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Located in Gotham City, XYZ employs over 2,000 people and does all kinds of awesome things for the Gotham community.</p></blockquote>\n<!-- /wp:quote -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>As a new WordPress user, you should go to <a href=\"http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/wp-admin/\">your dashboard</a> to delete this page and create new pages for your content. Have fun!</p>\n<!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Sample Page','','publish','closed','open','','sample-page','','','2021-11-21 07:29:59','2021-11-21 07:29:59','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/?page_id=2',0,'page','',0),(3,1,'2021-11-21 07:29:59','2021-11-21 07:29:59','<!-- wp:heading --><h2>Who we are</h2><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong class=\"privacy-policy-tutorial\">Suggested text: </strong>Our website address is: http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:heading --><h2>Comments</h2><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong class=\"privacy-policy-tutorial\">Suggested text: </strong>When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor&#8217;s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. 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It expires after 1 day.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:heading --><h2>Embedded content from other websites</h2><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong class=\"privacy-policy-tutorial\">Suggested text: </strong>Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). 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This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p>For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:heading --><h2>What rights you have over your data</h2><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong class=\"privacy-policy-tutorial\">Suggested text: </strong>If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph --><!-- wp:heading --><h2>Where we send your data</h2><!-- /wp:heading --><!-- wp:paragraph --><p><strong class=\"privacy-policy-tutorial\">Suggested text: </strong>Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.</p><!-- /wp:paragraph -->','Privacy Policy','','draft','closed','open','','privacy-policy','','','2021-11-21 07:29:59','2021-11-21 07:29:59','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/?page_id=3',0,'page','',0),(1042,1,'2021-11-21 20:21:47','2021-11-21 20:21:47','/*.primewp-primary-menu-container-inside.primewp-clearfix {visibility:hidden;position:relative}\n.primewp-primary-menu-container-inside.primewp-clearfix:after {visibility:visible;position:abs;top:0;left:0;font-family : verdana;font-size:170%;content:url(http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/wp-content/uploads/cropped-nolini.jpg) 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!important;}\n.sub-menu li a::selected{background-color: white;color:black !important;}\n.dropdown {color: #0000cc;width:300px;}\n.chksa {color: #000000;}\n.chkma {color: #000000;}','primewp','','inherit','closed','closed','','1042-revision-v1','','','2021-11-21 20:21:47','2021-11-21 20:21:47','',1042,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/?p=1043',0,'revision','',0),(1191,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:34','2021-11-23 08:51:34','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-001_Pre_Content.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<img alt=\"129-129 - 0001-1.jpg\" src=\"/Nolini/The Mother Abides - Final Reflections/_images/129-129 - 0001-1.jpg\" style=\" width:336.96pt; height:530.16pt;\"\n<br></p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Mother Abides\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Final Reflections\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">1973-1983 \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<br>\n</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Mother Abides\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Final Reflections\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">1973-1983 \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Nolini Kanta Gupta\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Sri Aurobindo Ashram \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Pondicherry\n</p>\n<hr></p>\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFirst edition 2012\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nRs 70\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nISBN 978-81-7058-933-4\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&copy; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 2012\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nPublished by Sri Aurobindo Ashram Publication Department \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Pondicherry 605 002 \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Web <a href=\"http://www.sabda.in\">http://www.sabda.in</a>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nPrinted at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> PRINTED IN INDIA\n</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','the-mother-abides-final-reflections-001_Pre_Content','','publish','closed','open','','the-mother-abides-final-reflections-001_pre_content','','','2021-11-23 08:51:34','2021-11-23 08:51:34','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/the-mother-abides-final-reflections-001_pre_content/',0,'post','',0),(1192,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:34','2021-11-23 08:51:34','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-009_The Mother, Human and Divine.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Mother, Human and Divine\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn our human frailty we regard the Divine Mother as mother only, forgetting that she is also divine. We are apt to seize exclusively the last term of the great Name and ignore the other term which is equally important. We demand from her the same reactions of motherly love that we expect from a human mother. Our love for her is human, human in the ignorant way—full of passion and craving, hunger for appropriation, considering her as nothing else than food for our egoistic desires.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nShe is the mother indeed, but the Divine Mother. She wishes us to come to her in the divine way and not in the human way. For it is in the divine way that we rise to our highest and deepest stature, receive her fully and integrally, and enjoy the plenitude of the delight in her Grace. A human way ties us down to the littlenesses and smallnesses of the human feeling. The human approach is, more often than not, that of a spoilt child. If there is one drop of true love at the bottom of the heart, the amount of ignorance and turbidity in which that is sunk is colossal. The dirt smears us and is cast upon the object of our love too.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd yet she is the mother in being the Divine. She is divine not in the sense that she is afar and aloof, cold and indifferent like the transcendent Brahman. Indeed, the Divine Mother is more motherly than the human mother can be. The human mother is only a faint echo, a far-off shadow, at times a travesty of the true Mother in the archetypal world.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Divine Mother even in being transcendent leans down to our human dimensions, becomes one of us, is within us\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-22</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">as our own self and with us as our comrade and guide. She takes us by the hand and, if only we allow it, teaches us how to transcend the little humanity we are made of and grow into her own nature and substance through the miracle of her love—if our love responds to it adequately.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is only by remembering her twofold truth, the two arms of her love with which she enfolds us and cherishes us, that we can hope to be her true children.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published 1974</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-23</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-009_The Mother, Human and Divine','','publish','closed','open','','009_the-mother-human-and-divine','','','2021-11-23 08:51:34','2021-11-23 08:51:34','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/009_the-mother-human-and-divine/',0,'post','',0),(1193,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-032_The Secret of Life.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Secret of Life\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nHow to remain young and strong in spite of age and unhappy circumstances?\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAh! For that you must remain happy, always happy, truly happy under all circumstances of your life.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt sounds impossible. The world is full of misery and suffering, life around us is full of pain and evil, the entire humanity around us seems to groan with agony; and in the midst of all this unhappiness, to remain happy? Even if by a rare piece of luck you have a peaceful, contented life for yourself, what of others? And unless you are wholly self-centred, how can you help being unhappy?\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe arguments seem rational, but nevertheless they are not true. How?\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWell, true happiness does not depend on outer circumstances. It belongs really to your soul; the soul radiates it, it is the illumining warmth of the divine spark in you. You are happy when you are in contact with it. That is the truth, and that is why some are happy by nature, by temperament, and some are unhappy. You are happy because happiness is a part of your own self, a quality of your consciousness, a radiation from your inmost soul.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd just as you cannot dissolve darkness by putting out your own light—you only increase it—even so, the best way to heal others\' unhappiness is to radiate your own happiness, to kindle your own lamp and let it shine forth. This is not the method of the philanthropists: they try to chase away misery or dispel it by giving alms; but they never succeed. You know the story of the film <i>Monsieur Vincent: </i>the more he gave alms,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-103</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">the more the number or miserable people increased.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou must go to the root. The real source of the ills in human life is man\'s loss of contact with his soul. Re-establish that contact, and problems are seen and experienced in a different perspective, and solved too in the way they should be. Misery and pain and sorrow change their faces and become circumstances and occasions for progress and development. You experience them but are not overwhelmed, and in spite of them you are happy and even in joy. The Buddha tried this in his own way. Christ also wanted to do the same thing; it is said that he came to India, and this is typically an oriental method—to awaken your soul, to rediscover and establish it as the governor of your life. And that is the supreme secret.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published February 1983</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-104</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-032_The Secret of Life','','publish','closed','open','','032_the-secret-of-life','','','2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/032_the-secret-of-life/',0,'post','',0),(1194,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-010_The Mother and the Nature of Her Work.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Mother and the Nature of Her Work\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt seems I am to tell you something about the Mother—a bit of her life, a bit of her activities.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWell, the first part of her life, as you all know, the Mother passed in France; she was born in France, in Paris. So naturally it was very often pointed out to her that she was French, she was European. To this, however, she was always protesting, saying, &quot;I am not European, I am not French.&quot; Her family came in fact from Egypt. Her parents, her father and mother went to France just a year before she was born, a year only. And in Egypt, her family, it seems, belonged to a very ancient Egyptian family—perhaps even to a royal family of Egypt, the Pharaohs. So she is not European or French by blood, although she was brought up as if it were so. Strictly speaking, she would belong to the Middle East, that is to say, the portion joining the east of Europe and the west of Asia. It means the union of Europe and Asia, the two harmonised, and that reflects the character of Mother\'s life and its destiny.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs I said, she spent the first part of her life in France. But why France? There is a meaning in the choice. We know now the meaning, the fundamental meaning of her life, her mission and her work. She came to bring a new light. She wanted a new world, not the old world with its old nature and old culture, but a new world, a new human race. She brought with her the new light that is to re-create, re-shape man and the world. What was the relation between the new man and France? For the new light to come and manifest, you have first to receive it in your mind; that is to say, you must see and recognise that it is a new light and ask for it. And mind is the\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-24</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">first or the topmost receptacle in man. You may remember here the opening line of the <i>Dhammapada </i>containing the epitome of Buddha\'s teaching: <i>&quot;Manopubbangama dhammd&quot;</i>—Mind, is the foremost of all human functions. Mind surpasses all, embraces all. Now, as the light comes down and enters you, the first thing it touches is your head, that is, your mind: you see it, you are conscious of it. France represents today just this mind of humanity at its best, the flowering of its culture and civilisation. She was born there so that the highest mind of the human race may receive that light through her. She passed her life there in the company of the elite, the most cultured people of the time, scientists, artists, poets, all of the highest and most refined stature. She was there so that through her contact and association she could bring into them the new light. With this end in view she joined a society, rather a group, and the name given to it was <i>Le cosmique. </i>&quot;Cosmic&quot; means the whole world; in other words, what she was doing, what she was giving, was for the whole world, for all men, for East and West, for everybody. Also it means a cosmic or world-embracing consciousness. She was creating a new type of mental world, through the highest mental development, to reach a still wider mind—beyond the individual egoistic mind.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs I have said, the mind, the head, being the highest part in man, it is easy for him to receive the new light through his head first of all. You may remember here, in this connection, Sri Aurobindo\'s poem &quot;The Golden Light&quot;: how it comes from above and first enters into the head, the brain. It illumines your thoughts, develops your understanding, widens it, deepens it and sharpens it. But understanding is not sufficient, you must love it, then only do you begin to possess it. So the golden light enters your heart. Then it proceeds farther down towards a more concrete and active expression; it enters into the vital region as we call it. Lastly the golden light enters your feet,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-25</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">that is, possesses your physical limbs; it becomes concrete materially and present, as though solidified, in your very body: it builds the body beautiful. The Mother thus brings the golden light into the head of humanity, the top rung of its consciousness, and that work of initiation, <i>diks</i>&#257;<i>, </i>into the Life Divine she started in France.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFrom France she went to Japan for the next stage of her work. In Japan she came to the Far East. She spent five years, five long years in that country. Japan is the land of the Zen system of meditation, that is to say, a special way of entering into an inner consciousness, not a rational mental consciousness but a gaze inward into an occult and more sensitive region. The Japanese as a nation represent indeed a very sensitive vitality, an artistic vitality that seeks order and beauty in life, in the mode of living. For the golden light to manifest and have its play in the physical world, to possess its body, as it were, a vitality of this kind is necessary to acquire and hold it. The Japanese wrestlers are well-known for their vital strength, their self-controlled strength; usually they possess (almost all of them, you must have noticed, in pictures at least), a big tummy, and it is, they believe, the storehouse of vital strength. This does not mean that I advise you to develop a big paunch, on the contrary. However, even in physical activities, more than mere physical strength, vital strength is necessary.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYes, the Japanese have a vital that is strong, controlled, ordered, sensitive. You may remember one or two prayers of the Mother in her <i>Prayers and Meditations. </i>She speaks of the cherry-blossom, which is the emblem of the Japanese artistic sense, the feeling for beauty, a purified sense-perception: not a rough and crude and violent (lower) vital, but a fine, a pleasant intimate feeling and an orderly happiness; that is what the cherry-blossom means. Mother described also a vision of hers, a beautiful picture it was, a Japanese mother and her child:\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-26</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">it was an image of the new child that was born in humanity. A new world is thus ushered in in the land of the cherry-blossom, a new vital world, for all the world.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Mother is creative consciousness; wherever she happens to be, wherever she is called upon to be, her very presence moves towards creation, creating a new world and a new dimension of being and consciousness, according to the need of the time and place. And it is a whole world she creates, and her creation endures, for it is an added achievement in the evolution of the human being. To this end, the neat, strong, orderly vital world of which we were speaking requires a competent body to support it and manifest it. The golden light must come down into the feet. And that was the work she was doing here and it is for that that she created the Ashram. You all know the special emphasis she laid on physical education in order to prepare the body and senses to receive the golden light. She always said that physical education gives us the basis for the new consciousness, the new light. We must have a strong body, a beautiful body, a body that endures: for the new light is powerful, it is not merely light, it is force; one must be able to bear it and carry out its commands. Indeed, she came here in order to give a shape, a concrete and physical form, an earthly body to this Divine Light.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNow the body beautiful is not by itself an end and fulfilment; in order to secure it one must secure a beautiful vital. Not only that: for a fulfilment in the body and in the vital one must possess a mind beautiful. The physical education that the Mother has arranged for us here is to prepare us for the body beautiful. And the school that she has organised is for the cultivation of the mind. The cultivation of the mind, however, means not only storing it with information on various subjects, the study of books; it also means a purification and clearance of the mind, the mental stuff itself, an elevation of consciousness to seek and recognise the light.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-27</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI have said that you are to receive the new light through the head at first, but through the heart also, and then dynamically through your vital energy. You must not only see the light and recognise it, but love it and be devoted to it. And here comes the Mother\'s central work, her special gift, her grace to us. When you love a thing, you love, as it is said, through the heart; but there is love and love, and there is a heart within the heart. True love, the love that is divine, is within this inner heart, which is your soul, the real being or person in you; and the soul coming out, coming to the front as we say, is the Mother\'s special Grace here, her gift to all of you, to each one of you here. She has given you your soul. I have often said that it is the special privilege for each one of us here, for each one of you, to carry this being, this inner being, this intimate person, the Divine Child who is you. It is this that is building your divine personality, it is this that will give you in the end a mind beautiful, a vital beautiful, a body beautiful—all that you need, all that is perfect and flawless in your life here in this world.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou may remember, many of you, the famous line of <i>Savitri; </i>you must have heard it from Mother\'s own lips:\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nBuilt is the golden tower, the flame-child born.\n</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nShe has built this tower of new life and the child is here, the golden child. This golden child is in every one of you. You must find it, recognise it; this is the goal of your life, the mission and fulfilment of all that you want to do and be on earth. Some of you surely must have felt in you the presence of this child. Some may even have seen it as the Divine Child in you. These things—visitations as they are called—usually come in dreams. At least I know of some who have seen it, who came and told me of their miraculous experience. It is a possibility for everyone and if you happen to see it you must\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-28</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">recognise it, hold it, grasp it with all love and affection. The Mother is still living and active among us and her Presence is still here, even concretely, for each one of you has the Divine Child in you.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI end with a prayer, a prayer that I made to the Mother some time ago; it was on behalf of the small children of our playground:\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">Sweet Mother, your Playground children are angels. They have not become divine or godly, but they are angels, earthly angels. Keep them constantly under your eye, cradle them in your loving consciousness.\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThat was the prayer I made on your behalf to the Mother, and I am sure Mother has responded &quot;Yes.&quot;\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1973</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-29</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-010_The Mother and the Nature of Her Work','','publish','closed','open','','010_the-mother-and-the-nature-of-her-work','','','2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/010_the-mother-and-the-nature-of-her-work/',0,'post','',0),(1195,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-012_A Vision.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">A Vision \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Mother says:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;Just see. Look at me. I am here, come back in my new body—divine, transformed and glorious. And I am the same mother, still human. Do not worry. Do not be concerned about your own self, your progress and realisation, nor about others. I am here, look at me, gaze into me, enter into me wholly, merge into my being, lose yourself into my love, with your love. You will see all problems solved, everything done. Forget all else, forget the world. Remember me alone, be one with me, with my love.. ,&quot;<sup>2</sup>\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published February 1978</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\"></p>\n<p class=\"pararight\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> <sup>2 </sup>One is reminded of Rabindranath Tagore\'s lines: \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Lo, from within our heart. O Mother, thou hast come forth\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> in this wonder-form of thine.</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> I gaze and gaze \nand my eyes turn not aside.  \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nLo! The door of thy golden temple is flung wide open, O Mother! \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> What a wonder-form I behold before me! \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> I gaze and gaze and my eyes turn not aside.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-31</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-012_A Vision','','publish','closed','open','','012_a-vision','','','2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/012_a-vision/',0,'post','',0),(1196,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-006_Twin Prayers.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Twin Prayers\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">1\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">Lord, this morning Thou hast given me the assurance that Thou wouldst stay with us until Thy work is achieved, not only as a consciousness which guides and illumines but also as a dynamic Presence in action. In unmistakable terms Thou hast promised that all of Thyself would remain here and not leave the earth-atmosphere until earth is transformed. Grant that we may be worthy of this marvellous Presence and that henceforth everything in us be concenttated on the one will to be more and more perfectly consecrated to the fulfilment of Thy sublime Work.    (December 7, 1950)\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Mother\'s prayer to Sri Aurobindo—so beautiful, so poignant and so true—we, her children, now turn round and re-address to her own sweet self.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe new creation that the Mother embodied is not lost, it is not wiped out with the disappearance of the material body. It has been a true creation and is indelibly implanted in the earth-atmosphere and will remain there for eternity. And it is not merely a static structure, it is a living and growing entity. It is not in the earth\'s atmosphere a mere image or a lifeless picture transfixed there as on a canvas strip. It is living and growing—living and growing not only in itself and for itself, but making its habitat, the atmosphere, also live and grow in new dimensions, that is to say, transforming it in accordance with its own developing truth and reality. It is growing and\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-11</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">characteristically growing downwards, that is to say, extending itself more and more towards an earthly manifestation or incarnation. It is like the Ashwattha tree spoken of by the Rishis of old that stands upside down, the roots upward and the branches spreading out downwards; indeed it is growing downwards, drawing its life-sap from above. The physical embodiment, the materialisation of the inner formation, will happen in course of time inevitably. It will touch the ground, the very ground of the earth, and stand as its marvel-creation—-through a process of calamities and catastrophes perhaps, which may indeed be minimised if circumstances permit and the Grace admits; but whatever the process, the end is decreed, for the decree is that of the Divine and it is the destiny of the earth-consciousness.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">2\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis is, however, the Mother\'s part of the work and she is doing it perfectly, on her side. But what about ourselves? What is our share of the work? For it is intended that we, her children, should be collaborators in her work, so that we too may be integrated into the Divine realisation. The Mother herself has indicated the line of service we can render to her in the communication I just read out to you:\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\n... henceforth everything in us be concentrated on the one will to be more and more perfectly consecrated to the fulfilment of Thy sublime Work.\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe situation has somewhat changed since then and has become more difficult. On the departure of Sri Aurobindo, some time after, Mother gave us a message, an admonition, pointing out to us the difficulty:\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-12</p>\n<hr>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">To follow Sri Aurobindo in the great adventure of his integral yoga, one needed always to be a warrior; but now that he has physically left us, one needs to be a hero.<sup>1</sup>\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">At present when the Mother too is no more here—apparently—and we seem to be abandoned children, what are we to do or be? It is no longer sufficient to be a warrior, nor sufficient even to be a hero. What should we be? Something greater than a hero. One must be a Yogi. The Yogi is one who has the Divine Consciousness or the Mother\'s consciousness. If you find that it is not so easy for one to be a Yogi, even if one tries sincerely, I suggest to you another alternative. It is to leap into another dimension: to be a child, a child of the Mother.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI give you this subject for meditation: on becoming... a child, an ideal child of the Mother.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published August 1974</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i><sup>1</sup> Pour suivre Sri Aurobindo dans la grande aventure de son yoga intégral, il fallait toujours être guerrier; mais maintenant qu\'il nous a quitté physiquement, il faut être un héro.November 24, 1952</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-13</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-006_Twin Prayers','','publish','closed','open','','006_twin-prayers','','','2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/006_twin-prayers/',0,'post','',0),(1197,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-005_The Mother Abides.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Mother Abides\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">l\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIf it is a Pralaya, even a Mahapralaya, all is not lost, all is not washed away. Something remains, untouched, deathless, the divine part in you, the Mother\'s part in you, the consciousness incarnate and articulate.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIndeed it was your soul that she salvaged out of the inconscience and established in you as a living reality. That was her first and primary task and she has fulfilled it. It was there always, true; but it was a far-off, very distant, almost inactive point of light, an unknown and uncharted star not yet come into the ken of human measure and potency. She has brought it nearer home and established it in our living and dynamic consciousness. She has buoyed it up from the unconscious depths, or brought it down from vague, ethereal, nebulous regions, gradually developed it and nourished it and given it a firm dwelling in our inner regions. She has moulded it into a personality with a name and a form. If we do not recognise it often or always, it is because the outer shell of the senses has not yet been fully opened to it. But it is still there as our inner ruler and guide in spite of and through all obscurities and aberrations.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe next step, the second part of her work, was to build around this soul, this inner being, a body, a material vehicle to express it. To give a concrete divine shape to this soul-reality was her labour at this point. The soul was there, but a god has to come and inhabit it; this godhead, that is to say, a Power, a form of the Mother\'s own personality, has to be brought\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-8</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">down and the soul integrated into it. Apparently the effort was left off at that point and not completed.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSince the purpose and aim is not an individual realisation or even a realisation in a few individuals, but an achievement of the human race (which means a large or significant part of it), the effort has to be directed to that end. The level of the human consciousness has to be lifted up so that it may be capable of holding and embodying the afflatus that was coming into it for the change. Otherwise an individual representing the human level and forming part of the material consciousness will not be able to do it. Not only the earth-consciousness but the material constitution of the earth has to be transfigured. For the human body to pass through and complete the stages of transformation, it must have parallel echoes in other individuals—not necessarily the whole of humanity, but, as I said, presumably a sizeable part of it. Otherwise the purpose of the change, a global collective change, will not be fulfilled. An isolated individual supra-mentalised body upon earth would be a freak of Nature, a forced miracle as it were, an anomalous object in Nature, and humanity even at its topmost rung would not find any relation or kinship with it.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo the earth-nature has to be prepared for that end in view—first of all the earth-consciousness in the physical substance and then the raw substance itself. This has to be done as our immediate and urgent business of life.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">2\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI said that the earth-consciousness was not quite ready yet for the final transformation of the Mother\'s body, that is to say, the material substance of the body. Therefore it could not accommodate the incoming transforming force, and it broke: in breaking it must have broken through, through the hard, dense outermost\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-9</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">crust of matter—with what results, time will show.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs for us who survive, let us begin from the beginning. Let us start from scratch as it were. We remember Mothers own story, what she did for herself when she came to Sri Aurobindo. She effaced altogether her old personality, her achievements and accomplishments, made a clean slate of her consciousness and laid herself at the feet of Sri Aurobindo like a new-born babe, innocent of the past. Let us also in the same way face the day with our baby-soul in front, for that little being is the Mothet\'s Presence in us, still aglow with her consciousness.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">3\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou know, I was very hesitant to read this to you. \n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\"> In one way it is all right, but...\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn fact it is a mental and intellectual presentation of a phenomenon which goes beyond all intellectual and mental measure. This phenomenon is not only extra-intellectual, supra-mental but also supra-cosmic, the sense and bearing of which will be unveiled in the course of time.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMeanwhile, I think the best thing for us to do would be to remain quiet with a serene trust, with all the aspiration of our soul, our soul which is the concrete presence of Mother herself in us, which we carry within us always.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published April 1974</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-10</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-005_The Mother Abides','','publish','closed','open','','005_the-mother-abides','','','2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/005_the-mother-abides/',0,'post','',0),(1198,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-015_The Ashram Inner and Outer.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Ashram: Inner and Outer\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">I will tell you a story today, but of another kind. I will tell you of a dream or a vision that I had some time ago. It was an ashram—I say an ashram but it was not quite like our ashram, although there was a great similarity between the two. In some respects it was like our ashram and in other respects somewhat unlike it. First of all, the whole ashram was in one place, a consolidated organisation, not houses here and there scattered about: there were no buildings or houses belonging to other people or other organisations; also the buildings were beautiful to look at and the general layout artistic. But all the activities we have here were there: the school was there, the playground was there, the library also, but all in an orderly arrangement. The Mother was also there; she was going from place to place, observing all and speaking to people. Among the people, curiously, some I seemed to recognise, some of those even who are here now; there were also many strangers from other countries, a good many of them. Regarding those who are here now and who I seemed to recognise there, the impression is rather vague and I cannot name them. But some of those who were here and have passed away I recognised very well; they had almost the same face and features—but in a new, fresh and younger form. They were active and handsome young men and young women.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI remember Sri Aurobindo quoting from the Rig Veda. The Vedic Rishi speaks of a happy herd of cows grazing in green fields; the Rishi adds: even those among them that were old have become young now. The cow represented for the Rishi the light, the sun\'s ray, the purity of consciousness. Perhaps\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-41</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">the image came from the actual life of the Rishi of that time: the cattle they reared, the domestic animals about them, the natural scenery around them, and all that was an important part of their ordinary daily life. A whole herd of cattle, all white, is a beautiful picture. Even so, there was something in the atmosphere of the ashram which gave it a special quality; it was clear, pure, limpid and transparent, there was a strange luminosity in it, and it was a very happy atmosphere. While you were there, you felt free and at ease and there were no petty feelings that we have here in the normal life of the world, no anger, no jealousy, no selfishness, no ugliness: there was a happy coordination of all persons and things.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMy feeling is that this ashram that I saw was in fact the inner reality of our ashram here, the inner ashram which is within us all; what we see at present is the outer form, the material form, which is a good deal deformed and even falsified in many ways. Indeed, that inner ashram had an other-worldly atmosphere of its own, an atmosphere of rarefied heights. I have told you very often that those who are here are fortunate; they breathe this atmosphere and in spite of their faults and foibles, and no matter what they do, they are in contact with something of its inner beauty and fragrance. I do not know whether you have heard what Mother said more than once, that all the children here, when they live here for some time, imbibe and carry a new atmosphere. And she could recognise a person from a distance, even from a great distance, not by his face or physical features but by the atmosphere he carried, very different from the atmosphere an outsider normally carries. It is an atmosphere or aura made of happiness and purity and luminosity. All the ashram children are surrounded by it because it is the Mothers own atmosphere.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTherefore in those days, she used to say that the children should not go out into the outside world even during their holidays, because when they go out (she said she had seen it)\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-42</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">they lose this ashram atmosphere, and when they come back they are coated with a thick layer of the mud of the ordinary world, and it took her a lot of time and trouble to rub and scrub and clean the dross upon the body, to make it shine as before. You may remember here in this connection the Ramakrishna story about the sinners who go to the Ganges for a bath to purify themselves; they leave their sins on the shore or their sins leave them as they get into the Ganges water, but the sins wait for them there on the bank and as soon as they come out purified of their sins, the sins lying in wait jump on them again and the sinners remain always sinners. Here naturally you are not destined to remain sinners always.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nHowever, that atmosphere, the inner atmosphere, still exists here. With the Mother\'s withdrawal of the physical body, that too might have withdrawn a little perhaps, a little only, just a few inches perhaps! But it is still here, for the Mother is here as concretly as before although not as materially. As I said, there are some who have passed away from here and some new faces also that I found in this other inner ashram; they are already there wholly in that ashram. But we who are here, we lead a double life as it were: part of us is here and part is there in that other inner ashram, as though one leg were on this side and the other leg on that side of the fence. In your better moments when you feel nice and free, when you are happy, when you are noble in spirit, you come in contact with that inner ashram, you breathe that atmosphere. In dreams also, while asleep, apparently asleep, many of you must have seen the Mother, many must have had Sri Aurobindo\'s darshan. That is because you came in contact with that inner atmosphere and entered into it.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNow our task is to come more and more in contact with that reality even in our waking moments, to be conscious of that which is nothing but the Mother\'s Presence. Half of you, your inner life, is already there, bathing there in that\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-43</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">luminous happy air. Only try to be conscious of that: if you are conscious of it even a little, you will feel immensely happy, feel that you are beautiful, that you are wise when you feel the couch of that inner ashram life. And instead of living entirely or mainly the outer life of the ashram as at present, you can turn this life into that inner life and gradually reshape the \npresent life in the mould of the inner life. That is your duty, your task, particularly you who are students, boys and girls, that is your central work; study and learning and all else is secondary. What you should do and what you can do is to breathe a new air, live in a better, more beautiful way. You can have this inner life; it is already there, this inner life, without much difficulty; it is already there, a collective inner life, which is so beautiful as I say, filled with the fragrance of the Mother\'s Presence. It is a collective life in which you all are not only brothers and sisters but one body and soul unified in the Mother\'s loving and living substance.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThat inner life you have to bring out in your body and all the external activities. It is the very nature of that inner organisation to express itself outwardly; its spontaneous drive is towards expression and embodiment; even if you do not know or perceive it, it is slowly coming forward. Only, if you are conscious, if you help, if you collaborate, you will be benefitted: you will grow in consciousness and attain a new stature; you will enjoy the supreme happiness of a miraculous achievement.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAt present, as I say, there is a separation between the two ashrams, these two worlds or lives. They run parallel to each other, or oftener they are intertwined, intermixed, badly dovetailed. They must be made one single existence: the inner must take up and assimilate into itself the outer; the outer must allow itself to be cleansed and emptied of its dross and be possessed altogether by the inner. They are to form one streamlined entity: one being, one life, one body.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-44</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">I said that your work is to try to be conscious and take part more and more in the inner life. Naturally you ask how to do it. Actually there is no precise process, no hard-and-fast rule for learning or acquiring it. It is not like learning a mathematical problem or even a particular exercise which you learn by habit and culture. It is nothing mechanical; it is a natural growth. It comes automatically and spontaneously, it shows itself to you and in you. You have simply to ask for it sincerely, to go on asking for it as intensely as possible, repeating like a mantra: &quot;I want to be there, I want to be there, I want to be there.&quot; That is quite sufficient. That will evoke in you the new light, the new impulse that will lead you on. That is the child\'s call to the Mother and the Mother always responds—with her Light and Life and Love.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou have been told, and I have also often told you, that although the Mother\'s physical body is not here, she has left her consciousness with us: her consciousness is still living, it is still working. She herself said, even while she was in her body, that if ever she left her body, her consciousness would be always here with us. But I will add something more here. Apart from her consciousness what she has left with us, what remains with us, is her love; her love for her children is still here undiminished as before in its fullness. I spoke of the inner ashram life; that life is built out of her love for her children, and it should be easy for you to enter and enjoy that life through your love for the Mother, your answering love for the Mother\'s love for you. And through the glow of that love, you will gradually develop into what she wanted you to become.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published April 1975</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-45</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-015_The Ashram Inner and Outer','','publish','closed','open','','015_the-ashram-inner-and-outer','','','2021-11-23 08:51:35','2021-11-23 08:51:35','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/015_the-ashram-inner-and-outer/',0,'post','',0),(1199,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-017_On the Brink.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Part 3 </p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">A New Creation </p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<p class=\"para\">The destiny of man is governed and worked out by a Power beyond human calculation. That Power is dynamic today to a degree unknown heretofore. We have only to give ourselves up in the hands of that Power, allow it to act in us and around us, recognise its action and be grateful to the Divine Providence. That is the only way to deliverance out of this present turmoil. In that way lies our utmost happiness and the supreme achievement.\n	</p>\n	<p class=\"pararight\">—Nolini Kanta Gupta </p>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-49</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">On the Brink\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">l\n</p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td width=\"33%\"></td>\n	<td>\n	<p class=\"para\"> One of its legs the Swan \n	does not lift </p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nas it soars upward out of the waters;\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nif perchance it lifted that also,\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nthere would be then neither today nor tomorrow,\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nnor would there be day or night\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nnor would there be dawning any more.\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nAtharva Veda 11.4.21 </p></td>\n	<td width=\"33%\"></td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThus said the Vedic Rishi.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nEven so, when the Mother withdrew physically from this earth we presumed that she did so with one foot only; the other foot she left planted here below for us to worship. Well, was that only a presumption or have things changed since then?\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nHere on this earth, we know, a battle was raging and is still raging between the Gods and the Asuras: men are their agents and instruments. The battle is to decide the destiny of earth and humanity. Mother was the leader of the divine army here. Now, human beings are a very uncertain quantity. They themselves do not know on which side they are ranging. Some perhaps may know to some extent, but that does not seem to count much in the actual reckoning of things.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYes, the pity is that man does not know and yet so much, if not the whole thing, depends on him. For man as he is now is so far removed from godliness and so close to the Asuras that the battle upon earth between the Gods and the Asuras seems to be an unequal game. Man by actual nature is asuric: it is\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-51</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">through aspiration that he is trying to be godly, but it seems he is now out of \nbreath with his aspiration and has fallen back on his normal nature of the Asura.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMan enshrines in himself the individualised Godhead, the personal Divine: the possibility of the incarnation of the Divine lies in him alone. Hence the struggle between the Gods and the Asuras for the possession of the human vessel.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt was the intention of the Mother to implant the Divine upon the turbid soil of normal humanity, purifying it of its dross and suffusing it with the heavenly breath. If that is not done, then she will have no other choice but to leave the field alrogether to the Asuras, in whatever camp or form they are, to fight it out among themselves and finally destroy themselves in the act even like the Yadavas of old after Krishna\'s retirement. Some Asuras may pretend to be divine precisely to catch the voting strength, so to say, of the human being, who may still seem to have a prejudice or predilection for the divine things; but the truth will be out and the pretenders will be compelled to disclose themselves exactly as they are.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThen only, consequent on the self-annihilation of the Asuras, can this earth be free and open for the incoming of the new race of beings born divine, not made divine after birth. Whether any remnants of the human race will be left and in what condition, if any part of it can be incorporated or integrated into the new dispensation, is a mystery that will remain till the actuality reveals it.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut I must not leave it at that, for there is always hope and cheer, visras of escape; the tunnel ends at last and at the end there is always the light. The Lord says indeed: I am Time, the Destroyer of the worlds—<i>k</i>&#257;<i>lo\'smi lokak</i>&#7779;<i>yak</i>&#7771;<i>t—</i>but he also declares in no uncertain terms his voice of assurance, the resounding bugle-call of his <i>p</i>&#257;ñ<i>cajanya, </i>the Divine conch:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThou who hast come to this ephemeral and unhappy world,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-52</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\"> love me and turn to Me.... Take refuge in Me alone. \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> I will deliver thee from all sin and evil.