physically unseen and unsensed, to be discovered only by an organisation... object was to study, arrange and utilise the forms, forces and working movements of consciousness, just as the modern physical Sciences study, arrange and utilise the forms, forces and working movements of objective Matter. The material with which they had to deal was more subtle, flexible and versatile than the most Page 314 impalpable forces of which the physical Sciences have become aware;... once grasped and ascertained, the movements of consciousness were found by Vedic psychologists to be in their process and activity as regular, manageable and utilisable as the movements of physical forces. The powers of the soul can be as perfectly handled and as safely, methodically and puissantly directed to practical life-purposes of joy, power and light as the modern power of electricity can be ...
... of satire: "It is Dryden and Juvenal who have oftenest made something like genuine poetry out of satire, the first because he often changes satire into a vision of character and the play of psychological forces, the other because he writes not from a sense of the incongruous but from an emotion, from a strong poetic 'indignation' against the things he sees around him. Aristophanes is a comic creator... perfectly well that there sincerity is an element which does not exist. Professions, principles, ideals are the tinsel and trappings of the stage; each politician is an actor who has a part to play and plays it, certain set sentiments to mouth and mouths them. But the only reality behind is a mass of interests, personal interests, class interests, party interests, and the ruling principle of action... development of the spirit of Indian Nationalism in the first decade of this century knows very well what a great role Sri Aurobindo's satirical writings in the pages of the journal Bande Mataram played in the matter of the fostering of this spirit. If we care to study the evolution of satire as a distinct literary genre, in different countries and periods of history, we shall find that it has ...
... that the Gita teaches that collective life has a divine purpose to fulfil. The world we live in wears the appearance of an inert, in- conscient creation, and the human life is full of the play of ignorant forces and is undivine. Many religious and philosophical systems have given great prominence e. g.. Buddhism to this aspect. To Gita the world is not altogether undivine. It devotes four chapters... their _______________________ 16.On the Veda, P. 420. Page 183 secret remains safe to them. "17 " Our life is a horse that neighing and galloping bears us onward and upward; its forces are swift-hoved steed; the liberated powers of the mind are wide-winging birds; this mental being or this soul is the upsoaring Swan or the Falcon that breaks out from a hundred iron walls and wrests... Gita says that life is not altogether governed by the ego - either individual or collective. In fact Sri Aurobindo suggests that Kurukshetra can be taken as the symbol of the battle of life in which forces of Light and Darkness are constantly clashing. As regards the dilemma of Arjuna, Sri Krishna assures him that the Divine Will shall be fulfilled as far as the battle of Kurukshetra is concerned, even ...
... intelligent force which lives and wakes in what would otherwise seem inert and inanimate existence or the mere blind play of mechanical forces; Hiranyagarbha, the Lord of Dream-Life who takes from this ocean of subconsciously intelligent spiritual being those conscious psychic forces which Page 176 He materializes or encases in various forms of gross living matter; and Virat, Lord of Waking-Life... Self is in the microcosm what Sacchidananda is in the macrocosm; it is the great pure luminous existence, self-conscious and self-blissful, which acts not, neither desires, but watches the infinite play of Prakriti in the life of the creature It informs. And just as by the power of Avidya Sacchidananda takes the semblance of a mighty Will or Force, Isha, creating endless multiplicity and governing ...
... invasion of Abundance, even as earlier she had been overwhelmed by Poverty - but, then, one is not more welcome than the other! She nowsees, on a consideration of the role of Love in the play of universal forces, that it is the great, the supreme, unifying Force. As for action, between selfish and unselfish action, between action for personal advancement and action offered as a sacrifice to... universal Existence, the more his ego will race towards Zero: When that has been done, then we may hope to found securely the play in us of his divine Knowledge governing the action of his divine Power. The rest is the full opening up of the different planes of his world-play and the subjection of Matter and the body and the material world to the law of the higher heavens of the Truth: 6 The... all; spiritual progress is, after all, a zigzag operation attended with recoils alternating with new advances on a firmer basis. Any marked spiritual progress exposes itself to attack by adverse forces, "for the Page 154 complete victory of a single one of us would mean a general downfall among them". The remedy is to come. "into a more and more universal communion with the Highest" ...
