Yogic methods have something of the same relation to the customary psychological workings of man as has the scientific handling of the force of electricity or of steam to their normal operations in Nature.
At the Feet of The Mother
In spite of the difficulties and critical trials through which humanity may be required to pass, Sri Aurobindo underlines the need of understanding the inevitability of the spiritual solution. He places before us a vision of the way in which a World-Union could come into being.
A group of Seniors from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry visit recently completed exhibition gallery with around 600 paintings by Huta, executed under the direct guidance of Mother, named "Meditations on Savitri". Video by Manohar (AV).
... intellectual conclusions of the rationalist for all their [...] pomp & profuse apparatus of scrupulous enquiry were as much dogmas as those former dicta of Pope & theologians
Why am I singled out by the difficulties? Any error on my part?
Everybody has his full share of difficulties, except those who do not mind what difficulties they have. Difficulties come from the old nature trying to rise up — they need not be the result of any error.
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Man’s numberless misdeeds and rare good deeds take place within my single self.
I am the beast he slays, the bird he feeds and saves.
The thoughts of unknown minds exalt me with their thrill,
I carry the sorrow of millions in my lonely breast.
The subtle physical world is a junction between the involutionary and the evolutionary world. It wraps around the physical and surrounds it, letting only few things pass through it. In this sense it serves as a protective envelop around the body.
Yoga, as Swami Vivekananda has said, may be regarded as a means of compressing one’s evolution into a single life or a few years or even a few months of bodily existence.
Death tries to dissuade Savitri but ultimately concedes an earthly boon, all except Satyavan. Savitri wisely asks Death to give back all that Satyavan wished for himself when he was alive.
The most loved soundtrack theme of the Water ceremony for Auroville's 50th anniversary, as performed by the Auroville Choir and Instrumental ensemble in a Cripa performance few nights later.
Words have a great creative power. When spoken in sincere faith and aspiration, they never go in vain. The words we speak to Thee, Mother Divine, in prayer, act as a great power for our inner transformation.
Art-Studio 12 Qualities presents a short film on Sincerity. “A sincere heart is worth all the extraordinary powers in the world”. Sri Aurobindo
What was there on the head that pressed so powerfully?
The power from above.
Why was it doing so?It must have been to make a fresh opening.
In that infernal realm where darkness swallows all sense and purpose and will, there is still one gleam of Light that springs forth from the soul of Savitri. It is enough to threaten the darkness and bring her memory back and resume the journey through the Night.
Indian Yoga, in its essence a special action or formulation of certain great powers of Nature, itself specialised, divided and variously formulated, is potentially one of these dynamic elements of the future life of humanity.
Immediately behind this world of ours, we can discover the world of subtle forms, beautiful and charming. Sometimes it can show up in dreams or trance or even in thought and feelings. But our human organs are not yet trained to catch its murmur and subtle indications.
Behind the veil of our solid outer world and its forms that we see and touch there exists a Kingdom of subtle matter. It is this world that is just behind this material world as we know it, its beings and forces and action, function and influences, that is being described here in this Canto.
A weekly sharing on Savitri by Dr Alok Pandey (an audio recording in English).