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i>anityam asukham lokam imam pr</i>&#257;<i>pya bhajasva m</i>&#257;<i>u.</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i>... m</i>&#257;<i>mekam </i>&#347;<i>aranam vraja aham tv</i>&#257;<i> sanvap</i>&#257;<i>pebhyo mok</i>&#7779;<i>ayi</i>&#7779;<i>y</i>&#257;<i>mi m</i>&#257;<i> </i>&#347;<i>ucah.</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\nGita 9.33; 18.66\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">2\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nA god is a single undivided being, even as an Asura is a single undivided being. But man is a divided dual being; on one side he is a soul, on the other he is predominantly a body complex. By his soul he is akin to the Gods, by his external being he is neighbour to the Asuras. Man is thus the link between Heaven and Earth. He is the twice-born, <i>dvija: </i>he is planted in the mud of earth—he has the proverbial feet of clay—and his head soars high, it bathes in the sun\'s light. He is an &quot;emergence&quot; out of \nearth, a being of evolution; he is also an &quot;immergence&quot;, a descent into earth from heaven: one part in him is godly, the other asuric. As the Divine he is Brahman, as the Asura, Aham.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo man occupies a central place in the scheme of the universe. Above him are stationed the Gods in the region of the higher mind and the heart; below him upon the earth rule the Asuras, the powers of the lower mind and the vital. In between is man, the intermediary being.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Gods and the Asuras are in eternal struggle for the mastery of the three worlds and it is curious to note that they both seek the help and aid of man. We know of legends in which human beings, kings and warriors, are invited by the Gods to come over to their side in the struggle. We have heard of the Raghus whose war chariots drove right up to heaven from the earth to come to the help of the Gods—\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-53</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">&#257;<i>n</i>&#257;<i>kctm ratham vartman</i>&#257;<i>m </i>(Kalidasa). The Asuras however have a greater sway over man in a natural manner because of man\'s earthly constitution. For the natural man is moved and controlled mostly by his external mind and vital; over him the earth\'s gravitational pull holds almost complete sway. The world and men in their external life and action are the fief and domain of the Asura. They have to be reclaimed and remoulded. The possibility of it lies in the fact that along with the forces of gravitation there are forces of regeneration and elevation; only they seem to be slow in their action and not efficient enough under the present circumstances.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut man\'s destiny is not to be confined to this sphere of the triple world. He has a higher destiny transcending these lower worlds and that is being worked out elsewhere deep within him. He has a destiny which even the Gods envy; for he has the Divine\'s own home in him. It is God himself who is implanted in him, in the cavern of his heart—it is his soul.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI may leave you here. We have come to the door of the mystery of mysteries: there is the cavern where the great Being is installed-—<i>guh</i>&#257;<i>hitam gahvarestham</i>—the supreme key to the solution and resolution of all problems, the attainment of divine perfection. It is for you to enter and find for yourselves the final consolation. Even so I am reminded of the great poet and seer Dante who was led by Virgil to the formidable door on which was inscribed in flaming letters the terrible heartrending line:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nGive up all hope, you who enter here.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is the door to eternal hell. But I bring you to the luminous door on which is inscribed in golden and gleaming letters the blissful line:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nKeep up all hope, you who enter here.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-54</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">3\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThere are two realms—the physical realm of action and the subtle realm of feeling <i>(bh</i>&#257;<i>va). </i>It is not that the physical is the only real realm and the subtle is unreal or less real; the subtle may be equally real, even more real and concrete, even more physical, as it were. A physical blow is painful, but King Lear went mad because of a subtle blow, the blow of ingratitude which hit him more than the lashes of howling wild winds. One may forget the joy of physical embrace but there is a delight of sheer love, pure unshared love, an exquisite experience that remains indelibly puissant in the memory. The love of Dante for Beatrice is made of pure concentrated consciousness and has nothing physical in it, but it carried Dante in his peregrinations through all the worlds even to the very presence of God in heaven, to the presence of his divinised Beloved (in and with his very physical body, it is said).\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou have to create the subtle world of feeling: it may be dwelling within you or enclosing you, surrounding you; it may be immanent or circumambient—both are the same in that sphere of existence or consciousness. The outer world is more or less independent of you, you have not much control over it, but the subtler ground is more pliant and plastic and obedient to your will and purpose. In the midst of all trouble and tribulation, even the greatest misery, this other realm you can build up to a great extent after your heart and make it the source of your life and delight. It can be your home of happiness and your celestial refuge. This realm will have as its basis love for the Mother and, at its apex, aspiration for her consciousness, and it will be from base to apex entirely composed of the Mother\'s peace and quiet.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou can do it yourself, the capacity has been given to you— for the capacity is nothing else but the Mother\'s Presence.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1976</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-55</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-017_On the Brink','','publish','closed','open','','017_on-the-brink','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/017_on-the-brink/',0,'post','',0),(1200,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-004_A Canadian Question.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">A Canadian Question\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">l\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i>It is written in </i>A Practical Guide to Integral Yoga: <i>&quot;The physical nearness to the Mother is indispensable for the fullness of the sadhana on the physical plane. Transformation of the physical and external being is not possible otherwise. &quot; (Sri Aurobindo)</i>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i>My question is: How are we to interpret these words in the light of the Mothers recent passing? Does this mean that a full transformation is no longer possible to the aspirant? Or has discipleship on the material level in the path of the Integral Yoga come to an end?</i>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nObviously, the immediate programme of a physical transformation is postponed—not cancelled. But what we have been given is not less of a miracle. Mother has prepared for us her new body in the inner world, in the subtle physical, which is as living and tangible as her physical body, even though not as concrete. In one of her last &quot;Notes on the Way&quot; she refers to this new transformed body and she describes it as presented to her vision. That body she has built up in her long arduous labours, built up in a complete form and left with us and with humanity.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis new body of hers, prepared behind the material curtain, she sought to infuse into the material form, even press or force into it this new element; but Matter and man\'s physical nature were not yet ready: Earth still considered it as an intrusion, as something foreign. The material casing broke down in consequence—perhaps not broke down, rather broke\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-4</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">through; but that must be another story.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut her new body is there, living and glorious in its beauty and power, and it is still at work within us and around us in the world, incessantly, towards the final consummation of its material embodiment. What is expected of us is to see this golden Mother within us and try to become, as she always wanted, her golden children, within and without.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSri Aurobindo speaks of an inner mind, an inner vital, an inner physical. Only the other day the passage was read out at the Playground meditation. The golden body, the new body, is formed out of an inner mind, an inner vital and an inner physical, renewed and reshaped. We can show our love for her, requite the debt that we owe to her Grace, by admitting her Presence into our physical being and allowing her to do the work she has undertaken to do.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">2\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFor us now it is time to make amends for the lapses of the past—there were lapses, indeed, grievous lapses. So long as her physical body was our protection, we did not suffer the full consequences of our Karma because her body acted as a buffer: it broke the force of the impact of the Karma and reduced its evil effects to a minimum. Her body bore our burden and relieved us of the misery otherwise due to us. Mankind, the world even, does not know the saving Grace that her material frame brought to it. It would have gone down to destruction and dissolution but for the presence of the Divine body.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe world has survived, mankind has an assured future— that is the work done by her body. It aimed at a little more, to show us something of the concrete form of the future, but evidently that was not to be, because something from us also, from the world and mankind, some helping hand in the labour, was needed. We remember her ringing words: <i>&quot;Si seulement</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-5</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\"><i>l\'humanité consentait à être spiritualisée&quot; </i>(&quot;If only mankind consented to be spiritualised&quot;)—well, that was the minimum; that minimum was also not granted to her body. Her body was made so easily available to all without any trouble and effort on our part that we lost all sense of the precious thing brought to us, brought to our very door. We did not know how to make use of it and have the true benefit out of it. Many a time she did say something to us to that effect regretfully; we wasted a treasure like the pampered prodigal son.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is regrettable, but she has left no cause for our regret. She has left with us the true source of her protective power, her living consciousness concretised in the earth\'s atmosphere, in the personal atmosphere of each one of us. We have only to open our grateful eyes and see it. The ladder has been taken away, but she has come nearer to us and a little uplift will place us again within her arms.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSince we have no longer the support of her body on which we depended almost exclusively, we are compelled to seek the true support, the support of her consciousness, her inner presence, her living Person within—the inner reality which her body represented, whose acquaintance we were not careful enough to cultivate. Now we are thrown back upon the only alternative available. The way will be arduous; we could have much more easily mounted up the ladder of consciousness with the aid of her body, almost playfully like children. Now a little bit of austerity will be needed on our part; the austerity will be needed to bring our external life and physical consciousness in line with her consciousness, to prepare them, to make them ready. Her material body offered an unconditional help and protection; now all that will be conditional—conditional upon our willing cooperation, our happy and conscious collaboration; of course the Grace will be always there. Once she asked us point-blank, for the crisis was upon us: &quot;Are you ready?&quot; Almost unthinkingly, in a\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-6</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">gesture of bravado and gallantry, many answered: &quot;Yes we are.&quot; But we were not in fact.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe task then for us and for the world is to make ourselves ready, that is to say, to make our physical being and consciousness free of the old reactions, instilling into them the consciousness that she is, and with which she still embraces us, so that when the next call comes, although the call is always there, we may answer with truth on our lips: &quot;We are ready.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"pararight\"><i>Published April 1974</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-7</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-004_A Canadian Question','','publish','closed','open','','004_a-canadian-question','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/004_a-canadian-question/',0,'post','',0),(1201,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-007_The Soul^s Freedom.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Soul\'s Freedom\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">l\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe pressure from above has been withdrawn and normalcy restored to the earth-consciousness. Pressure meant a separation: something foreign acting from elsewhere, an interference. As a process, as a passage needed for a time, for a special purpose and under special circumstances, it was necessary and welcome. But circumstances have changed.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe higher consciousness has not to remain always high but to become level with the normal. Either the higher must come down and mingle totally with the lower, or the lower has to rise and merge altogether into the higher, or both meet and unite midway somewhere.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nEarth or material nature does not easily tolerate anything unknown and foreign to it. Even if it is for its own well-being, a foreign touch makes it shrink and turn in on itself. It is even painful for it to bear. In the end the earth is not to be goaded or driven along: it has to go on its own. It must depend entirely on itself, bring out what it carries within itself or has acquired and stored. It has to outgrow its childhood or apprenticeship, the period when an intelligent amount of pressure or even coercion might be needed or inevitable. But that stage passed, the higher realisation has to be the natural expression of ordinary earth-life: its normal state has to be the state of the higher consciousness, its life naturally moved by its self-nature expressing its own truth.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIf there is to be a Divine destiny for earth, it must be because of its free choice. There must be no pressure or even\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-14</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">solicitude from any agent outside itself to compel it or force it that way. It must be a glad and spontaneous impulse from within to follow the line of destiny it has itself chosen.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs the original birth of Ignorance was a free choice of Ignorance, even so the return of Ignorance to consciousness has to be a matter of spontaneous self-seeking. It may be true or it is true in a deeper way that a mortal is chosen whom the Divine has already chosen, but that is another matter. Here upon earth we mortal souls are free agents, we choose or we do not choose.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn any case if one is to possess something truly, one must acquire it by one\'s exertion and in complete liberty. A free gift or an imposition even of a precious object is always something foreign and unnatural to it. One must learn to love a thing in order to have it wholly for oneself; it must be made part and parcel of one\'s being. And true love can exist only in free choice.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nLatterly the Mother was saying, whenever the question of the descent of supermind was raised, that there was no question of descent any longer, for the thing has descended and it is here; it is no more a question of descent, that is to say, of something arriving from elsewhere that was not here before. At present it is simply the question of the manifestation of the thing that is with us and among us.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAt one time Mother was asking for, even pleading for collaboration from the material nature. It was accorded in principle, but in act it was found wanting. Now the tables are turned. The earth-consciousness has now to ask for, pray for collaboration from the Divine. The material consciousness has to come forward and take the lead and play the frontal role in the working out of the evolution. The collaboration of her physical body has been withdrawn in order to leave us free in our physical movements so that we may learn to labour, and to labour in full freedom for the service expected of us. We\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-15</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">say she has withdrawn herself, that is to say, her physical body, but she is still here, and she being here, her very existence is force, a helping force, and that is collaboration enough and it is always at our disposal.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNow at present it all depends on how much the earth-consciousness has received, imbibed or assimilated of the Divine Presence. That will be the measure of the fulfilment human beings can achieve. As much as we earth-creatures feel and express of the higher reality, that much we shall become truly and divinely. If we continue to be the old stock with no or little change, well, we shall have to wait perhaps for another million years.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis would mean for us, naturally, a change of dress for a good many times perhaps. There seems to be no other way. But a change of dress is inevitable and should be welcome, for kept on too long it would stink. A dip in the Vaitarni or Acheron (if we happen to be in Greece) would be wholesome. There is however always the possibility of a miracle happening: to this Mother was referring very often. In that case we might learn to change, to renew ourselves in the inner way, even like the Vedic cows; as the Rishi says: <i>Paliknïrid yuvatayo bhavanti</i>—even those of them who were grey with age, became young again. (Rig Veda, V.2.4)\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNaturally it does not matter at all to the Divine, the supreme consciousness—the whole of eternity is His playfield, a million years this side or that do not count for Him anything. And yet we are human beings and we can have other vistas equally divine. The Mother became a human being like us as totally as possible for that purpose, to shorten the million years.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">2\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Mother continues to do what is necessary under the circumstances and perhaps more; she has not stopped her work.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-16</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">But the most crucial thing and the most critical—turning the corner—has been done. Sri Aurobindo has spoken of it in memorable words: we know the passage in <i>The Mother. </i>I quote the lines and conclude:\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Mother not only governs all from above but she descends into this lesser triple universe. Impersonally, all things here, even the movements of the Ignorance, are herself in veiled power and her creations in diminished substance, her Nature-body and Nature-force, and they exist because, moved by the mysterious fiat of the Supreme to work out something that was there in the possibilities of the Infinite, she has consented to the great sacrifice and has put on like a mask the soul and forms of the Ignorance. But personally too she has stooped to descend here into the Darkness that she may lead it to the Light, into the Falsehood and Error that she may convert it to the Truth, into this Death that she may turn it to godlike Life, into this world-pain and its obstinate sorrow and suffering that she may end it in the transforming ecstasy of her sublime Ananda. In her deep and great love for her children she has consented to put on herself the cloak of this obscurity, condescended to bear the attacks and torturing influences of the powers of the Darkness and the Falsehood, borne to pass through the portals of the birth that is a death, taken upon herself the pangs and sorrows and sufferings of the creation, since it seemed that thus alone could it be lifted to the Light and Joy and Truth and eternal Life. This is the great sacrifice called sometimes the sacrifice of the Purusha, but much more deeply the holocaust of Prakriti, the sacrifice of the Divine Mother.\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published February 1975</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-17</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-007_The Soul\'s Freedom','','publish','closed','open','','007_the-souls-freedom','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/007_the-souls-freedom/',0,'post','',0),(1202,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-013_Ashram.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Part 2 \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Ashram \n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nA Power, a Presence has come down near to us upon earth and is moulding infallibly the earth-substance into something which it has been always aspiring for, but has never attained till now in an appreciable degree. Today the possibility is an actuality before us.\n	</p>\n	<br>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nWe have assembled here so that with each individual contributing his mite of sincerity and efficiency, a combined endeavour may create a wide and secure opening for the new Power and Presence to come into its own and possess a home in the material life here below.\n	</p>\n	<br>\n	<p class=\"pararight\">\n—Nolini Kanta Gupta </p>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-33</p>\n	<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">A Review of Our Ashram Life\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn its early days, quite at the beginning, we may now say long, long ago, for it is now almost half a century ago, the Ashram from its very start quite spontaneously and inevitably grew into a community life. In the first place, the individuals ceased to have any personal possessions. Whatever they had belonged not to themselves but to the group, or rather to the Master of the group, the Guru, to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Whatever they had, they considered as having received from the Mother for use only. They were not the proprietors or possessors of anything: whatever they needed or thought they needed, they had to ask for it and the Mother decided whether they should have it or not. It was a joyous surrender of possessions and a grateful acceptance of gifts. One may yet remember the beautiful movement that impelled each one of those who were fortunate to be there at that time. One is reminded of a parallel movement, although on a different field, described by Tagore in his well-known lines:\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThere was a scuffle and scramble,\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nA great hurry as to who would be the first\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo throw away his life.\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">Well, it was a picture worth contemplating. Here is one carrying his trunk or valise or wallet, and placing it before the Mother, displaying all his possessions and receiving them back from her as her gift. She did not take away anything as superfluous or not necessary! It was for us to judge and decide what was really necessary and what was a luxury. We had to\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-35</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">be sincere. She was generosity itself.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe life of each one was directly linked with the Mother. The relation between individuals was founded on the relations each one had with the Mother. It did not depend on one\'s liking or disliking, one\'s attraction or repulsion, but was necessitated by the need of the common life as arranged by the Mother.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSuch a life was possible for two reasons: a physical reason and a psychological reason. The physical reason was that the number of people forming the Ashram was very small: instead of the two thousand and more that we are today, there were at that time (the time I am speaking of) barely fifty. And there were no children. And of men and women, only those were allowed who had a real call for the spiritual life; those alone were chosen by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo and permitted to live here. And here is the natural psychological reason: it was a select group who already had an inner life and spiritual aspiration, so they were ready for a life of surrender and self-giving, of obedience and allegiance to the guru. They did not come ignorant and innocent of the rudimentary elements of spiritual life.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe work that Mother could do then and was doing, she herself has described and explained to us. It was the creation of a world—a region at least—of the higher consciousness in which every one who participated had his own place, every one with his soul-being sufficiently in front, and this being she could connect or link up with a being of the higher sphere—a counterpart, an over-soul, as it were, for each soul. It was a kind of descent, a subtle incarnation of Gods which the Mother\'s Grace occasioned or brought about, into the elevated and sublimated human level.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe ground had already been prepared, we may note, by the descent of November 24, 1926, the descent of the Over-mind or Krishna-consciousness into Sri Aurobindo\'s body-consciousness and thence generally into the earth-atmosphere\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-36</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">and becoming its natural and permanent possession.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut at one point Sri Aurobindo happened to make an observation which meant halt! The Mother narrates the story to us in an amusing way. One day Sri Aurobindo was telling the Mother: &quot;What you are doing is very fine and very grand. It will bring you name and fame, you will become a world-figure and your work will be a marvel. It will be a grand success.&quot; Well, that was sufficient. The whole thing dropped from the Mother\'s hands. The new creation vanished in a moment, as it were, there was a Pralaya. The Gods withdrew, we came down with a thud upon earth—down to earth, earth to earth. We are still there, crawling, forward I hope, as best as we can.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis creation of a luminous world in a higher sphere of the mind which Mother attempted could not be fully achieved because the foundations were not properly laid, the basic ground was not prepared. Any higher structure of the mind and Overmind must be built upon man\'s vital being and physical life. The new creation left out of account these realities of basement, so we had to come down, forgetting for the moment the higher realisation, into these darker regions and make a thorough cleaning of them. The regions of the vital consciousness and physical consciousness are, as we all know, full of human failings and dangerous complications. One had to leave the heavens and come down to these lower levels and tackle the problems that beset them, the crucial problems whose solution alone could lay a strong foundation for the final consummation, the supreme transformation. One had to face the statk realities here and master them before one could think of a heavenly ascent. So we all became once more ordinary human beings with human weaknesses and a modicum of aspiration perhaps. This was the task given to all of us—to battle through and conquer here below. The scene changed completely. A mid-summer-night\'s dream turned\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-37</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">almost into a sombre Hamlet tragedy.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe first sign of this return, this resumption of life as it is, was the reassertion of the individual, the freedom of the personal unit. Because of the increased number of people and because of the incursion of children, the earlier frame could no longer hold good. The willing surrender of individuality is a lesson that has to be acquired and achieved: it is not just God\'s gift for the many. The many have to grow, grow by degrees, through toil and trouble, and slowly be led into the mysteries of the highet Realisation of \ntears. The Roman poet spoke of the easy descent down the cliffs to the river : \nFacilis descensus Avernil. Easy is the descent to Avernus ( Virgil: Aeneid, \nII.126)</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe realisation aimed at demands a wholesale change, an integral transformation; it does not rest content with a partial success, an attainment on one level, in one portion of the being. There is therefore a global shake-up; nothing is allowed to remain in its old status unnoticed, all must come out and declare themselves to the Light. Hence the darkness of it all. All the impurities, imperfections and vilenesses show themselves—the grass-roots, as they say, that have to be extirpated and the ground ploughed, furrowed and prepared for the new seed. It is a difficult time. The heroic soul must bear and stand, know what is happening and move bravely on.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI spoke of the community ideal chat obtained among us at the outset of our life here; that broke to pieces. Individualism reared its gtuesome head with all its inevitable consequences: egoism had uncontrolled sway; instead of submission and surrender and obedience, freedom attained complete freedom, liberty pushed to licence.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-38</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nLike individuals, collective bodies (in the matter of work and enterprises) were allowed the freedom to grow, or perhaps not to grow, independently. Each group or section, each undertaking sought to depend upon itself, to secure its own personal equipment and resources: its gains were its own, and naturally the losses were bound to be more than the gains. The real gain was perhaps the experience. The experience was meant to develop the consciousness and it is hoped that the consciousness did make a gain.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe freedom, the devolution or departure from control of the centre, went so far as to bring about almost a real separation between the groups and the centre; the same tendency, by the way, we may notice in the play of world politics today.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe limbs declared their independence and sought and fought for this independence, but that could only be at the cost of the Heart. The calvary of the Divine lay precisely here: it is due to this sense of separation, an individual, exclusive self-existence prevailing in His children, issues of His own body. The units in the cosmic body of the Divine in the Ignorance are indeed ignorant, and the force that compels them to be together apparently is the forced bond of ignorance; they seem outwardly to press towards inevitable disintegration and chaos.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn reality however, this movement of dispersion out of bounds, a flight away from the centre, harbours a reverse movement in it, a self-conscious advance towards a reawakening to the one central consciousness that is in all, that is all. This is an intermediate stage when the faults and imperfections in the creation, the wrong forces that issued from and were inherent in the original Ignorance and first separation, had to be tracked and met; they could not be allowed to lie dormant eternally. Therefore they rose up and declared themselves so that the Light can deal with them and swallow them.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOne remembers the legend of the Vedic Rishi Agastya and his consort who once attempted a new and renovated creation.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-39</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">They were engaged in a tremendous superhuman labour to discover the roots of evil upon earth: they dug it up, opened out its very bowels: they went deeper and deeper, through layer after layer of obstructive darkness till they arrived at the very source of the Night. Then they broughr in there with them a Light that could produce a reversal of consciousness, changing darkness into radiance.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe lower sphere of the vital and the physical is a mass of ignorant Nature (Prakriti), all moving together helplessly, mechanically, bound together indissolubly to one inexorable fate, and it stands on the rock of utter unconsciousness—the Inconscient which is the very basis and stuff of that sphere. Consciousness, the conscient Being, has to come down and penetrate there, break the hard block of inert matter, striking and scattering and throwing up, as it were, its myriad disparate bits, turning them into particles of Light and Consciousness. These free sparks, the first-born of Consciousness, at the outset become erratic, errant conscious units, free but fighting against each other, each exclusive in its unitary consciousness; but that is the way towards a purer, higher, wider, integrating consciousness. As the Consciousness works and moves forward, the dross, the grit is blown away and it works towards a clearer light and a harmonic weaving of all component units.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe are thus in a transition period; it is an interregnum, beset with great difficulties, but they are also great opportunities. The Calvary is not merely a passage of pain and suffering; it is a Purgatory, that is to say, a zone, a process where the being and consciousness is cleaning itself, throwing off its own scales, sloughing off its old skin and in course of time it will come out in a rejuvenated body and in a harmonious setting. The Paradise lost will one day be thus regained. Paradise Lost will have one day inevitably, as its sequel and consummation, Paradise Regained.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1973</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-40</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-013_Ashram','','publish','closed','open','','013_ashram','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/013_ashram/',0,'post','',0),(1203,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-030_To Live Within.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">To Live Within\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nLive within, do not be upset by outer circumstances. Yes, that is the motto: live within.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut how? And what does it exactly mean? Usually the dynamic being, the active part of the consciousness, is centred on the surface, in superficial external movements. One of the ways to live within is therefore to withdraw from outer activities and live detached or sort of retired, in the inner consciousness. But this withdrawal is not very easy nor is it very spontaneous; it needs a long and arduous discipline.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd one must also make a distinction between the dynamic consciousness and the thought-movements; the two are not the same. Thought-movements are only one of the movements of consciousness, not the consciousness itself. There is an inner consciousness behind the surface in which one has to learn to live.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThere is yet another state, the consciousness of the Purusha, the witness consciousness which stands behind the dynamic being, and another way to live within is to withdraw into the Purusha consciousness, to live there, to identify oneself with it. This helps one to remain unaffected by the activities of the outer life and consciousness, which are then felt and experienced merely as movements of general Prakriti. But for us this too is not enough.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFor us living within means establishing the centre of dynamism in the psychic, the inmost soul in the very depths of our being. It is this which must influence, control, embrace the whole of our being and also be the source and determinant of all our outward activities. All must be illumined by it\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-98</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">and changed and transmuted into its very substance. Then the entire way of living, the very texture of experience will change, and instead of being affected by outer circumstances or by life\'s events, we shall be, so to say, lifted above; we shall even live in a state of communion with the Divine, for the soul is a spark of the Divine, it is truly the Divine Presence itself. And then we shall also understand why things are as they are and not otherwise.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo live within means to live in a state of constant aspiration for the Divine, and if we do so, we can look at life with a smile and live in peace, whatever may be the outer circumstances.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published April 1982</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-99</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-030_To Live Within','','publish','closed','open','','030_to-live-within','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/030_to-live-within/',0,'post','',0),(1204,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-016_The Ashram, the World and the Individual.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Ashram, the World and the Individual\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMother told us long ago that our Ashram is an epitome or India. It represents all that is good in India and also all that is bad—all the bad qualities, the weaknesses, all that is crooked and false, dark and obscure. And the Ashram, being a concentrated centre of all that, represents it in an especially intense form.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNow the pressure from above has come to change things and for that purpose all the dark points, all that has to be changed and rejected, have been exposed. They have been exposed everywhere—in the Ashram and also outside the Ashram, in the country in general—the same defects and weaknesses, the same wrong movements.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn India, the government is trying to check and control these movements by external means; to some extent it is necessary and so the central authority has been given that much strength and capacity. But the Ashram was made to be a conscious collective centre where these things must change from within, not under external compulsion, and that is why the Ashram was not given an authority strong enough to dominate or control its members. Here, the change should be conscious and, as I said, from within.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd each one of us who is here in the Ashram is an epitome of the Ashram and all the good and bad elements and movements are in one way or another represented in us—even in the best ones the wrong movements can cast a shadow. So it is a task for each one, especially the so-called &quot;best&quot; ones, that is, chose who are more conscious, to detect and reject and change all that is wrong and false in them and develop\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-46</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">all that is true and good, and thereby help to change those very elements in the Ashram atmosphere as well as outside it. That is the only solution and the only remedy—to cure the ills individually, personally in ones own consciousness. Then only a conscious collective consciousness can grow and develop in the Ashram with all these living and conscious units or cells and thereby change its own condition as well as the condition of India and also the condition of the world.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI say all this in view of the hard core, the strong seed that has to be formed, and out of which will sprout the future new creation. A centre must become such a seed, at least at its own centre, its own inmost centre; it must develop this inmost centre, its kernel, its living soul.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMother also said that as India is a representative or an epitome of the world—just as the Ashram is the epitome of India and each individual in his turn is an epitome of the Ashram—so the world-problems will have to be solved in India. For India has the capacity and is destined to do so. When India solves her problems, the world also will find its problems practically solved. And the Ashram is expected to show the way to the solution of India\'s problems. Can the Ashram rise up to play its role? At least that was the Mother\'s intention. It all depends upon its individual members.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOf course, we must remember, Mother\'s help is always there.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Talk of September 9, 1976</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-47</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-016_The Ashram, the World and the Individual','','publish','closed','open','','016_the-ashram-the-world-and-the-individual','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/016_the-ashram-the-world-and-the-individual/',0,'post','',0),(1205,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-000_Contents.htm</title>\n</head>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"> The Mother Abides\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"><b>\nFinal Reflections\n</b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>\nContents</b></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<a href=\"the-mother-abides-final-reflections-001_Pre_Content\">Pre-Content</a></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<a href=\"-002_Publishers-Note\">Publisher\'s Note</a></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td width=\"44%\"></td>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"para\">\n1.Sweet Mother</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-003_Sweet-Mother\">November 17, 1973</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-004_A-Canadian-Question\">A Canadian Question</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-005_The-Mother-Abides\">The Mother Abides</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-006_Twin-Prayers\">Twin Prayers</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-007_The-Souls-Freedom\">The Soul\'s Freedom</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-008_One-Day-More\">One Day More</a></p>\n	<p class=\"para\"> \n	<a href=\"-009_The-Mother,-Human-and-Divine\">The Mother, \n	Human and Divine</a></p>\n	<p class=\"para\"> \n	<a href=\"-010_The-Mother-and-the-Nature-of-Her-Work\">\n	The Mother and the Nature of Her Work </a>\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\"> \n	<a href=\"-011_She-Is-Always-There\">She Is Always There</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-012_A-Vision\">A Vision </a>\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	2.The Ashram</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<a href=\"-013_Ashram\">A Review of Our Ashram Life</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-015_The-Ashram-Inner-and-Outer\">The Ashram: Inner and \nOuter</a></p>\n	<p class=\"para\"> \n	<a href=\"-016_The-Ashram,-the-World-and-the-Individual\">\n	The Ashram, the World and the Individual</a></p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	3.A New Creation</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-017_On-the-Brink\">On the Brink</a> </p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-018_The-Great-Holocaust—Chhinnamasta\">The Great \nHolocaust—Chhinnamasta</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-019_What-Is-to-Be-Done\">What Is to Be Done?</a></p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	4.Talks To The Students</p>\n	<p class=\"para\"> \n	<a href=\"-020_Words,-Words,-Words\">Words, Words, Words</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-021_The-Golden-Chain\">The Golden Chain </a>\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-022_Mothers-Playground\">Mother\'s Playground</a></p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	<a href=\"-023_The-Iron-Chain\">The Iron Chain</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-024_The-Two-Chains-of-the-Mother\">The Two Chains of the \nMother</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-025_Your-Soul\">Your Soul</a> </p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	5. The Integral Yoga</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-026_The-Integral-Yoga\">Not to Destroy but to Transform</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-027_Love-the-Divine\">Love the Divine</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-028_How-to-Understand-Savitri\">How to Understand <i>Savitri</i></a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-029_Man-and-the-Other-Beings\">Man and the Other Beings</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-030_To-Live-Within\">To Live Within</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-031_Falsehood\">Falsehood</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-032_The-Secret-of-Life\">The Secret of Life</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-033_Our-Yoga\">Our Yoga</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-034_Intensity-without-Impatience\">Intensity without Impatience</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-035_Freedom\">Freedom</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n<a href=\"-036_Yesterday\">Yesterday</a></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<a href=\"-037_Life-Sketch-of-Nolini-Kanta-Gupta\">\n	Life-Sketch Of Nolini Kanta Gupta</a></p>\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	<a href=\"-038_Note-on-the-Texts\">Note On The Texts </a>\n</p></td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','the-mother-abides-final-reflections-00_Contents','','publish','closed','open','','the-mother-abides-final-reflections-00_contents','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/the-mother-abides-final-reflections-00_contents/',0,'post','',0),(1206,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-027_Love the Divine.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Love the Divine \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;Love the Divine alone and the Divine will always be with you.&quot; Mother wrote this to one of her children. It is the key to solve problems, the magic mantra to cure the ills of human life and consciousness, the one remedy for all inner and outer ailments.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTake ego, for example. It epitomises, in a way, the problem of man, and all spiritual disciplines urge the need to get rid of it, to surmount or uproot or suppress or annihilate it. Ego is a dangerous and perilous pitfall and must go. As to the methods by which this is to be done, well, the teachings vary: be disinterested, grow detached, serve others, forget yourself and your self-assumed importance, etc., etc., and all these methods are good: they help to control the ego, to tame it, to keep it under check, and even to master it. Yet the ego remains, it is there all the time; it is not uprooted, dissolved, annulled.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe method suggested here is simpler. Dissolve the ego through divine love. First you love the Divine—but you can love the Divine only when he has already entered into your heart, when he is already there; it is his Love that radiates through you and you love him. The fact that you love the Divine shows that the Grace has touched you, has come down upon you; and it is this Grace that cures you of your ego to the extent that you let it work. Grace alone can do it.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Vedantin imagines he is rid of the ego when he merges into Sachchidananda. It is not wholly true—for man is a complex being, an entity made of different parts and of different levels of consciousness—and even when one has attained\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-93</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">the Divine in one part of his being, the other parts, however dormant, keep the stamp of ignorance and ego. If you want the Divine in his fullness, you must plunge in, whole and entire—or rather, you must let the supreme Consciousness come down and inundate your being, possess it and mould it into its own being—and what else is Grace if not this delivering approach and touch of the Divine.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo love the Divine means to open wide the gates of your house to this Grace, and after that there is nothing that is impossible, be it the effacement of the ego or a new birth of the entire being.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1981</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-94</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-027_Love the Divine','','publish','closed','open','','027_love-the-divine','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/027_love-the-divine/',0,'post','',0),(1207,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-019_What Is to Be Done.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">What Is to Be Done?\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nCreation follows its cycles of evolution and it is said that at the end of each cycle there takes place a Pralaya—an annihilation of the existent grade of consciousness or of the species of beings incarnating that consciousness, and all the past is washed out, wiped away from the surface of creation and the next new phase starts.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe all know the story of one such cycle, rather we have witnessed it; I mean the present cycle, still present though past and dead in a way. We know that matter evolved out of ether, life emerged from dead matter, and mind evolved out of life. We know that—although we do not know exactly how life sprang forth from lifeless matter or how mind managed to get into mindless life, that is, into animal life. There are so many hows and many more possible and impossible answers.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe may say, rather Sri Aurobindo and the Mother said to us, that there were two processes: on one side, a seed of the next state of consciousness was involved in the existing one from the very beginning; it was dormant, as it were; and on the other side, from above or around or from somewhere, a flash or force of the same emerging consciousness descended into the atmosphere, and under its pressure the dormant seed woke up and rose above to meet its other self above—and both together produced a new line of growth.