... knowledge of the life forces around us, as the physical of the forms and sensations of the physical universe, and a perfect channel too of the reactions of the active life force through us working as an instrument of self-manifestation. The phenomena of this vital consciousness and sense, this direct sensation and perception of and response to the play of subtler forces than the physical, are... and movement, play, penetration, vibration, form, nearness, pressure, substantial interchange of the Infinite. Nothing exists independently to its sense, but all is felt as one being and movement and each thing as indivisible from the rest and as having in it all the Infinite, all the Divine. This supramental sense has the direct feeling and experience, not only of forms, but of forces and of the energy... existence as a translation of the universal Life or Prana. The field of which the vital consciousness and the vital sense are primarily aware is not that of forms but, directly, that of forces: its world is a world of the play of energies, and form and event are sensed Page 871 only secondarily as a result and embodiment of the energies. The mind working through the physical senses can only construct ...
... separate ego but all sense of individuality, even of a subordinated or instrumental individuality, may entirely disappear; the cosmic existence, the cosmic consciousness, the cosmic delight, the play of cosmic forces are alone left: if the delight or the centre of Force is felt in what was the personal mind, life or body, it is not with a sense of personality but as a field of manifestation, and this... highest power, of the lower hemisphere; although its basis is a cosmic unity, its action is an action of division and interaction, an action taking its stand on the play of the multiplicity. Its play is, like that of all Mind, a play of possibilities; although it acts not in the Ignorance but with the knowledge of the truth of these possibilities, yet it works them out through their own independent... connected or massed together in a play of waves of what might almost be called in the Sanskrit poetic figure a sea or mass of "stable lightnings". When this original or native Intuition begins to descend into us in answer to an ascension of our consciousness to its level or as a result of our finding of a clear way of communication with it, it may continue to come as a play of lightning-flashes, isolated ...
... foundations that no harm could touch her during these years of study and experiment. I should also emphasise here that for the Mother occultism was a means of service to the Divine, never a mere play with invisible forces or a performance of so-called miracles. By 1908 Mirra had settled down in Paris once again. In the same year her marriage with Henri Morisset was dissolved and she moved to a new apartment... childhood she practised yoga, although she did not then give it that name. Yet she was not indifferent to external pursuits. At the age of eight she started playing tennis, a game she continued to play until late in life. She always tried to play against the best players she could find. 'I never won,' she said, 'but I learnt much.' Mirra had a natural disposition for occult experiences and by the... a few of which she recounted in later years. These may be found among her writings. They reveal the existence of realms of consciousness, beings and forces which we ordinarily cannot even conceive of, and also how it is possible to bring such forces under control. However, the Mother always said that occult knowledge without spiritual discipline is a dangerous instrument, both for the one who uses ...
... action may be purely material when it is a question of material objects. But in things that have life or mind and life one cannot isolate the material operation like that. There is always a play of other forces mixed with it in the reception at least and for the most part in the inception and direction also. Remain quiet, within, concentrated only on receiving strength and health, confident... produces no physical effect and leaves no traces. Illness is always an attack of contrary forces in Nature—but not always of what are specially called the Hostile Forces or intended to frustrate aspiration. A desire is an ordinary force of the lower Nature, though it may be used by the Hostile Forces. Hostile [ source of illness ] here means hostile to the Yoga. An illness which comes in... physical causes—even though adverse universal forces are the first cause—is an ordinary illness. One brought by the forces hostile to Yoga to upset the system and prevent or disturb progress—without any adequate physical reason—is a hostile attack. It may have the appearance of a cold or any other illness, but to the eye which sees the action of forces and not only the outward symptoms or results, ...
... they may be new born into other Nature. 45 All that is is the manifestation, even as all that is not is the self-reservation, of a Supreme, an Infinite who veils himself in the play of impersonal forces, in the recesses of a mysterious Inconscience and will at last rediscover here his most intimate presence, his most integral power, light, beauty, Ananda and all vast and ineffable being through... ascension that is still only preparing its commencement. All manifestation that is not evolution is a play and self-formulation of the One Infinite in one term or another of his existence, consciousness-force, Ananda, his self-knowledge, self-power, self-delight, for the glory, joy and beauty of the play and for no other reason. All evolution is the progressive self-revelation of the One to himself... she tends to preserve in his subjective experience or to establish; whatever she perceives it to be his pleasure to cease to see, she tends to renounce & abolish. Whatever he consents to in her, she forces on him & is glad of her mastery & his submission, but whenever he insists, she is bound eventually to obey. Easily found to be true in our subjective experience, this ultimate principle of things is ...
