Q: Can you give me a simple daily routine which is as practical as it is spiritual so that we can connect to The Mother and start her work of purifying us and making us receptive to her influence?
ALOKDA: Connecting with the Mother has more to do with attitudes and aspiration than with a routine. However a routine can be helpful because it helps us organise our life and time. It also instills some kind of a discipline which is helpful to channelize and focus our energies rightly. Of course anything, any routine or practice becomes counterproductive if followed too rigidly. It takes away the plasticity needed for a natural organic growth towards the Divine and can sometimes hinder the suddenness of the divine disclosure in our life in unexpected moments. Also we need to understand that each one is different in their constitution, temperament, life situations and circumstances and one routine that may work for someone may not do so for another. Even the practices (not the fundamental attitudes and approach) differ from person to person. Given this proviso, a basic daily routine that may be good for most practitioners should include the following:
1. About half an hour to one hour at least for the study of Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s books. The book to be read first depends upon one’s temperament and seeking. My favourites have been ‘Savitri’ and ‘Prayers and Meditations’. I have also found writing down select passages from these two books very helpful.
2. About half an hour to one hour of meditation / concentration with an aspiration to find the Divine. This period is best divided into two or three sittings at different times of the day, for example 20 to 30 minutes in the morning and another 20 to 30 minutes in the night with another spell of concentration during mid-day. This can be a period of concentrated Japa with one’s consciousness focused on the Mother and Sri Aurobindo in the heart center or above the head.
3. About one hour of selfless work for the Divine. This could be done either by giving time to offer services at one of the Sri Aurobindo centers or else some other online work that is associated with the Mother and Sri Aurobindo and Their teachings. If neither is possible then one can offer whatever work one is doing to Her and do it in a spirit of selfless service to Her in a state of Remembrance.
4. About half an hour to one hour of exercises daily split into 15 to 20 minutes of stretches and breath focusing and another 40 to 45 minutes of walk.
5. It is helpful if one can write a dairy in the form of a letter to the Mother about all that is going on in one’s life with a prayer to open oneself to Her Light and Love and Peace and Joy and Grace.
Apart from this one should basically lead a balanced life of moderation in food and sleep, avoid excesses of any kind and stop indulging in smoking and alcoholic drinks. As to sexuality, the attitude should be to gradually get it off one’s system. This takes time, sometimes really long but eventually one succeeds if the aspiration is persistent and one keeps calling Her Grace for help. This effort again should not be some kind of a forced and sudden suppression, especially if one continues indulgence in the mind. One has to first practice samyama (regulation) with an eventual will towards mastery and conquest.
It is important to remember that in yoga it is not just what one does but equally what one does not do that is important. Thus it is best to avoid social interchanges with all kinds of people, especially partying or marriage or gathering together for gossip. A healthy friendship is one thing and having a host of social circle with all kinds of people, especially those whose life and thoughts are not at all aligned with the goal and the path one has chosen.
It is important for the seekers of this yoga to make a visit to the Ashram once or twice an year to recharge themselves with the intense vibrations that radiate from their Samadhi. It gives an extra push towards the goal. Even few moments spent near the samadhi in this place which is the seat of Their tapasya is more than worth the effort and time taken to reach.
As I said, this ‘routine’, if it can be so called, should not be turned into a universal ritual. Eventually each one must find one’s own inner rhythm and outer means for connecting oneself to the Divine Mother. What is most important is not what one does but why one does it. any or even all of these things done as a soulless ritual or for some covert ambition or desire for some kind of fruit of one’s effort takes away the real thing. Even japa if done for getting power or satisfying some kind of spiritual or other ambition closes the doors to Light and Truth. The inner attitude is thus the most important. The outer derives its value from that and not vice versa.