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo thus from matter came life, from life came mind—and man was born. Yes, man is the highest peak of evolution on earth up to now. In him the mind or mental consciousness seems to have reached its highest possible height. But still, man is not fully a mental being, he is rather a mental animal.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-59</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">The mind is not yet the master in his Adhara; the true master who rules and handles the mental faculty is the life principle, the animal in him, his vital being, which again in its turn is a slave of the obscure brute matter in him. So man, in spite of all his mental splendour, is a dangerous creature—dangerous, for the vital in him is leading him towards the destruction of his own self as well as of all that is around him. Man is a queer experiment of Nature.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo up to now, the growth or progress in evolution has been from greater obscurity to lesser obscurity, from greater ignorance to lesser ignorance, from greater pain to lesser pain, although something else from behind—something whose very essence is joy and consciousness and sense of existence—supported and sustained the movement all the while. There were flashes of glorious illumination, outbursts, however momentary, of the splendour of joy and harmony, great overflowings of magnificent force and creativity; but on the whole, it was far from a perfect perfection as a creation or form of existence. Even man will never dream that he is the last pinnacle on the way of development. So then, what next?\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe next step logically should be something beyond mind—a creation based on something better and greater. Sri Aurobindo announced to us that it will be a new cycle, a new cycle of evolution based on truth—a growth in truth, a progress from truth to greater truth, from light to greater light, from joy to greater joy.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo start with, the new Truth-Consciousness—Sri Aurobindo named it the Supermind—had to be brought down into this terrestrial atmosphere so that it might awaken the inmost truth lying hidden in the depth of creation. And to accomplish this work Sri Aurobindo and the Mother came down on earth in human form, as a bridge between the two hemispheres. They represented in their human moulds not only humanity—all the elements of human consciousness-—\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-60</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">but also all that was represented in a human form, the entire terrestrial nature. They held their bodies as vessels to receive, on behalf of earth and man, what was to come down; they called it down, established it in this atmosphere and withdrew—for the mission for which they took up material form was done.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYes, the mission was fulfilled. Now the new consciousness will spread and make its own place. It is the Truth-Consciousness; by the very fact of its presence it is bound to disturb the rhythm of ignorance and falsehood, to break and demolish the formations contrary to Truth, to destroy all that defies and contradicts it. It is the inevitable result.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMother and Sri Aurobindo in their infinite compassion, of which only the Divine is capable, did something more: they knew the ultimate inevitable effect of Truth on untruth, so they stretched out their arms of love to lift the children of ignorance from this fate of destruction and tried to secure for them a position of safety under the very wings of Truth, if only they consented to accept the shelter. And to help them, to serve them in this divine service to man, some—not very many—souls came along with them.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMother and Sri Aurobindo offered their physical forms and presence as a ladder for them to climb—no, to be carried up. They arranged so that human beings could grow into superhuman spiritual beings, shaking off their ignorant human consciousness, as the caterpillar grows into a butterfly shaking off its cocoon—but alas, man failed. Perhaps the new destiny was too new for him, the light too dazzling for his eyes so long accustomed to darkness; perhaps there were deeper necessities of fate and secret reasons. But man failed, man refused the help and rebelled against it; like the Asuras of ancient folklore, man wanted to use the new consciousness to serve his human ends; his human self refused to obey the Divine truth. So man rejected the offer.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe time was over. Sri Aurobindo and Mother left their\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-61</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">bodies; but they did not leave the earth. Their presence is still here, supporting and sustaining all of us, but supporting us so that we may still cling to Truth, may still serve the Truth. Their love and presence still surround us and support us. And all they do, they do for our true well-being, for saving our souls. Those who live for the soul, Mother\'s arms carry them forward as always.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut still there is a difference.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe spoke of the Pralaya; if you look around, you will be sure that it has started. The new consciousness is at work and, as predicted, the first phase of its effect has turned out to be a thorough destruction of all that stands in the way of its advent. The whole world seems to be in trouble—all the established norms of life are crumbling down, governments are rising and falling, falsehood and corruption are eating up the very base of our existence, man is possessed and led by demoniac motives and desires, driving the whole earth towards total annihilation.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWhat happens to man\'s soul? What is this soul? It is a spark of the Divine Sun; it comes down not for its own gain but to illumine and deliver the darkness below into the original light. Souls descend, they take up this ignorance and unconsciousness here as a habitation or a robe, they cleanse and illuminate it as far as possible, and then they retire for a while to take up the work again later. When Pralaya occurs, they go back to their original home in the Mother\'s Consciousness. It is a wonderful mystery of the adventure of love.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nToday also, souls retire; they are not lost. Even if the present earth is demolished, souls will be safely lodged in the Mother\'s Consciousness, and perhaps with them will be lodged those parts of the earthly consciousness which have been transfigured and made conscious, rendered pure and fit. So the work is not totally over; one may still save something.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOnce the Pralaya or destruction is over—it has to be done,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-62</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">it is a necessity—all the debris will have to be cleared, so to say. The two works go together. Once the stage is cleared, the new creation, the new cycle will commence. In the course of this preparation, naturally much will be lost in the human sense to man and earth, and the Ashram, being the epitome of earth, also cannot escape. Rather, the action may be most intense and acute here. So we have to accept the inevitable and wait for the beyond.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut should we wait idly, in dejected gloom? No, those who aspire for something better can still cooperate with the movement, offer themselves for helping and serving the new advent. Man can still do it. For each individual man is a point of concentration of the entire earth-consciousness; if he makes a progress in his own consciousness, lifts himself a little more, grows into a higher degree of consciousness, it is a gain. But he will have to do it with much greater difficulty than before; it will need far greater Tapasya now. For as long as Mother was in her body, she made things easy for us. But it is no more so.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFor those who really want a spiritual consciousness, a spiritual mode of life, those who truly want to prepare themselves for greater ends, well, they have to take a serious look at things. For them it is a sadhana, a true endeavour, a conscious preparation. For them it will be better to forget all the big words—the big words like Supermind, Overmind, Higher Mind, etc. We no longer have the right to discuss them, to chat over them. They are dreams, beautiful dreams, but out of our reach. They belong to Mother and Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo has himself said:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI have gathered my dreams in a silver air\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \nBetween the gold and the blue \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> And wrapped them softly and left them there,\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMy jewelled dreams of you.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> &quot;A God\'s Labour&quot;\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-63</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">Sri Aurobindo has woven those dreams with Mother, and they have kept them carefully and safely in themselves. It is in the Overmind they are kept; it is their work, their affair, we have nothing to do with that. Those dreams Mother has gathered in her own bosom; they will materialise in their own time according to their own rhythm.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYes, we need not bother about them. Better let us look at ourselves, admit honestly that we are in our nature and consciousness, in our mode of life, animals, nay beasts; we are at the lowest rung of the ladder of consciousness. And we must start our work from there, from the bottom. It is the utmost physical consciousness; in the absence of Mother\'s physical body we have plunged straight into the bog, into the mire of crude physical existence. So we have to start the work of purification from that level, from the consciousness identified with the body; we must try to do the cleansing of the body and the vital. Mind? Oh, mind too, the higher levels of mind, the mental proper, that is too high for us. We may think of it much later.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs for the way of purification, we should start from the very beginning. The very first lessons, as advised by Rajayoga, are to begin straight from the body, to train and educate, to modify and remould the physical part of us; we have to learn as a child does: &quot;Do not fight&quot;, &quot;Do not utter bad words&quot;, &quot;Do not steal&quot;, &quot;Do not lie&quot;, etc. In the ancient methods of spiritual discipline those methods formed the elementary and basic part—in Rajayoga they are called Yama and Niyama <i>(ahims</i>&#257;<i>, asteya, etc.). </i>The Buddhists also started their spiritual training with the same lessons; they named them the Panchashilas: good conduct (<i>vinaya), </i>etc. Withdrawal <i>(praty</i>&#257;<i>-h</i>&#257;<i>ra), </i>meditation, concentration—all these came much later, when one had risen much higher. Samadhi, that was still above. That is why in ancient ages it was insisted upon that if you want to take up spiritual life, even if you simply want\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-64</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">to study the scriptures, you must first acquire the right to do so—you must do <i>citta-</i>&#347;<i>uddhi </i>and accomplish the purification of your consciousness.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWhen Mother was in her body, she used to say: &quot;This elementary Tapasya you need not go through; with the support of my body, you can simply take a leap and rise above.&quot; Mother offered us her body as a springboard so that we might leap up. But we did not take the benefit of it; we simply went on jumping on it. Mother received only blows, and we reached nowhere, at least not anywhere higher.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut the hate of hell and human spite \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Are my meed since the world began.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> \n&quot;A God\'s Labour&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis time also she was not spared. We hardly went up— our falls far outnumbered our rises. We have lost that golden chance. So we who want, who truly want inner progress and inner growth, must begin from the beginning.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOf course, there are many who want to live and stay on the mental level; they are not ready or fit for more. For them the highest possible development is in intellectual speculation or philosophical occupation—that is their ideal and aim, the highest reach for them; for them it may be a help to be occupied with mental discussions. In this way, with the help of the intellect, they may create a sort of terrestrial mental atmosphere, a spiritual reflection in the mind: that too is good. In the outer world, especially in Europe and America where the modern life and consciousness are centred in the intellect, where intellectual light is the only light, the unrivalled master of life, well, let them discuss and speculate; they will acquire at least some mental knowledge, a bit of purification and clarity of intellect.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut for those who aspire not only to educate and polish\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-65</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">their mind but also to heighten and transform their consciousness, for them today is needed a Tapasya, a concentration, an intense concentration of all their force and will on that one aspiration, on that one arduous effort. For them the only thing to do is self-purification—purification of the body, purification of the vital, the reorientation and reorganisation of the entire lower base of consciousness, its physical and especially its lower vital parts. Those who want spirituality in practical life must go down to the bottom and accomplish this purification.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd the future? The future of what? The future of the individual soul is in Mother\'s arms. And the future of the creation is a new divine dawn; it is ready, absolutely ready for manifesting in the material; it is waiting, its advent is inevitable, no force can bar it. It is waiting in the subtle physical for the clearance of the earth stage. The age-long dream of the eternal dawn of which the ancients sang will be realised:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOh, the Supreme Light of lights is come.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Rig Veda 1.113.1\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut will there be any man to sing the invocation at that moment? Let us hope so. Nothing is impossible.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i>12 January 1982</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-66</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-019_What Is to Be Done','','publish','closed','open','','019_what-is-to-be-done','','','2021-11-23 08:51:36','2021-11-23 08:51:36','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/019_what-is-to-be-done/',0,'post','',0),(1208,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-035_Freedom.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Freedom\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIf there is one value that the Mother cherished most, it is undoubtedly freedom. Right from her childhood she fought for freedom: freedom from tradition, freedom from convention, freedom from habit, freedom from Nature, in fact freedom from everything that constrains the evolution of the soul. Even in spiritual matters which are organised ostensibly for the development of the individual in terms of truth, love, harmony, she was most particular that nothing should be done that could interfere with the freedom of the person to grow as he liked.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nShe was all compassion, all love in responding to calls for help, but she always acted on one unique principle: as she put it, she intervened without interfering. She would not do anything that could in any way interfere with a person\'s free exercise of his will. If that meant some avoidable suffering for him, well, that is the way he had to learn. She refused to frame a tight set of rules and regulations for the sadhaks, to impose any kind of stiffling external discipline on them. Not that she could not do it, overtly or occultly, but she said that she saw no value in such &quot;good behaviour&quot;. She wanted each one to feel the need for an inner discipline and to act on that basis out of one\'s own free will.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis feature may be observed in everything that she wrote, everything that she created. Freedom from fear, freedom from the compulsion of authority, freedom from any type of imposition are what she aimed at, among other things. How far we are true to that spirit, to what extent we reflect the Mother\'s consciousness—in our individual lives and in\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-110</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">our collective existence—depends upon the measure of this freedom we have realised.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is from this standpoint that we have to judge the quality of our achievement or failure. Where there is no freedom to function, there we have failed the Mother. Freedom to think, to speak, to feel, to act in a way natural to ourselves, of course keeping in view the truth of a similar freedom for others, should be the hallmark of Mother\'s kingdom. My freedom cannot clash with yours when it proceeds from the level of the soul and not from the ego. To arrive at that point, an enabling sadhana is indispensable. And that is why the Mother has created an environment where things are favourable for a natural evolution of the spiritual being in each one. Spiritual growth and freedom are interacting factors; each promotes the other. Where freedom is curtailed or suppressed in the supposed interests of an organisation, the soul cannot blossom. An enforced discipline can only lead to a soulless, mechanical, stultifying order foreign to the innate character of the evolving spirit.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Mother respected the freedom not only of humans but equally of animals and birds. She never approved of caging birds or enclosing tigers and lions. She had a look of sorrow when such specimens were flaunted before her, though she was too considerate to say so to their proud human captors. For each one his cup of tea.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1983</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-111</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-035_Freedom','','publish','closed','open','','035_freedom','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/035_freedom/',0,'post','',0),(1209,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-021_The Golden Chain.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Golden Chain\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">You have been here for many years, for many, many years. From childhood you are here, most of you, perhaps all of you. Some of you are going out, some are likely to stay, some are still undecided. If you are asked, &quot;What have you gained by your long stay here?&quot;, I can tell you what you have gained. It is not any outward thing nor any of the things that you have learned at school, the knowledge that you have gained here; it is not that, but something else. Be sure of that. You yourselves don\'t know perhaps, but that thing is there within you. You have not passed your time in vain here—you have the Mother\'s touch.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMother said many many times, &quot;Whoever gets my touch, whoever has a second of true aspiration, of true love for me, he is finished for this life, for all lives—he is bound to me. I have put a golden chain round his neck; his heart is bound eternally to me.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is a thing nobody can see; you yourselves don\'t see it, but it is a fact, it is there. The golden chain is there within your heart. Wherever you go, you drag that chain; it is a lengthening chain. However far you may go, it is an elastic chain, it goes on lengthening but never snaps. In hours of difficulty, in hours of doubt and confusion in your life, you have that within you to support you. If you are conscious of it, so much the better; if you are not conscious, believe that it is there. The Mother\'s love, her presence is there <i>always.</i>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThat is the thing I wanted to tell you.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn the Upanishads there is a story. Once Narada—I suppose it is Narada—went to a Rishi to get initiation. The\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-73</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">Rishi asked him, &quot;What have you learned? What have you learned in your lite as a student now that you come to me?&quot; Narada began to narrate all the Vidyas that he had learned during his education as a Brahmachari—all the Shastras, even Dhanurvidya, all kinds of learnings. Then the Rishi said, &quot;All that is Apara Vidya, the inferior knowledge. Do you know Brahman?&quot; &quot;No sir, I do not know.&quot; <i>&quot;That </i>is the thing to be known. Once that one thing is known, everything else is known.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo I tell you, that one thing needful you have acquired; you have not to attempt to get it. You are fortunate, you are lucky. We are all very lucky; Mother called us here and she has given it out of her own love, her infinite love, unasked, unconditionally Whatever you are in your outward character and activities, <i>that </i>is not affected at all by the outer nature; it remains as it is, pure, unsullied.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSome of you were present at my talk on Dante. I spoke of Dante\'s vision; it is a wonderful vision—the vision of the mission of the Divine Mother.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nDante saw a globe of light in front of him. As he was standing before the Divine Trinity in the Empyrean, suddenly he saw revealed to him a luminous globe and, within that luminous globe, he saw a light circling, moving. And as he gazed into that circling light, as if its reflection, its reflected image, he saw himself. He saw himself in that circling light—himself not as he saw himself, but as the circling divine light saw him—its own image. &quot;I was there in the image as conceived by Him, not as conceived by me.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn our language we can say that the luminous globe was the supreme Divine, and then within it was the whirling circling light—that was the Creative Power, the Divine Mother in Her creative mood. And within that, &quot;I was there as Her child, in my true reality, not as I see myself but as She sees me; in that image I saw myself.&quot;\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-74</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nDante says that it was an experience as if he was looking into an Eye, a big ball of Eye; and in that Eye he saw reflected his image as the Divine sees him, not &quot;as I see myself, but my true self&quot;. I say that this is the Image the Mother has left to you, within you. However much you may try, you cannot lose it; it will be there, till its fruition. Whenever you feel discouraged—-naturally when you look at the world and its happenings, you feel very much distressed, disgusted—remember that there is another reality behind: it is the Mother\'s Presence that redeems all that. In any mood of depression, dejection, difficulty, always know that it is there in you to support you, to bring you peace and strength, and it is never failing. So many times she has said: &quot;Everything else fails in this world; I will never fail you.&quot;\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>October 26, 1976</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-75</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-021_The Golden Chain','','publish','closed','open','','021_the-golden-chain','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/021_the-golden-chain/',0,'post','',0),(1210,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-037_Life-Sketch of Nolini Kanta Gupta.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Life-Sketch of Nolini Kanta Gupta\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNolini Kanta Gupta was born on January 13, 1889, in Faridpur, East Bengal (now Bangladesh). Raised in Rangpur, he went \nfor higher studies to Presidency College, Kolkata. When the province of Bengal was partitioned in 1906, Nolini became increasingly involved in the movement to free India from British rule. In his fourth year of college, he joined the Maniktola secret society, a revolutionary group, and in May 1908 was arrested for conspiracy. Along with Sri Aurobindo and others he spent one year in jail as an undertrial prisoner. After his acquittal he joined the staffs of <i>Dharma </i>and <i>Karmayogin, </i>two newspapers founded and edited by Sri Aurobindo.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn November 1910, six months after Sri Aurobindo left Kolkata for Pondicherry in South India, Nolini went to join him. From time to time he returned to Kolkata, but from 1926, when the Sri Aurobindo Ashram was formed, he settled permanently in Pondicherry. For more than sixty years he served as the general secretary of the Ashram. In 1955 he was appointed as a trustee of the newly-formed Ashram Trust. For many years he also taught in the Ashram\'s school, Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. An eminent writer and poet, his works have been published in an eight-volume set of Collected Works in both English and Bengali. He was the editor or editorial advisor of a number of English and Bengali journals. On February 7, 1984, he passed away at the age of ninety-five.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-115</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-037_Life-Sketch of Nolini Kanta Gupta','','publish','closed','open','','037_life-sketch-of-nolini-kanta-gupta','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/037_life-sketch-of-nolini-kanta-gupta/',0,'post','',0),(1211,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-018_The Great Holocaust—Chhinnamasta.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Great Holocaust—Chhinnamasta\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThroughout the ages whenever there has been a new creation on earth or the manifestation of a new consciousness in the earthly atmosphere, it was always preceded by a stage of destruction and dissolution of the old. The dance of Shiva has two aspects—the bliss of creation and the joy of destruction <i>(l</i>&#257;<i>sya </i>and <i>t</i>&#257;<i>ndava). </i>Both have been equally necessary up till now, complementary to each other.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nDestruction means destruction of the unnecessary, the unfit, all that refuses to accept the new advent, obstructs it, tries to deny it-—all that is out of harmony with the inevitable new future. Earthly evolution is a march of progression; if you fail to keep up with its speed you have to move out of the way, or rather you are removed to make room for the next coming stage.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIf you are in the older creation or at least are in love with it, attached to it, the destruction becomes painful, even fearful and repulsive to you. But if you aspire for the new, if you are willing to participate in the dawning \nfuture and already belong to it, you feel the necessity of this destruction and welcome it to hasten the work, and you even rejoice in it. You enjoy the joy of destruction—at least Shiva does, the Divine Force does, it seems.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSomething like that, in fact the same thing, is happening now. Mahakali has started her work of preparation, of elimination, of destruction and dissolution, to clear the path for Mahalakshmi and Mahasaraswati; the infinite love and compassion of Maheshwari sanctions and supports it. The new creation, the new world that Mother built and is still building\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-56</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">with so much love and care is ready, ready to manifest, to reveal itself in the material field, waiting to materialise itself on earth. But the earth is not yet ready, or rather man is not yet ready: he still refuses it, he clings to the old dead world, clings fast to it—he loves this game of falsehood and crookedness. Perhaps the truth is too bright, too compelling for his egoistic nature and obscure make-up, so he denies, obstructs as much as he can the new consciousness, the new reality. Mother, out of her infinite love, tried to take this denial on her own self, tried to convince and change as many elements of it as possible; then, when nothing more could be done she withdrew, leaving the field to her other aspect to do what was unavoidable— the breaking up of the old rigid world. It is a necessity for the ultimate good of earth and even of man.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe work has started—call it the dance of Shiva, the <i>t</i>&#257;<i>ndava, </i>or the dance of Kali the fierce Mother—it has started and it is proceeding faster and faster on its way. Destruction, dissolution, decomposition—yes, that is the first result and we are already witnessing and participating in it, whether we like it or not. It is the Supreme Lord\'s decree—it is bound to happen. Those who cling to Truth survive, those who make alliance with Falsehood perish; man has no other way than to make a choice, consciously or unconsciously. It is an inevitable stage; there is nothing to lament or grieve about if you are an aspirant of Truth.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe next stage naturally will be the clearance of the debris—a thorough cleaning, the elimination of all that was against the truth, the ruin of the dead world. The field will be cleared of all that is filthy and obscure, for then only the new reality will be able to come forward and the Mother\'s mission will be fulfilled.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe new creation is already here, forming itself; whatever is happening now in the Ashram and outside is happening so that it may come forward all the sooner. She is breaking\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-57</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">the outer scaffolding within which the new reality has been established, or you may call it a dead shell which is being broken so that the new reality may come out. It is Mother\'s action with her own Self. She has taken her Chhinnamasta form. All the things she is destroying are her own selves; she is getring rid, as it were, of the old unutilisable limbs of her own body.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe may remember Sri Aurobindo\'s lines:\n</p>\n<br>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;...the hour is often terrible, a fire and a whirlwind and a tempest, a treading of the winepress of the wrath of God; but he who can stand up in it on the truth of his purpose is he who shall stand; even though he fall, he shall rise again; even though he seem to pass on the wings of the wind, he shall return. Nor let worldly prudence whisper too closely in thy ear; for it is the hour of the unexpected.&quot;\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1977</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-58</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-018_The Great Holocaust—Chhinnamasta','','publish','closed','open','','018_the-great-holocaust-chhinnamasta','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/018_the-great-holocaust-chhinnamasta/',0,'post','',0),(1212,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-020_Words, Words, Words.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Part 4 \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Talks to the Students\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<p class=\"para\">One day someone went to see the Mother on his birthday; it was our Prithwi Singh. Now Prithwi Singh, who was blind, plaintively said to the Mother, &quot;Mother, here I am, so near to you; it\'s my birthday, a day so nice and precious to me, but I cannot see you, for I am blind in both of my eyes.&quot; Then the Mother answered, &quot;What does that matter? You cannot see me but I am seeing you.&quot;\n	</p>\n	<br>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nAnd this is always so. You cannot see it with your physical eyes, but the Mother\'s look is always upon you, her look of love and protection: be sure and certain of that. You carry that within you for all time and wherever you go, wherever in the entire world. You carry in you a portion, a spark of her Love; and that will save you from many difficulties, from much danger. If you can keep that in your active memory, it will be still more beneficial.\n	</p>\n	<p class=\"pararight\">\n—Nolini Kanta Gupta </p>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-67</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Words, Words, Words\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWhile coming to you, I saw your beautiful display of excerpts and quotations from the writings of Mother and Sri Aurobindo on the walls all around. Yes, it was a beautiful picture, and the sayings and mottoes and lines of poetry were, needless to say, precious treasures dear to us. But left at that, to see, admire and pass on, well, they are dead things—words, words, words, lifeless skeletons. They have a meaning and they serve their purpose only when you come in contact with the life and consciousness in them, when you live them with your own life and feel the consciousness that is there.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou know the well-known phrase: &quot;The letter kills, the spirit saves.&quot; Without the spirit, the word is only a dead shell; even a mantra is a dead thing, a mere jumble of sounds if it is not enkindled, enlivened with the spirit. Now I say that you have to breathe your own spirit into the apparently dead or lifeless forms. For you children are nothing but spirit: spirit means new consciousness, living light. It is not a tall claim I make on your behalf. I will explain.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou children who are here, who have been here for some time, are a privileged class of human beings. You do not know it, but you will know one day. You must have seen the Mother, many have had her physical touch, while there are others who continue to breathe in the atmosphere where her body still endures. You have within you the rare thing hardly found elsewhere, the spark of the spirit of which I was speaking—it is a particle of the Mother\'s own consciousness, her own life and her own subtle body-consciousness. You have imbibed it in you with your breath and are still imbibing it.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-69</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is there; you have to be conscious of it and realise the full benefit of it. You have to be living embodiments, not merely echoes and imprints but embodiments of the word of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Each of you is now only an embryo, a rudimentary particle of the new life, but it is there—you have in you the thing essentially needed. I only remind you to make you conscious of it. In the same way, you have budding gymnasts and athletes among you, and the Playground makes you conscious of it and offers you the opportunity to cultivate your capacities and bring them to fruition.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNow in a general way children all over the world are a privileged class. They possess what old age, even mature age, does not possess or has lost. I mention two essential qualities pre-eminently belonging to the green age or the &quot;salad days&quot;. Happiness—a child is ever happy in spite of occasional weepings and waitings, and happiness means a radiant smile. To the old people I have often said, &quot;Always smile. Mother has taught us how to smile in all circumstances.&quot; Well, that is the natural gift of the young. A smile makes your life\'s journey smooth. In no other way can you remove so successfully the obstacles that beset you. And also it is the lever to lift up your consciousness; it has a mysterious power that automatically relieves you of much of the burden of life, lightens you and leads you into a higher sphere. For a smile is a divine quality. Next to happiness, the natural virtue of a child-consciousness is freedom. It does not find any barrier anywhere, it can do anything.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThese two characteristic virtues of childhood themselves spring from another fundamental quality of young nature —simplicity, a spontaneous outflow of energy without any thinking about before or after: none of the mind\'s complexities and hesitations.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn this sphere too, we have here for the play of these natural\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-70</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">youthful qualities opportunities and advantages that are not easily available elsewhere. The atmosphere of freedom that we enjoy is <i>incomparable</i>—Mother herself told us once.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs you grow, you must carry with you these fundamental qualities and you will remain ever young. Now, to carry them with you—-that is the trouble. And that problem Mother has solved for us here. This is what I was telling you just now. The special privilege that we enjoy here, granted to those who are here, is this: added to the fundamental natural virtues of youthfulness, we have been given a supplementary boon, that of consciousness, Mother\'s own consciousness. It is this additional element that has given a special turn and temper to the atmosphere here and has brought about a change not only in the degree but in the kind of the ordinary youthful qualities. I am speaking of your soul-consciousness. I say that you may not know it or recognise it by your mind and intellect, but it is there. And I say also that you will never lose it, whatever happens in your outer life. It will lead you ultimately to the supreme realisation, to an immorral life on earth. It may be clouded for the outer mind, but it is always there behind.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI come back now to the point from which I started. The mottoes, the writings displayed on the wall are also to be displayed as living entities in your being—in your consciousness, in your life, even in your body. That is the better part of your work, indeed, the essential part.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nToday a new consciousness is abroad. The earth-atmosphere is filled with a new spirit. And here the Mother has left with us not merely her consciousness but a conscious being, a part of her living personality in us; that is the divine legacy we enjoy. We must not simply be proud of it but try to prove ourselves worthy of it. The Divine Personality will grow everywhere but the pathfinders, the forerunners are among you. Naturally there will be formations of the new life in all climes and countries, but the patterns, the norms will have been set by\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-71</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">you, for the Mother was here in her physical material body\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo the mantras you declare as divine words, you must make living powers, gods themselves embodied in you. The basis is here: the Mother has laid the foundations here for her creation—the roots from which shoots and branches are to emerge and spread out abroad and everywhere. In any case, here or elsewhere, as the Mother has announced in her own voice:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBuilt is the golden tower, the flame-child born.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i> August 12, 1974</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-72</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-020_Words, Words, Words','','publish','closed','open','','020_words-words-words','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/020_words-words-words/',0,'post','',0),(1213,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-033_Our Yoga.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Our Yoga\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThere is much expectation all around of a big change. But what is this change? What is its nature?\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis great change is the appearance on earth of a new race, a race which will be for man what man is for the animal. Perhaps the difference between the new race and the \npresent man will be even greater. In fact, this race is ready to appear on earth: it is preparing the ground for itself; it is there on the subtle physical plane and is acting upon the earth to prepare for its own materialisation. It is acting at the same time on man, and all those who are fit and open to its influence are being illumined by it. Anyway, the advent of this new race is inevitable. It is decreed by the Supreme.\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">*\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe first requisite on the spiritual path is aspiration. One knocks at the gate of spiritual life because one aspires for it. It is the aspiration, the will in the seeker, the yearning of his soul for the Divine that pushes him forward and carries him on the difficult path of yoga.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo aspire means to yearn for something, to yearn for something higher or for the highest something, the Divine. But the nature of this aspiration depends on its source, on the level of consciousness from which it comes. It may be a mental aspiration, a seeking of the mind. Or it may be a vital aspiration, a yearning of the emotional part of the being for something truer and more permanent. It may even be a physical aspiration—an aspiration for beauty and perfection, for permanence and immortality. And it may be a psychic\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-105</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">aspiration, the will of the inmost soul trying to express itself.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn fact the other aspirations are only reflections of this inmost psychic yearning. It is this which can carry one through, up to the end, and it is this which can harmonise the other aspirations and unite them in a synthesis. In the synthesis also there may be different degrees. But on the whole it is the psychic that is the leader of the path, the true force and guide on the Way.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn our Yoga, work is an indispensable means of sadhana. In truth life means action; one cannot do without it. But when you consciously offer your work to the Divine, when you do it as a service to the Divine, the work changes its character: it becomes an offering. Then the work in itself, the nature of the work matters no more: it is your attitude, the spirit behind your work, the state of your consciousness, the way you do it, the effort you put in to perfect it, that becomes important.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd there may be two types of work. In the beginning, whatever work comes to you, you do it for the Divine; you do not make any distinction between this work or that work: you do it in the way of the Gita, without ego, with a disinterested attitude, with a spirit of dedication.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut then there is another type of work, a work that is the expression of your being, a work for which you are destined, which is the mission of your life. The work that comes out of the demand of your soul is the real expression of your inmost life, and it may not be like anything you are doing at present. A mathematician may blossom into a poet; a dreaming poet may suddenly become a severe man of action. These are not rare phenomena. One starts from the first type and arrives at the second.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published April 1983</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-106</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-033_Our Yoga','','publish','closed','open','','033_our-yoga','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/033_our-yoga/',0,'post','',0),(1214,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-024_The Two Chains of the Mother.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Two Chains of the Mother\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWell, I have talked a lot in my rather long life, have I not? I have talked a good deal, and written much more. All that forms now my Collected Works: eight volumes in English and as many volumes in Bengali.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAll of you are leaving our Centre of Education, a Centre where you have been for so many years. To complete your course and come out of the Centre, it\'s all right; but to go where? It seems you have already come to a decision; there are many amongst you who have made their choice. That\'s good, for it means choosing one\'s life.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI want to tell you only one thing: you are going out, but wherever you go, you carry something within you, something that is permanent and eternal since the beginning of the world. I have sometimes spoken of the golden chain of the Mother; I have said too that Mother has two chains, one of gold and the other of iron. These two chains are your eternal companions; wherever you may go, you will carry these two with you. You are bound to the Mother for ever— for ever, be sure of that. It\'s the prop of your life, it\'s your aspiration. These are not chains of bondage but chains of freedom and entire satisfaction. You may ask: &quot;What are these chains of gold and of iron?&quot; The golden chain is in your soul and the iron one is in your body. The body, your body, is also bound to the Mother, to her Presence and Influence. &quot;Body&quot; means not only the material body, but the subtle physical body, the inner body. Now, the imprint of the Mother\'s Presence you carry in this subtle physical body. You may not always be aware of it, but this makes no difference, none at all.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-86</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nHere I may refer to something pertinent. One day someone went to see the Mother on his birthday; it was our Prithwi Singh. Now Prithwi Singh, who was blind, plaintively said to the Mother, &quot;Mother, here I am, so near to you; it\'s my birthday, a day so nice and precious to me, but I cannot see you, for I am blind in both of my eyes.&quot; Then the Mother answered, &quot;What does that matter? You cannot see me but I am seeing you.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd this is always so. You cannot see it with your physical eyes, but the Mother\'s look is always upon you, her look of love and protection: be sure and certain of that. You carry that within you for all time and wherever you go, wherever in the entire world. You carry in you a portion, a spark of her Love; and that will save you from many difficulties, from much danger. If you can keep that in your active memory, it will be still more beneficial. That\'s all.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>25 October 1978</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-87</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-024_The Two Chains of the Mother','','publish','closed','open','','024_the-two-chains-of-the-mother','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/024_the-two-chains-of-the-mother/',0,'post','',0),(1215,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-003_Sweet Mother.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"><b>PART 1 \n</b> \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"><b>SWEET MOTHER\n</b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<p class=\"para\">She is always there in that realm of the earth atmosphere from where she used to work even when here—the same now as she was when in our midst. She is available in the same way—only we must know how to approach her, how to attune ourselves.\n	</p>\n	<br>\n	<p class=\"pararight\">\n—Nolini Kanta Gupta </p>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">November 17, 1973\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">l\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Mother\'s body belonged to the old creation. It was meant to be the pedestal of the New Body. It served its purpose well. The New Body will come.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis is a test, how far we are faithful to her, true to her Consciousness.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe revival of the body would have meant revival of the old troubles in the body. The troubles were eliminated so far as could be done while in the body—farther was not possible. For a new mutation, a new procedure was needed. &quot;Death&quot; was the first stage in that process.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">2</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSweet Mother,\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYour physical body belonged to the old creation because you wanted to be one with your children. You wanted this body to uphold the New Body you were building upon it, and it gave you the service you asked of it. You will come with your New Body.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYour children\'s, the world\'s call and aspiration, love and consecration are laid at your feet in gratitude.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>November 1973</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-3</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-003_Sweet Mother','','publish','closed','open','','003_sweet-mother','','','2021-11-23 08:51:37','2021-11-23 08:51:37','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/003_sweet-mother/',0,'post','',0),(1216,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-034_Intensity without Impatience.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Intensity without Impatience\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOne of the cardinal requirements for success in yoga sadhana is <i>uts</i>&#257;<i>ha, </i>zeal. The seeker has to give top priority to the demands of the sadhana—he cannot simply treat it as one of his interests. The spiritual life becomes the foremost concern, with all else playing subsidiary, if not contributory, roles. It is understood that the central aspiration is gradually communicated to all the parts of the being, and the whole complex of the body, vital and mind is made to participate in the effort.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe effort must be intense, indeed, but not exhausting. There should be no impatience of any kind. Intensity in application and spirit relates to the personal side of the individual. Impatience relates to the results, the fruit, which is not in the hands of the individual; it is a straining after something that has its own hour. Restlessness, tension, despair—the usual consequences of impatience—do not in the least help the situation; on the contrary they vitiate it by making the &#257;<i>dh</i>&#257;<i>ra, </i>the base, unsteady.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis is not to say that things must be taken easily and allowed to develop at their own sweet pace. A degree of concentration in one\'s effort, of one-pointedness in one\'s outlook and inlook is indispensable. Only there should not be a feverish straining for response, a kind of claim for the fruit of the effort put in. There should be a trustful attitude of waiting upon the Divine Will. There should be, says the Mother, an equilibrium in the being between intensity of effort and restful reliance on the Divine.