…it has illustrated once more that poetry is not merely beauty but power, it is not merely sweet imagination but creative vision – it is even the Rik, the mantra that impels the gods to manifest upon earth, that fashions divinity in man.
           (Nolini Kanta Gupta, Collected Works Vol. 2 The Approach to Mysticism. Ahana and Other Poems, pp 62-63)

“Science and philosophy, introspection and interrogation, fact and myth and symbolism, hope and aspiration and ecstasy, all course through Ahana’s universe of poesy to overwhelming effect. Now and then, and again and again, the resounding cataract crystallises into dazzling images and striking evocations: “Brooded out drama and epic, structured the climb of the sonnet”; “All is a wager and danger, all is a chase and a battle”; “Time’s doors shudder / Swinging wide on their hinges into Eternity”; “Dupe of a figment of consciousness, doped with behaviour and feature”. Studded with iridescent lightnings, Ahana is one long reverberation of music, a feast alike for the physical and the inner ear.
             (K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar, “Sri Aurobindo – a biography and a history”, 2006, p 625)

WORDS OF THE MOTHER

Invocation

WORDS OF SRI AUROBINDO

The sun of India’s destiny would rise and fill all India with its light and overflow India and overflow Asia and overflow the world. Every hour, every moment could only bring them nearer to the brightness of the day that God had decreed.

***

Our aim will therefore be to help in building up India for the sake of humanity — this is the spirit of Nationalism which we profess and follow. We say to humanity: “The time has come when you must take the great step and rise out of a material existence into the higher, deeper and wider life towards which humanity moves. The problems which have troubled mankind can only be solved by conquering the kingdom within, not by harnessing the forces of Nature to the service of comfort and luxury, but by mastering the forces of the intellect and the spirit, by vindicating the freedom of man within as well as without and by conquering from within external Nature. For that work the resurgence of Asia is necessary, therefore Asia rises. For that work the freedom and greatness of India are essential, therefore she claims her destined freedom and greatness, and it is to the interest of all humanity,… that she should wholly establish her claim.”

A conversation of Alok Pandey and Narad, recorded in 2014.

SRI AUROBINDO ON HARMONY

THE MOTHER ON HARMONY AND GOODWILL

Harmony

Harmony: let us strive that the day may come when this will be the means and the end.
*
Harmony is my aim and all that leads to harmony makes me happy.
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Integral harmony: harmony between things, harmony between people, harmony of circumstances and above all harmony of all aspiration directed towards the Supreme Truth.
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A harmonious collective aspiration can change the course of circumstances.
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Collective harmony is the work undertaken by the Divine Consciousness; It alone has the power to realise it.
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There is a deep and true consciousness in which all can meet in love and harmony.
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It is only in union with the Divine and in the Divine that harmony and peace can be established.
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Surely we must always want peace and harmony and work for it as much as we can–but for that the best field of action is always within ourselves.
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Look for the inner causes of disharmony much more than the outer ones. It is the inside which governs the outside.
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Do not worry or be impatient–all the disharmonies will disappear, but it must be on the true basis of a settled luminous consciousness leaving no room for the play of the ego.
*
For all to agree, each one must rise to the summit of his consciousness: it is on the heights that harmony is created.

You must rise so high in your consciousness that it dominates the opposition. This is the solution.

Collaboration

Collaboration: ever ready to help and knowing how to do it.
*
Collaboration does not mean that everybody should do the will of the man who asks for it. True collaboration is a non-egoistic union of all personal efforts to express and realise the Divine’s Will.
*
We must replace competition and strife by collaboration and fraternity.
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Substitute the spirit of rivalry and competition by the goodwill of collaboration and mutual understanding.
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It is when things are going wrong that it is the best opportunity to show one’s goodwill and spirit of true collaboration.

Goodwill

Indeed, the good will hidden in all things reveals itself everywhere to the one who carries good will in his consciousness. This is a constructive way of feeling which leads straight to the Future.
*
One should keep goodwill and love constantly in his heart and let them pour out upon all with tranquillity and with equanimity.
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Good will for all and good will from all is the basis of peace and harmony.
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Goodwill: of modest appearance, it makes no noise but is ever ready to be useful.
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Mental goodwill likes to show off a little, but is very useful.

Benevolence

Benevolence makes life fragrant without attracting attention.
*
A tireless benevolence, clear-seeing and comprehensive, free from all personal reaction, is the best way to love God and serve Him upon earth. I mean a benevolence sincere and spontaneous in thought and speech and not a supposed benevolence in acts which is accompanied most often by a dreadful sense of condescending superiority serving chiefly as a platform for human vanity.

Tolerance

Tolerance is full of a sense of superiority; it should be replaced by a total understanding.
*
Tolerance is only the first step towards wisdom.
The need to tolerate indicates the presence of preferences.
He who lives in the Divine Consciousness regards all things with a perfect equanimity.

[This Mother’s selection originally was published here: http://saccs.org.in/texts/mcw-index/mcw-indexed-texts/14-196.php]