... the world there is always a mass of invisible forces at work unknown to the outward minds of men, and by Yoga, (by going inward and establishing a conscious connection with the cosmic Self and Force and forces) one can become conscious of these forces, intervene consciously in the play, to some extent at least determine things in the result of the play.' Besides, there were two other ways in which... begins to experience that all is an action of forces, forces of Prakriti, psychological as well as physical, which play upon our nature — and these are conscious forces or are supported by a consciousness or consciousnesses behind.' Elsewhere he says: 'The lower nature is ignorant and undivine, not in itself hostile to the Light and Truth. The hostile forces are anti-divine, not merely undivine; they... whom one is talking and obtaining as much as one can. Tactics and diplomacy were used, but on the other hand, behind every human will there are forces at work whose origin is not human and which move consciously towards certain ends. The play of these forces is very complex and generally eludes the human consciousness; but for ease of explanation and understanding, they may be divided into two main ...
... inertia, tamas, a passive acceptance of the play Page 68 of wrong forces, inability to change, attachment to habits, lack of plasticity, forgetfulness, loss of experiences or realisations gained, unwillingness to accept the Light or to follow it, incapacity (through tamas or through attachment or through passive reaction to accustomed forces) to do what it admits to be the Right and... physical mind is that which is fixed on physical objects and happenings, sees and understands these only, and deals with them according to their own nature, but can with difficulty respond to the higher forces. Left to itself, it is sceptical of the existence of supraphysical things, of which it has no direct Page 46 experience and to which it can find no clue; even when it has spiritual... and when it calls in reasoning it uses that for justifying the dictates of these powers, imposes their dictates on the reason instead of governing by a discriminating will the action of the life-forces. Letters on Yoga, p. 341 The Thinking Mind But there is still another clearer reflective mentality behind the dynamic and vital which is capable of escaping from this ...
... truth. Hitler was certainly bluffing [at Munich] … Tactics and diplomacy were used, but on the other hand, behind every human will there are forces in action whose origin is not human and which move consciously towards certain goals. The play of those forces is very complex and generally eludes the human consciousness. But for the sake of explanation and understanding, they can be divided into two... already known to us. The important role he played throughout her life and that of Sri Aurobindo, and throughout the history of the twentieth century, becomes increasingly clear. The crux of everything Hitler stands for, and of the series of wars in the twentieth century of which the Second World War was the most devastating, is simply the action of the demonic forces that rule the world. They have tried... afterwards in a constant action upon the world forces. He had no reason to be dissatisfied with the results or to feel the necessity of any other kind of action.’ 43 The same evidently goes for the Mother. The Second World War was not the outcome of politics, economic systems, or national or racial relations gone wrong, although all this played a role in it. It was fundamentally, as we have ...
... 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. But although the knowledge is then more complete, the dynamisation of this knowledge can only be partial; for while a fundamental or static unification with the cosmic self is possible, the... change in our dealings with the impersonal forces of the world that surround us. These we know only by their results, by the little that we can seize of their visible action and consequence. Among them it is mostly the physical world-forces of which we have some knowledge, but we live constantly in the midst of a whirl of unseen mind-forces and life-forces of which we know nothing, we are not even aware... themselves out from them on other beings and objects. Each natural individual is a receptacle of these cosmic forces and a dynamo for their propagation; there passes from each to each a constant stream of mental and vital energies, and 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 ...
... separate ego but all sense of individuality, even of a subordinated or instrumental individuality, may entirely disappear; the cosmic existence, the cosmic consciousness, the cosmic delight, the play of cosmic forces are alone left: if the delight or the centre of Force is felt in what was the personal mind, life or body, it is not with a sense of personality but as a field of manifestation, and this sense... the Second World War erupted and needed all Sri Aurobindo and the Mother’s attention and even their occult interventions to ensure that the descent would remain possible, that the anti-evolutionary forces would not carry the day and postpone the advent of the New World for centuries if not for millennia. According to Sri Aurobindo the global situation remained critical after the war, even more dangerous... world, our age-long dreams of human perfectibility, individual perfection, the perfectibility of the race, of society, inner mastery over self and a complete mastery, governance and utilisation of the forces of Nature could see at long last a prospect of total achievement.” 13 In other words, the age-long dream of a truly Golden Age the Mother spoke of would become reality. (Gold is the colour of the ...
