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At the Feet of The Mother
Something began to emerge out of the gulfs of Night, an evil influence crept silently to enter men’s heart. The powers of the Abyss deform and distort truth. They cast a spell as it were that perverts the will and throws doubts thereby dragging nature towards the home of Night.
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 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.
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.
Why do people often complain that they are not able to keep up the sadhana during work?

It is a question of doing work in the right attitude — as a means of sadhana. Most take the work as work only.

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.
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.
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.