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Self, says the Upanishad, cannot be won by effort\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-107</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">alone; it is the choice of the Self that decides. Only to him whom it chooses, the Self bares its body. One has to patiently await the hour and the sanction of the Will.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">*\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd there is more to it. Impatience is unyogic. The very first requirement of a sadhak, as enunciated by the Gita, is equanimity, a composure that is unhurried, unagitated. It has been an exaggeration in some of the traditions of the Vaish-nava cult to glorify impatience as &#257;<i>turat</i>&#257;<i>, </i>eagerness, for the Darshan of the Lord; it is considered to be a positive sign of progress to be seized with such impatience. A natural consequence of this attitude has been a culture of <i>abhim</i>&#257;<i>na, </i>offended spirit, a sense of unrequited claim on the Divine. Needless to say, such developments lead the sadhak into blind emotional alleys with no relevance to the central purpose of yoga.</p>\n<p class=\"para\">Further, as the Mother points out, impatience leads to imitation. This is especially so when we seek an experience; it may be a vision of the Divine, a seeking for the illumination of knowledge or the descent of Power or whatever. When there is this impatience in the being for the experience, there is a subtle pressure of the vital on the mental faculties (for example, the faculty of imagination) to anticipate what is wanted. This urge of anticipation, semi-conscious or subconscious, tends to reproduce in ourselves a simulacrum of the desired experience. Things project themselves from the subconscious under the drive of the force of impatience and the gates are opened for all kinds of pseudo-experiences. And in our zeal, our enthusiasm for quick achievement, we seize on the seeming experience and shut ourselves up in its enchantment. Such a misprision becomes possible because the restlessness caused by impatience covers up the discriminative sense\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-108</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">of the psychic within. And that is not the end of it. The error tends to multiply itself and a positive falsehood enters into the situation. We begin to live in a wholly subjective world which has no touch with the reality. We get so attached to our falsehood that we become angry with anyone pointing out our possible mistake. One thing leads to another and we get caught up.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFrom a spiritual angle impatience is childish, immature. It betokens a want of trust in the Divine, a lack of harmony between the inner being of peace and faith and the outer person tossed from keen expectation to quick disappointment.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1983</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-109</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-034_Intensity without Impatience','','publish','closed','open','','034_intensity-without-impatience','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/034_intensity-without-impatience/',0,'post','',0),(1217,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-025_Your Soul.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Your Soul\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI congratulate you all on your success, your success in having passed the Higher Course, which is all to your credit. But this is not the important thing. What is important is that you have passed your youth here and have acquired something in the process, something that one does not gain by dint of merit but absorbs and imbibes with the atmosphere, in the same way that one sucks one\'s mother\'s milk. You may hide it or veil it, but this thing is very singular. For it is above all contradiction, all smirch and stain. It remains always shining and pure.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAt times you will remember it in your outer material life. You will be entering now another order of material life. Perhaps you will forget this precious thing, but it will not forget you: it remains for ever vigilant, watchful, resplendent. And at any critical moment of your life, when you will be facing a danger, if there surges up from your depths the cry and call of the heart, then and there this vision will visit you and you will have the darshan of your soul.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis is all that I wanted to tell you. And it is enough, I think, isn\'t it?\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>15 October 1981</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-88</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-025_Your Soul','','publish','closed','open','','025_your-soul','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/025_your-soul/',0,'post','',0),(1218,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-026_The Integral Yoga.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Part 5</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Integral Yoga\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">At a point one must go beyond strivings.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nDo not strive or struggle, there must be no \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">tension or tautness, it should be all relaxation.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTranquillise yourself. Allow the Other to take \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">your own place. Leave it all to That.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis too is not achieved but simply happens— \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">through the Grace.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;Wherever you see hope, faith, courage, trust \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">and tranquillity, there you will see Me.&quot;\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\"> —Nolini Kanta Gupta\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-89</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Not to Destroy but to Transform\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nUp till now, spiritual life or discipline usually meant a division—a division between spiritual and unspiritual, between what is a help and forms a base for the higher life and what hinders and takes one away from it. This naturally led one to develop the first and kill the other.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut for us there is no such radical division. For us everything in its truth is spiritual. Indeed there are deformations, disfigurations, wrong knowledge of things, but there is nothing unspiritual. All that we have to do is to purify, correct, reform, transform and fulfil—not to destroy and annihilate.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe do not uproot the past but replace it. There is here no <i>nirodha, </i>suppression with a view to abolish. That is not our way. Ignorance does not imply absence of the Divine. One can find the Divine even in the Ignorance; in the very depths of the Inconscience the touch of the Divine can be felt. For not only is the Divine there but the Divine is that. There can be no real cutting apart of the Divine from the non-Divine. Only we must find him out, discover him in his true form shorn of the disguise. The disguise grows transparent and he emerges resplendent in his light. Not to reject or discard but to replace the wrong appearance with the right is our way. We merge our human volition into the Divine Will, turn all the obscure movements of our ignorance into true movements of the Divine Consciousness. We adore and worship and approach the Divine in all things and everywhere, in his true light and form. We strive to see him established and revealed in all existence.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAll is divine and all is in the Divine. This truth is to be\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-91</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nrealised in life. To let him reveal himself in his own truth is our sadhana, our way. That is why for us &quot;All life is Yoga.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nEven Ravana is destroyed not simply to be destroyed but to become an adorer of Rama.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo sacrifice does not merely mean to slay but to dedicate.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published August 1981</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-92</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-026_The Integral Yoga','','publish','closed','open','','026_the-integral-yoga','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/026_the-integral-yoga/',0,'post','',0),(1219,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-038_Note on the Texts.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Note on the Texts\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe texts in this book were written or spoken between 1973 and 1983. The first piece was written in November 1973 on the day after the Mother\'s passing; the last piece was written at the end of 1983, shortly before the author\'s own passing in February 1984.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAlmost all these pieces were first published in <i>The Advent, </i>a quarterly journal in English edited by Nolini Kanta Gupta and published by P. Counouma, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. Most of them were subsequently published in the eight-volume Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta (English edition), published by the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education, Pondicherry. A few pieces in the present book were published only in the Collected Works. One piece, &quot;What Is to Be Done?&quot;, is being published here for the first time. In <i>The Advent, </i>the pieces appeared in the quarterly issues between 1973 and 1984. In the Collected Works, they appeared between 1974 and 1979 in one of the final four volumes of the series:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nVolume 5. <i>Light of Lights, </i>1974 Volume 6. <i>Sweet Mother, </i>1977 Volume 7. <i>Sweet Mother (New Talks), </i>1978 Volume 8. <i>Vedic Hymns, </i>1979\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWith one exception (the first piece), the pieces in Part 5, &quot;The Integral Yoga&quot;, were published in <i>The Advent </i>but not in the Collected Works, because they came out after the last volume of that collection had been issued. In Part 4, &quot;Talks to\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-117</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">the Students&quot;, almost all the talks were given to the students of the Higher Course of the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education; they were intended especially for the final-year students who were leaving the school. The passages introducing the five parts of this book are taken from Nolini\'s &quot;Observations&quot;, published in volume 6 of his Collected Works.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-118</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<img alt=\"129-129 - 0129-1.jpg\" src=\"/Nolini/The Mother Abides - Final Reflections/_images/129-129 - 0129-1.jpg\" style=\" width:329.76pt; height:516.72pt;\"\n<br></td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-038_Note on the Texts','','publish','closed','open','','038_note-on-the-texts','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/038_note-on-the-texts/',0,'post','',0),(1220,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-011_She Is Always There.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">She Is Always There\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">Grace is the Divine made earthly and human. And that is our Mother.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">*</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">She is always there in that realm of the earth atmosphere from where she used to work even when here—the same now as she was when in our midst. She is available in the same way—only we must know how to approach her, how to attune ourselves.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">*</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">She is accessible to our prayer in the same way, even to our most puerile and foolish prayer—if it is genuine, spontaneous, simple and candid, spoken with a child\'s innocence. She has an ear even to our nonsense.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">*</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMother\'s response to a prayer:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;I am always with you. I shall never fail you in prosperity or in adversity. Even when you sink I am with you—I sink with you. I do not stand on the shore and merely look at you from a distance. I sink with you, I am in you: lor I am you.&quot;\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published 1977</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-30</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-011_She Is Always There','','publish','closed','open','','011_she-is-always-there','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/011_she-is-always-there/',0,'post','',0),(1221,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-029_Man and the Other Beings.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Man and the Other Beings\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMan is a complex being, an entity made of many personalities, holding together a variety of aspects around some centre. He contains a whole lot of different elements. He is a world in itself, or rather—why a world?—he is a universe or at least he represents it.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is not so with the other beings of other worlds, on other levels of creation. Each type there represents one aspect of infinity only and is in a way static; the beings there do not change or progress as man does on earth. They remain always what they are, they do what they do; it is rather fixed or at least the possibility of change is very limited.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nEarth is a concentrated form, a complete replica of the entire universe or entire creation. Man, in his turn, represents all that is on earth, that is, in the universe, all aspects of it, all the levels of consciousness and, it may be added, all the urge for progress and change. He is Nature\'s laboratory. If a point in man\'s consciousness changes, the change will be carried over in the whole of the universe. Inevitably, because man is the point of concentration on the earth as the earth is a concentrated form of the universe.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThat is why in <i>Savitri </i>we find that the human soul has to cross all the levels of being, the whole universe as it were.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis is the speciality of man, his unique feature, his unique function.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published February 1982</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-97</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-029_Man and the Other Beings','','publish','closed','open','','029_man-and-the-other-beings','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/029_man-and-the-other-beings/',0,'post','',0),(1222,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-022_Mother^s Playground.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Mother\'s Playground\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nToday I am going to speak to you about the Playground itself as a great phenomenon created by the Mother. You may remember, we once saw a play in our Theatre staged by our students. It was about the adventure of a few young people leaving their home and going out wandering. In the end they came to a house. One of them casually opened a side door in the building and all entered and they found themselves in a fairyland. They were surprised, astonished: they found they had left the old world and come to a new, unfamiliar, enchanting fairyland.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe same experience one has when one opens the gate of the Playground and enters it. At least we used to experience it in that way in the early days. As soon as we stepped into the Playground, a new atmosphere enveloped us, a new life full of joy, happiness, delight and freedom. When we used to put on our group uniform, we felt quite different from what we were normally. Old people with their blue shorts in our group, really old people, felt very young, youthful, and trotted about as if they had left their age behind with all their cares. And the younger people, the youngest ones, were so eager to join the group, to put on the green uniform. Many among them, after putting on their green shorts, rushed to me and said enthusiastically, &quot;Today I have got my uniform and I will join the group&quot;—so happy, so free, so full of delight they were.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNow a word about the organisation of the groups in the Playground. Naturally some attention had to be paid in view of the difference of age and sex and capacity; but the principle, the general principle that lay behind the organisation\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-76</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">and on which the Mother insisted, was: no difference of age, especially no difference of sex; all human beings are fundamentally of the same nature. Particularly in the competitions of physical education that were arranged from time to time, the groups were more or less all mixed up; the green and the red and the blue and all the other colours made a blend, as it were. Nowadays it is somewhat different, but in those early days it was otherwise; capacity alone was the chief consideration for distinction and difference, and that too in a general and very superficial way. I also, an aged person (I do not say <i>old), </i>I ran and did exercises with young people, girls also— not for fun and as a joke but very seriously. It was to show by example that in your mind, in your consciousness there should be no feeling of difference, no sense of inferiority or superiority from the point of view of age and sex—and even capacity, to an extent.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn the very early days when we were rather few in number, somewhere about fifty, we used to address each other by our names, mere names; there was no <i>dada </i>or <i>didi </i>tagged on: Nolini, Pavitra, Sahana, Lalita, that was all, pure and simple. So when people from outside came, they found it a little queer: &quot;They have no respect here for age, no respect for elderly people, no consideration for the women; they call each other merely by the name.&quot; But in reality, whatever it seemed like from outside, the consciousness, the attitude behind was different, and there were some people who felt it and appreciated it. Thus when someone in the Ashram called me by my name or an elderly woman by hers, evidently the feeling behind was full of respect and consideration, even love; only the form of address was like that, bare and without qualification. Even someone from outside saw the thing and judged it correctly. He wrote an article on the Ashram and mentioned this custom: it is very strange that youngsters call old people by their mere names, but it sounds nice and appropriate when the thing\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-77</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">comes from their lips.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThese were the principles that guided the organisation of the physical education groups. There was to be, first, no difference between boys and girls; all should undergo the same exercises and the same programme. This was and is even now, I think, compulsory for the younger groups—the green group and the red and even a little beyond. But it has been often asked, &quot;Since the bodies of boys and girls are different, especially with regard to sex, is it not natural to provide different programmes?&quot; But in reality the bodies have become different because of the consciousness that insisted on the difference during milleniums of growth and evolution. It is only now, in this age, that things have begun to change a little. Some of you, the elderly ones, may remember how difficult it was for the Mother to make the girls put on shorts and shirts for the Playground exercises. She had to begin gently and gradually. In the beginning the girls learned to put on trousers; they used to do marching and exercises in trousers. Even today in the outside world, in many places in India especially, we see women, girls marching and doing the parade in saris. Our police women even today go on duty in saris. The tradition is very strong, and in this respect we here claim to be the pioneers of this new development in which the physical freedom of women is equal to that of men. This was the lesson taught by the Mother.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nLong ago, some twenty-five years ago, a well-known leader of India, a great educationist came and saw our Playground activities and made the remark: &quot;I have travelled all over India, visited various educational institutions, seen women doing gymnastics, but this is the first time that I see here in the Ashram girls doing vaulting and movements on the parallel bars; I have never seen it anywhere else.&quot; Of course, it goes without saying, circus girls are different. But people used to consider vaulting as a specially masculine virtue, along with\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-78</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">many other physical games and exercises. Today it is being gradually found that this is a superstition and the judgment is wrong: the Wimbledon women champions bear witness to this. The most important thing is that you have to change your attitude, you have to change your consciousness. Of course, there are difficulties on the way, the force of habit, the force of atavism; all that demands an extra dose of your consciousness or a new consciousness.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThere is a difference in what is done here and what is done elsewhere, in respect to the freedom being given to women and to the younger generation. Mother repeated so often: the freedom, the liberty you enjoy here is extraordinary, exceptional; there is almost no limit to your freedom. Indeed, it is dangerous, because the unlimited use of freedom means also the risk of the misuse of freedom. But the Mother took the risk, for that is the only way towards a radical solution, not merely a half-way compromise. Only when you are free, when you are completely, absolutely free, and you must choose between the good and the bad, and you choose the good of your own will, then the good has a real importance for you, for your consciousness and for your development. Otherwise, when you follow the good through compulsion or through fear or through social decency or through vanity—that is to say, when in order to be good you observe certain rules and you feel you are virtuous, you are dutiful—then it is not the true way, not the true attitude and the true consciousness. The true consciousness is that you do the right thing not because it is your duty to do it, not because it is worth doing and it is expected of you to do it, but because your nature impels you towards it. The flower blooms spontaneously without any sense of duty. It possesses no sense of duty because its nature is to blossom and be beautiful.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nHuman beings also should be like that, spontaneous and natural in their action and behaviour. Then when you do a\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-79</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">great thing, you do not feel that you are doing something marvellous or that you are exercising your power. You do not do a thing because it is your duty but because it is your nature to do it; you cannot but do it. I give an example here. You are students of English and English grammar. Now tell me, what is the difference between these two statements: &quot;I have to do the thing&quot; and &quot;I am to do the thing&quot;? &quot;I have to do the thing&quot; means &quot;I am obliged to, I am compelled to, I cannot do otherwise.&quot; &quot;I am to do it&quot; means &quot;It is for me to do it. I will do it; that is to say, it is my nature to do it.&quot; Something of that kind is taught in the Gita—the ideal of <i>kartavyam karma </i>and <i>ni</i>&#7779;<i>k</i>&#257;<i>ma karma </i>or following one\'s own Swadharma. <i>Kartavya </i>is usually translated as duty but it is not correct. <i>Kartavya </i>is one\'s Dharma or the spontaneous expression of one\'s nature— what one is to do, not what one has to do.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMother gave this infinite freedom to her children because that was the only way of creating a new nature. She showed also the difference between the right use of freedom and the wrong use. The wrong use is often found in the movements of freedom outside in normal life, for example in the student movement or the women\'s emancipation movement. Now when women are fighting for freedom for themselves, they consider themselves as women fighting for freedom against men. &quot;We are women, you are men; you enjoy privileges and rights, we are denied them; we want them, we claim them.&quot; In the youth movement also, the young people say: &quot;All the powers the old people enjoy, the positions and emoluments, all that will not do; we want to share these things also along with the old.&quot; Mother said, &quot;No, this is not the right attitude.&quot; You must change your position, your point of view. Going out for a quarrel, for a fight means that you consider yourselves different beings, with different powers, capacities, constitutions. First of all, you must consider yourselves, both parties, as human beings, not as two different species.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-80</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis point of view is being acknowledged to some extent nowadays, but it is not sufficient, Mother says. If you are content to be human beings, just human beings, differences will arise again and again, and not only differences but serious differences. Human nature is composed of these differences, and culture and civilisation mean nothing more than a reconciliation, a compromise among these differences. And the result has been that we have not gone very far towards a solution. A deeper truth has to be found, a higher truth and a more powerful truth. We must rise to a new state. Mother spoke always of finding the truth, the truth of your soul. In the truth of your soul you are neither man nor woman, neither young nor old— <i>tvam kum</i>&#257;<i>ra uta v</i>&#257;<i> kum</i>&#257;<i>r</i>&#299;<i>, tvam j</i>&#299;<i>rna. </i>You are all that only in appearance, for you are something more, something else.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou have to take your stand on your soul—that is the lesson that the Mother was trying to impart in the Playground education. So long as you are in the normal consciousness, embedded in your body-consciousness, and view things from there, your life will be built in the pattern created by the body-consciousness. Life in that pattern can proceed only through difference and distinction, contrast and contradiction, conflict and battle. So long as you stick to your habitual position, it will be like that. The remedy is a radical remedy: it is to reverse your position. You have to stand not on your legs but on your head; then you will find the way to march forward—not through confrontation but cooperation, not through separation but union, not through difference but identity. So long as you are mere human beings, this supreme soul-identity cannot come. You have to forget the differences. Someone asked the Mother in one of the Playground talks, &quot;How is it possible for one to forget this fundamental difference that one is a man and another a woman?&quot; Mother answered, &quot;How can you say that? Look here, when I talk to Tara, do you think I am considering her as a woman and talking accordingly.&quot; And she could have\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-81</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">added, &quot;And when I answer you, do you chink I am speaking to a masculine person?&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI may narrate here a little incident concerning me personally. It was with regard to the question or age. When someone informed Mother that they wanted to celebrate my birthday, perhaps it was my eightieth birthday, in a magnificent manner, a gala celebration, Mother roared out, &quot;No, no, you are spoiling my work. All the while I have been trying to make him forget his age and now you are trying to insist on it.&quot; Age also is a thing to be forgotten. The birthday celebration is not for recording the progress in our age—how we are progressing year by year in our age, that is, how we are getting old—no, it is for noting the progress made in the inner being and consciousness. Each birthday is meant to be a landmark of the forward march of your consciousness, not the greyness of your head. The touch of your soul will inspire you not merely to do the right inner movement, the enlightening of your consciousness, but it will inspire you to do the right physical movement, even lead you to choose the right kind of physical exercises and do them in the right manner. The lesson to learn, then, is to get back to your soul inside you; you will find there everything that is worth having: freedom, joy, harmony and even untold capacity.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nPeople coming from outside asked very often and ask even now, &quot;What is the Ashram doing for the country, for the world? Its work is confined to a few people only. Is it worth doing?&quot; Mother answered simply, &quot;I am doing something which is not done anywhere else in the world—I am awakening the soul in my children, the soul that alone can save and nothing else.&quot; To the outsiders we say: &quot;If you come here, come with eyes to see, eyes to look at or rather to look into the soul of the people who are here. Do not look at what they learn or what they do or what they say, but look inside them, look at what is there deep within.&quot; Even now I say: &quot;She is there within you, her\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-82</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">work is not arrested. The tempo of her work is as vigorous and as living as it could be and its impact will become more and more clear and manifest.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo I repeat, the soul is neither boy nor girl nor young nor old; it has not the characteristics of the body natural to man or rather to the animal. But this does not mean that it has no body, that it is something airy, nebulous, smoky. Not at all: the soul has a body, its own body as concrete and definite as the physical body; it even has a material body, although its matter is of a different kind. Have not the Western sages begun to speak of immaterial matter, of anti-matter? That soul-body you are carrying even now within this material body of yours. You can sense it as definite and living as the external body. The Mother is holding it in you; you come in contact with it through your contact with the Mother. Love the Mother, be one with her; then you will find and be this living soul of yours.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published August 1978</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-83</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-022_Mother\'s Playground','','publish','closed','open','','022_mothers-playground','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/022_mothers-playground/',0,'post','',0),(1223,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-008_One Day More.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">One Day More\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">1\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">In her <i>Prayers and Meditations </i>Mother wrote under the date September 25, 1914:\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">The Lord has willed and thou dost execute: </p>\n<p class=\"para\">A new Light shall break upon the earth. </p>\n<p class=\"para\">A new world shall be born, </p>\n<p class=\"para\">And the things that were promised shall be fulfilled.\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">Subsequently, after a lapse of more than forty years, under the date February 29 - March 29, 1956, she introduced a change in the statement, in respect of the tense used. She rewrote it in this form:\n</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">Lord, Thou has willed, and I execute: </p>\n<p class=\"para\">A new light breaks upon the earth, </p>\n<p class=\"para\">A new world is born. </p>\n<p class=\"para\">The things that were promised are fulfilled. </p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">The change of tense was needed because of the change in the situation. There has been a radical change in the actualities of the situation. Mother herself explains in another message communicated after about a month under the date April 24, 1956:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe manifestation of the Supra mental upon earth is no more a promise but a living tact, a reality.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-18</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is at work here, and one day will come when the most blind, the most unconscious, even the most unwilling shall be obliged to recognise it.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nShe speaks repeatedly of her vision and declares most emphatically that the new world is born, born, born—as it were, thrice born \n<i>(&quot;il est né, né, né&quot;). </i>It is there behind, it is moving, threading past all the obscurities that hide it, but in a manner indomitable and invincible: the outer weight of ignorance cannot hold it down eternally.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nProgress continues: the Mother declares under the date February 3, 1958—that is to say, after the lapse of about two years—a momentous declaration, the arrival of a full-fledged supramental boat at the shore of earth. Its mission was to carry within it human beings who were ready for the supramental life. The description of the whole scene was so beautiful, so graphic, so alluring that on reading it a young girl from outside wrote to the Mother that she would like to be a passenger on the boat and prayed to the Mother for admission. Mother explains that the substance of which this new world was made was the most material supramental, the supramental substance nearest to the physical world, its first manifestation.\n</p>\n<br>\n<blockquote>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nOnce again she affirms the reality of her vision in the message she gave to her children on the New Year Day of 1961:\n	</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis wonderful world of delight waiting at our gates for our call, to come down upon earth ...\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNaturally, this is not the end, the culmination. One step has still to be taken—matetial matter too has to be touched and remoulded—and that means a hiatus, a time-lag, in the end. I he process of creation always follows this line: a thing to\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-19</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">be created or embodied upon earth is first created in a subtle world. When it is ready, ready-made in that world, then it precipitates itself upon the material world, slowly or gradually or suddenly, according to the cosmic will. An illustration to explain the point-the Mother herself gives it:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOnce, asked about the liberation of India, sometime in 1915 when India was completely in bondage, she answered without the least hesitation, &quot;India is free.&quot; She did not say, &quot;India will be free&quot;, she said simply, &quot;India is free&quot; as though stating an actual fact. The physical fact however came about in the year 1947, that is to say, 32 years after the thing happened in the subtle world. Mother comments that that is the exact image of the resistance to the manifestation, the physical realisation.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNot merely creation, but destruction also happens in the same way. Destruction first occurs in the subtle world and as a consequence physical destruction inevitably takes place. Sri Krishna in the Gita tells Arjuna: All these troops ranged against you have already been killed by me, you have only to be the instrument or the excuse: <i>Mayaivaite nihat</i>&#257;<i>h p</i>&#363;<i>rvameva.</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">2\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSavitri is coming back to earth to her normal life. She has made her final conquest. And with the whole world of the new conquest, the embodied Life Divine within her, she enters the earth-life, but with a veil drawn upon herself and her achievement. The &quot;one day more&quot; is yet to be done, the one day made of material matter. She is not to disclose herself till that one day is done. The curtain is down now, but behind it lies the whole edifice she has built up, in its entire unflawed beauty and fulfilment. At present outwardly we see before us the arena of a grey dangerous world, as of old. The curtain will surely roll up and reveal what it hides,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-20</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">slowly, or perhaps the shell of the old may burst open all of a sudden and bring forth the new life full and entire. How will it happen—the Revelation, the Epiphany? The event will show. In the meantime, the New Creation, a &quot;greater dawn&quot;, she holds within herself, &quot;Deep guarded by her mystic folds of light.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published August 1975</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-21</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-008_One Day More','','publish','closed','open','','008_one-day-more','','','2021-11-23 08:51:38','2021-11-23 08:51:38','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/008_one-day-more/',0,'post','',0),(1224,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-031_Falsehood.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Falsehood\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFalsehood is the agony of the Supreme—so said the Mother.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd to cure and dissolve this falsehood, the supreme Lord and His conscious-force, the supreme Mother, descended into the very depths of the abyss of creation. The radiating sparks of that supreme divine Presence are the souls on earth.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMan, the human being, is nothing but that divine spark, the emanated spark of the Supreme, robed and lodged in the outer mould of an ignorant terrestrial consciousness. The soul, we might say, is a magic lantern put down here on earth to illumine and annihilate the surrounding obscurity of the material world. In its individual form each soul is unique: it has a unique role to play, a small corner to clean and render \ntransparent, and it is unique also in its relation to the Supreme.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis is the truth, but only one side of it. There is another truth, complementary to it. Man is not an individual wholly separated or isolated from other beings. In spite of his own unique personality and formation he is yet one with all and represents the whole of the terrestrial consciousness; in truth he contains it in himself, in his consciousness. Each element in the earth-consciousness has a corresponding point in the individual consciousness; man is an amalgam of both the good and the evil of the whole of terrestrial nature, a \nminiature world, a representation of the entire earth-consciousness in a concentrated form, on a mini-scale. The more the consciousness is developed, the more the individual being grows, and the more this parallelism becomes evident. All that is good in the world you have within you; all that is bad on earth, that\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-100</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">too you possess in your consciousness. No human being is a pure saint or angel, nor is he a complete devil.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn other paths of yoga one tried to cut off the unnecessary links with the world—unnecessary for the goal of personal liberation—and tried to concentrate on the single or few links which would connect one more easily to one\'s source. It was a very practical approach, perhaps even the correct one, for those who aimed at a liberation of their own individual selves from the obscurity of the material world and the earth-consciousness.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut for us who aspire for the deliverance of the entire terrestrial consciousness from falsehood and ignorance, this will not do: we have to accept our burden; we must take part in the collective effort. If one of us makes a progress, he does it for the earth; if one bit of evil is annihilated in one individual consciousness, it produces a corresponding effect in the terrestrial consciousness; if one individual cures a single ill in his nature, the whole world gets the benefit, In fact, unless all is cured, nothing is perfectly cured. This is the secret of collective sadhana. And this is why on our way it is difficult to measure one\'s own progress or to mark where one stands as one does on other ways of yoga. We all stand together, we are one in our endeavour.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe earth is full of ills, full of maladies. Maladies of the body there may be, but at bottom they are all maladies of consciousness. In all fields of life and at all levels, one has to face them and to struggle at each step. Take the political field for instance; it is the same story. It is a political sickness, a sickness of the group consciousness in each group or nation, and as in the individual so also in the collectivity the consciousness is centred in the ego and tries only to serve and fulfil its own limited interest at the cost of others. The problem is how to govern one\'s own self and at the same time help others to do the same.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-101</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo tackle this or any other problem with the right attitude and the right point of view, one has to enlarge one\'s ego, to outgrow it, to widen one\'s consciousness and feel oneness with others. That is the solution, the only radical one: to grow in your consciousness, make your consciousness large enough to be one with the earth, and look at the problem from there. One has to grow from within, from the true source of one\'s being.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs with the individual, so each nation has a soul. One has to grow conscious of it, identify with it and obey it. Then the problem changes its face and a real cure is found, the true solution.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIt is the same with all problems of life.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published August 1982</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-102</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-031_Falsehood','','publish','closed','open','','031_falsehood','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/031_falsehood/',0,'post','',0),(1225,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-036_Yesterday.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Yesterday</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYesterday should not be turned into today. It is a sane counsel for everybody, whatever one\'s avocation, not to live in the past. To live in the future may yield some dividends to a rare \nfew, but dwelling in the past never. Yet we continually revive bygone movements and in the process give force to those vibrations to form again and again and interfere with the present. This is especially so in the case of a spiritual seeker.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe most common problem is the memory of some past wrong done against us. Each time this recurs, we relive the whole situation and re-experience all the emotional turmoil we went through at that moment. All the resentment, anger, grief rush in in their full intensity and we are thrown off balance. A part of the mind is aware that it is all a thing of the past and it is no use thinking of it in the present. But we are \nirresistibly carried away by the old movement which, if unchecked, develops into a habit. Very often such a movement repeats itself because somewhere something in us indulges in it. Apart from its psychological damage to ourselves, there is another bad consequence. By perpetuating the old vibration we prevent its replacement by another, happier movement. The Mother asks us not to carry yesterday\'s vibration when we meet the offending party today. By remembering it when we meet the person who has hurt us yesterday, we induce in him the same set of vibrations that emanated from him earlier. We are asked to keep the mind blank and meet him afresh. Such an approach is likely to disarm him and initiate a conciliatory movement. Even if it fails, we are the gainers spiritually—for to rise above hurt and offence is a positive victory over our mechanical nature.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-112</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis movement is not very difficult if we are earnest about our sadhana. What is more difficult is the memories of the wrongs we have done to others in the past. This difficulty is acute when our effort to purify ourselves is intense and our sensitivity increases. Every little incident in which our less flattering side came to the fore—we lost our temper, hurt others, ill-treated them and did a host of other wrong things— rises up and comes to devour us. This is most poignant when the victims of our indignities happen to be those who loved us, who sacrificed for us, who bore us patiently and, maybe, helplessly. It is an unnerving experience when this happens.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\"> How do we meet these searing \nreturns of the past? By repentance. By a sincere regret for the past, a resolute \ndetermination not to repeat the past, and an inner praying for forgiveness from those whom we have \nhurt. Such a movement in our being puts the past behind and clears the way for a new future, provided we take care not to repeat the old mistakes under any circumstances. Repentance is less a confession of sins than a determination to turn a new leaf. But this too must not be overdone. Confessions and regrets, made too often, turn into indulgences that revive the old memories of our failures and hold us back even when the road is clear. They have the subtle effect of prolonging vibrations which are better left behind and forgotten; and they interfere with the purifying action of the Divine Grace which always responds to sincere appeals for help to start anew.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published November 1983</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-113</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-036_Yesterday','','publish','closed','open','','036_yesterday','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/036_yesterday/',0,'post','',0),(1226,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-023_The Iron Chain.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">The Iron Chain\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nHow many of you have been here since the beginning, I mean from the kindergarten classes—any? One, two, three, four— oh, a good many! Very creditable, very creditable indeed, that so many have continued so long and passed through. This is really something creditable.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI will tell you a story in this connection. A young man who was an aspirant, a seeker of spiritual or religious life, once upon a time went to Gandhiji. He wanted to remain there. He said, &quot;I am a seeker of spiritual life. \nI want to remain with you.&quot; Gandhiji saw the person and accepted him. &quot;It is all right, you may try,&quot; he said. The young man remained there some time, a pretty long time, perhaps even a year. But at the end of the year he approached Gandhiji and said, &quot;Please permit to go away from here. Somehow \nI feel I cannot remain any longer.&quot; Then he went away and came here to the Ashram. The Ashram he liked very much and remained here. After some years Gandhiji thought of the young man. &quot;Where is he? He was a nice man. Where has he gone?&quot; Then he learned that the young man was here in Sri Aurobindo Ashram. How many years? &quot;Seven years!&quot; Gandhiji was astounded. &quot;How is it? I know the young man. I know he was a restless person, so uncertain about himself, about his movements—he could not stick to one place or one occupation for long. And he has been in Sri Aurobindo Ashram for seven years! It is a great credit to Sri Aurobindo Ashram for being able to keep him so long!&quot; And I may add: he is still here! So \nI may say that those of you who have continued to remain here may claim some credit for your performance, or does the credit go to the Ashram?\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-84</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI have an idea. You have heard very much of the golden chain that the Mother puts on whoever comes near her and touches her—an unbreakable eternal chain we all have known and experienced, the golden chain with which she ties everyone who comes in her embrace. Now I feel she has another chain also in her wallet—a chain with handcuffs and fetters —with which she binds some people physically to her, to her material presence. She also takes up the physical destiny of the person. The golden chain belongs of course to the soul, which is eternal, beautiful and glorious; this is another matter. Bur even the very body, this material carcass, can belong equally to the Mother. With the golden chain you are the beloved of the Mother, or her lover, but with the iron chain you become her physical slave.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYes, I am trying to hint that those who have been here for long, many from their infancy, have earned a particular merit: from the spiritual point of view this continuance, this continuity, is itself something significant; it is an achievement. Even if you do not pass any examination—that is, move up, promoted from class to class after a hard test—even if you simply glide through, pass along ambling and at ease, that is sufficient. There is something that remains; something very valuable sticks to the consciousness. You may not be aware of it now, but one day you are sure to know and recognise it. So I congratulate you all for your happy achievement which is indeed the sign of her signal Grace.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>29 October 1977</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-85</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-023_The Iron Chain','','publish','closed','open','','023_the-iron-chain','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/023_the-iron-chain/',0,'post','',0),(1227,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-002_Publisher^s Note.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">Publisher\'s Note\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nThese thoughts and reminiscences of Nolini Kanta Gupta were written or spoken during the final decade of his life— from the time of the Mother\'s passing in November 1973 until shortly before his own passing in February 1984. During that period they served as a source of guidance and consolation to the Ashram community, and they still seem relevant today.