Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Volume 1

Letter ID: 120

Sri Aurobindo — Roy, Dilip Kumar

April 7, 1931

... It is the old trick of despondency trying to come up again and have its spell or its gloomy innings – that is why it is trying to persuade you that truth is on its side, that you have never had the least shadow of any inner experience and especially that Yoga must be a grim affair in which there is no place for music or literature. The first thing to do is not to open the door to these old visitors.

It is better often to offer one’s work to the Divine in an atmosphere of peace and joy and gratitude, feelings which are helpful to Bhakti than to have a gloomy or struggling meditation. The first thing to get in meditation is a quiet mind and if possible a happy, at least a quiet vital. You have certainly had better things in meditation than groping or barren darkness – and there is no reason why it should not bring these better things. It is a question of getting the right poise.