Did Sri Aurobindo Take the Easy Way Out?
…the mind is incapable of judging spiritual things. THE MOTHER Sri Aurobindo was sent to England at age seven for ‘further studies’, and returned to India in 1893 at age twenty one. His full-time engagement with the struggle for India’s freedom was restricted to a short period (1906-1910), of which one year (1908-1909) was spent in prison. In April 1910 he went away to Pondicherry, after which he dedicated himself exclusively to...
Occupational Hazards of a Spiritual Guide
It is true that some people are more capable than others of entering into relation with this field of ideas and manifesting it through their conscious cerebrality. But this is nothing other than an additional responsibility for them: since they are in possession of this wealth, they are its stewards and must see that it is used for the good of the greatest number. THE MOTHER (in a talk on ‘Charity’ delivered on 20 May 1912) A...
Spiritual Life De-mystified
Spiritual life is a life of meaning and purpose. It is a life that finds meaning and purpose in selfless love. Spiritual life is not necessarily an ascetic life. An ascetic renounces worldly life, and seeks solitude in a cave or the Himalayas. But worldly life itself can be spiritualized. An essential pre-requisite of spiritual life is an intense and sincere aspiration for spiritual growth. However, the aspiration is not enough – it...
SRI AUROBINDO: Unprecedented and Unparalleled
What Sri Aurobindo represents in the world’s history is not a teaching, not even a revelation, it is a decisive action direct from the Supreme. THE MOTHER Sri Aurobindo was born in the family of a medical doctor, Dr. Krishna Dhan Ghose, who was convinced that India’s salvation lay in adopting the ways of the western world. In an attempt to shield his children from all influences Indian, he sent them to be educated in England. Sri...
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA — A Vital Link in a Crucial Chain
Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy – by one or more or all of these – and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA Nineteenth century was a momentous period in world...
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE SPIRITUALITY
Don’t speak. Act. Don’t Announce. Realise. THE MOTHER Among the visitors to spiritual organizations like Sri Aurobindo Ashram are some dead serious, sincere and intense young people who claim to be on the spiritual path but seem to be on the verge of losing their mental balance, if they have not lost it already. The question naturally arises what makes something as laudable as the spiritual path a risky road to walk on. The risk lies...
Ramesh Bijlani