... had no intention to hurt you and he had meant the rebufff or her and not for you), is not the important thing. But as she was the occasion of the upset, it may be from the point of view of the play of the forces better to let the connection remain dormant without breaking it. You can abstain from any answer until she of her own accord writes again. 29.8.36 Certainly, you should not force... being driven, compelled, that is quite usual when it is the physical nature that is being dealt with; there is no need to be upset or think it can not be got over. The physical is the slave of certain forces which create a habit and drive it through the mechanical force of the habit. As long as the mind gives consent, you do not notice the slavery, but if the mind withdraws its consent, then you feel the... that you must not put these imaginations between yourself and the Mother; for they push the help given away from you. These imaginations and their effect on you are suggested by the same vital forces that are disturbing you so that you may not get free from the disturbance. My help and the Mother's help are there — you have only to keep yourself open to it to recover. 8.4.33 ...
... separate ego but all sense of individuality, even of a subordinated or instrumental individuality, may entirely disappear; the cosmic existence, the cosmic consciousness, the cosmic delight, the play of cosmic forces are alone left: if the delight or the centre of Force is felt in what was the personal mind, life or body, it is not with a sense of personality but as a field of manifestation, and this sense... the highest power, of the lower hemisphere; although its basis is a cosmic unity, its action is an action of division and interaction, an action taking its stand on the play of the multiplicity. Its play is, like that of all Mind, a play of possibilities; although its acts not in the Ignorance but with the knowledge of the truth of these possibilities, yet it works them out through their own independent... identity and self-contradiction. It considers and finds out the value of things. The dynamic Mind is concerned with the putting out of mental forces for realisation of the idea. The externalising Mind is concerned with the expression of ideas and knowledge and mental forces in life, not only by speech, but by any form it can give. The emotional vital is the seat of various feelings, such as love, joy, ...
... separate ego but all sense of individuality, even of a subordinated or instrumental individuality, may entirely disappear; the cosmic existence, the cosmic consciousness, the cosmic delight, the play of cosmic forces are alone left: if the delight or the centre of Force is felt in what was the personal mind, life or body, it is not with a sense of personality but as a field of manifestation, and this sense... only through a complexus but through a collision and struggle and intermixture of Forces. But for this highest evolution it is essential that all mixture of Ignorance with Knowledge should be abolished; an action and evolution through strife of forces must be replaced by an action and evolution through a harmony of forces: but this stage can only be reached by a last strife and an overcoming of the powers... the highest power, of the lower hemisphere; although its basis is a cosmic unity, its action is an action of division and interaction, an action taking its stand on the play of the multiplicity. Its play is, like that of all Mind, a play of possibilities; although it acts not in the Ignorance but with the knowledge of the truth of these possibilities, yet it Page 987 works them out through ...
... action may be purely material when it is a question of material objects. But in things that have life or mind and life one cannot isolate the material operation like that. There is always a play of other forces mixed with it in the reception at least and for the most part in the inception and direction also. I don't understand why I came into this world with doubts and Co. whereas others did so... would be much else necessary to say, about allopathy, homeopathy and the elasticity of Nature, about the place of medicine, Force and the medium, about spiritual force, intermediate occult forces and material forces, about the complexity and relativity of "truths" that are only convenient formulas and the inadvisability of turning them into absolute and all-covering truths, etc., etc.—but all that would... not be able to have an entirely opposite system. I don't deny that personality is a big factor though I don't know exactly whether hope, faith, etc., operate physically more or bring some occult forces into the field. You have only to admit that the mind and vital can influence the body—then no difficulty is left. In this action of mind and vital on the body faith and hope have an immense importance ...