\n	</p>\n	<br>\n	<p class=\"para\">\nMany of these writings and talks were first presented to the students, young and old, of Nolini-da\'s classes. Later they were published in\n	<i>The Advent, </i>a quarterly journal he edited, or in his Collected Works. Details about their publication and a life-sketch of the author are given at the end of the book.</p>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-002_Publisher\'s Note','','publish','closed','open','','002_publishers-note','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/002_publishers-note/',0,'post','',0),(1228,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-028_How to Understand Savitri.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"1\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">How to Understand Savitri\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nTo understand <i>Savitri, </i>the best way, paradoxical though it may seem, is not to try to understand it—to refrain from effort, all mental effort to understand it, and instead to let it enter into your consciousness and illumine it.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i>Savitri </i>is not dead matter, a dictionary of ideas and images. It is a living scripture, a concentrated block of consciousness. All writings, in truth, contain the consciousness of the writer, and on the strength and quality of the consciousness of the writer depends the worth and force of the writing. That is the meaning of the <i>grantha-p</i>&#363;<i>j</i>&#257;<i> </i>of the Sikhs. Even without reading a scripture, by an intense concentration and aspiration you can establish an inner contact with the consciousness of the writer, with the consciousness concentrated in the book, and get the benefit. This is true especially of spiritual writings.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<i>Savitri </i>is a living and concentrated embodiment of Sri Aurobindo\'s consciousness. His light and knowledge are there, always present and active. To read <i>Savitri </i>you need to establish a contact with that, with the consciousness behind the words; you need to develop a sort of inner sense. The images described in the poem are not mere images—Sri Aurobindo saw them; in his vision they were living things, living realities, and you should also see and feel them as such.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd that is possible only if you fulfil two conditions: first, the outer mind must be calm and still, and second, when you read you must be in a state of consciousness which is the highest and best in you. Fulfil these conditions and then you will truly understand and know.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Indian system of learning, or initiation in learning,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-95</p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"para\">means this awakening of consciousness, the awakening to a new inner contact with the object of knowledge.\n</p>\n<p class=\"pararight\">\n<i>Published February 1982</i>\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-96</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-028_How to Understand Savitri','','publish','closed','open','','028_how-to-understand-savitri','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/028_how-to-understand-savitri/',0,'post','',0),(1229,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<html>\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1252\">\r\n<title>II</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td>\r\n\r\n<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=4>II</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=4>OCCULT EXPERIENCES</font>\r\n\r\n			<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">It seems my predecessors were telling you stories—\r\nstories of their own lives, their experiences, so I thought\r\nI should follow in their footsteps. But I am not going to\r\ntell you about my own experiences, I am going to tell a\r\nstory, rather a history, that happened in the life of\r\nanother person. It will be interesting and also instructive.\r\nSo I will begin the story, I am the narrator:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I was a traveller, going about from place to place, seeing\r\nall things of interest — especially those of pilgrimage —\r\nand I happened to be in Madras. I was waiting there to\r\ntake a bus to the railway-station which was a few miles off.\r\nI saw that there were also many other travellers waiting\r\nto board a bus. A busman was inviting people, so I approached his bus. Suddenly a lady came out of the crowd\r\nand said, &quot;Please don\'t go there!&quot;&nbsp; She was an elderly\r\nTamil lady. I was surprised and asked, &quot;Why, why?&quot;\r\nShe said, &quot;Well, wait; you\'ll see,&quot; and I stopped. Then\r\nthere were three buses that started — I was in one, the\r\nlady was in another and the third was the one I had\r\nwanted to board.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The lady\'s bus came last and the other two were running\r\nvery fast — competing as to which should go first. Well,\r\nwhat happened is quite natural; the bus in which I was</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 8</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">to go dashed against a wayside tree and was damaged, and\r\nthe passengers were mostly killed or seriously injured.\r\nWe reached our destination and naturally I was very eager\r\nto see the lady who had stopped me from boarding the bus.\r\nI asked her, &quot;How did you know it? How did you guess?&quot;\r\n&quot;I\'ll tell you later on.&quot; So we started again, and went to a\r\nholy place on a hillside. It was a sort of jungle and woodland, full of bushes. The lady and I were walking quietly\r\ntogether. Then I stepped aside. I wanted to see what was\r\nto my left. Suddenly the lady said, &quot;Please, please don\'t\r\ngo to that side!&quot; Naturally I was surprised and asked her\r\nthe reason. Then I saw that behind the bushes was a 200 ft.\r\ndeep precipice. If I had taken one step more I would\r\nhave gone down! Then I pleaded with the lady: &quot;Please\r\ntell me what it is; how did you see it?&quot; She said, &quot;All\r\nright, I\'ll tell you the story, let us sit down.&quot; Then she\r\nnarrated the story. She said, &quot;When I was young I lived\r\nwith my grandfather, and we loved each other exceedingly,\r\nwe were very much attached to each other. He used to\r\ntell me stories and pleased me in all ways, so I was with\r\nhim almost all the time. Then one day he fell rather\r\nseriously ill. Doctors were called and they couldn\'t do\r\nanything. Then my grandfather called me and said, \'My\r\nchild, go and pray to Shiva\' — Shiva was the household\r\ndeity. So I went and knelt down before the image of Shiva\r\nand prayed, \'0 Shiva, my grandfather is ill, please cure\r\nhim.\' One or two days I did that. But he continued to be\r\nill, he became rather worse! Then one day the doctors gave</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 9</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">up all hope. I was weeping standing a little away from\r\nhim. Suddenly I saw a girl by the side of my grandfather,\r\nand I was astonished, she looked exactly like myself. Then\r\nI asked someone near me if he could see anyone by my\r\ngrandfather — \'No, I don\'t see anybody.\' Then I went to\r\nthe bedside, and the image and I stood together. Gradually\r\nmy grandfather was cured. From that time on, wherever\r\nthere is any danger, any difficulty, this image of myself\r\ncomes, and helps me. So when you wanted to go in that\r\nbus I saw the same figure coming to me and telling me,\r\n\'Beware.\' I don\'t know who she is.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">So this is the story. I have brought these books because\r\nsome of the poets have had such an experience.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Alfred de Musset says that from his childhood he had a\r\ncomrade who was always with him — he was like a brother\r\nto him, he accompanied him in life\'s joys and sorrows,\r\nin dangers and happiness — he was always with him. I\r\nshall read out some stanzas (Alfred de Musset — <i>Poésies\r\nChoisies,</i> page 38, <i>Nuit de Décembre):</i></font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">\'Du temps que j\'étais écolier,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Je restais un soir&nbsp; à veiller </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Dans notre salle solitaire.</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Devant ma table vint s\'asseoir</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Un pauvre enfant vêtu de noir,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Qui me ressemblait comme un frère.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Son visage était triste et beau:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 10</font><hr>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">A la lueur de mon flambeau,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Dans mon livre ouvert il vint lire.</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;II pencha son front sur ma main,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Et resta jusqu\'au lendemain,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Pensif, avec un doux sourire.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Comme j\'allais avoir quinze ans,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Je marchais un jour, à pas lents,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Dans un bois, sur une bruyère.\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Au pied d\'un arbre vint s\'asseoir </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Un jeune homme vêtu de noir,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Qui me ressemblait comme un frère.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Je lui demandai mon chemin;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">II tenait un luth d\'une main,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">De 1\'autre un bouquet d\'églantine.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">II me fit un salut d\'ami,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Et, se détournant à demi,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Me montra du doigt la colline.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"center\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Je m\'en suis si bien souvenu,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Que je 1\'ai toujours reconnu</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;A tous les instants de ma vie.\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">C\'est une étrange vision,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Et cependant, ange ou démon,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">J\'ai vu partout cette ombre amie.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Partout ou. le long des chemins,</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 11</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">J\'ai posé mon front dans mes mains\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Et sangloté comme une femme,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Partout où j\'ai, comme un mouton\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Qui laisse sa laine au buisson,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Senti se dénuer mon âme;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Partout où. j\'ai voulu dormir,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Partout où j\'ai voulu mourir,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Partout où j\'ai touché la terre,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Sur ma route est venu s\'asseoir</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Un malheureux vêtu de noir,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Qui me ressemblait comme un frére.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">\'Qui done es-tu, spectre de ma jeunesse,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Pélerin que rien n\'a lassé?</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Dis-moi pourquoi je te trouve sans cesse </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Assis dans 1\'ombre ou j\'ai passé.\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Qui done es-tu, visiteur solitaire,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Hôte assidu de mes douleurs?\'</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:100px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Now this form, that the poet saw, replies:</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;—Ami, notre père est Ie tien.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Je ne suis ni l\'ange gardien,</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Ni le mauvais destin des hommes ...</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Le del m\'a confié ton coeur.\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Quand tu seras dans la douleur,</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 12</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Viens à moi sans inquiétude.</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Je te suivrai sur le chemin;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Mais je ne puis toucher ta main,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Ami, je ne suis que la Solitude.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:100px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Here is the English translation:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\r\n</font><font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;A DECEMBER NIGHT</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In the days when I was a schoolboy</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">One evening I kept awake</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In my lonely room.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In front of my table there came and sat</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">A poor child robed in black</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Who looked like me even as a brother.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">His face was sad and beautiful:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In the light of my lamp</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">He came to read in my open book.</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">He bent his head upon my hand\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And waited till the morn</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Musing with a sweet smile.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">When I was about to be fifteen years old</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I was walking one day leisurely</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In a woodland upon the heath,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">At the foot of a tree there came and sat</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">A young man robed in black</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 13</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Who looked like me even as a brother.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I asked him my way;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">He held a lute in one hand,.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And in the other a bouquet of eglantine.</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">He gave a friendly salute to me</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And, half turning,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">With his finger pointed to the hillock.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I remember him so well,</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I have recognised him always</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">At every moment of my life.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">It was a strange vision,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And yet, angel or demon,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I saw everywhere this friendly shadow.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Wherever all along my way\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I held my forehead in my hands</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;And sobbed like a woman;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Wherever, like a lamb</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">That leaves his wool in the bush,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I felt my soul being shed;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Wherever I sought to sleep,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Wherever I sought to die,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Wherever I touched the earth\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">On my road came and sat</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;A miserable one robed in black,</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 14</font><hr>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Who looked like my own brother.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Who art thou, phantom of my youth,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Pale pilgrim whom nothing fatigues?\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Tell me, why do I find thee constantly,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Seated in the shadow I have passed through?\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Who art thou, lonely visitor,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Tireless guest of my pain?&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Friend, our father is also thine,&nbsp;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;I am neither the guardian angel\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Nor the evil destiny of men...</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">.</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Heaven has entrusted thy heart to me.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">When thou art in pain</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Come to me carefree,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I shall follow thee on thy way;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">But I cannot touch thy hand,\r\n</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:200px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Friend, I am Solitude.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The poet thinks that it is the personification of solitude,\r\nbut it is something more than that. As I said, it is your\r\nother self, your subtle self. The body, the personality\r\nthat you see externally is only a reflection of the inner\r\nbeing that you are. I don\'t mean your spiritual personality, but your subtle material self—which is physically\r\nyour true personality. And that is inspired by something\r\ngreater which you all know — your true individuality —</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\"><b>&nbsp;</b></font><font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- \r\n15</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">your psychic being. But that being can only be perceived,\r\nseen and experienced and heard in solitude, in loneliness\r\n— what you call calmness and quietness and detachment.\r\nThis vision here, this being of Alfred de Musset says: &quot;I\r\ncan approach you but I cannot touch you, there is a separation between the two. We can touch only when there\r\nare some conditions fulfilled in the physical body.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Another French poet speaks of a similar experience. He\r\nspeaks of it in a jocular way, in a funny way. He says that\r\nthis inner self sees things in a quite different way than the\r\nexternal being does. Sometimes it does quite the opposite.\r\nWhile the physical eye says \'It is this\', the other says \'No,\r\nit is that\'. Different values and perceptions — what we\r\nsee externally is only Maya. There is only a rope, but you\r\nsee a snake there — that is Maya.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">He is a modern French poet, Supervielle. The poem\r\nis amusing:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<b>\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>ALTER EGO<sup>1</sup></font></b><p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;In my outward experience I see a mouse running away.</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td width=\"30%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n		<td width=\"70%\">\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Une souris s\'échappe&quot;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;(A mouse runs out)\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">But the other person says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;ce n\'en était pas une&quot;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;(It was not there)</font></td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2><sup>&nbsp;1</sup> <i>Translated by James Kirkup (New Direction).</i></font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 16</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td width=\"30%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n		<td width=\"70%\"><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The outward person says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Une femme s\'éveille&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(A woman wakes)</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;The other says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Comment Ie savez-vous?&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(How do you know?)</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;And then my outward sense says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Et la porte qui grince&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(And the squeaking door)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;On 1\'huila ce matin&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(It was oiled this morning)\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">But if it was oiled this morning, how can it make&nbsp;\r\nnoise?</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Près du mur de clôture&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(Near the cloister wall)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Le mur n\'existe plus&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(There is now no wall)</font>\r\n\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Ah! je ne puts rien dire&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(Oh! I can\'t say a thing)         </font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Because you always say the contrary.</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;The inner being says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(Eh bien, vous vous taisez!)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(Well, now you\'ll be quiet!)\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The outward person says: I can\'t walk</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Je ne puts pas bouger&quot;,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(I cannot move)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Vous marchez sur la route&quot;</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 17</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\">\r\n	<tr>\r\n		<td width=\"30%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n		<td width=\"70%\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(You\'re walking along the road)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The outer questioning mind says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Où allons-nous aussi?</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;(Does all this get us anywhere?)\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;C\'est moi qui Ie demande&quot;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;(I am asking you)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I think:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Je suis seui sur la Terre&quot;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;(I am alone on Earth)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The other person says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Je suis là près de vous&quot;\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(I am here beside you)</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The outer person says:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Peut-on être si seui?&quot;\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(Can one be so alone?)</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;&quot;Je Ie suis plus que vous&quot;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;(I am more alone than you)\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Je vois votre visage&quot;\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">(I can see your face)\r\n</font>\r\n		<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Nul ne m\'a jamais VU&quot;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;(No one has ever seen mine).</font>\r\n\r\n		</td>\r\n	</tr>\r\n</table>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">\'I see you but nobody has seen me\' — that is the inner\r\npersonality.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">These outer personalities — there is not one, there are\r\nmany — you consider this body of yours as your only\r\nform, but you have many. Each level has its own individual form and a recognisable one. Each one has special</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 18</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">eyes, nose, ears, so this inner personality also has recognisable features. If you know, you can even name them — it\r\nis this person, that person. The subtle physical is more\r\nconcrete. Only the physical form, the material form does\r\nnot change much. It changes, yes, according to your age,\r\nslowly but for sometime you are the same. These inner\r\nforms are changeful; they are not restricted to one rigid\r\nfigure. Still they are recognisable. There is a plasticity\r\nwhich is very natural; according to the situation, according to your mood, according to your feeling, they change.\r\nBut the most important, the most original form is your\r\npsychic being — your true being — that which we must\r\nstrive to realise and attain. As the Mother says: It is the\r\nDivine personality in each one of us. Your outer personality is sometimes only a caricature, but still it tries to\r\nreflect, though with difficulty, something of the needs and\r\nurges of this inmost reality of yours. Someone has asked\r\nme: &quot;How to find, how to know this inner being, the true\r\nbeing in me?&quot; For, as the poet here says, he can\'t touch\r\nyou and you can\'t touch him, but what you want is to\r\ntouch that person. The fact is that it is not so altogether\r\nout of contact, not altogether — unless a man is a total\r\nvillain, which is very rare. You can\'t obliterate that true\r\nexistence of you, it is there. It expresses itself in all the\r\nmovements that are good and noble and selfless. Whenever you see something beautiful or do something nice,\r\nbe sure that it is your psychic being that sees or does it.\r\nThe psychic being in you is the Mother — for it is an</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 19</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">emanation of Herself that She has put in you, in order to\r\nprotect you. When you see the sunset and feel happy,\r\nit is the psychic being in you that sees it. It is a\r\nsmall beginning but it is a beginning. Let your psychic\r\nbeing guide your acts. The only thing necessary is to be\r\nsincere. You have to be sincere. First day you will find\r\nit very difficult, second day you will find it easier, third\r\nday it will become still easier and then on the fourth day\r\nit will become your nature. It is not easy, but if you try\r\nyou will be able to do it.</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 20</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"right\">\r\n<a href=\"-00_Contents\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none; font-weight:700\"><font size=\"2\">HOME</font></span></a></td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n\r\n</html>\r\n','-03_OCCULT EXPERIENCES','','publish','closed','open','','03_occult-experiences','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/03_occult-experiences/',0,'post','',0),(1230,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<html>\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1252\">\r\n<title>III</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td><p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<b>III</b><p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font size=\"4\">JANAKA AND YAJNAVALKYA</font><p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">King Janaka was a great king and a great sage. He wielded\r\nan empire without and equally an empire within: he had\r\nrealised the Truth, known Brahman. He was <i>svarat</i> and\r\n<i>samr&#257;t.</i> A friend and intimate of his was Rishi\r\nYajnavalkya, who also was a sage — in fact, considered to\r\nbe the greatest sage of the time, a supreme knower of\r\nBrahman.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Once upon a time King Janaka invited sages \r\nfrom everywhere, whoever wanted to come to the assembly. The\r\nking from time to time used to call such assemblies for\r\nspiritual discussion and interchange of experiences. This\r\ntime he summoned the assembly for a special reason. He\r\nhad collected a herd of one thousand cows and nuggets of\r\ngold were tied to the horns of each. When all had gathered and taken their \r\nplaces he announced that whoever considered himself the best knower of Brahman (Brahmishtha)\r\nmight come forward and take away the cows. None\r\nstirred. No one had the temerity to declare that he was\r\nthe best <i>knower</i> and the most eligible for the prize.\r\nThe king repeated his announcement. Then all of a\r\nsudden people saw Yajnavalkya advancing and telling his\r\ndisciples to take hold of the herd and drive it home. A\r\nhue and cry arose: how is it? How dare he? One came</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 21</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">forward and asked Yajnavalkya: How is it, Yajnavalkya?\r\nDo you consider yourself the most wise in the matter of\r\nBrahman? First prove your claim and then touch the\r\ncows. Yajnavalkya in great humility bowed down and\r\nsaid to the assembly: I bow down to the great sages.\r\nI have come here solely with the intention of getting the\r\ncows. As for the knowledge of Brahman, I leave it to the\r\nknowers of Brahman. All the others in one voice said:</font>\r\n\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">That will not do, Yajnavalkya. You cannot get away so\r\neasily. Come, sit down and prove your worth. Yajnavalkya\r\nhad no way of escape. So one by one the sages came up\r\nand put questions and enigmas to Yajnavalkya. All he\r\nanswered quietly and perfectly to their full satisfaction.\r\nTowards the end a woman stood up, Gargi, a fair and\r\nfamous name too. She said: Yajnavalkya;, I shall put two\r\nquestions to you like two arrows directed at you, even as a\r\nking shoots his arrows at his enemies; if you can meet\r\nand parry them, yours the victory. — Yajnavalkaya: &quot;Let\r\nme hear then&quot;. — Gargi: &quot;Yajnavalkya, you once said\r\nthat the earth is the warp and woof woven upon water;</font>&nbsp;\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">upon what is woven the water?&quot; — Yajnavalkya: &quot;Air&quot;. —\r\n&quot;Upon what then is air woven?&quot; — &quot;sky&quot;. — &quot;Upon\r\nwhat is woven the sky?&quot; — &quot;The world of Gandharvas.&quot; — &quot;Upon what the Gandharvas?&quot;—&quot;Upon\r\nthe Sun.&quot; She continued her questioning. And thus she\r\nwas led successively through higher and higher worlds —\r\nfrom the Sun to the Moon, then to the Stars, then to the\r\nGods and the King of Gods, then to the Creator of the</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 22</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\"><b>&nbsp;</b>Gods and the peoples<sup>1</sup> and finally to the Brahmaloka (the\r\nworld of the One Supreme Transcendent Reality).</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Gargi still continued and asked again: &quot;Upon what is\r\nBrahman woven?&quot; To this Yajnavalkya cried halt and\r\nwarned her: &quot;Now, Gargi, your questioning goes too far,\r\nbeyond the limits. If you question farther, your head will,\r\nfall off. You are questioning about a thing that does not\r\nbear questioning — <i>ma atiprdkslh — anati prasnyd devatd\r\n</i>—the Gods abide not our question.&quot; So Gargi had to\r\ndesist and Yajnavalkya was accepted as the best of the\r\nsages (Brahmishtha) and he could drive his cattle away\r\nhome.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The ultimate reality does not lie within the ken of the\r\nquestioning mind, the Upanishad emphatically declares.\r\nWe all know the famous mantra: <i>&quot;nais&#61477;&#257; tarken&#803; matir&#257;paney&#257; —</i> this \r\nconsciousness cannot be reached by reasoning nor by intelligence nor by much learning. Indeed the\r\nSelf, the Divine discloses his body to him alone whom he\r\nchooses as his own.</font>\r\n\r\n<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Arial\">(2)</font>\r\n			<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">It is to be noted that even when at the top \r\nof the consciousness, full of the Supreme Brahman, one with it,</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\"><sup>1</sup> It is difficult to locate or identify the Upanishadic \r\nworlds or explain their gradations; evidently they are symbolical. But for us it is\r\nsufficient if we know that they are mounting steps, higher and higher\r\ntiers of being and consciousness leading to the supreme Being and\r\nConsciousness, the Brahman.</font><font size=\"2\"> </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 23</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Yajnavalkya does not lose hold of the earthly foothold —\r\nhe does not forget his cows, and thereby hangs another\r\namusing tale of his.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Once King Janaka, as it was customary, was holding his\r\ncourt and there was a large assembly of people —\r\ncourtiers, ministers, officials, petitioners and a crowd of\r\ncurious visitors. All of a sudden stepped in Yajnavalkya.\r\nThe king saw him, and after welcoming him asked with\r\nan ironical smile what he was there for. Did he come\r\nfor cows (referring to the previous episode) or for the\r\nknowledge of Brahman? Yajnavalkya too answered with\r\na beatific smile: 0 King, I come for both—<i>ubhayameva\r\nsamr&#257;t&#61477;.</i></font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In other words, even after passing through all the\r\ninferior worlds, the intermediary formulations of the\r\nSupreme, even after passing beyond, Yajnavalkya does\r\nnot reject these stations as delusions but accepts them,\r\nsubsumes them, within one integral consciousness —\r\nsomething in the manner imaged in those famous lines of\r\nWordsworth:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-right:20px\" align=\"center\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-right:20px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Type of the wise who soar but never roam,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;True to the kindred points of heaven and home.</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Arial\">(3)</font>\r\n			<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Yajnavalkya one day, as it was almost habitual with him,\r\nwalked up straight to the royal court, into the very </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 24</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">presence of King Janaka and quietly took his seat — a seat\r\nalways reserved for him. He came with the idea of not\r\nopening the conversation. He kept quiet. The King\r\nhowever immediately started and said: Yajnavalkya, I\r\nhave a question to put to you. Please answer.</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">YAJNAVALKYA: I am ready, 0 King! Let me hear.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">KING: What is the light that man has?</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Y: The sun is man\'s light.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">K: And when the sun has set?</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Y: The moon is his light.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">K: When the sun has set, when the moon has set, what\r\nlight has man?</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Y: The fire is his light.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">K: When the sun has set, when the moon has set, when\r\nthe fire has gone out, what then is man\'s light?</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Y: The self is his light.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">K: And what is this self?</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Y: The self is the conscious Being, \r\nmaster of life-energies, dwelling within the heart.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Yajnavalkya\'s answer has been put succinctly and most\r\nbeautifully in another Upanishad, the most beautiful\r\nverse in the whole Upanishadic literature. Here it is:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;There the sun shines not, nor the moon, nor the\r\nstars; nor do these lightnings shine there. And how\r\ncan this fire be there? That shines and in its wake all</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 25</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">others shine. By the light of That all this becomes\r\nluminous&quot;<sup>.1</sup></font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">All other lights, lights of the heaven, lights upon earth\r\nare evanescent. They pass away, the only light that\r\nendures and never fails is the light of the soul.</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\"><sup>1 </sup>This is a literal translation. Sri Aurobindo gives a beautifully\r\npoetic translation, rather a transcreation of the <i>mantra.</i> Here it is:</font><font size=\"2\">\r\n</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;There the sun cannot shine and the moon has no lustre; all the\r\nstars are blind; there our lightnings flash not, neither any earthly fire.\r\nFor all that is bright is but the shadow of His brightness and by His\r\nshining all this shines.&quot; (Sri Aurobindo: <i>The Upanishads.</i> Centenary\r\ned.. Vol. <i>12.,</i> P. 261.)</font><font size=\"2\"> </font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 26</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"right\"><a href=\"-00_Contents\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none; font-weight:700\"><font size=\"2\">HOME</font></span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</body></html>','-04_JANAKA AND YAJNAVALKYA','','publish','closed','open','','04_janaka-and-yajnavalkya','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/04_janaka-and-yajnavalkya/',0,'post','',0),(1231,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','<html>\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1252\">\r\n<title>IV</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td><p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<b><font face=\"Times New Roman\">IV</font></b>\r\n\r\n<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"4\">MORE OF YAJNAVALKYA</font></p>\r\n			<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Last time I told you the story of the great Rishi Yajnavalkya. But that was about the later Yajnavalkya when he\r\nhad become a full-fledged rishi, a guru with an Ashram\r\nand disciples. Today I will tell you something of the\r\nearlier Yajnavalkya, the beginning of his rishihood, the\r\nstart of his spiritual life. You know the structure of the\r\nold Indian society, it consisted of four castes, <i>varnas,\r\n</i>and four stages, <i>asramas.</i> I shall speak of the <i>asramas\r\n</i>now. Each individual person had to follow a definite\r\ncourse of life through developing stages. First of all,\r\nnaturally, when you are a baby, in your early childhood,\r\nyou belong to the family and remain with your parents.\r\nAs soon as you grow up and the time for your education\r\narrives, you are initiated into a stage called <i>brahmacarya;</i></font>&nbsp;\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">you may generally call it as the stage of self-discipline,\r\nyou go to a guru and pursue your studies through a disciplined life, something like the life of the children who are\r\nhere like you. In those days a student\'s life did not mean\r\nmerely studies, that is to say, reading and writing, book-knowledge, but as here a very active life. The physical\r\neducation in the old time <i>asramas</i> in certain ways was even\r\nmore complete than what is given here, for it included the\r\nart of warfare also, combatives like serious archery and</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 27</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">many other items of physical training. When you have\r\nterminated this discipline or <i>brahmacarya,</i> when you have\r\nbecome an accomplished young man you are allowed to\r\nreturn to the world, and take to the worldly life, enrich\r\nyourself with all experiences of that life, that is to say,\r\nyou marry and become a family man. It is the second\r\nstage called <i>garhasthya.</i> Next when you have fully enjoyed\r\nor fulfilled the duty of the worldly life, you pass on to the\r\nnext stage that is called the <i>va&#61464;naprastha.</i> That is the\r\nhermit life, the beginning of the true spiritual life. Finally\r\nat the end of the <i>va&#61464;naprastha,</i> you pass still beyond and\r\nadopt the life of the sannyasi, abandoning everything,\r\nconcentrating wholly on the Supreme Truth and merging\r\ninto it.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Now our Yajnavalkya in the normal course of things\r\nhas passed through the stage of <i>brahmacarya,</i> he has also\r\npursued the stage of domestic life and is now at the end&nbsp;\r\nof it. He thinks the time has now come to him to take to\r\nspiritual life and enter into <i>va&#61464;naprastha.</i> He had married\r\nand had two wives. So one day he called the first wife,\r\nKatyayani, and said to her: &quot;Katyayani, I am now leaving\r\nthis life and entering the spiritual life. You have given\r\nme comfort and happiness. I am thankful to you for that.\r\nWhatever I have, my possessions, movable and immovable, I have divided into two. This is your portion.&quot;\r\nKatyayani accepted the decision without a murmur. She\r\nanswered: &quot;Since you are my lord and husband, as you\r\nask me so I shall do.&quot; Then Yajnavalkya went to his</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 28</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">second wife, Maitreyee; to Maitreyee too he said the same\r\nthing as he had said to Katyayani: &quot;Maitreyee, I am leaving this life, I am taking to the spiritual life. I have given\r\nto Katyayani her share of my possessions. This is your\r\nshare.&quot; But Maitreyee answered: &quot;Wherever you go, I\r\nwill follow you, I will also give up the world and its life.&quot;\r\nYajnavalkya said: &quot;No, Maitreyee, it is a very hard, very\r\ndifficult life, particularly for a woman. Follow the life to\r\nwhich you have been accustomed. Enjoy freely the possessions I leave you.&quot; Then Maitreyee uttered those famous\r\nwords which you must have heard and which have been\r\nringing through the centuries down to us also, even today:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;All these possessions, will they give me immortality?&quot;\r\nYajnavalkya answered: &quot;No, Maitreyee, that they will\r\nnot give you, it is quite another matter.&quot; Maitreyee\r\nanswered — uttering a <i>mantra</i> as it were — &quot;What am\r\nI to do with that which does not give me immortality?&quot; So\r\nYajnavalkya had to accept her and allow her to accompany\r\nhim. Now Yajnavalkya gives his first lesson of spiritual\r\nlife to Maitreyee: &quot;Maitreyee, you love me, so you are\r\ncoming with me. But do you know the real truth of the\r\nmatter? The real truth is that you do not love me, but\r\nyou love the soul that is in you, which is also in me: you\r\nlove your own self in me. Therefore you love me. And I\r\nlove you, I love you not for your sake but for the sake of\r\nthe self in you which is the self in me. All love is like that.\r\nA husband loves his wife, the wife loves her husband, the\r\nbrother loves his brother or sister, a sister loves her sister</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 29</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">or brother, it is not for the sake of the person or the relation but for the sake of the self— one\'s own self which is\r\nin everybody. That is the first lesson which you have to\r\nlearn. Forget the outer person, your own person or\r\nanother\'s person, find the self that is in you and everybody\r\nelse. That is the basis of the spiritual life.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I told you there were four stages of life for an individual\r\nin the ancient Indian society. You complete one stage and\r\nthen proceed to the next, and then to the next and so on.\r\nBut they also say that you need not go through the stages\r\ngradually, step by step in this way, you can skip one or\r\ntwo stages in your stride if you have the capacity to do so;</font>\r\n\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">if you want the spiritual life when you are young, even\r\nwhen you have not gone through the worldly life, even\r\nthen you can jump over, take a leap into the life of the\r\n<i>sannya&#61464;sin.</i> It is said the day you feel detached from your\r\nworldly home, then forthwith you may take to the life of\r\nthe ascetic. It depends upon the urge in you, the insistence of the truth in you. A large freedom was given to all\r\nwho really wanted a spiritual life.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px; line-height:150%\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I have said that Yajnavalkya had two wives. You did \r\nnot ask me why: for to us moderns such a thing is not only immoral but \r\ninconvenient; it is however another story, a long story. In those days, those \r\nfar-off early days of mankind, thousands and thousands, millions \r\nperhaps, of years ago, it was the law, the social custom and it became a duty, \r\nto have more than one wife and the relation too between man and woman was much \r\nfreer and more</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 30</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">loose. That was because, as you know, man started his\r\nearthly life at a certain stage of creation; before that stage\r\nthere was no man, there were only animals. The earth was\r\nfilled with animals, only animals, wild animals, ferocious\r\nanimals, insects, worms, all kinds of ugly and dangerous\r\ncreatures. Man came long, long after; he is almost a\r\nrecent appearance. It was a mysterious, indeed a miraculous happening, how all of a sudden, out of or in the midst\r\nof animals there appeared a new creature, quite a different\r\ntype of animal. Still in whatever way it happened, they\r\nwere not many in number. The first creation of man must\r\nhave been a very limited operation, limited in space, limited\r\nin number. Perhaps they sprouted up like mushrooms\r\nhere and there, a hundred here, another hundred there, or\r\nperhaps a few thousands — few and far between. So man\r\nled a dangerous and precarious life. All around him these\r\nanimals, some too big, some too small to be tackled withstood against him, and Nature also was as wild and as\r\nmuch against him. So for self-preservation and survival\r\nthey needed to be numerous, to increase in number as\r\nmuch as possible. It is exactly what is needed in war; the\r\nlarger the number of troops, the greater the chance of\r\nwinning the war. So the impulse in man, in the social\r\naggregate was to have more men, increase the number, to\r\nstrengthen the extent and volume of the force to be able\r\nto fight successfully against the enemy. So a necessity\r\nbecame a religious duty to multiply, to procreate and redouble the race. In later days, even when the necessity</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 31</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">was not so imperative, even then the habit and custom\r\ncontinued. To beget children was a praise-worthy thing,\r\nthe more the number the greater the merit. Women who\r\nhad numerous children were considered favourites of the\r\ngods. King Dasharatha had, it appears, a thousand wives,\r\nKing Dhritarashtra had more than a hundred, Vashishtha\r\nhad a hundred sons and King Sagar a thousand. Draupadi</font>&nbsp;\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">had five husbands and she was considered the ideal chaste\r\nwoman.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In the modern age we have gone to the other extreme,\r\nwe have tided over the danger of under-population. At the\r\npresent day it is over-population that threatens the existence of mankind. Now we are anxious, we are racking our\r\nbrains, trying to find out all kinds of means and ways to\r\nrestrict and control any increase in population.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I said, in the early days the need to marry in any way\r\n— a very free choice was given in the matter of the way of\r\nmarriage — and to procreate was a social duty: but note\r\nit is not for individual pleasure. Today we have discarded\r\nall notion of that kind of action as superstition, a form of\r\ntyranny. We are for freedom of the individual. Whatever\r\nwe do we must do for our personal gain, our personal\r\npleasure. But in those days that was not the ideal nor the\r\ncustom. Even when you marry, you marry not for the sake\r\nof personal enjoyment but for the sake of the society, to\r\ngive birth to healthy and useful children, to increase\r\nthe number of able-bodied members of your society.\r\nService for society, not personal pleasure was the aim.</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 32</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Yajnavalkya lifted that ideal on to a still higher level — you\r\nexist not for your own sake of course — own means the\r\npersonal ego individual — but for the sake of your soul,\r\nthe greater self.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In this connection I am reminded of what Sri Aurobindo\r\nsaid when he was taking leave of his students at Calcutta\r\nin his farewell address before starting his public political\r\nactivity: he said, &quot;When I come back to you again, I hope\r\nto see some of you become great, great not for your own\r\nsake but for your country, to make your country great. I\r\nhope to see some of you become rich, rich not for yourself\r\nbut to make your country rich&quot;: that is the ideal ideal, not\r\nindividual satisfaction, exclusively personal accomplishment or achievement, one must work in view of the\r\nwelfare of all, a global well-being. The goal is not one\'s\r\nown little self, but the Great Self in all. This is of course,\r\nin the secular way in the secular field. But here also the\r\nappeal, it must be observed, is not to the social life as a\r\nmere machine of which individuals are dead helpless\r\nparts and units meant to serve as obedient instruments in\r\nthe production of useful goods. The appeal on the contrary is to the soul, the free inner individual, choosing its\r\ndestiny but with a view to collaborating and uniting with\r\nothers in the realisation of a global truth.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In the spiritual sphere also Sri Aurobindo gives us the\r\nsame ideal and outlook. In the early days spiritual realisation was sought for personal salvation, a complete renunciation of the world, absolute freedom from this transient</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 33</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">unhappy world—<i>anityam asukham lokam imam.</i> The\r\nindividual person leaves his individual existence upon\r\nearth and retires and merges into the Infinite Brahman.