All India Magazine
Jan 1998

BLESSINGS

As the earth  that heaves and
opens,as the tree that grows,
as  the flower that blossoms,
as the bird that sings,as the
man that loves, let His light
permeate  you  and radiate in
everincreasing  and  widening
happiness, a  happiness stea-
dily  moving  onward  as  the
stars move in heaven.        

                 THE MOTHER 

Existence is not merely a ma-
chinery of Nature, a wheel of
law in  which the soul is en-
tangled  for a  moment or for
ages;it is a constant manife-
station of the Spirit.       

***

Manifestation is  not an epi-
sode of the  Eternal.  lt  is
his  face  and  body of glory
that is imperishable,  it  is
the  movement  of his joy and
power...                     

***

Existence is not a blind mac-
hine  that  somehow  came and
started a set ignoble  motion
without  object  or  sense or
purpose. Existence is a Truth
of things unfolding by a gra-
dual process of  manifestati-
on,  an  evolution of its own
involved Reality.            

  Existence is not an illusion, a Maya that had no reason, no
business to exist,  could not exist,  does not exist but only
seems to be.  A mighty Reality manifests in itself this  mar-
vellous universe.                                            

***

  Existence, not annihilation is the whole aim and pursuit of
existence.                                                   

                                                Sri Aurobindo

All life here is a stage or a
circumstance  in an unfolding
progressive  evolution  of  a
Spirit  that has involved it-
self in Matter and is  labou-
ring  to  manifest  itself in
that   reluctant   substance.
This  is  the whole secret of
earthly existence...         
  Evolution in its essence is
not the development of a more
and more organised body or  a
more  and more efficient life
- these are only its machine-
ry  and outward circumstance.
Evolution is the strife of  a
Consciousness   somnambulised
in Matter to wake and be free
and  find  and possess itself
and all its possibilities  to
the  very  utmost and widest,
to the very last and highest.
Evolution is the emancipation
of a self-revealing Soul sec-

ret in Form and Force,  the slow becoming of a  Godhead,  the
growth of a Spirit.                                          
   In this evolution mental man is not the goal and end,  the
completing value,  the highest last significance;  he is  too
small  and  imperfect  to be the crown of all this travail of
Nature...                                                    
   From the clod and metal to the plant,  from the  plant  to
the animal, from the animal to man, so much has she completed
of her journey. As from matter to life, from life to mind, so
now she  must pass from mind to supermind, from man to super-
man...                                                       

                                                Sri Aurobindo

Man is a spirit veiled in the
works of  energy,  moving  to
self-discovery,   capable  of
Godhead. He is a soul that is
growing   through  Nature  to
conscious self-hood;  he is a
divinity and an eternal exis-
tence;  he is an ever-flowing
wave  of  the  God-ocean,  an
inextinguishable spark of the
supreme Fire.  Even, he is in
his uttermost reality identi-
cal with the ineffable Trans-
cendencefrom  which  he  came
and greater than the godheads
whom he worships. The natural
half-animal   creature   that
for a while he seems to be is
not  at  all  his whole being
and is not in any way his re-
al being.  His inmost reality
is the divine Self or at  le-
ast  one dynamic eternal por-
tion of it,  and to find that
and exceed his outward, appa-
rent,  natural  self  is  the

greatness of which he alone of terrestrial beings  is  capab-
le.... Released into the cosmic consciousness, his spirit can
become one with God, one self with the Spirit of the universe
or rise into a Light and Vastness that transcends the univer-
se;  his nature can become one dynamic power  with  universal
Nature or one. Light with a transcendental Gnosis. To be shut
up for ever in his ego is not his ultimate perfection...     

                                                Sri Aurobindo

To get through the veil offe-
rees and get at their  secret
mainspring, which is the Spi-
rit itself,  is  of  cardinal
importance. To become oursel-
ves is the one  thing  to  be
done;  but the true ourselves
is that which is  within  us,
and  to exceed our outer self
of body, life and mind is the
condition  f  or this highest
being,  which is our true and
divine   being,   to   become
self-revealed and active.  lt
is only by growing within and
living  within  that  we  can
find  it;  once that is done,
to create from there the spi-
ritual or divine mind,  life,
body and through this instru-
mentation  to  arrive  at the
creation  of  a  world  which
shall be the true environment
of a divine living, - this is
the  final  object that Force
of Nature has set before  us.

This then is the first necessity,  that the individual,  each
individual,  shall  discover  the Spirit,  the divine reality
within him and express that in all his being  and  living.  A
divine  life  must  be first and foremost an inner life;  for
since the outward must be the expression of what  is  within,
there  can  be no divinity in the outer existence if there is
not the divinisation of the inner being.                     

                                                Sri Aurobindo

The Divine we seek is not re-
mote and inaccessible.  He is
at  the core of His own crea-
tion and what He wants us  to
do is to find Him, and by our
personal  transformation   to
become   capable  of  knowing
Him, of uniting with Him and,
in  the  end,  of manifesting
Him consciously. This is what
we  should consecrate oursel-
ves to, this is our true rea-
son for existence.           

***

The true  aim  of  life is to
find  the  Divine's  Presence
deep  inside  oneself  and to
surrender to lt  so  that  It
takes  the  lead of the life,
all the feelings and all  the
actions of the body.         
   This gives a true and  lu-
minous  aim to existence.    

***

The Divine is not far.  He is in ourselves,  deep inside  and
above the feelings and the thoughts. With the Divine is peace
and certitude and even the solution of all difficulties.     

***

Open your heart and you will find me already there.          

                                                   THE MOTHER

The  Upanishad teaches us how
to perceive  Brahman  in  the
universe and in our self-exi-
stence.                      

We have to  perceive  Brahman
comprehensively  as  both the
Stable  and  the  Moving.  We
must  see  lt  in eternal and
immutable Spirit and  in  all
the  changing  manifestations
ofuniverse and relativity.   

We have   to   perceive   all
things in Space and Time, the
far and the near, the immemo-
rial Vast, the immediate Pre-
sent,  the  infinite   Future
with  all  their contents and
happenings as the  One  Brah-
man.                         
          
We have  to  perceive Brahman
as that which exceeds, conta-
ins  and supports all indivi-
dual things as  well  as  all

dual things as well as all universe, transcendentally of Time
and Space and Causality.  We have to perceive It also as that
which lives in and possesses the universe and all  it  conta-
ins.                                                         

This is the transcendental, universal and individual Brahman,
Lord, Continent and Indwelling Spirit, which is the object of
all knowledge. Its realisation is the condition of perfection
and the way of Immortality.                                  

                                                Sri Aurobindo