... love, and laugh, and weep. Then you gaze at the human scenario in its totality, no longer quite for yourself or for your own satisfaction. History comes to life, a life as if your own. The play of contending forces is revealed, so is the collective hypnosis of the time, and the human unfolding. Contour lines take form, with faults as between the continents transmigrating from ancient Gondwanaland and... with beauties: a mixed knowledge that remains skin-deep after all, for in this story we are still quite young. It is strange to note how in every field we are a Sorcerer capable enough of arousing forces without mastering them. Yet there have been poets, too: “Millions d'oiseaux d'or, ô future Vigueur...” 2 Could it be that overmental heights come closer to the secret and the required “strength”... these channels go down to the tips of the toes – while the latter calls it meridians . But it no longer works at all as the Ancients knew. Those channels serve no longer as an ascending path for the forces of consciousness to rise upward, to the Page 76 top of the head, where they are “freed” in happy spaces, but as a descending and recalcitrant path for that “something” to come in and circulate ...
... transition from type to type. If they were the usual modes, some sort of teleology would be suggested. The usual modes are seen to be those not incompatible with a play of blind forces. A minor concession is, however, granted to the part played by the individual organism's acquired changes: such changes are not hereditary and therefore are unrelated to evolution directly but, as G.G. Simpson puts it... place, insurgent abundant all- spreading creativity and, in the second, directed and purposive process. Of course it attempts to explain away that impression by stressing as basic the play of apparently blind forces already mentioned and exhibiting prominently the fumblings, the dead-ends, the deteriorations, the extinctions and the maze as of a vast randomness and opportunism. But life as creative... concerned. They are not sufficient, however, to explain, for example, crystallization, macromolecular compounds, cohesion and so on; rather does the atom display further forces termed secondary valencies, lattice or van der Waals forces. In turn, they are explained by modern electron and quantum theory. In all such cases the inclusion of new phenomena into physical theory necessitates a modification and ...
... but now that science has found that everything is in movement, even the inert objects, all that exists is a huge game of forces. Yes, Mother, the atoms and the molecules are always in movement. There is nothing that is permanent or fixed, it is only the play of various forces; the atoms are in movement and it is this which constitutes the objects, therefore it is always in movement. It is not an... by this light walks in the plenitude, in happiness; it is the Grace that takes care. It is an exceptional thing. He walks in liberty because nothing can touch him: the opposing forces which come to bar the way and the forces of ignorance cannot have any access to him, because he is completely enveloped by my light. He is shielded with a layer of light which nothing can penetrate. It is truly a complete... this envelope, if you make a hole in this armour and through that the adverse forces can enter into you; if you do an act involuntarily, whatever it may be, you cross over its line of action, it is this, it is in this way that you make a hole without even knowing it. But if you have made a hole or else you invite the forces to penetrate, it is like this that you commit a stupid thing. This is what I ...
... to realise. 18 November 1962 ( Regarding the captain's estimate of someone ) Remember that all these individual virtues and faults are only the deceptive appearance of a great play of universal forces which one does not understand. 5 January 1963 ( Regarding a friend ) Find your happiness and your joy in the very fact of loving, and it will help you in your inner progress; because... change of the whole nature which You have predicted? The descent of the forerunners of the supramental forces is a fact (not a prediction). The incapacity of the vast majority of human beings to become conscious of it is a fact which can in no way affect the fact of the advent of these forces and powers in the physical world. The "supreme and radical" change of the whole nature can only come... to meditate? A mere repetition of words cannot have much effect. There are classical or traditional Japas which are intended to subdue the lower mind and establish a connection with higher forces or with deities. These Japas must be given by the Guru, who at the same time infuses them with the power of realisation. They are useful only for those who want to do an intensive yoga and spend five ...
... and this world of ours are very complex realities. So many forces are at work which you will understand only when you learn to look on them with the eye of Yoga. But this you must know that in all things, in their very substance, is the Divine. He is always there, whether overtly or secretly. This game of hide-and-seek that He plays, this Play of His is never easy to fathom. "No, indeed, mind cannot... surely told you many more stories. For us, for all yogis, the whole universe is a play of visible and invisible forces in the hands of which man is but a plaything. On the one side there are ghosts and demons that are at work, on the other are the gods and goddesses. Who can fathom the intricacies of this Divine Play? However, let us end today's session on this ghostly note!" (Laughter) "But,... 'Why do you worry so much? Remain quiet and all will be well.' Immediately my mind fell silent, of itself; my brother got well, too. "You see, behind every circumstance or event, there is a play of many forces. We only look at the incident, and think and judge and draw conclusions accordingly. To the ordinary eye, for example, my meeting with the Maharaja may seem a coincidence or a fortuitous event ...
Share your feedback. Help us improve. Or ask a question.