\r\nBut here in Sri Aurobindo\'s Revelation we are taught that\r\nthe individual realisation and spiritual attainment is not\r\nto dissolve oneself into the nameless formless Beyond but\r\nto maintain it, preserve it in a pure divine form, for the\r\nsake of the sorrowful ignorant world. The knowledge, the\r\npower, the delight that the individual gains — not as\r\nsomething merely individual but as the result of one\'s\r\nidentity with the universal — are at the service of earth and\r\nhumanity so that these may be transformed and share in\r\nthe same realisation. One becomes spiritually free and\r\nComplete and enters into all so that all may be transformed\r\ninto a new divine reality.</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 3</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"right\"><a href=\"-00_Contents\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none; font-weight:700\"><font size=\"2\">HOME</font></span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</body></html>','-05_MORE OF YAJNAVALKYA','','publish','closed','open','','05_more-of-yajnavalkya','','','2021-11-23 08:51:39','2021-11-23 08:51:39','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/05_more-of-yajnavalkya/',0,'post','',0),(1232,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN\">\r\n<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<title>six talks.htm</title>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html;charset=windows-1252\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><b>SIX TALKS</b></p>\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\"><b>CONTENTS</b></p>\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;</p>\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"40%\" cellpadding=\"6\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td width=\"15%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n			<td width=\"25%\">\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"six-talks-01_Pre-contents\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none\">\r\nPre-content</span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td width=\"15%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n			<td width=\"25%\">\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-02_TO-READ-SRI-AUROBINDO\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none\">To Read Sri Aurobindo</span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td width=\"15%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n			<td width=\"25%\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-03_OCCULT-EXPERIENCES\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none\">Occult Experiences</span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td width=\"15%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n			<td width=\"25%\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-04_JANAKA-AND-YAJNAVALKYA\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none\">Janaka And Yajnavalkya</span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td width=\"15%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n			<td width=\"25%\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-05_MORE-OF-YAJNAVALKYA\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none\">More of Yajnavalkya</span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td width=\"15%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n			<td width=\"25%\">\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-06_THE-GOLDEN-RULE\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none\">The Golden Rule</span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td width=\"15%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n			<td width=\"25%\">\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<a href=\"-07_LIBERTY-AND-SELF-CONTROL\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none\">Liberty And Self-Control</span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;</p>\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n','six-talks-00_Contents','','publish','closed','open','','six-talks-00_contents','','','2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/six-talks-00_contents/',0,'post','',0),(1233,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN\">\r\n<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<title>six talks.htm</title>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html;charset=windows-1252\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"80%\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td>\r\n\r\n<p align=\"center\">\r\n<img border=\"0\" src=\"/Nolini/Six Talks/_images/Bgn%201.jpg\" width=\"430\" height=\"571\"></p>\r\n<hr>\r\n<p align=\"center\">\r\n<img border=\"0\" src=\"/Nolini/Six Talks/_images/Bgn%202.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"588\"></p>\r\n<hr>\r\n<p align=\"center\">\r\n<img border=\"0\" src=\"/Nolini/Six Talks/_images/Bgn%203.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"504\"></p>\r\n<hr>\r\n<p align=\"right\"><a href=\"-00_Contents\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none; font-weight:700\"><font size=\"2\">HOME</font></span></a></p>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</body>\r\n</html>','six-talks-01_Pre-Contents','','publish','closed','open','','six-talks-01_pre-contents','','','2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/six-talks-01_pre-contents/',0,'post','',0),(1234,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','<html>\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1252\">\r\n<title>V</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td><p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"4\">V</font></p>\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"4\">THE GOLDEN RULE</font></p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Today I shall speak to you of the golden rule. When we\r\nwere children we were taught, specially at school, at home\r\ntoo, certain golden rules. If you observe these rules you\r\nbecome good, good boys and good girls, you are loved\r\nand appreciated by all. These rules are simple and very\r\ncommon-place, you know them all and must have tried\r\nthem. For example such things as &quot;speak the truth, do\r\nnot tell a lie, obey your parents, respect your teachers, do\r\nnot hurt anybody&quot; etc. etc. That was the basis on which\r\none was to build one\'s character, mould one\'s nature,\r\nprepare for a pure stainless noble life.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">They are good, these rules, so far as they go: but to\r\nsay the truth, they do not go very far. They do not touch\r\nyou intimately. They enter, as it is said, your head through\r\none ear and pass out through the other. They do not\r\nquicken your heart and involve your soul. You follow if\r\nyou are very earnest one rule or another for a few days and\r\nthen you forget.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The other day I spoke to you of Yajnavalkya; he gave\r\na better rule that was nearer to the golden rule. What he\r\nsaid in effect was that instead of following these outward\r\nrules or formulas you must leave them aside, go within\r\nyourself and find your self. Yajnavalkya said: you love</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 35</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">your neighbour, not because he is your neighbour<b> \r\n</b>or<b> \r\n</b>brother, but because you find yourself in him. Find the\r\nSelf, that is the golden rule. Find the Self that is in you,\r\nyou will find that very Self in your neighbour, in all.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Here however you must take care not to \r\nconfuse yourself with your Self. When it is said that you find your\r\nSelf it is not your personal self that you find in another as if\r\nyou grasp it as your own, exclusively your own possession.\r\nThis Self is not the ego, it is beyond ego, it is not the kind\r\nof self-hood that Shakespeare depicts in King Richard\r\nwhere the King, deprived of everything, left all alone in\r\nthe whole world, exclaims: &quot;Richard loves Richard,\r\nthat is, I am I&quot;; for it is not a separative I-ness; the other I\'s are dissolved as well as the one I that I am, and all\r\nbecome one person or self. It is all one self, one soul\r\nalthough they may appear different, as different I\'s.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Here I will tell you a story narrated to our children.\r\nThere used to be every evening a meeting where seekers\r\nand enquirers after the spiritual life assembled and conversed or meditated on the subject. There used also to\r\ncome to that meeting a remarkable woman who had\r\ntrue realisations and was ready to help others on the\r\npath. Once the talk turned on souls and their re-birth\r\nand she was telling how after the death of the body souls\r\npass out into another world, and when the time comes\r\neach one returns to the earth and takes a human\r\nbody. Now there was one in the audience who felt a\r\nlittle puzzled about this matter of birth and wanted</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 36</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">clarification. She put a question: (it was a she): &quot;You\r\nsay that souls come down and take birth, that is to\r\nsay, assume a human body. But people are increasing\r\nin number upon earth, every year the human population\r\nbecoming larger and larger. Now the question is: the additional number of people born every year, where were they\r\nbefore? Were they there all along since the creation,\r\nwaiting? Do they appear gradually as time passes and\r\nbide their hour?&quot; We in the modern age may suggest an\r\nanalogy. Is it like the stars or galaxies that are gradually\r\ncoming into our ken, phenomenally distant stars whose\r\nlights are taking time to reach the present day earth? The\r\nquestioner asked: &quot;Is there a fixed number of souls, can\r\nthey be counted?&quot; The speaker answered, &quot;Yes, they are\r\nlimited and they can be counted.&quot; With great curiosity\r\nand eagerness the questioner asked: &quot;How many? how\r\nmany?&quot; Quietly the one who was speaking extended her\r\nhand and put out one single index-finger, and said: &quot;Only\r\none.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">So, that is the truth. All these many bodies, many\r\npersons you see, it is only appearance, there is only one\r\nSoul and every one is that. If you realise this truth, you\r\ncan love every one equally, not merely love but be one\r\nwith all, because you are all and all are you. That universal Self, your own true Self you have to find, you have to\r\nknow, you have to become. That is the golden rule as the\r\nideal.                     </font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">How to attain, how to realise it?</font>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 37</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The Mother in this matter has given us a golden rule,\r\na truly golden rule and very simple. Generally we are\r\nconfused as to our duty — what to do, what not to do, how\r\nto do, how not to do. The Mother says to her children:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Do not do what you will hesitate to do or be ashamed of\r\ndoing in my presence. Do not say anything which you\r\nwill hesitate to say or be ashamed of saying in my presence.\r\nDo not think even what you will find it awkward to think\r\nin my presence.&quot; Well, try this way and you will find what\r\na golden rule and a simple rule it is. Sri Aurobindo confirmed and said the same thing. He says — you all know\r\nthe well-known phrase — &quot;Always behave as if the Mother\r\nwas looking at you; because she is, indeed, always present.&quot; You need not imagine that she is there, for she is\r\nactually always there whether you imagine or not; you do\r\nnot know, for you are blind but she is always there, seeing\r\nyou, observing you, guiding you, protecting you. She not\r\nonly sees what you do, but even what you feel inside you,\r\neven your most secret thoughts. A child asked the Mother\r\nin his simplicity: &quot;How do you know. Mother, what we\r\ndo, what we think, what we feel, how do you know it?&quot;\r\nThe Mother smiled and answered, &quot;My child, because\r\nyou are within me, within my embrace always. Therefore\r\nI know. I know what is happening in me, isn\'t it? That\r\nis why I see what is happening in you. You are not\r\noutside me, you are part of myself, I am you.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Now if you follow this simple rule sincerely and persistently you will see the change miraculously happening<b> </b>in</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 38</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">you, you will become the golden child of the golden\r\nMother. You will find your thoughts, your words, your\r\nfeelings, your impulses putting on a new colour, even your\r\nbody will take a new glow of health and beauty. Normally\r\nour brain is made of mud, our thoughts are unclean — we\r\nhave wrong thoughts, dark thoughts, our tongue also is\r\nmade of mud or clay, we speak wrong things, impure\r\nthings, our heart too is made of the same substance, giving\r\nout wrong feelings and unclean feelings; lower down in\r\nour nature in the vital region our impulses are also wrong\r\nand muddy and unclean, finally, the body is mud itself,\r\nit is made of diseases and weaknesses and incapacities.\r\nWe are, as it were, a container containing this ugly and\r\nunclean mixture. What we have to do is to pour into it\r\nthe golden liquid, molten gold that will wash away all that\r\nimpurity and filth, clean the vessel and fill it with its own\r\nradiant substance, the molten gold which is the Mother\'s\r\npresence.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">This process has been beautifully described by Sri\r\nAurobindo in one<b> </b> of his poems. I conclude by reading\r\nout those magnificent lines:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<b>\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"2\">THE GOLDEN LIGHT</font><font size=\"2\">\r\n</font></b>\r\n			<div align=\"center\">\r\n				<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n					<tr>\r\n						<td width=\"30%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n						<td width=\"70%\">\r\n						<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"left\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Thy golden Light came down into my brain</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:20px; \" align=\"left\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And the grey rooms of mind sun-touched became</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"left\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;A bright reply to wisdom\'s occult plane,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:15px; \" align=\"left\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">A calm illumination and a flame.</font>\r\n\r\n						</td>\r\n					</tr>\r\n				</table>\r\n			</div>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;</font><font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 39</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<div align=\"center\">\r\n				<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n					<tr>\r\n						<td width=\"30%\">&nbsp;</td>\r\n						<td width=\"70%\">\r\n						<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"left\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Thy golden Light came down into my throat,</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:15px; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And all my speech is now a tune divine,\r\n</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">A paean-song of thee my single note;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:15px; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">My words are drunk with the Immortal\'s wine.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:15px; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Thy golden Light came down into my heart</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:15px; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Smiting my life with Thy eternity,</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;Now has it grown a temple where Thou art</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And all its passions point towards only Thee.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Thy golden Light came down into my feet</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; \" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;My earth is now thy playfield and thy seat.</font>\r\n						</td>\r\n					</tr>\r\n				</table>\r\n			</div>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 40</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"right\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\"><b>&nbsp;</b></font><a href=\"-00_Contents\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none; font-weight:700\"><font size=\"2\">HOME</font></span></a></td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</body></html>','-06_THE GOLDEN RULE','','publish','closed','open','','06_the-golden-rule','','','2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/06_the-golden-rule/',0,'post','',0),(1235,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2 Final//EN\">\r\n<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<title>six talks.htm</title>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html;charset=windows-1252\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<b><font face=\"Times New Roman\">I</font></b><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<b><font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;TO READ SRI AUROBINDO</font>\r\n</b>\r\n<p align=\"center\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">&nbsp;</p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I learned that you want to know something about Sri \r\nAurobindo and the Mother from me. But then there are three lines of approach: \r\nyou may want to know <i>about </i>them, know <i>of</i> them or know them. Of \r\ncourse the last is the best. Indeed if you want to know truly something you have \r\nto become it. Becoming gives the real knowledge. But becoming Sri Aurobindo and \r\nthe Mother means what? Becoming a portion of them, a part and parcel of their \r\nconsciousness — that is what we are here for. And if you can do that, you know \r\nenough....</font> </p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Once I told you, I think, how to study or approach \r\nSri Aurobindo and the Mother in order to read them or understand their writings. \r\nThere are two things: studying and reading; I made a distinction between the \r\ntwo. To study Sri Aurobindo is — I won\'t say fruitless, that is too strong a \r\nword, but it can only be an aid or a supplementary way. Study means: you take \r\nthe text, you understand mentally each word and phrase, if you don\'t understand, \r\nyou take a dictionary and try to catch the external meaning expressed by the \r\nwords. That may be necessary but it is not the way to approach their works.</font>\r\n</p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\" style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Simply to read them in the right way is sufficient. \r\nRead, it does not matter what you understand and what</font> </p>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"2\">page-1</font><hr>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">you do not, simply read and wait in an expectant silence.\r\nIn studying you approach them with your external mind,\r\nyour external intelligence. But what is there in the text is\r\nbeyond your mind, beyond your intelligence. And to\r\nunderstand mentally means you drive your intellect forward into the thing. It is an effort and takes you only\r\nto the outside of the thing. It is an exercise of your brain,\r\ndeveloped in that way, but it doesn\'t take you very far.\r\nInstead of that, suppose you could keep quiet, silence\r\nyour mind, and only read, without unduly trying to understand, and wait for what is there in the text to enter\r\ninto you. Instead of your intelligence driving forward,\r\npushing forward and trying to catch the thing, let the\r\nthing come into you, for what is there in their writings is\r\nnot words and phrases, dead material, it is something very\r\nliving, something conscious, that they have expressed in\r\nthe words, phrases and the sound and rhythm. And I\r\nmay tell you that each sentence anywhere, not to speak of\r\n<i>Savitri,</i> is a living being with whom you have to make\r\nacquaintance — not that you understand or are able to\r\nexplain, but it is a living being, an entity, a friend, even a\r\nLover whom you have to know. And your attempt in\r\nthat way will be rewarded. You will enjoy much more.\r\nYou may ask: &quot;Just because I open a book and read, how\r\ncan what are in the lines come to me?&quot; But I say they are\r\nliving entities — if you approach in the right spirit, they\r\ncome into you. The consciousness, the being in each line\r\ncomes to you. And you find how beautiful it is. This is</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 2</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">an approach of love, not of the intellect to understand and\r\nexplain. Take for example, the very first verse of <i>Savitri:</i></font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;It was the hour before the Gods awake.&quot;   </font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">It is a Mantra, a living person, how beautiful it is, you\r\nneedn\'t understand much — and a whole world is there.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Or, take the opening sentence of <i>The Life Divine —</i> the\r\nrolling cadence of the vast ocean is there. It brings you\r\na sense of vastness, a sense of Infinity and takes you there.\r\nAnd, as I said, it is a very living entity and personality.</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Here is the whole passage:</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;The earliest preoccupation of man in his awakened\r\nthoughts and, as it seems, his inevitable and ultimate\r\npreoccupation, — for it survives the longest periods of\r\nscepticism and returns after every banishment, — is also\r\nthe highest which his thought can envisage. It manifests\r\nitself in the divination of Godhead, the impulse towards\r\nperfection, the search after pure Truth and unmixed Bliss,\r\nthe sense of a secret immortality. The ancient dawns of human knowledge have \r\nleft us their witness to this constant aspiration; today we see a humanity satiated but not\r\nsatisfied by victorious analysis of the externalities of\r\nNature preparing to return to its primeval longings.\r\nThe earliest formula of Wisdom promises to be its last, — God, Light, Freedom, Immortality.&quot;</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n&nbsp;<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 3</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">There is indeed a personality behind it and you have to\r\nmake acquaintance with that personality. That is what I\r\nmeant when I said: become it, by an approach through love, an approach through your soul. Even in studies\r\nyou shouldn\'t approach with the mere intellect, mere\r\nmental understanding; however fine an understanding or\r\nintellect you may have, it won\'t lead you very far. Only\r\nthrough your soul you can go far. Even intellectual things\r\ncan be approached through your soul — because the soul\r\nis the very essence of all your faculties and being. The\r\nsoul is not mere consciousness, mere being, it gathers in\r\nall the elements of your personality. The seeds of your\r\nmind, your vital, even of the physical personality, the true\r\nphysical personality, are there in your soul, and you can\r\nestablish a true relation with things and persons through\r\nthat part of your being — your soul. And remember the soul is not very far from you because you are\r\nthat—rather your mind, your vital, your physical are\r\naway from you; they are not your true personality. It\r\nis your soul that is nearest to you.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In this connection you may remember what the Mother\r\nhas said more than once: what is one here for? What are\r\nthe children here for? And what is she giving here in the\r\nschool, in the playground, in all the activities? It is not\r\nsimple efficiency in the outer activities that is given\r\nhere, or meant to be given here. For such things\r\none can get outside in a more successful way — external\r\nefficiency of your intellect, of your mind, of your vital</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 4</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">capacity and your physical strength—the Russian or\r\nthe German type. Our records don\'t match theirs, do\r\nthey? But we don\'t aspire for those records. For, as the\r\nMother has said: &quot;I am giving here something which you\r\nwon\'t get anywhere else in the world — nowhere except\r\nhere.&quot; In your external expression you may cut a very\r\npoor figure: low marks — but that is not the sign of the\r\nTruth that we acquire here. You acquire it even without\r\nyour knowing it. When you are in the swimming pool\r\nyou are soaked all through, aren\'t you? You can\'t help it;</font>\r\n\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">so here also; even without your knowing it you are soaked\r\nwith the inner consciousness of your soul. It is a very\r\nprecious thing — I should say, the only precious thing in\r\nthe world. And through that, if you study, you learn — if\r\nyou approach that way, you will get another taste, another\r\ninterest in things.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">When I was reading with Sri Aurobindo, he didn\'t lay\r\nmuch stress upon the grammar or the language — just the\r\nmost elementary grammar that was necessary. He used\r\nto put me in contact with the life, the living personality\r\nof the poet — what he was, what he represented in his consciousness. That was the central theme, because a truly\r\ngreat poet means a status of consciousness; in order to\r\nunderstand his consciousness you must become identified\r\nwith his being.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Amrita also used to say the same thing, because he\r\nwas learning the Gita from Sri Aurobindo. He could feel\r\nthe spirit of Krishna and the spirit of Arjuna throughout</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 5</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">—their relations and the atmosphere they created. It is\r\nnot the mere lesson, the teaching, that is important — that\r\nis secondary. The person is the primary thing. And the\r\nperson in the book or outside, you can approach only\r\nthrough your soul, through love. The soul alone can\r\nlove.</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I think I told you that once somebody asked me:</font>\r\n\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;You speak of the soul but where is it?&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I said: &quot;It is very near you; still you don\'t believe.\r\nIf you see into yourself quietly, you will find that there\r\nare very many good things in you, not only bad things —\r\nbits perhaps, shades or shadows perhaps, but you know\r\nthis is a good thought in you, this is a noble impulse, a\r\nsweet feeling. Each one has all these things, you have\r\nonly to recognise them. All this is the expression of the\r\nsoul in you. The beautiful, the luminous, the noble things\r\nthat appear to you, in your consciousness, from time to\r\ntime, all come from your soul.&quot; Even the greatest villain\r\nhas such moments. You remember Lady Macbeth —\r\nknown as the cruellest woman, well, she said about Duncan,\r\n&quot;I would have killed him myself but he looked like my\r\nfather&quot; — well, that is the feeling even she had. So let us\r\nnot despair, even the weakest among us should not\r\ndespair. First of all, each one has a soul, and secondly, we\r\nhave the luminously strong support of the Mother. It is\r\nthe nature of the Divine that even if you don\'t think of\r\nHim He thinks of you. It is true, very true; because you\r\nare part of the Divine. Only you have to concentrate</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 6</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">consciously<b> </b> on that part, that portion; then gradually it\r\nwill increase.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\"><i>Question: What is the distinction you make between &quot;to\r\nknow about Sri Aurobindo and the Mother,&quot; and &quot;to know\r\nof them&quot; ?</i> </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">ANSWER: &quot;About&quot; means what a man does, what his\r\nprofession is, his occupation — <i>kim&#257;sita vrajeta kim</i> and&nbsp; &quot;of &quot;&nbsp; means his personality, his character, nature. </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 7</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"right\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\"><b>&nbsp;</b></font><a href=\"-00_Contents\"><span style=\"text-decoration: none; font-weight:700\"><font size=\"2\">HOME</font></span></a>\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n</body>\r\n</html>','-02_TO READ SRI AUROBINDO','','publish','closed','open','','02_to-read-sri-aurobindo','','','2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/02_to-read-sri-aurobindo/',0,'post','',0),(1236,1,'2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','<html>\r\n\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1252\">\r\n<title>VI</title>\r\n</head>\r\n\r\n<body>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\">\r\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\r\n		<tr>\r\n			<td><p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\nVI<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p align=center style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"4\">LIBERTY</font><font size=\"4\"> AND \r\nSELF-CONTROL</font><p align=justify style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">We are a larger assembly here today — we have increased\r\nin number.... Now, we all want to be good boys and good\r\ngirls, is it not? Nobody wants to be a bad boy or a bad\r\ngirl; but the problem is how to be a good boy or girl and\r\nhow not to be a bad boy or girl. In what does goodness\r\nconsist? You all know the fine gesture that Mother taught\r\nus once. Gesture means a physical movement — here a physical movement to control \r\nyourself; control, self-control is a very important, a very necessary item of our\r\nlife. So the Mother once said: supposing you are very\r\nangry and you are inclined to give a blow to your comrade,\r\nthen, the Mother\'s advice is, instead of stretching your\r\nhand towards your friend to give him a blow, put it in\r\nyour pocket; that is a fine gesture and it brings you a fine result: you feel a \r\nkind of release, a joy and peace, something new and fresh comes into you. Your anger is gone,\r\nyou are almost a new person. That is the lesson Mother\r\ntaught us in the matter of controlling ourselves. Usually\r\nwe are moved by our impulses and passions particularly\r\ntowards wrong things, then what you need is to check\r\nyourself, to control yourself. You must note that this\r\ncontrol you are taught is self-control, that is to say, it is a\r\nthing not forced upon you, you are not compelled to do it.</font><p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 41</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">You do it because of your own will, because you like to do\r\nit, because it is a fine gesture that attracts you. Usually\r\nthe control is imposed upon you, out of fear of punishment,\r\nbecause of inconvenient or unpleasant results that might\r\nfollow your loss of control. So instead of an outsider\r\nruling you, you rule yourself voluntarily. The Mother\r\nadds also, illustrating the point: to train, that is to say, to\r\ncontrol a wild horse what you do is to put a bridle in its\r\nmouth and hold it and check it. That is good for an animal who does not know what he is; for a man, he can do\r\nbetter: he can put the bridle himself in his own mouth,\r\nthat is what controlling oneself is. It means as a human\r\nbeing you have been given freedom; it is given so that you\r\nmay choose yourself what is to be done and what is not to\r\nbe done. Instead of being forced to do the right thing you\r\nare given the alternatives either to do the right or do the\r\nwrong, to choose between the two and choose the right\r\nthing of your free will.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Here in the Ashram, the Mother has said very many\r\ntimes, you have been given almost infinite freedom.\r\nThere are of course certain rules and regulations; naturally when you live in society and have common\r\nwork to do, there must be some rules and regulations.\r\nBut the beauty here is that even if you break a role,\r\neven a very important rule, you are not punished.\r\nIn other words, the choice is left to you, you have\r\nbroken the rule, you yourself find that you have\r\nbroken the rule and then you try and rectify yourself, do</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 42</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">the right thing. That is the true function of freedom — it\r\nis not freedom to do anything you like but to discipline\r\nyourself, to follow the right of one\'s own free will. A\r\ndiscipline here is not inflicted upon you, you are not\r\nordered to do one thing and not to do another under pain\r\nof punishment, but you find the truth by yourself and for\r\nyourself and you do it yourself, and you have the joy,\r\nthe pleasure of doing the right thing and the happiness\r\nof growing, maturing in your consciousness. You have infinite freedom here so \r\nthat you may grow in your consciousness infinitely.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I was speaking of self-control, self-discipline in your\r\ninner being, that is to say, with regard to your desires and\r\nimpulses and feelings. It is however the same discipline\r\nas you follow with regard to your body in the playground.\r\nPhysical education means nothing else than controlling\r\nand disciplining the body. You control and discipline the body through physical \r\nexercises and these mean controlled and guided movements. You have to make these\r\nmovements in a regular, persistent, ordered and a neat\r\nway, it is the way to make your body strong and beautiful.\r\nAs by means of this physical discipline you secure a strong\r\nand beautiful body, even so by the inner discipline, by\r\ncontrolling your passions and impulsions you build an\r\ninner body strong and beautiful. Yes, even like a physical body you have a subtle body, a body as it were\r\nwithin this material frame. It is not, however, for that\r\nreason, something vague and imprecise, on the contrary, </font>&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 43</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">it is very concrete and has a definite shape. As I said, by\r\ncontrolled and directed movements you make this outer\r\nbody strong and beautiful, the inner body also in the same\r\nway through controlled and directed inner movements\r\ncan be made strong and beautiful. In properly doing the\r\nphysical exercises, you know, two things are needed: first\r\nof all, doing the physical movements according to the\r\nrules, in other words, exercising the muscles in a given\r\nmanner, and then along with it relaxation. Relaxation and\r\nexercise should alternate. Relaxation restores the muscles,\r\nbrings repose to the system and serves as a kind of basic\r\nsupport. In the field of the inner discipline, this relaxation\r\ncorresponds to what I have called freedom. And the\r\nmuscular exercises correspond to the exercise of your will\r\nand consciousness in regard to the inner body.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">The building up of the inner beautiful body has a great\r\ninfluence upon the building of the physical body, it adds\r\nsomething, it gives a feeling of inherent capacity, firmness\r\nand charm even to the physical frame.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Many find it difficult at the outset to make the right\r\nmovement even in the matter of physical exercises. What\r\nis needed is will and persistence. More difficult, much\r\nmore difficult it is to make the right inner movement, there\r\nalso what is needed is will and persistence. Sometimes in\r\nthe matter of inner discipline which means doing the right\r\nthing, you say, &quot;If I know the right thing to do, then I can\r\ndo it, to do the right thing I must know the right thing.\r\nIf I do not know the right thing, how can I do it?&quot; In</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 44</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">the same way many exclaim: &quot;How to find God, how to\r\nsee God? I do not know what God is. Then how can I\r\ntry to find Him?&quot; They say: &quot;First you must see God,\r\nthen you can believe.&quot; In fact this is not true. The truth\r\nis the other way round. The Mother says, &quot;If you are\r\nsincere, absolutely sincere and you take the resolution that\r\nyou will do the right thing whatever happens, then surely\r\nthe right thing will reveal itself to you.&quot; But the basic\r\ncondition is that. Your resolve must be there, to do the\r\nright whenever it presents itself to you whatever the cost.\r\nIndeed you are not, a human being is not so obscure and\r\ninert as the appearance shows. There is a soul in everyone, there is a light \r\nwithin you which always points to the right.&nbsp;\r\nOnly you are absent-minded, you do not care to look\r\naround and be on the alert. If you care, truly want to\r\nsee the light, you will see it there before you. You must be\r\nready to recognise it. It all depends upon your will, your\r\ngood will, your inner sincerity. The inner sincerity will\r\nshow you your path, the next step you are to take and you\r\nwill know more and more as you advance. But if you\r\nhesitate, if you have in the background of your mind as it\r\nusually happens, the feeling that even if you see the right\r\nthing you may not do it, you may not be prepared to face\r\ntoo much difficulty or opposition in the execution. The\r\nvery wavering thought that you may not do it will obscure\r\nyour path and the light will not be there. You have to\r\nbelieve, believe blindly, for you know what you believe in\r\nis not anything wrong or mistaken, for your urge is to</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 45</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">welcome the truth, a sincere readiness to welcome the\r\ntruth when it comes, this will bring forward the truth and\r\nif you proceed, proceed in this way, welcoming the light\r\nevery time it comes, disregarding all other pulls and distractions, your welcoming becomes easier and warmer and\r\nthe light grows brighter and brighter. By your faith and trust you increase the \r\npower of your discrimination, increase the force of your character, increase the influence\r\nof a growing light upon your nature and your inner being;</font>\r\n\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">your true person in you grows in stature, grows in\r\nstrength and beauty.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">In this path there is another line for \r\ngrowth and development which is of considerable importance as you will see.\r\nYou are here — or for that matter anywhere in society —\r\nnot alone but you live together with others. You study\r\ntogether, play together, work together. You have friends,\r\ncomrades, companions, you are in a group, in a company.\r\nNow it is of great importance to have the right company,\r\nyou must have good companions, good comrades, good\r\nfriends. That will help you in ways more than one. In\r\nthis connection I can do nothing better than just to read\r\nout what the Mother says on the subject. She says: usually\r\nin your ignorance and simplicity, foolish simplicity, you\r\nchoose convenient friends, that is to say, those who praise\r\nyou, flatter you, who do not contradict you even if you go\r\nthe wrong way, even they encourage you in doing the\r\nwrong thing in order to be friendly with you. Such friends\r\nare dangerous, dangerous to yourself and dangerous to</font>\r\n			<font face=\"Times New Roman\">your so-called friends too. Here is the text of the Mother\'s\r\nwords:</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 46</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">C\'est cela qui doit etre a la base de l\'attitude que 1\'on est\r\nen droit d\'attendre d\'un veritable ami: il ne doit pas\r\nvouloir que vous lui ressembliez, mais que vous soyez,\r\nau contraire, tel que vous etes.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Et j\'avais ecrit: &quot;Notre meilleur ami est celui qui nous\r\naime dans Ie meilleur de nous-memes.&quot; D\'une facon un\r\npeu plus positive, je dirai: celui qui vous encourage a\r\ndescendre au niveau Ie plus bas de vous-meme, qui vous\r\npousse a faire des sottises avec lui, ou a devenir vicieux\r\navec lui, ou qui vous approuve dans tout ce que vous\r\navez de vilain, celui-la n\'est pas votre ami. Et pourtant,\r\ntres souvent, beaucoup trop souvent, on fait son ami de\r\ncelui avec lequel on n\'est pas gene quand on est au-dessous de soi-meme. On s\'associe avec ceux qui cou-\r\nrent au lieu d\'aller a 1\'ecole et qui vont voler des fruits\r\ndans les jardins, avec ceux qui se moquent de leurs pro-\r\nfesseurs et qui font toutes sortes de choses vilaines; c\'est\r\npourquoi j\'ai dit: &quot;Ceux-la ne sont pas vos bons amis.&quot;\r\nMais enfin, ce sont les amis les plus confortables, parce\r\nqu\'ils ne vous donnent jamais 1\'impression que vous\r\netes en faute. Tandis qu\'a celui qui viendrait vous dire:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;Dis donc, au lieu d\'aller courir, a ne rien faire, ou a\r\nfaire des betises, si tu venais en classe, tu crois que ce ne serait pas mieux?&quot;—a celui-la, generalement, on repond: &quot;Tu m\'embetes, tu n\'es pas mon ami.&quot;</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 47</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\"><b>&nbsp;</b>.... II faut considerer comme son meilleur ami celui qui\r\nse refuse a participer a une action mauvaise ou laide,\r\ncelui qui vous encourage a resister aux tentations infe-\r\nrieures; celui-la, c\'est 1\'arni.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">C\'est avec lui qu\'il faut vous associer et non avec celui\r\nqui fortifie vos mauvais penchants et participe a vos\r\nmauvaises actions.<sup><font size=\"2\">1</font></sup></font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\"><sup>1</sup><i> <font size=\"2\">Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International Centre \r\nof Education:</font></i><font size=\"2\"> Aug.\r\n1961. Pp. 38-41.</font></font><font size=\"2\"> </font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;That should be the basis of the attitude which one has the right to\r\nexpect from a true friend: he must not wish that you should be like\r\nhim, but that you should be, on the contrary, what you are.</font><font size=\"2\">\r\n</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\">And I wrote, &quot;Our best friend is he who loves us in our best part.&quot;\r\nIn a more positive way, I would say: he who encourages you to descend\r\nto the lowest level in you, who drives you to do stupid things with him\r\nor become vicious along with him or approves all that is vile in you is\r\nnot your friend. And yet, very often, much too often, you make a\r\nfriend of him with whom you do not feel uneasy when you are below\r\nyour own self. You associate with those who run about instead of\r\ngoing to school, who would steal fruits from gardens, those who poke\r\nfun at their teachers and who do all sorts of nasty things. That is why\r\nI said, &quot;Such people are not your good friends&quot;. But they are the\r\nfriends who are very comfortable, because they never give you the\r\nimpression that you are in the wrong. Whereas if one comes and tells\r\nyou, &quot;I say, instead of roaming about doing nothing or doing stupid\r\nthings, why not go to your class, don\'t you think it would be better ?&quot;\r\nTo such a person you would generally reply, &quot;you are troublesome,\r\nyou are not my friend.&quot;</font><font size=\"2\"> </font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\">... One should regard him only as his best friend who refuses to take\r\npart in a bad or ugly act, who encourages you to resist all lower temptations. He is indeed your friend.</font><font size=\"2\">\r\n</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\">It is with him that you should associate and not with one who strenthens your bad propensities and takes part in your bad actions.&quot;</font><font size=\"2\">\r\n</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 48</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">And the Mother adds :</font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">Au fond, on ne devrait prendre pour amis que des gens\r\nplus sages que soi-meme, des gens dont la compagnie\r\nvous ennoblit et vous aide a vous surmonter, a progresser, a agir mieux et a voir plus clair. Et finalement. Ie\r\nmeilleur ami que 1\'on puisse avoir, n\'est-ce point Ie\r\nDivin? Ie Divin a qui 1\'on peut tout dire, tout reveler,\r\nparce que c\'est la qu\'est la source de toute misericorde,\r\nde tout pouvoir d\'effacer 1\'erreur quand elle ne se reproduit plus, qui peut ouvrir la route vers la realisation\r\nveritable; Ie Divin qui peut tout comprendre, tout guerir, qui vous aide sur Ie chemin a ne pas faiblir, ne pas\r\nbroncher, ne pas tomber et qui vous mene tout droit au\r\nbut. C\'est Lui, 1\'ami vrai, 1\'ami des bons et des mauvais\r\njours, celui qui ne fait jamais defaut. Quand on 1\'appelle\r\nsincerement, II est toujours la pour vous guider, pour\r\nvous soutenir et pour vous aimer de la vraie facon.<sup><font size=\"2\">1</font></sup></font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font size=\"2\" face=\"Times New Roman\"><sup>1</sup> &quot;In reality, you should take as friends only those persons who are\r\nwiser than you, whose company ennobles you, helps you to transcend\r\nyourself, to progress, to act better and see clearer. And finally, the best\r\nfriend that one can have, is it not the Divine! the Divine to whom one\r\ncan say everything, disclose everything, because here is the source of\r\nall kindness, of the power that effaces every error when it is no longer\r\nrepeated, which can open the path to the true realisation; the Divine\r\nwho can understand everything, cure everything, who helps you on\r\nthe way not to waver, not to falter, not to fall down and who leads you\r\nstraight to the goal. He is the true friend, the friend in good and bad\r\ndays, who never fails you. When you call him sincerely, he is always\r\nthere to guide you, to sustain you and love you in the true way.&quot;\r\n<i>{Ibid.)</i></font><font size=\"2\"> </font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 49</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">So you see, the best friend that you can have, the Mother\r\nsays, is the Divine Himself, that is to say, the Mother\r\nHerself. You can find no other friend so friendly, so loving\r\nand so lovable. Do not think she is too great for you, she\r\nis very far and you are very small. It is not true. She can\r\nbe, she can make herself as small as yourself to be with\r\nyou: because she is you.</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I will tell you here a personal story. When we were\r\ntogether with Sri Aurobindo, long long ago, we were\r\nalmost as young as you are, not quite though, only a\r\nfew years older: we had then like you, infinite freedom, we\r\ndid almost whatever we liked, went wherever it pleased us\r\nto go, we did not care much for food or dress or luxuries\r\nbut we liked pleasant picnics, and along with that of\r\ncourse a little bit of study: but studying not any imposed\r\nlessons, studying whatever we liked, whatever we chose to\r\nread. Then one day, years after, Sri Aurobindo told us —\r\nwe were at that time only four or five in number — he told\r\nus, somewhat seriously, he was seldom serious or grave\r\nwith us, he had always his smile — &quot;You have so forgotten\r\nyourselves, you do not think even of what you have come\r\nhere for (because we had all left our family, even our\r\ncountry and all worldly considerations); to be with\r\nyou, to be one of you, I have made myself very small,\r\nI have cut myself so to say to your size to walk with\r\nyou, to be on the same level. Even then you cannot follow,\r\nI seem to be still too far from you. That won\'t do. Now\r\nyou must try to run and come up to me. I cannot make</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 50</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">myself still smaller. I have made myself sufficiently\r\nsmall.&quot;</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">I may remind you here of what Sri Krishna did in this\r\nline, something very similar. Sri Krishna, the Divine,\r\nbecame a very ordinary playmate of cowherd-boys and\r\nvillage maids and was one of them and with them, almost\r\nwith no apparent difference. The Divine not merely as\r\nthe Master, the Guru, the leader or the captain but as a\r\nloving playmate and comrade is a very extraordinary\r\nIndian conception of the Divine. Arjuna in his loving\r\ntenderness for his friend Krishna almost forgot to respect\r\nhim and honour him, he could only embrace him. But one\r\nday revelation came to him as to who his intimate friend\r\nand comrade really was: he was dumb-founded and full\r\nof contrition and repentance for his past lapses. I may tell\r\nyou Arjuna\'s state of mind in his own words — as stated\r\nin the Gita:</font>\r\n\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&quot;For whatsoever I have spoken to Thee in rash vehemence, thinking of Thee only as my human friend and\r\ncompanion, \'0 Krishna, 0 Yadava, 0 Comrade,\' not\r\nknowing this Thy greatness, in negligent error or in\r\nlove, and for whatsoever disrespect was shown by me to\r\nThee in jest, at play, on the couch and the seat and in the\r\nbanquet, alone or in Thy presence, 0 faultless One, I\r\npray forgiveness from Thee, the Immeasurable.&quot;<sup>1</sup></font>\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n&nbsp;<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\"><sup>1</sup> </font>\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=\"2\"> <i>The Gita:</i> XI. 41-2</font>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 51</font><hr align=\"justify\">\r\n\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0; text-indent:25px\" align=\"justify\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\">&nbsp;However what I wanted to say is, the Mother is truly\r\nyour mother and as truly your friend and comrade. She\r\nloves you as no one else can love. She answers to your love\r\nas no one else can. And she teaches you how to love. Even\r\nif you are full of errors and mistakes, it does not matter,\r\nshe takes you as you are, you can be quite free and open to\r\nher, she is there to understand you, to help you. She is\r\nnot there to scold you or find fault with or criticise you.\r\nIf you are not able to correct yourself, you have simply to look to her, she \r\nwill do what is needful for you. I have always spoken to you of a body beautiful, an inner body\r\nbeautiful and an outer body beautiful — any wrong\r\nthought or feeling or act leaves a stain, a scar upon your\r\ninner body, you are to see that the stain goes away and the\r\nbody resume its glow, you are not always able to do it with\r\nyour own will and effort because you do not know how to\r\ndo it, but only try not to repeat the error and take your\r\nshelter in the Mother\'s presence, in her arms. The stain\r\ndisfigures your inner beauty, you have to pray and appeal\r\nto her: with her healing touch she will remove all stain and\r\ndisfiguring mark. It is an experience that some of you must\r\nhave had in some way or other, must have felt in dream at\r\nleast, the loving embrace of the Mother. You have to live\r\nin it, live it even in your waking hours. Be sincere and ask\r\nfor it, your wish will be granted.