Shobha Mitra reads from her reminiscences, published earlier as a book "Living in the Presence", Part 2.
At the Feet of The Mother
auromaa
SATSANG WITH DR ALOK PANDEY IN AUSTRALIA 14/17 (VIDEO)
This talk focuses on the need and usefulness of spiritual evolution, and touches also upon some of the levels and stages of evolution.
Vande Mataram (transl. "Mother, I Bow to Thee") is a poem written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. The first 2 stanzas of the poem have now the official status as the "National Song" of the Republic of India. Sri Aurobindo has made a translation of the poem into English verse.
Sweet Mother, is religion a necessity in the life of the ordinary man ?
In the life of societies it is a necessity, for it serves as a corrective to collective egoism which, without this control, could take on excessive proportions.
Aswapati begins to go deeper into the dark mystery, the dark pole of creation, the Night that engulfs all things and seems to be the origin of all life.
Aswapati now wants to explore the dark underbelly of Life that denies it enduring progress and ties it down to the level of a beast with some rare uplifting moments. With this will to discover the very roots of evil, Aswapati now descends into darkness.
The power of the divine universal Shakti which is behind our aspiration is illimitable, and when it is rightly called upon it cannot fail to pour itself into us and to remove whatever incapacity and obstacle, now or later
Some four or five months before I left for Madras, Sri Aurobindo would sometimes say in a casual way, “Whatever happens, detach yourself from the happenings and learn to watch them as a Witness. Do not get involved in them.” ...This single mantra acted as an unfailing sustenance of my life during my stay at Madras for four or five years.
Democracy is by no means a sure preservative of liberty; on the contrary, we see today the democratic system of government march steadily towards such an organised annihilation of individual liberty as could not have been dreamed of in the old aristocratic and monarchical systems.
Shobha Mitra reads from her reminiscences, published earlier as a book "Living in the Presence".
This canto is about an intermediate stage through which evolution passes. It is a life no more centred around just food and mating and sleep. There is here a cry for change and glimpses of a higher and more beautiful life. But these passing glimpses do not endure nor have the power to transform our earthly existence.
Dr Alok Pandey and Narad on Savitri (VIDEO)
Life's rapture kept for ever its flame and cry.
All that now passes lived immortal there
In the proud beauty and fine harmony
Of Matter plastic to spiritual light.
A weekly sharing on Savitri by Alok Pandey (an audio recording in English).
When you look back, all kinds of things which you did not understand when they happened to you, you realise as just the thing which was necessary in order to compel you to make the needed progress. Always, without exception. It is our blindness which prevents us from seeing it.
The shikha was scissored off clean by Nolini Kanta Gupta in obedience to Sri Aurobindo’s order at about 2 a.m. on the altar of the temple at sacred Pondicherry in which Sri Aurobindo is the mūrti (deity). He performed this service when I was asleep.
"There can be for the seeker of the integral Yoga no clinging to resting-places on the road or to half-way houses; he cannot be satisfied till he has laid down all the great enduring bases of his perfection and broken out into its large and free infinities, and even there he has to be constantly filling himself with more experiences of the Infinite."
Dr Alok Pandey and Narad on Savitri (VIDEO)
He saw a hierarchy of lucent planes
Enfeoffed to this highest kingdom of God-state.
Attuning to one Truth their own right rule
Each housed the gladness of a bright degree
There is in the heart of life a hope that one day it shall indeed be transfigured by some miraculous tough. Until then she must strive and suffer and toil. Such is the predicament of life upon earth and of man tied to creation’s fate.