</font>\r\n			<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"center\">\r\n<font face=\"Times New Roman\" size=2>Page- 52</font><hr>\r\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%; margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0\" align=\"right\"><a href=\"-00_Contents\">\r\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none; font-weight:700\"><font size=\"2\">HOME</font></span></a></p>\r\n\r\n			</td>\r\n		</tr>\r\n	</table>\r\n</div>\r\n\r\n</body></html>','-07_LIBERTY AND SELF-CONTROL','','publish','closed','open','','07_liberty-and-self-control','','','2021-11-23 08:51:40','2021-11-23 08:51:40','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/07_liberty-and-self-control/',0,'post','',0),(1237,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-001_Pre-Content.htm</title>\n</head>\n<table width=\"100%\"><tr><td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<i>Parables</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<i>from</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<i>the Upanishads</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<i>Nolini Kanta Gupta</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">SRINVANTU\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n63, College Street, CALCUTTA - 700 073\n</p><hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\"> Translated from the original Bengali by\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">Sanat Kumar Banerjee\n</p>\n<br>\n<br>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n15 August 1979\n</p>\n<br>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nRs. 3.00\n</p>\n<br>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&copy; Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust 1979\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nPublished by Srinvantu, 63 College Street, Calcutta-700 073 \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">Printed at Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, Pondicherry-605 002, India</p>\n<br>\n<br>\n</td></tr></table>\n','parables-from-the-upanishads-001_Pre_Content','','publish','closed','open','','parables-from-the-upanishads-001_pre_content','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/parables-from-the-upanishads-001_pre_content/',0,'post','',0),(1238,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-003_The Story of Fabala-Satyakama.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nThe Story of Fabala-Satyakama \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>\n(I)</b></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI think I told you once of the \nstory in the Upanishada bout a seeker of spiritual knowledge who had been given \nby his teacher as a first assignment the task of looking after his kine. This \nwas meant to serve both as an initiation and a training; it was to be his work \nand also his test. But the student had had to pass through another, perhaps \nsomewhat minor, ordeal of a preliminary nature. Tagore has a well-known poem \nbased on this episode. I begin my story with that narrative, giving it almost \nverbatim as it appears in the Upanishad (Chhandogya, IV.4).</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nJabala Satyakama, says the Upanishad, approached his mother, Jabala, and put to her the question, &quot;What, O my mother, is the name of my caste and family, for I desire to become a student of sacred lore?&quot; To this Jabala replied, &quot;I do not know about that, my darling, but I obtained you when I was young and was serving maid to a number of different men. That is why I do not know what is the name of your caste and family. But my name is Jabala and yours is Satyakama. So you may say that you are Satyakama, the son of Jabala.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSatyakama now went to Gautama, the son of Haridruman, and said, &quot;I come to you with the desire to stay as a student of sacred lore.&quot; Gautama asked him, &quot;What is the name of your caste and family, my child?&quot; Satyakama answered, &quot;I do not know what my caste or the name of my family is. But when I asked my mother, she said, \nI obtained\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-11</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">you when I was young and was serving maid to a number of different men. So I do not know who your father was. But my name is Jabala, and yours is Satyakama. You should therefore say you are Jabala Satyakama.\' This is the whole story.&quot; Thereupon Gautama answered, &quot;No one but a Brahmin could have spoken thus. Bring in the fuel, my dear; I shall take you as a disciple, for you have not swerved from the truth.&quot;\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>(2)</b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThus was Satyakama given admission to the Ashrama of Gautama. Now for his initiation and training and the tests. Gautama sent for him and said, &quot;Satyakama, I shall now invest you with the sacred thread.&quot; This investiture is a sacred rite which &quot;sets one on the path&quot; — what the Buddhists call in Pali &quot;sot&#257;patti&quot; <i>(srot&#257;patti </i>\nin Sanskrit), that is, &quot;getting \ninto the stream&quot; or starting on the way. He added, &quot;You bring in the fuel from \nthe neighbouring wood.\'\' Satyakama did as he was told and the ceremony of \ninitiation was duly performed.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe teacher now sent for him again and said, &quot;Satyakama, I possess some four hundred kine. But they are all puny and weak. You should look after them.&quot; This meant that he was to take them out to pasture. Satyakama replied, &quot;Very well, sir, it will be as you desire. I am leaving with the four hundred kine and I do not return till they are a thousand.&quot; Gautama sent him off with his blessings.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSatyakama went along with his herd of kine. He looked after them as they roamed over the meadows and fields, through the forests and village settlements. Months passed, and years went by — many years. The kine had by now all gained in bulk and had a well-fed look; their numbers too had reached the thousand mark. One day, all on a sudden, a Bull from out of the herd appeared before Satyakama and addressed him in the voice of a man. &quot;Satyakama!&quot;\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<br>\n</p><p class=\"pageno\">Page-12</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">he said. Satyakama took it as nothing unusual and answered in a polite tone, &quot;Yes my Lord.&quot; The Bull went on, &quot;Satyakama, now let us turn homeward. We have reached the thousand mark and all of us are fit and strong.&quot; Then the Bull added something more. &quot;Meanwhile, Satyakama,&quot; he said, &quot;let me tell you something about the knowledge of Reality, <i>brahma-vidy&#257;</i>\n- the very first lessons. Brahman \nhas to be known in his four aspects; of these I shall tell you about the first \njust now. Of this first phase or aspect there are again four limbs. North, \nsouth, east and west, these four quarters are the four limbs of the first aspect \nof Brahman out of the four. Through the four quarters Brahman appears \n· as the manifest One,\nprak&#257;&#347;av&#257;n.\nAnd he who realises this \nmanifest aspect of the Brahman becomes himself manifest and wins all the \nmanifest worlds. This is the first of the four aspects of Brahman. Now, Agni is \ngoing to tell you about the second.&quot;</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe next day, Satyakama resumed his march with the kine. As evening came, he gathered his herd together and penned the kine. Then he collected the fuel and lighted the sacrificial fire, and sat facing the east with Agni in front. Now Agni called to him, &quot;Satyakama!&quot; And Satyakama gave reply with his usual humility, &quot;Yes, my Lord?&quot; Agni continued, &quot;Let me now speak to you about the second aspect of Brahman. This too has four limbs; these are earth, mid-air, the heavens and the ocean. This second aspect of Brahman that is constituted by these four is the Infinity of Brahman. He who gains it lives in Infinity even on this earth and wins all the worlds of Infinity.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAgain the homeward march began, and again the Bull came and informed Satyakama thus, &quot;Now it will be the Swan who will come and tell you about the Brahman.&quot; When it was eventide, Satyakama gathered his herd again, penned them in, and lighted his sacrificial fire. Again he sat in front of the fire facing the east. Then the Swan appeared as promised by the Bull and called in a human voice,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-13</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;Satyakama!&quot; And Satyakama made answer, &quot;Yes, my Lord?&quot; The Swan continued, &quot;I shall speak to you about another aspect of Brahman.&quot; &quot;Tell me, my Lord.&quot; &quot;This the third aspect of Brahman consists of Fire, the Sun, the Moon and Lightning. Through this quartet of the third aspect Brahman appears as the Effulgent One. He who realises this aspect of Brahman becomes himself effulgent and wins all the worlds of effulgence even while on this earth.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSatyakama started on his march again, and once again the Bull came and informed him that this time a Flamingo would come and tell him about the fourth aspect of Brahman. As evening came, Satyakama gathered his herd together and penned them as usual. He lighted the sacrificial fire and sat in front facing the east, and waited. The Bird flew in and called, &quot;Satyakama!&quot; Satyakama replied, &quot;Yes, my Lord?&quot; The Bird went on, &quot;I shall give you the knowledge of the fourth aspect of the fourfold Brahman.&quot; Satyakama replied in all humility, &quot;Tell me, my Lord.&quot; The Bird said, &quot;The four limbs of this aspect are the Life-force, the Eyes, the Ears and Mind. These four combined make Brahman the All-Form. He who knows this becomes the All-Form and wins here itself the All-Form.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBy now Satyakama arrived at his master\'s home, accompanied by his herd of a thousand well-fed kine in place of the original four hundred weaklings. As he came to his master, Gautama gave him a look and came out with these words, &quot;Satyakama, I see your face shining with the light of Brahman. Who has given you the knowledge of the Brahman?&quot; Satyakama told him about the four strange encounters. But he added, &quot;My master, you are my sole teacher, and my knowledge will remain incomplete until I receive the knowledge directly from you.&quot; Gautama then repeated to him the same things that he had heard about the four aspects of Brahman, thus confirming what Satyakama had already experienced and realised; it was now\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-14</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">sanctified with Gautama\'s blessings.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThus did Satyakama become a knower of Brahman and foremost among Brahmins. In course of time he himself took the place of a Guru.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>(3)\n</b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI intend to tell you on another occasion the story of his dealings with his own disciples. That story too appears in the Upanishad. Let me in the meantime add some explanations of the knowledge given to Satyakama.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe knowledge and realisation that he had gained from his life of a wandering cowherd are the basic truth of the world, the supreme secret of creation. He realised that Brahman is the ultimate Truth, the one and only Reality. The signs or qualities of this ultimate Truth or Reality are four. Brahman may be described as if in a group of four aphorisms, like the first four aphorisms of the Brahmasutra, the basic compendium of Vedantic thought, which Shankara has commented on in very clear terms. If you know his commentary on these four aphorisms, you get to know practically the entire philosophy of the Vedanta as interpreted by Shankara.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe first of the aphorisms taught to Satyakama implies that Brahman has made himself manifest, for He is self-manifest. Another Upanishad has said the same thing: <i>tameva bh</i>&#257;<i>ntam anubh</i>&#257;<i>ti sarvam, </i>\n&quot;His is the Light that \nillumines all.&quot; Of this self-luminous form of Brahman or God the four limbs are \nthe four quarters. He is manifest on all sides, above and below, in every \ndirection, and he is not only thus</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nmanifest; there is also no end or limit to his manifestation. Hence, as a second \nstep in our knowledge, we learn that God or Brahman is the Infinite. This \nInfinity too has four limbs or lines: ( l) earth, or the physical and material \nextension, (2) mid-air, or the expanse of the vital worlds, (3) the vast \nexpanses of mind, and \n( 4) \nthe oceanic reaches of \nthe higher</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-15</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">worlds that stand above the mind. The third attribute or quality of God is Luminosity, He is the Bright, the Effulgent One — He is the supreme light. Of His Brightness or Effulgence the symbols are four, the four that serve as the medium or base: these are fire, the sun, the moon and the stars. Fire is enkindled on the solid earth of matter; the sun burns in the mid-regions of life; the moon illumines with its cooling rays the regions of the quiet and happy mind; and the stars give us the brilliance of the world beyond mind. It is needless to add that the Seer is not speaking here in terms of astronomy. He has been expressing his meaning through the help of significant symbols or metaphors. And finally, the Reality or God is made up of Form: that is to say, He has put Himself forth variously through a multitude of forms, <i>r&#363;pa&#7745; r&#363;pa&#7745; pratir&#363;po babh&#363;va. </i>\nAnd the functions or \ninstrumentalities through which Form has taken shape are the four main powers of \nsense-consciousness. These are: (1) the power of sensitivity, the capacity of \nliving contact and intimate or close experience, of which the sense of touch \nrepresents to us the external form or activity, for through it we get a sense of \nreality as living existence; (2) the power of vision or sight, for through the \neyes we get a sense of form and definite shape; \n(3) \nthe power of hearing, for the organ \nof hearing gives us a sense of rhythm, of sound, the form of articulate speech; \nand ( 4) \nthe power of mind which, being the \ncentre of thinking, gives us a sense of meaning, builds the forms of thought.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThese then are the four aspects of Brahman, the fourfold quartet through which we get a glimpse of the wholeness of Brahman, <i>p&#363;r&#7751;abrahman.</i></p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>(4) </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis story of Satyakama brings out a picture that tells us something about the lines or circumstances of ancient Indian education.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-16</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe know that the Upanishads are classed with the Aranyaka literature; the Brihadaranyaka is a well-known name. The forest life of the recluse was in those days intimately associated with education and learning, and especially with the spiritual disciplines. The injunction for the seeker of truth was, &quot;Repair to the forest,&quot; <i>\nvana&#7745; vrajet. </i>The seers, \nthe Rishis, had their hermitages in the forests alone. That of course was an age \nwhen the forest reigned upon earth. The greater part of the globe was still a \nvirgin forest. Cities and townships were not so common; there were only a \nscattered few that glimmered like torches amid vast stretches of night. There is \nalso the point that the free and easy association of day to day with Nature \nbrings about a natural heightening and widening of the consciousness. The \nEnglish poet Wordsworth, as I told you the other day, had some experience of \nthis to which he gave voice in lines like these :</p>\n<blockquote>\n	<blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd beauty born of murmuring sound </p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Shall pass into her face.\n</p>\n	</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe quiet beauty and rhythm of Nature permeate the limbs if one lives in close proximity to Nature. We in our country had, no doubt, the advantage of forests. But even in other countries like Arabia or Egypt which had no forests but only desert tracts with their wide stretches of bare sand, the same method was followed. There the seekers and the saints and mystics lived in the heart of the desert and drew from that source its rhythm and harmony and inspiration.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut in the modem world, under the circumstances of today, we no longer follow the ancient method either physically or even perhaps psychologically. Man does not now depend on external props or surroundings, nor does his consciousness either. Man\'s consciousness has grown to be in large measure free and self-reliant. It would rather bring external Nature under its own control than be guided by its\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-17</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">influence. As in our outer so in our inner spiritual life, we are becoming city-dwellers in place of the old forest recluses. Even when we repair to the forest we try to make it as far as possible akin to the city. But this need not give rise to a quarrel or conflict between the forest and the city; it is possible to reconcile the two — the rural and the urban — even as it is necessary to effect a reconciliation between the inner and the outer life, between the consciousness within and the conditions of life without.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-18</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-003_The Story of jabala-Satyakama','','publish','closed','open','','003_the-story-of-jabala-satyakama','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/003_the-story-of-jabala-satyakama/',0,'post','',0),(1239,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-006_Narada - Sanatkumara.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>Narada - Sanatkumara </b>\n</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b><i>(Chhandogya Upanishad)</i> </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nRishi Sanatkumara was once approached by Narada (evidently not yet become a Rishi), who said, &quot;Lord, I desire to be taught by you. Please teach me.&quot; The Rishi replied, &quot;Very well, but first tell me how much you know; then I shall tell you if you need more.&quot; Narada thereupon made out an inventory of his learning; it was a formidable list. &quot;My Lord, this is what I have learnt: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda, the Fifth Veda comprising History and Mythology; next, Grammar, Mathematics, Logic and Politics, the Science of Computing Time, Theology, Fine Arts and the Ritual Lore; Demonology, Astrology, and the Art of Predicting Fate; the Knowledge of Ancestors and of Serpents. I know all this, my Lord, and very well. This has made me master of the Word, but has not given me knowledge of the Self. I have heard that only by the knowledge of the Self can one pass beyond sorrow and pain. I am immersed in sorrow and pain, please reach me to the other shore.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSanatkumara said, &quot;All that you have studied and learnt is nothing but \'Name\', no more than words. You have reached as far as \'Name\' can take you, giving you as fruit the power to roam at will, that is, you can go unimpeded where you will. But that is about all.&quot; Then Narada asked, &quot;Is there anything superior to Name?&quot; &quot;Of course, there is,&quot; replied Sanatkumara. &quot;Then tell me about it.&quot; &quot;Superior to Name is Speech, that is, Name with form and meaning.&quot; Thus he went on replying to the series of Narada\'s\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-33</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">questions. Speech, Mind, Will, Thought, Meditation, Knowledge — these are the ascending grades, each higher than the one preceding. And each carries with it the power to move at will. The goal of this ascending series is, to use our own terminology, a widening of the consciousness. As we rise from grade to higher grade, our consciousness gains in width and depth and intensity.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut after Meditation comes Power. It seems that marks the end of one series and the beginning of another. The first seven of the earlier series represent the line of our externalised consciousness already manifest. But these powers or functions cannot get their full play by remaining confined to the field of our inner being. In order to make them active and fruitful and effective in practice, Power is needed, the power of work. Hence, under this category of Power, are grouped the fourfold series that constitute in essence the material world in its forms of solids, liquids, energy and air — the fifth or ethereal element is omitted for it is not relevant here. The solids form the body\'s material substance, the liquids give it life and mobility, energy is stamina and prowess, air gives it the sense of width and expansion. What sustains them all as their basic support has been termed Power, which ordinarily conveys the sense of capacity and strength.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut beyond this second series there is a fresh turn which takes us round to the third. Here we get to the realm of the subliminal, with its silent movements behind our ordinary consciousness. This series consists of Memory, Hope, Life-force and Truth. In our language, Memory is constant remembrance, Hope is aspiration, Life-force is energy at work, and Truth means the rejection of falsehood and the unreal and the acceptance of what is real and true. Beyond this there is yet another series, the ascent to which lies in taking a further turn from behind. The first step on this path is Knowledge, that is, knowledge of the Vast and the Particular. The second step is Contemplation, implying a\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-34</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">concentrated one-pointedness. The third is Faith, an unwavering trust. Faith implies steadfastness and, to make the latter effective, there is need of action, its application in life, making it concrete. Finally, action leads to joy, it is indeed the mainspring of action. We know that joy alone is the essence of creation, joy is its source, joy the ultimate end. But the Rishi says, this joy is no ordinary pleasure; its other name is the Vastness — the Vast verily is the Delight, there is no joy in the smallness, says the Text.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nStarting from &quot;Name&quot;, outermost expression and most concrete figure of gross physical substance, we have risen by stages to another Name of substance, to the Supreme Name, into the Highest Consciousness, from the uttermost division of the individualised ego to the endless infinity of Being. This progress or ascent of the consciousness or being has not been in a simple straight line, it has taken a zigzag serpentine path. First to develop were, as I have said, the parts of the externalised or manifest being; this is the stage of the waking mentality. On this level, the highest attainment is Knowledge. From Name or gross physical Word as our starting-point, we arrive in the end at its culmination as the knowledge of particulars, what we call the power of discrimination. But the growth and cultivation of the mind alone is not enough. For its sufficient development and capacity there is needed a physical capacity that has the body as its base. That is why, in the second stage of our progress, there is a turning back from the mind down to a lower level, for the cultivation of this physical base, in order to attain mastery there. Once the base got firmly established, the consciousness had to take another turn and enter upon a new stage of its progress. This was in the realm of the inner being. In this stage, there was gained the acquaintance and control of the functions and powers that work from behind the physical mind. From here there is the ascent to the fourth step while still keeping behind the veil, on to the gates of the spiritual consciousness, crossing beyond the\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-35</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">limits of our ordinary state. Already, as we reached the level of the life-force, the Rishi had something new to say: one who gained entry into the inner or universal life became &quot;extraordinary&quot;, in that he had passsed the limits of his ordinary consciousness, crossed over to the other side. And one who got firmly established in the integral Truth of the final stage attained the state of superconscience.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAccording to our present-day Science there is no such thing as motion in a straight line, all movement has to take a zigzag serpentine path. The reason is that the created universe is actually spherical in shape, all lines on it must be curves. And because of the gravitational pull, all motions in it must be wave-motions. All progress or forward movement in the consciousness of man or in the lines of creation must likewise be a spiral movement. In the course of an ascent or forward movement, one can notice one thing, namely, that one has to pass again through the same place or condition which one has already crossed once. In actual fact one does not return to precisely the same place or condition, but certainly to an analogous place or situation: it is as if a replica of the earlier state appearing once again in the next higher stage or forward position.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe know that the same process applies to our spiritual endeavour or even in ordinary training, when a particular quality or state has to be made more firmly and fully established. If, for example, peace is established in the first state of mind, in its physical functioning, the same state of peace has to be established over and over again in the depths of the inner being and on its ascending peaks. A somewhat similar method or process of working is noticeable in the path shown here by Rishi Sanatkumara to Narada. At the beginning of the series is the physical mind, at the end is the spiritual mind. The physical mind is the slave of sense, the spiritual mind is to become centred in God. The first series ends with Knowledge, Knowledge again begins the last series. It seems that the first is the knowledge of particulars,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-36</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">the last is that of the Vastness.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNarada started on the march of consciousness with &quot;Name&quot;. He has passed from stage to stage, from level to higher level, till at last he has crossed beyond the material &quot;Name&quot; to the Supreme Name, Brahman. Thus surpassing the state of mortal man, he has at last attained the status of Rishi.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-37</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-006_Narada - Sanatkumara','','publish','closed','open','','006_narada-sanatkumara','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/006_narada-sanatkumara/',0,'post','',0),(1240,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-008_Ushasti Chakrayana.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>Ushasti Chakrayana </b>\n</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b><i>(Chhandogya Upanishad)</i> </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis is the story of Ushasti Chakrayana, Ushasti the son of Chakra. But could it be that the name means one who drives a wheel, like Shakatayana,the driver of\n<i>&#347;aka&#7789;a</i>,\nthe bullock cart? Or is \nit something similar to Kamalayana, one who tends or enjoys a \nkamala, \nthe lotus, \nlotus-eater? \nThe Chakra or wheel here might \nbe the potter\'s wheel, or it might as well be the spinner\'s wheel or Charkha. \nDoes the name then mean something like one who owns or plies a Charkha, just as \nwe term Kamliwalla an ascetic with a Kambal or blanket ? However that may be, \nhere is the story.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Kuru country where Ushasti had his abode was hit by a natural calamity. Homeless, he wandered about with his young wife in search of food. On reaching the village of Ibhya, he found someone belonging to the village busy eating mouthfuls of beans. Goaded by acute hunger he begged a few grains of this man. The man said, &quot;Some leavings still sticking to my pot are all that I have.&quot; Ushasti said in reply, &quot;I will be happy to have even that little&quot;, and he took what the villager offered him. After he had finished eating, Ushasti was asked, &quot;Would you have some water?&quot; To this he replied, &quot;But that would mean drinking your leavings.&quot; The villager said, &quot;But you have already eaten the beans, they too were my leavings.&quot; Ushasti answered, &quot;Those I took for the sake of my life, or else I would have starved to death. The water is another matter, one can do without it yet.&quot;\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-43</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nUshasti had not eaten up all the beans. He had kept some and with these he returned to his wife and handed them to her. The wife was more clever or perhaps more lucky. She too had in the meantime been out begging and obtained a few things. To these she added what the husband gave and kept them all away.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNext morning, on getting up from bed, Ushasti said to his wife, &quot;I am feeling awfully hungry. If there was something to eat, I would get some strength, and then I could present myself before the king. He is celebrating a sacrifice and might perhaps get me a place among the chanters of the hymns.&quot; The wife was not a person to be confounded, she said with a smile, &quot;Well, here is some food for you, eat it up.&quot; Thanks to his wife, Ushasti had a good bite and, feeling hale and hearty, set off for the place of sacrifice. There he sat among the chanting priests, listened to them for a little while in silence, then he called the Prastota, the priest who chanted the introductory hymns, and said, &quot;O Prastota, if one chants these introductory hymns without knowing the divinity that presides over the hymns, the head falls off.&quot; The same words he repeated to the Udgata, who recited the <i>udg&#299;tha </i>\nor hymns of the middle : \n&quot;O \nUdgata, \nif \none recites the <i>udg&#299;tha</i>\nhymns without knowing \nthe divinity who presides over those hymns, he too loses his head.&quot; Finally, he \ncalled the Pratiharta as\nwell, the one who \nuttered the <i>\npratih</i><i>&#257;ra\n</i>or conluding hymns, and said, \n&quot;O \nPratiharta, one who utters the\n<i>pratih</i><i>&#257;ra</i>\nhymns without knowing \ntheir presiding divinity loses his head in like manner.&quot; All the priests \naccepted with bowed heads in due reverence these words of Ushasti.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe performer of the sacrifice, on whose behalf the sacrifice had been arranged, was struck by the wisdom of Ushasti, and he said, &quot;Lord, who are you? I want to know about you.&quot; Ushasti replied, &quot;I am Ushasti Chakrayana.&quot; The sacrificer now exclaimed, &quot;Then it is you I have been looking for! These men had to be engaged because I could not find\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-44</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">your whereabouts. Now be pleased to take charge of the chanting.&quot; Ushasti said, &quot;Very well, it will be as you say. Let them now chant the hymns according to my directions.&quot; In this way, Ushasti agreed to take charge of the chanting, but he added this proviso, &quot;Now that I have taken charge of your work, you would not forget about my fees I hope. You may give me whatever amount you would have given to these priests, I do not want more.&quot; The sacrificer gladly accepted this proposition.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThen the first of the chanting priests, the Prastota, came up to Ushasti and asked him, &quot;Lord, you said that one who recited the introductory hymns without knowing their deity would lose his head. What then is that deity?&quot; Ushasti replied, &quot;That deity is Prana — the Life-force. Life is the origin of all, in it they all dissolve. Life is the godhead of the introductory hymns; if one does not know what Life is, and utters these hymns, his head is bound to fall off.&quot; Next the Udgata came to him and put him his question: &quot;Lord, you said that one who recites the <i>udg&#299;tha<b> </b></i>\nhymns without knowing their \npresiding deity loses his head. Tell me, \nO \nLord, who is that divinity?&quot; &quot;Aditya, the Sun is that deity. The whole creation \nraises a paean to Him as he ascends the skies. This Aditya is the godhead of the\n<i>udg&#299;tha</i>.\nIf \nyou sing the <i>udg&#299;tha</i>\nwithout knowing Aditya, \n. then, as I have warned you, your head will surely fall off.&quot; Finally, the \nPratiharta priest came to him and said, &quot;Lord, you said that if I performed the \nconcluding rites without knowing the divinity who presides over them, then my \nhead was certain to fall off. Lord, \nI \nwant to know who is that \ndeity?&quot; Ushasti replied, &quot;Anna - Matter - Food is that deity. All these \ncreature$ find their sustenance by gathering food. Hence Food is the presiding \ndeity of the concluding rites. If you recite the concluding hymns without \nknowing what Food is, your head will certainly fall off.&quot;</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn this manner Ushasti gave the teaching about the Triple Principle, the Trinity represented by Life, Mind and\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-45</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">Body; <i>Bh&#363;&#7717;, Bhuva&#7717;, Svar, </i>\nthat is, Earth, Sky and Heaven. \nHe gave an indication of these three levels of manifested being, the triple \nworld of this universe, spoke of the divinity that presides over this Triplicity. \nFirst of all comes the God of Life. This is the deity that is invoked at the \noutset, has to be so invoked in every act, in all ceremonial function, even in \nthe effort at an inner perfection. He is the Creator, all that is manifested has \nHim for its driving power, <i>sarvam ejati ni&#7717;s&#7771;tam</i>.\nCreation begins with a \nvibration of this Life Force. The first thing necessary is to infuse Life into \nthings. When we worship a divine image, we begin the rites with an invocation to \nthis Life-force to enter the image; what was just an idol is awakened to life by \nthe infusion of this Force. Life and Life-Force, this comes first. Next comes \nconsciousness, knowledge, light, that is, the Sun-God, Aditya, and ordinarily, \nmind is His field. But by itself force is not enough, knowledge is not enough; \nthis force and this light have to be embodied and given a form, they have to \ntake physical shape with matter as the basis; they have to become \nan \nintegral part of this earth of matter. Force and Light and Being are the three \ncosmic Principles, and they have three Deities presiding over them. In \nestablishing them in their unity in his awakened being man finds his entire and \nall round fulfilment.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYou may notice here one thing. Many of these Rishis in the Upanishads are found sometimes using a threat that if anything or anyone deviated from the truth or the accepted norm, &quot;the head would fall off&quot;. It seems to mean this. If one commits an error or there is a fault in the course of one\'s spiritual effort and if one continues on the wrong path without acknowledging the, error or shortcoming, then it implies a movement, a gesture against the Truth and the Right, and this default carries in itself the possibility of a derangement of the head. The actual physical calamity befell an ancient seeker, Shakalya; we already know that story. In this age we do not perhaps come across an actual physical\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-46</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">instance of such a mishap; but we are certainly familiar with something analogous, a derangement of the brain instead of the physical falling off of the head. As the Mother has said, the spiritual force is a kind of fire, to play with this fire without an inner devotion and sincerity invites dangers of this sort.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nLet me here draw your attention to another — a rather interesting — aspect of this story; it is both amusing and instructive. Ushasti is the example of a man who, though a Rishi with a true knowledge of the Reality and a powerful realisation, is in other respects, in normal life, a perfectly incapable and helpless man; his capacity for an inner life seems to be matched by his incapacity in the outer. He had to bring himself down to the level of an abject beggar in his ordinary life; at every step he had to depend on his wife\'s assistance, without her co-operation he found it an unmanageable affair to procure even a grain of rice for the maintenance of life. It would not of course be logical or proper to conclude from this that the Rishis had need of their wives for this as the sole or primary purpose: the word &quot;life-partner&quot; used for the. spouse does imply a help-mate or means for the sustenance of life, but it carries no derogatory sense.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn those days there was in many cases an indifference towards the things of worldly life. This led to a certain weakness and poverty in this respect. Perhaps it was due to the necessity of an exclusive preoccupation with and concentration on the inner life. Only one or two Rishis like Yajnavalkya for instance had demanded an equal fullness and power in the outer as in the inner life. Yajnavalkya\'s great dictum that he had need for both, <i>ubhayam eva, </i>\nwas indeed uttered in no \nuncertain terms and without hesitation in the presence of all. The first and \nforemost aim of the Rishis was to acquire an inner mastery, what they called the \nrealisation of self-rule, <i>\nsv&#257;r&#257;</i><i>jya-siddhi</i>.\nBut a certain fullness \nof the outer life as well was not entirely beyond their ken;</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-47</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">this they called the realisation of outer empire, <i>s&#257;mr&#257;jya-siddhi<b>. </b></i>\nThese two, the rule over self \nand the domination of the outer life, <i>\nsv&#257;r&#257;</i><i>jya</i>\nand <i>s&#257;mr&#257;jya</i>,\nwould constitute the \nintegral realisation of the Integral man.</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-48</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-008_Ushasti Chakrayana','','publish','closed','open','','008_ushasti-chakrayana','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/008_ushasti-chakrayana/',0,'post','',0),(1241,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-002_Yama-Nachiketa.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nYama - Nachiketa \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b><i>(Katha Upanishad)</i> </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nVajasravas desired that he would give away all he had. He had a son named Nachiketas.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs the boy saw the gifts being given, his heart was filled with respect and devotion, and he pondered:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;The realm of undelight is his portion who makes a gift offering of kine that have drunk their last drop of water and eaten the last herb, have been sucked to the last drop of milk and have worn out their organs.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo the boy said to his father, &quot;To whom are you going to give me, father?&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe father did not give an answer to the senseless question of his ignorant son. But the boy was insistent. He asked the same question again, and a third time. Finally, the father gave an angry reply, &quot;I shall give thee to Death!&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn the simplicity of his heart, the boy argued to himself thus: &quot;Among many I occupy the first place, with others I come second, so I am not wholly worthless. Hence, what my father said must have a meaning, I must have some work to do with Yama, the Lord of Death.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe boy went on musing on the subject of death, &quot;Look, what has happened to those who were there before, and to those also who came after. Mortal beings ripen like the grains in the field and are shed, they come to birth again like those grains.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis indeed is a mystery, a mystery to which the God Yama alone has a clue. That is why Nachiketas left for the abode of Yama and came and sat on the latter\'s doorstep.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-1</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">There he lay in wait for three whole nights in the hope of getting a chance to meet Yama.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nEven as the boys Dhruva and Prahlada had had a vision of God through their simple faith, so did the simple but stout-hearted Nachiketas too reach the abode of Yama and meet him.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe minions of Yama went and told him, &quot;There has been a Brahmin lad waiting at our doorstep for three days in order to see you — a Brahmin and on top of that a guest; this is like playing with fire. You should go and greet him with all due ceremony. A Brahmin, as you know, arriving at somebody\'s house and left to starve, means the waning of all one\'s virtue and a grave risk to one\'s worldly state.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe should take the word &quot;Brahmin&quot; here in the sense given to it by the Gita: a Brahmin is one who is devoted to <i>brahman,</i> \nthe Highest Reality; he is a seeker of the Spirit and serves It. A particular \nduty laid on the society of that age was to support and give due respect to this \ntopmost class; for the true prestige and worth of a society depend not on its \nvisible power or prosperity but on the richness of its inner growth.<i> </i>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYama thereupon appeared, as if in a bit of a flurry. Or, perhaps he was putting Nachiketas\' sincerity to a little test. He offered Nachiketas a seat with all deference and, as if to atone for his earlier neglect, addressed him thus in a humble tone:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;You have been made to wait here for three days without food, a Brahmin and a guest. Accept my salutations, may all be well with me.&quot; This meant, in modern language, &quot;Do be kind enough to pardon me.&quot; Yama meant to suggest through this eminently human attitude that he was, in spite of being Death, no uncultivated boor! He continued, &quot;Nachiketas, since you have been waiting here for three nights, you should demand three boons from me.&quot; Nachiketas too accepted the apology with courtesy without another word, and asked for the first boon thus:\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-2</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\"> &quot;My dear father must be getting anxious on account of my disappearance, thinking that I have been gripped by death and would not return. You please give him peace of mind, remove the feeling of displeasure he has about me, and grant that when I return from your abode a free man, may he recognise me and receive me with joy. This, then, OYama, will be the first boon I desire.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYama said in reply, &quot;It will be certainly as you say. You will get back from here, your father Auddalaka Aruni will be able to see you as before, he will have his peace of mind on seeing you freed from the jaws of death, his annoyance will go, he will have good sleep at night.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNachiketas went on, &quot;It is said: there is no fear in heaven, you too are not there, nor is there the dread of old age, people live in great joy when, after crossing beyond both hunger and thirst and passing to the other shore of sorrow, they come to heaven. O Death, you know about that heavenly Fire, speak to me about It, I am listening with faith. The dwellers in heaven have gained immortality. Please tell me about this mystery This is the second boon I desire.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Lord of Death said in reply, &quot;Nachiketas, listen then to the mystery of this Fire. I have knowledge of this Fire. The Fire takes one to the world of Infinity. The Fire is the basis of this universe. He is abiding in a cave, hidden within our secret being.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYama explained to Nachiketas further, &quot;The Fire is the beginning of creation.&quot; He also revealed the secret knowledge about the method of kindling this Fire, the number of bricks and their types needed in piling the altar. Nachiketas listened to all this with great attention, and repeated to the Lord of Death what he had thus learned.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nDeath was pleased and said to him again, &quot;Nachiketas, Iam much pleased with you, so I grant you another boon, namely, that the mystery of the Fire which I have revealed to you will be named after you; henceforth people will call it the Fire of Nachiketas. I also give this garland of\n<br>\n</p><p class=\"pageno\">Page-3</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">many forms, take it.&quot; What this garland stood for was explained a little by Death, in the same language of symbols which he had used in revealing the mystery of the Fire. He said, &quot;One who lights the three Fires is united with the Three, and goes on performing the three Works, passes beyond life and death. He then comes to know that adorable Deity who is born of the Supreme; knowing him he attains to the supreme Peace.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYama went on dwelling on the same mystery, perhaps making it still more mysterious.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;One who has gained the three Fires of Nachiketas, one who has gained knowledge of the Three, one who has thus seen and known and mastered the Fire of Nachiketas has pushed away from in front all the bonds of death, passed beyond all sorrow, has enjoyed the bliss of heaven. This then is that heavenly Fire of Nachiketas which you chose as the second of your boons. Henceforth, all people will say, this is verily your Fire. Nachiketas, now you are free to choose your third boon.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNachiketas answered, &quot;Well, there rises a doubt as to the beings who depart from hence: some say they continue to exist, others say they do not. I want to know the truth of this matter, you please give me this knowledge. This is the third boon I ask.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThis seemed to create a little difficulty for Yama. He said, &quot;You see, this debate has been going on even among the gods from times sempiternal. This is a very subtle point, this knowledge is not easy to get, nor easy to grasp. You had better ask for some other boon, do not press me further on this point, give up this quest.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut, as we have no doubt seen by now, Nachiketas was not to be put off like that. He exclaimed, &quot;But this is strange! Even the gods find it a matter for debate, you too are saying it is not easily grasped. But I am not going to have another like you to speak to me about this matter. And I do not consider any other boon worth having, as compared to this.&quot;\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-4</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nDeath too on his part tried to cajole the boy into forgetting about it, perhaps taking him to be a mere child. He said, &quot;Nachiketas, choose sons and grandsons living to a hundred years, choose an abundance of cattle, horses and elephants, gold and jewels. Take as your portion vast stretches of land, live for as many years as you please. If, in addition, you consider any other boon equally worth having, ask for it; choose as much wealth as you like and life eternal. Or else, if you desire a whole kingdom, I shall fulfil your wish for all these desirable things.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYama went on adding to the list of desirable things, in the hope that perhaps in the end the boy could be won over. &quot;All the desirable things that are hard to get on this mortal earth, you can demand exactly as you please. Charming damsels with their chariots and song and dance, than whom there is nothing more acceptable to men — all this I shall give you for your enjoyment at will. But do not ask any more about death.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut Nachiketas was no mere boy or unripe youth. His reply was immediate, &quot;All that you have named, O Destroyer, lasts only till the morrow. There is no organ or sense that does not get blunt in course of time. And even if it lasts a whole life-time, that too is but little. Let yours, O Yama, be all those chariots and the damsels, yours the song and the dance. Man is not satisfied by riches, O Death. And here will be no dearth of wealth when I have looked upon you in person. I shall live as long as you like, but my choice is for that boon alone. You might yourself consider this. Once a mortal being dwelling here below in the grip of physical matter has felt the presence of the unaging Immortals, gained the true knowledge, has realised the true nature of beauty and passion and pleasure, what joy can he have in this transient life? Tell me, O Death, more about this endless debate on what is or is not after the great annihilation. The deep secret of the beyond, it is this that I want to understand. Nachiketas demands no other boon of you.&quot;\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-5</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">Yama did not find it possible to put him off any more. He went on expounding his secret knowledge to Nachiketas. He began with that secret Word which Nachiketas had already received and grasped all by himself.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nMan has open before him two doors leading to two different paths: one is that of the good, the other of what is pleasant. The two lead in opposite directions. Nachiketas had renounced the pleasant and had chosen the good. On the basis of this choice depend, in the beginning and throughout at each step, the progress and upward evolution of man. He alone who can recognise and choose the good gains the Highest, the supreme Reality. Nachiketas too had made these gains; he had become foremost among spiritual men, <i>brahmi&#7779;&#7789;ha. </i>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThere is in this story an unsolved problem which in its turn might give rise to a &quot;debate&quot;. I am going to take that as my theme in what follows.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYama taught Nachiketas about the mystery of the Fire as the second boon. The fruit of this knowledge, the gain it brings has been described. It is the winning of the heavenly world where one enjoys immortality; it is a world of delight where death itself is not, nor old age and fear and sorrow, nor hunger and thirst.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd what is this Fire? Fire is the Origin of the worlds, the realms of Infinity; in Its very nature Fire is the Beginning and the Infinite, Immortality and Delight. And where does It dwell? It lies hidden as in a cave. What cave this is will be discussed later. For the present, it will be well to remember that the Fire is a doer of the Triple Work, and It has knowledge of Him or of what is born of the Supreme.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe problem is: does not all this amount to what the Gita describes as &quot;a mixed word&quot;? Nachiketas desired to know, as his third boon, which of the two opinions concerning the state of the embodied being on his departure from here after death, namely, that he continues to exist or ceases to be, is\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-6</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">the real truth of the matter. But has not the mystery of what lies beyond death been already revealed by what has been said, in connection with the second question or boon, about attaining the heavenly world, enjoyment of immortality, the companionship of the gods and so on? Where then is the point in asking the same question again?\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs an initial clue to the problem, we must keep in mind that the heavenly world can be attained even without the death of the body, &quot;by pushing away from in front the bonds of death&quot;, as the text says, or as in the usual interpretation, before succumbing to death. Nachiketas himself had achieved this feat. The heavenly world has been conceived as just another neighbourhood or abode, a world of delight where there is no old age, death, or sorrow and suffering. But it does not imply any victory gained in a battle with death, any mastery obtained over death. All that seems to happen here is that death has been pushed aside, or evaded perhaps. There is merely an absence of death here, it has not been brought under control. Death may not be present in this abode, but he is sitting in his lair and is free to go where he wills, even if it be within some limits. There has been no annihilation of death.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn his third boon, Nachiketas wants to know if there is beyond the physical death any surpassing of death. Granted that heaven is attained, but what happens after that, beyond the heavenly world? For, this too is sometimes said that the enjoyment of heaven is only for a time, no matter how long that time be; after the term is over, one has to come back to earth, death has to be encountered over again. In this view, if the soul of man be immortal, the immortality does not go beyond heaven, it is nothing more than the enjoyment of heaven.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn fact, the Upanishads speak of two kinds of immortality. One is temporal immortality, that is, living for ever, the other is beyond time, in the ultimate Reality or the supreme Truth; one is cosmic, the other transcendental.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-7</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">There are likewise two kinds of eternity and infinity. One is in relation to time, with time as its basis and inseparable from the progress of time, what in the ordinary view is described as &quot;lasting as long as the sun and the moon&quot;. The other is beyond all creation or manifestation, poised above it in the supreme Status.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWhat Nachiketas desired to know was this. The gods are temporal beings. However big and mighty they may be, they who endure for ever with a life eternal and have no death, cannot know the secret of death. They may live beyond the pale of death and death is foreign to them. But they are ignorant of the Truth that is beyond time, that has to be reached through death and by passing to the other shore of death. That is why Yama says that the gods are full of doubts and puzzled about this matter. But Yama himself is in possession of this knowledge, he is aware of the Truth that lies beyond him, on the other shore. Nachiketas says to Yama, &quot;Since I have been able to find you, I am sure of gaining this knowledge; there is none other so wise who can speak about it.&quot; The reason is that Yama has been called Vaivasvata, he is born of Vivasvan, the Sun-god, Surya Savitri.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSurya Savitri stands for the highest Knowledge, He is the Supreme Consciousness from which comes the creation of the universe. Yama is the Life-Force, the Ordainer of the worlds with their rhythms of life. He is here in this manifestation of the play of life the representative of Savitri, and Fire is his vehicle, instrument or symbol. Just as Surya is Vivasvan, the Supreme Effulgent One, Yama is likewise the Cosmic Being, all cosmic power and universal force are his. Surya is supra-cosmic, belongs to the Beyond. Fire is cosmic, belongs to our worlds. Or, to put it more exactly, Surya is the point of transition from the Beyond to these worlds; Fire is such a point from the worlds to the Beyond.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe mystery of the Fire that was revealed to Nachiketas by Yama would give him the mundane realisation, namely,\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-8</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">the conquest over time past, present and future, the attainment of temporal immortality or heaven. The mastery thus obtained consists of a set of trios: it has three lines of fulfilment, it acts in three ways, in the three worlds, throughout the three divisions of time. The three worlds as we know them are mind, life and body; all endeavour and attainment here on earth are concerned with this trio. The altar of the Fire here is provided by man\'s inner and outer frame; the bricks of this altar are his body, life and mind with all their activities; the multiform garland spoken of by Yama is this lower nature with its multiple forms. Fire is the symbol of the conscious power and energy lying concealed within the innermost depths of the mortal frame, it is the inner being\'s power of askesis.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBy following the path of the triple Work, Nachiketas could achieve the temporal realisation. What he needed now was the realisation beyond time, this is what he demanded as his third boon: after the knowledge of the worlds the Knowledge of the Supreme, the transcendental realisation after the cosmic.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nFire has been described as the Origin of the worlds, He is the Beginning of the worlds, their Source. He is also the primeval World, for the earth-principle, this earth of ours, this physical universe is the place of Agni, His own abode and field of action. Underlying the gross physical is the Sub-conscient, and within the Subconscient, this Fire or power of askesis and conscious force keeps Himself concealed. It is under that secret Impulse that the creation moves. It is this Fire that gives Nachiketas his ultimate realisation. We may say, in the words of the Isha Upanishad, that first, by virtue of the second boon, he crosses beyond death by the knowledge of the Ignorance; next, by his third boon, he wins Immortality on mastering the supreme Knowledge. This is the fruit promised to him in the end.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNachiketas gained this knowledge, the entire method of the Yoga as revealed to him in person by the Lord of Death.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-9</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">Freed from all impurity and the possibility of death, he attained the supreme state. Anyone else who would follow his path would likewise obtain this realisation of the Self, even as Nachiketas did.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-10</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-002_Yama-Nachiketa','','publish','closed','open','','002_yama-nachiketa','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/002_yama-nachiketa/',0,'post','',0),(1242,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-000_Contents.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<i>Parables</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<i>from</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<i>the Upanishads</i>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n</p>\n	<p class=\"para\"><b>Contents</b></p>\n<br>\n	<p class=\"para\"><a href=\"parables-from-the-upanishads-001_Pre-Content\">Pre-Content</a></p>\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"30%\">\n<tr>\n	<td></td>\n	<td width=\"304\">\n	<p class=\"para\"><a href=\"-002_Yama-Nachiketa\">Yama - Nachiketa</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n	<td></td>\n	<td width=\"304\">\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	<a href=\"-003_The-Story-of-Fabala-Satyakama\">The Story of \n	Fabala-Satyakama</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n	<td></td>\n	<td width=\"304\">\n	<p class=\"para\"><a href=\"-004_Satyakama-and-Upakoshala\">\n	Satyakama and Upakoshala</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n	<td></td>\n	<td width=\"304\">\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	<a href=\"-005_The-Story-of-Rishi-Yajnavalkya\">The Story \n	of Rishi Yajnavalkya</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n	<td></td>\n	<td width=\"304\">\n	<p class=\"para\"><a href=\"-006_Narada---Sanatkumara\">Narada - \n	Sanatkumara</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n	<td></td>\n	<td width=\"304\">\n	<p class=\"para\">\n	<a href=\"-007_Indra---Virochana-and-Prajapati\">Indra - \n	Virochana and Prajapati</a></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n	<td></td>\n	<td width=\"304\">\n	<p class=\"para\"><a href=\"-008_Ushasti-Chakrayana\">Ushasti \n	Chakrayana</a></td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n<br>\n</html>\n','parables-from-the-upanishads-00_Contents','','publish','closed','open','','parables-from-the-upanishads-00_contents','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/parables-from-the-upanishads-00_contents/',0,'post','',0),(1243,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-004_Satyakama and Upakoshala.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nSatyakama and Upakoshala \n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>\n(I)\n</b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Satyakama was now a Rishi, a\n<i>brahmar&#7779;i</i><i>,</i>\na sage and seer who had \nrealised the Truth. He was himself a teacher now, had his own Ashrama where the \nseekers and aspirants came to receive his instruction and guidance. Today I \nshall tell you something of the aim and method of Satyakama\'s work as teacher.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nUpakoshala Kamalayana, the son of Kamala, resided with Satyakama as a student of sacred lore for twelve years, tending his fires. What this tending of the fires really meant we shall learn as we proceed. There were other resident pupils along with Upakoshala; and after they had finished their twelve-year course, they were permitted to return home, <i>sam</i>&#257;<i>vartana, </i>\nwith the final words of instruction and blessings from the master. But Satyakama \nwould not let Upakoshala leave.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOn behalf of the pupil a representation was made to the teacher by Satyakama\'s wife — how and when Satyakama had obtained a wife and what she was called I have not been able to discover. The wife said, &quot;My lord,\nthe pupil has been at pains to \nperform his austerities, he has been tending the fires with diligence and care. \nLest the fires should place the blame on you, he should now be permitted to \nleave for his home with your blessings.&quot; But the teacher kept quiet and left on \na journey without saying a word on the point.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn the grief of his heart Upakoshala undertook a fast. It seems that even in those days ordinary people and aspirants\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-19</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">too were apt to fast unto death to get their wishes fulfilled. The good lady did her best to make the boy understand. &quot;Why don\'t you eat, my dear child?&quot; she said, &quot;Do take something, at least for my sake.&quot; Upakoshala explained that his fast was not from any anger with the master, but with himself and his own shortcomings. Here was then a difference between the olden times and now! He said, &quot;My lady, this body of mine is filled with disease. Therefore I shall not eat.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThereupon the three household Fires had consultations among themselves. &quot;See how diligently this boy has been attending on us&quot;, they said, &quot;Come, let us instruct him ourselves.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWe might recall here that Satyakama too had attained the knowledge of Brahman in this manner. The teacher had left him free to wander at will and knowledge had flashed upon him spontaneously. He was now trying the same method with his own disciple. Words gleaned from an external source and received from the mouth of another do not give the full knowledge. Knowledge implanted from without does not enter one who is not inwardly clarified and ready; for knowledge blossoms forth from within. The teacher is there to give an occult help, but there is needed a capacity to receive the teacher\'s help. That is how Upakoshala could hear in his awakened consciousness the conversation of the Fires.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThey were saying, &quot;Life-force verily is the Reality. <i>Ka </i>\nis the Reality, kha\nis the Reality.&quot; And \nUpakoshala asked,\n&quot;There is proof that life-force is the Reality. But what is \nka\nand what kha \n?&quot;</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Fires replied, &quot;What is \nka \nis \nkha, \nwhat is \nkha \nis \nka.&quot;\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBoth are terms that express the ether pervading life. \nKa\nis the ether of the inner consciousness, \nkha \nthe ether pervading\nphysical space. Space represents the extension of the\nlife-force. Fire is power, the power that achieves by force\nof austerity; and life-energy is the expression of that power</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\"><br>\n</p><p class=\"pageno\">Page-20</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">as force of action. That explains the Fire\'s emphasis on life-force.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>(2)</b></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Fires are three in number. The Katha Upanishad also speaks of Nachiketa learning the method of worshipping the three Fires; he thereby conquers death and comes to possess the three worlds, <i>trilokam&#257;ptim. </i>Her too it is the same story.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe first of the three Fires is Lord of the House, <i>g&#257;rha-patya. </i>\nHe manifested Himself to. Upakoshala and said,\n&quot;Behold this earth and the fire, food and the yonder sun.\nThe Supreme Person you see in the sun, that Person is myself\nand no other. He who knows That, the Supreme Reality,\nin this wise and worships It thus, of him all sinful acts are\ndestroyed, in all the worlds he finds his station, he reaches\nthe full span of life, becomes immortal. His progeny is not\ncut short; we enjoy him (take our delight in him), in this\nworld and in that, him who knows and worships the Reality\nthus.&quot;</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNext appeared the second of the three Fires, the Fire of the Right, <i>dak</i>&#7779;<i>i</i>&#7751;&#257;<i>gni. </i>\nHe said, &quot;Upakoshala, behold the\nwaters, the four quarters, the stars and the moon. He who\nknows them and worships them finds all his sins destroyed.\nHe becomes possessed of all the worlds, he has the full span\nof life, becomes immortal. His progeny decays not. We\nenjoy him, in this world and in that, him who knows It thus\nand worships.&quot;</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd last there came the Fire of the Gall,<i> &#257;havan&#299;ya. </i>\nHe\nsaid, &quot;Behold my body which is the life-breath, the sky and\nheaven and the lightning. The Person that is seen within\nthe lightning is none other than myself, verily it is me. He\nwho abides in Brahman firm in this thought finds all his evil</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nacts dispelled. He becomes a dweller in \nall \nthe worlds. He\ngains the full span of his life, becomes immortal.&quot;</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-21</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nPerhaps it is necessary to add a word of explanation here about the four locations given to each of the three Fires. But these have been described through the medium of symbols, and symbols always leave a certain amount of mystery.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Fire that is Lord of the House, <i>g&#7771;hapati, </i>\nhas for its seat this material \nearth, that is, it burns. within our physical frame. It has steadiness for its \nquality, its flame shoots upwards, it aims at the sun - for the light that \nillumines earth is no other than the sun. Its form is that of the burning flame· \nand its field of action is gross matter. Similarly, the Fire of the Right,\n<i>dak&#7779;i&#7751;&#257;gni\n</i>has for its dwelling the \nwaters, which imply movement. Its form is spread out in every direction; its \nfield is the region of the starry sky; its goal the moon of Delight, \nsoma. \nLikewise, the Fire of the Call,\n<i>&#257;havan&#299;y&#257;</i><i>gni</i>,\nhas for its seat the \nlife-breath, which gives the power to work. Its form is of the nature of \nextension; its field the heavenly regions of mind, the light which it seeks is \nlike the self-luminous lightning.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAfter thus imparting the knowledge of the Reality, the Fires said to Upakoshala, &quot;Upakoshala, we have given you what knowledge of the Self we possess. Your teacher when he comes will explain to you what the aim is of this knowledge, the goal to which it leads.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd now the teacher, Satyakama, was back home. And he had a look at Upakoshala, and he broke out in words identical with those which his own teacher had used in greeting when he brought back the kine from their wanderings. He said, &quot;Your face shines like one who has realised the Truth. Who has given you the instruction?&quot; Upakoshala felt a little embarrassed at this question. He sought to hide the true answer and said, &quot;Who else could have taught me?&quot; Perhaps he thought the teacher would get annoyed on learning that he had been receiving instruction from others. However, he gave a slight hint, saying, &quot;But these Fires that you see here are of a rather unusual nature.&quot; The teacher then said to him, &quot;So, it is these Fires who have\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-22</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">taught you. What have they taught?&quot; Then Upakoshala had to explain everything in full.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSatyakama gave reply, &quot;The Fires have told you about the different worlds, I shall now tell you about the transcendent truths. Earth, mid-air and heaven are truths that comprise the universal aspects of Reality. But one must know the fourth or transcendent aspect of the Truth. Once you know That, you will roam at will all over the worlds, even as a drop of water on the surface of a lotus leaf, <i>padma-patramiv&#257;mbhas&#257;.&quot;</i>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Fires are three. The first has its seat in the body; it is the power of the body\'s upward endeavour. It is as if a coiled-up force, <i>ku&#7751;&#7693;alin&#299;. </i>\nWhen this \ncoiled-up force opens itself out and moves upward in a spiral curve, it goes on \nopening the body consciousness wider and wider in a clockwise or right-handed \nmotion: that is the Fire of the Right,\nthe fire of aspiration, in the inner consciousness of which\nmid-air is the symbol here. It is a right-handed motion because\nthe movement is full of knowledge, instinct with the\npower of right discrimination, \n<i>\ndak&#7779;a, dak&#7779;i&#7751;a</i>,\nbetween the\ntruth and the falsehood, it is of the substance of knowledge.\nIt merges up on high with the Fire of the Call, \n<i>&#257;havan&#299;</i><i>ya</i>,\nonce it gets purified and grows into a spotless Flame. This\nFire of the Call is the power of austerity that has to be called\ndown from on high by an invocation. The tongue of this\nFlame lies hidden in the heavenly worlds of pure mind.</p>\n<p class=\"para\"><i></i></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Fires spoke of the form or extension of Brahman, its manifested cosmic expansion, in time and space, inner and outer. Satyakama completes the picture by revealing the supracosmic reality of Brahman, its transcendent essence beyond manifestation. That essence, Satyakama says, in our first approach to it, appears as a twofold reality — it is a thing of light, Bhamani, and it is a thing of delight, Va-mani, it is luminous, it is delightful. We get here an early version of the later well-known formula — Sachchidananda <i>— sat </i>\nis<i> cit </i>and<i> &#257;nanda.</i></p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-23</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nHowever, in this Vedantic formula we miss one element of the supreme reality; Sat or Brahman is not only light and delight, it is also power, force, energy — <i>tapas.<b>\n</b> </i>Agni dwells not only on \nthe three cosmic planes, the god has his own home in the supreme status. Sat, \nBeing or Reality is Consciousness or Light; Consciousness is Delight; it is also \nPower, not only potential but dynamic Power, Energy. Sri Aurobindo therefore \nspeaks of Chit-tapas.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe omission, at least in the present context, could it be the shadow of the coming Mayavada? For, Mayavada declares that Power, Shakti is Maya, Illusion.\n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">\n<br>\n</p><p class=\"pageno\">Page-24</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-004_Satyakama and Upakoshala','','publish','closed','open','','004_satyakama-and-upakoshala','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/004_satyakama-and-upakoshala/',0,'post','',0),(1244,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-007_Indra - Virochana and Prajapati.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>Indra - Virochana and Prajapati </b>\n</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b><i>(Chhandogya Upanishad)</i> </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\"> Prajapati, the Lord and Creator, once declared himself thus:\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;The Self is the sinless, ageless and deathless One; it has no sorrow nor hunger and thirst. The goal of all its desire is the Truth, Truth is the one thing worthy of its resolve. It is this Self that has to be sought after, it alone one should seek to know. And one who seeks after the Self and knows it, gains possession of all the worlds, wins all that is desirable.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe message of the Lord reached both the gods and the demons. They discussed it among themselves. &quot;If the Self is such a thing as can win all the worlds and every object of desire, then, come, let us go and seek it.&quot; The gods sent Indra as their representative, the Asuras chose Virochana. The two of them came to Prajapati separately and unknown to each other, carrying fuel in their hands in token of their offering. Both lived as disciples taking the vow of chastity, for a period of thirty-two years. This was their first period of trial.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAt the end of this period, Prajapati said to them both, &quot;You have stayed here for thirty-two years, but what has been your aim?&quot; Both gave the same reply: &quot;We have heard this message of the Lord, that the Self is sinless, ageless and immortal; it has no sorrow nor hunger and thirst; its aim is the Truth, Truth is the one thing worthy of its resolve; that it is this Self that has to be sought after and known, one who seeks and knows this Self gains all the\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-38</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">worlds, wins everything desirable. To know this Self has been the sole object of our stay here.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThereupon the Creator made reply, &quot;Behold, the Self dwells in the eye, one can see it there. That verily is the Self that is immortal and fearless, and that is the ultimate Reality.&quot; Both of them asked the same question: &quot;Who is that person whom the eye sees reflected in water, within a mirror?&quot; To this the Creator replied, &quot;In all this the Self has been manifested.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe language here used by Prajapati nearly borders on a riddle; it is the language of symbol or metaphor. What He means to say is that the Self (God or Supreme Reality) dwells in the eye because That can be seen by the eye, though not by this physical eye but by another kind of vision. But both Indra and Virochana gathered from this that because the Self dwells in the eye, in one\'s own eye, and one cannot see one\'s own eye, the reference here must be to the reflected image. They thought they were being very clever and had got the sense of Prajapati\'s words very well. But Prajapati added to the riddle and said, &quot;Verily, this Self dwells in all.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;You look at yourself,&quot; He continued, &quot;in a vessel full of water. Then if there is anything you do not understand about the Self, come and ask me.&quot; They saw their own image in the water and approched Him once again. Prajapati asked, &quot;What is it you saw?&quot; Both came out simultaneously with an eager reply, &quot;Lord, we saw the whole of the Self, from the top of the hair to the tip of the toes. We saw the true form of the Self.&quot; Then Prajapati said, &quot;Very well. Now you look into the water again after getting yourselves beautifully adorned and dressed.&quot; They acted accordingly: they tidied themselves up, adorned their bodies with fine ornaments and dresses and looked at their forms in the water. Prajapati asked them, &quot;What did you see now?&quot; Both gave answer in the same enthusiastic way, &quot;We saw the Self, but this time we found him beautifully adorned and\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-39</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">dressed.&quot; Prajapati \nseemed satisfied. He said, &quot;Very well, it is just as you say. You have seen no \nother than the Self, the Self that is Immortality, Fearlessness, the Supreme \nReality.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWhen the two had taken leave and departed, Prajapati said to Himself, &quot;O the unfortunate ones! They left without a knowledge of the Self. If either of them should imagine that the body is the supreme reality, that this is the sacred lore, the knowledge of the Truth, then he is doomed to perdition.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nVirochana did in fact return to his people, happy and satisfied. He imparted to the Asuras this teaching as the supreme secret, &quot;This body that you see, this alone is the Self. You should glorify this body as the true form of the Self, you should serve this body alone. By glorifying the body which is the Self, by serving it well, both the worlds are won, this world and the world beyond.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThat is the reason why those of little faith, who make no gifts, do no sacrifice, are described as Asuras. This is the Asuras\' gospel, that the body has to be pampered by luxurious living, adorned with fine ornaments and clothes, thus can the worlds be conquered; this is what the Asuras imagine.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIndra on the other hand as he was going back home began to ponder. &quot;By making the body beautiful, its reflected image too grows beautiful; by adorning it the other also gets adorned; by cleaning the one the other too looks clean. But if it becomes blind, its reflection too will look blind; if this becomes lame, the other also will limp; if it loses a limb, that also will lose the same limb. Whatever happens to the body, the same is reflected in its image. If that be so, then I do not see where is the gain.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo he came back again, with fuel in his hands. On seeing him back, Prajapati inquired, &quot;You departed along with Virochana, seemingly happy and contented. What now brings you back?&quot; Indra replied, &quot;Lord, I have perceived\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-40</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">indeed that on adorning this body, its image reflects the adornment; on dressing it up, the other looks dressed. Not only that, but when the one becomes blind the other too looks blind, when it becomes lame, the other also limps, when it loses a limb the same happens to the other. I do not see any advantage in all this.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nPrajapati said, &quot;It is as you say. But I shall explain to you more fully again. You live with me for another thirty-two years.&quot; Indra stayed with Prajapati for the next thirty-two years and then approached Him once again. Prajapati gave a fuller explanation this time. &quot;I have already told you,&quot; He said, &quot;about the waking self. But the person that moves about in the dream-state is the one to be glorified. He is the Self, He is the Immortal, the Fearless, the Supreme Reality.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIndra was satisfied and he started going back again, his doubts set at rest. But a fresh doubt arose as he was wending his way. &quot;Granted,&quot; he thought, &quot;any harm done in the waking state to the physical body does no hurt indeed to the dream-self, it does not reflect any flaws of the other. But one does feel during sleep, in the dream-state as if someone is coming to attack, one does feel that one is being pursued. If the dream-self too feels sorrow and affliction, then where is the gain, what makes it worth while?&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIndra went back to Prajapati, related to Him his experience. And once again Prajapati said, &quot;What you say is right. I shall speak about it in more detail, if you can wait for another thirty-two years.&quot; At the end of the thirty-two years, Prajapati spoke again about still more fundamental things. Beyond dream is the state of dreamless sleep, in which the entire consciousness becomes calm and still, where there is no sense of movement. The Person in this state of dreamless sleep is the Self, the Immortal, the Fearless, the Supreme Reality.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIndra now left for home, satisfied as before. But again a doubt arose in his mind. He began to think, &quot;In this state of sleep there is no consciousness or thought, there is no sense\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-41</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">of I-ness. Even if the I remains, the world does not exist, nothing exists, all becomes non-existent. I do not see the utility of this kind of experience.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAgain he came back to Prajapati, and as on the previous occasions, Prajapati said once again, &quot;What you feel is true. But if you stay with me for another five years, I shall give you my final instructions and you will have the realisation.&quot; Indra spent another five years with Prajapati, making in all a stay of thrice thirty-two plus five, that is a hundred and one years.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThereafter, Indra was initiated by Prajapati into the last secret, he was told about the All-Conscious Self or Reality that stands as on a peak above the states of waking, dream or deep sleep. This fourth or supreme status of the Self is the Reality that abides beyond all Ignorance, on the other shore of Darkness; for our waking, dream and deep sleep are no other than states of Ignorance and Darkness. It is this state of superconscient Being that is the true Immortality and Fearlessness.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe Asura had remained contented with the first steps of the true Knowledge. Their strength is the strength of the body, to them the strength of arms is the one source of strength. Quick is their gain and early their victory. The effort of the gods is long. Their desire is for the true Truth, the integral Truth, not any half-truths or anything that masquerades as the Truth. Their victory is in the end, they have to wait for it long What they have to acquire is not the mere strength of body, but the power of the Self in its integrity. And why this insistence on a hundred and one years? A hundred denotes perfection; one added to it makes the perfection perfect. The mystery of the other figures remains still a mystery.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-42</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-007_Indra - Virochana and Prajapati','','publish','closed','open','','007_indra-virochana-and-prajapati','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/007_indra-virochana-and-prajapati/',0,'post','',0),(1245,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-005_The Story of Rishi Yajnavalkya.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>The Story of Rishi Yajnavalkya </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>(I) </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYajnavalkya was one of the great Brahmins and a supreme master of the Knowledge of Reality during the Upanishadic age. But it was not that he was only a man of Knowledge, deep and serious; he was also a fine humorist. That is, he combined his Knowledge with a keen sense of irony and fun. Here are some stories about him.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nKing Janaka was his contemporary. That would seem to place his story in the Upanishads about the time of the Ramayana although Rama or Sita does not figure anywhere there. King Janaka too was a man of Knowledge, a sage-king,<i> r&#257;jar&#7779;i. \n</i>But he had not taken any \ndisciples. The seekers would come to him for the solution of their problems, and \nhe used to hold the seat of umpire at the sessions of Rishis and men of \nknowledge.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAs he sat in his royal court at one such session, and numerous were the seekers and men of knowledge who had assembled there to see him, Rishi Yajnavalkya suddenly made his appearance. The king greeted the mighty sage with due ceremony and respect, and asked him, &quot;Yajnavalkya, what is the object that brings you here? Is it the acquisition of Knowledge or of kine?&quot; Yajnavalkya said, &quot;Both, my king, — <i>ubhayameva samr&#257;&#7789;</i>!<i>&quot; </i>\nwith a smile.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThere was a previous history to this &quot;both&quot;, to which the king had been referring. It happened like this.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nKing Janaka had been celebrating a sacrifice, and had arranged for the gifts to be on a generous scale. The lure of\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-25</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">the gifts had brought together a number of Brahmins from the surrounding country too. The measure of the gifts he had announced, that is to say, the first prize, like the gold medal offered by our Academies, consisted of a thousand kine; and not only that, for each of these thousand cows was to have, tied to each horn, a ten <i>p&#257;da </i>\nweight, equal to about three \ntolas of our measure, of purest gold, <i>\nka&#7779;ita \nk&#257;ñ</i><i>cana</i>, \nnot the fourteen-carat variety. A thousand cows meant two thousand horns; so you \ncan figure out how much gold that would be. King Janaka had it announced that \nthe Brahmin men of learning and knowledge who had assembled there were all \ninvited to participate : the prize would go to him who proved to be most \nproficient in the Vedic lore. The best among these Brahmins was called upon to \ncome up and lead those kine home. But none among the learned Brahmins had the \ncourage to declare himself the best; they all sat in silence. Then Yajnavalkya \nstood up, and called upon his band of disciples to take the herd of kine to his \nhome. This created a\nsensation among the \nBrahmin crowd. What was this Yajnavalkya doing? How very insolent of him! One of \nthem came up - he was a priest of King Janaka\'s, Asvala by name. He called out \nto Yajnavalkya, &quot;Yajnavalkya, do you then happen to be the best among us \nBrahmins ?&quot; Yajnavalkya replied with folded hands, &quot;Salutations to the best of \nBrahmins! We have taken the cows because \nI \nneed them. \nI \nam a seeker of kine, not that\nI \nhave the most Knowledge.&quot;</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut Asvala was insistent. He said, &quot;You have taken the cows, now you have to prove that you are the best. I am putting you some questions, let us see what answers you can give.... All you see here is subject to Death. Then how does the sacrificer, <i>yajam&#257;na, </i>\nmanage to escape from the \nclutches of Death ?&quot; Yajnavalkya gave answer, &quot;Sacrifice implies the four : the \npriest of the offering and the priest of the call, Fire and the Word, <i>\n&#7771;tvika, hot&#257;, \nagni, v&#257;</i><i>k</i>.\nIt \nis by virtue of these that the \nsacrificer escapes from Death.</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-26</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut Fire alone is the Priest of the Gall, he is the One who makes the Offering, the Word is no other than He. Fire means freedom, not ordinary freedom but the supreme Liberation. Fire is the Conscious-Force, the Power of Austerity.&quot; But there was no end to Asvala\'s questionings; he went on asking and Yajnavalkya gave due reply. This dialogue between Yajnavalkya and Asvala forms a chapter in the Upanishadic Science of Reality.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAfter Asvala had finished, another got up. This was the Rishi Artabhaga of the family of Jaratkaru. The dialogue that ensued between him and Yajnavalkya forms another chapter of the Upanishadic lore. Then arose Rishi Bhujyu of the Lahya family. He began with a rather amusing story. &quot;Yajnavalkya,&quot; he said, &quot;when in my student days I was travelling round the country, I happened to be in the Madra region once. I was the guest of a householder whose name was Patanjala. Patanjala had a daughter who was possessed by an evil spirit. We were familiar with this particular one — it was a Gandharva. I asked him, \'Who are you?\' The Gandharva replied, \'I am Sudhanvan born of the family of Angiras.\' From this Gandharva, we had learnt a few things about the other worlds. That is why I am going to ask you, Yajnavalkya, a few questions about those other worlds. If your answers tally with those of the Gandharva, then I shall admit that you really know.&quot; Yajnavalkya repeated exactly what the Gandharva had said. After Bhujyu it was the turn of Ushasti Chakrayana, who was followed by Kahola Kaushitakeya.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd now there arose Gargi, the daughter of Vachaknu. Gargi began with the question, &quot;Yajnavalkya, all this here is permeated by the waters. What then permeates the waters?&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;The waters are permeated by air,&quot; said Yajnavalkya. &quot;And what contains the air?&quot; &quot;The heavens.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;And where are the heavens contained?&quot;\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-27</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;In the world of the Gandharvas.&quot; \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;And the world of the Gandharvas?&quot; \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;In the regions of the Sun.&quot; \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;And the solar regions?&quot; \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;In the worlds of the Moon.&quot; \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;And the lunar worlds?&quot; \n</p>\n<p class=\"para\">&quot;In the regions of the stars.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nGargi went on thus with her seemingly endless questions, but Yajnavalkya had to cry halt when he came to the world of Brahman. Yet Gargi asked him again, &quot;And what contains this world of Brahman?&quot; Thereupon Yajnavalkya exclaimed, &quot;Your questions are now going beyond the limit, Gargi. You have been asking too much, and if you ask more, your head will fall off.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBut she was going to make one last attempt. She told the learned assembly that she was going to put her last questions to Yajnavalkya, and this would be his final test. She then called out to Yajnavalkya, &quot;Yajnavalkya, I am going to put two more questions to you. They are like a couple of arrows. When the king of Videha goes to war, he pulls the bowstrings and shoots his arrows. In like manner, I am aiming these arrow-like questions at you. Let us see how you will ward them off with the appropriate answers.&quot; Yajnavalkya said, &quot;Very well, try.&quot; Then Gargi said, &quot;Can you tell me what is above the sky and what is below the earth, and what is in between the earth and sky?&quot; To this Yajnavalkya replied, &quot;That is called <i>s&#363;tr&#257;tman<b>, </b></i>\nHe binds all from within as by \na thread and puts everything on as it were ; He \nis \nBrahman.&quot; This satisfied Gargi \nand she repeated her question to Yajnavalkya, - the very same question again; \nand Yajnavalkya gave the self-same reply.</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nNow Gargi turned to the learned men and addressed them thus, &quot;You had better bow down to Yajnavalkya and take your leave. No one among you has the power to get the better of him in the matter of learning or wisdom.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nWhat Yajnavalkya had really sought to convey in his\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-28</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">final reply to Gargi was this. Brahman is the supreme Seer, though He be invisible. He is beyond all hearing and yet is Himself the Hearer. He is beyond the ken of mind, but is Himself the supreme Thinker. He is Unknowable, but is the supreme Knower. There is none other than He who sees, hears, thinks and knows.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>(2)</b>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nIn that very assembly, during all this discussion and deliberation there took place an incident that was rather sad, and of a lugubrious nature. It looks so unseemly to us, but perhaps to the seekers of the Truth in that distant age the whole thing might have appeared quite natural.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nI think I have already mentioned the name of Sakalya. He was very fond of argument and his series of questions one after another made Yajnavalkya almost lose his patience. Finally, Yajnavalkya had to warn him, &quot;You are straying from the path of logic and are arguing beside the point. Since you have been asking so many questions, let me put to you now one single question. If you can give answer, so much the better. But if you can\'t, then your head will fall off.&quot; You may recall this manner of warning in connection with the Gargi episode. Perhaps this was the natural consequence of arguing beside the point; perhaps it is so even today, though not in such a gross form but in a subtler way.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYajnavalkya continued, &quot;You have been raising so many points of inquiry in connection with the Science of Reality. Now, can you tell me this: what is this Reality in its essence?&quot; Sakalya merely said that he did not know and held his peace. And immediately his head fell off. His retinue of disciples got up in a flurry and carried off the truncated corpse of their teacher, — ostensibly for the funeral rites, but actually in the hope of bringing it back to life by joining the head on. But here too they had ill luck.\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-29</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">As they carried the dead body along a deserted road beyond the limits of their hermitage, a gang of robbers made their appearance. The robbers thought they must be carrying some precious treasure. So they attacked and carried off the corpse as booty. Thus did Sakalya meet his end. The moral of the story, as the Upanishad itself has pointed out, is that not by argument can this Knowledge be had, <i>nai&#7779;&#257; tarke&#7751;a matir&#257;paney&#257;. </i>\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>(3) </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>\nYajnavalkya and Maitreyi </b>\n</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe next story belongs to an earlier stage in the life of Yajnavalkya. He had not yet become a prince among sages, the foremost of Brahmins, although there is evidence that he was even then a seeker of the Truth and had some knowledge of the Reality.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nBy this &quot;earlier&quot; stage I mean his life as householder. The story relates to the last phase of this life. He was now wanting to give up the householder\'s state and live the life of a forest recluse. He had been a family man, had two wives in fact, and some property as well. The wives were Katyayani and Maitreyi. Of the two, it was Katyayani who cared most for her position as wife, <i>str&#299;prajñ&#257;<b>; </b></i>\nMaitreyi\'s interests were in \nspiritual things, <i>\nbrahmav&#257;din&#299;</i>.<sup>1</sup></p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nSo, one day he called Maitreyi in and said to her, &quot;Maitreyi, I am forsaking all and leaving home. If you so desire, I can make separate provisions for Katyayani and yourself.&quot; To these words of Yajnavalkya, Maitreyi gave answer, &quot;If all my possessions were to fill the whole earth, would they\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\"> <sup>1</sup> One may recall here the story of the two women devotees who followed the Christ, the two sisters Martha and Mary. Christ had noted in Martha this womanly concern of which the Upanishad makes mention, and said to her one day, &quot;Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful, and Mary has shown that good part which shall not be taken away from her.&quot; <i>(St. Luke, </i>X. 41-42).\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-30</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">bring me immortality, my lord?&quot; Yajnavalkya had to reply, &quot;No, that could never be, that would be impossible. But you could thereby have a life of enjoyments, like all other people who have wealth. But of immortality there would be no hope.&quot; Thereupon Maitreyi exclaimed, &quot;What then am I to do with that which does not make me immortal?&quot; On hearing this reply of Maitreyi\'s, Yajnavalkya said, &quot;You have been always dear to me, Maitreyi; today you become still more dear. Let me tell you more, in fuller detail. Listen to my words with care.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nAnd Yajnavalkya began, &quot;Not for the sake of the husband does the husband become dear, O Maitreyi; the husband becomes dear for the sake of the Self. It is not because of the wife that she is held dear; it is for the sake of the Self. The son is held dear, not for the sake of the son, but for the sake of the Self. Wealth is dear, cattle are dear, not because of the cattle or wealth, but because of the Self. Spiritual power, military power, are held dear not for their own sakes, but for the sake of the Self. The other worlds are held dear not for their sakes but for the sake of the Self. The gods too are held dear not because they are gods, but because of the Self. The Vedas are dear, all created things are dear, not because of themselves, but because of the Self. Whatever else there be that is held to be dear is so because of the Self. It is this Self that has to be seen, heard about, thought of, meditated upon. The Self being seen, heard of, thought about, meditated upon, all else will be known, O Maitreyi.\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\n&quot;Let me illustrate. You see this lump of salt. It is of one piece both within and without, has one pervading taste, the taste of salt. In exactly the same way, the Self is of one pervading quality or taste; it is a solid mass of Knowledge. If this Self were to depart from created things, then they would vanish into nothingness. It will then leave no form or name. That is the state of release or liberation.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nOn hearing these words of Yajnavalkya, Maitreyi had to say, &quot;What you say, my lord, about this Knowledge-Self\n</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-31</p>\n<hr>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">leaving no form or name behind makes me perplexed.&quot; To this Yajnavalkya made answer, &quot;There is nothing here to be perplexed about, Maitreyi. The Self is an entity that knows no change or destruction, it is left untouched by any kind of change, nor does it ever disappear.&quot;\n</p>\n<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nYajnavalkya had given his answer, but Maitreyi\'s problem remained unsolved. The world is bound to be reduced to nothingness on attaining Self-knowledge, form must disappear on gaining the true status — these statements of Yajnavalkya, however impartial he might try to be, <i>\'ubhayameva\' mantrav&#257;d&#299;, </i>\nseem to be wholly in \nfavour of the illusionist view; Maitreyi has hinted at another possible \nsolution.</p>\n<br><p class=\"pageno\">Page-32</p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','-005_The Story of Rishi Yajnavalkya','','publish','closed','open','','005_the-story-of-rishi-yajnavalkya','','','2021-11-23 17:21:06','2021-11-23 17:21:06','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/005_the-story-of-rishi-yajnavalkya/',0,'post','',0),(1246,1,'2021-11-23 17:21:07','2021-11-23 17:21:07','<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN\">\n<html>\n<head>\n<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252\">\n<title>-001_Pre_Content.htm</title>\n</head>\n<div align=\"center\">\n	<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n	<td>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<img alt=\"Yoga%20%20-%200001-1.jpg\" border=\"0\" src=\"/Nolini/The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo Part - 2/_images/Yoga%20%20-%200001-1.jpg\" width=\"391\" height=\"600\"></p>\n	<hr>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	THE YOGA </p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	OF </p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	SRI AUROBINDO</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<hr>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	THE YOGA OF SRI \n	AUROBINDO</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>Part Two </b></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nNOLINI KANTA GUPTA</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nSri Aurobindo Library Madras</p>\n	<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"><b>\nPublishers: </b></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	Sri Aurobindo Library </p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	369 Esplanade, George Town </p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	Madras</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\"><i>\nAll Rights Reserved</i></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nFirst Edition1943</p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nSecond Edition     ..      1950</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\nSri Aurobindo Ashram Press </p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	Pondicherry </p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\">\n	Printed in India</p>\n	<hr>\n<p class=\"paracenter\">\n<b>\nPUBLISHERS\' NOTE</b></p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe present volume is the second of a series in which it is proposed to deal with various aspects of Sri Aurobindo\'s Yoga in their simple and broad outlines.</p>\n	<br>\n<p class=\"para\">\nThe first two essays were originally published in the <i>Sri Aurobindo Mandir Annual </i>of Calcutta (1942 &amp; 1943), the third in <i>The Aryan Path </i>(August, 1942).</p>\n	<p class=\"paracenter\"></p>\n	</td>\n</tr>\n	</table>\n</div>\n</html>\n','the-yoga-of-sri-aurobindo-part-2-001_Pre_Content','','publish','closed','open','','the-yoga-of-sri-aurobindo-part-2-001_pre_content','','','2021-11-23 17:21:07','2021-11-23 17:21:07','',0,'http://collectedworksofnolinikantagupta.com/index.php/2021/11/23/the-yoga-of-sri-aurobindo-part-2-001_pre_content/',0,'post','',0),