CONTENTS

 

Pre-Content

 

PART ONE

 

REMARKS ON HIS LIFE AND WORKS AND ON

HIS CONTEMPORARIES AND CONTEMPORARY EVENTS

 

Section One

Reminiscences and Remarks on Events in His Outer Life

 

His Life and Attempts to Write about It

His Name

Life in England, 1879 - 1893

Life in Baroda, 1893 - 1906

Political Career, 1906 - 1910

Outer Life in Pondicherry, 1910 - 1950

 

Section Two

General Remarks on His Life

 

Remarks on His Life in Pondicherry after 1926

His Temperament and Character

Heredity, Past Lives, Astrology

 

Section Three

Remarks on Himself as a Writer and on His Writings

 

On Himself as a Writer

Writing for Publication

On His Published Prose Writings

The Terminology of His Writings

 

Section Four

Remarks on Contemporaries and on Contemporary Problems

 

Remarks on Spiritual Figures in India

Remarks on European Writers on Occultism

Remarks on Public Figures in India

Remarks on Public Figures in Europe

Remarks on Indian Affairs, 1930 - 1946

Remarks on the World Situation, 1933 - 1949


 

PART TWO

 

HIS SADHANA OR PRACTICE OF YOGA

 

 

Section One

Sadhana before Coming to Pondicherry in 1910

 

Ordinary Life and Yoga

Early Experiences

The Realisation of January 1908

Experiences in Alipur Jail, 1908 - 1909

 

Section Two

Sadhana in Pondicherry, 1910 ­ 1950

 

The Early Years in Pondicherry, 1910 - 1926

The Realisation of 24 November 1926

The Sadhana of 1927 - 1929

General Remarks on the Sadhana of the 1930s

The Supramental Yoga and Other Spiritual Paths

Remarks on the Current State of the Sadhana, 1931 - 1947

 

Section Three

Some Aspects of the Sadhana in Pondicherry

 

Inner Vicissitudes and Difficulties

Unusual Experiences and States of Consciousness


 

PART THREE

 

THE LEADER AND THE GUIDE

 

Section One

The Guru and the Avatar

 

The Guru

The Question of Avatarhood

 

Section Two

Help and Guidance

 

Help from the Guide

Guidance through Correspondence

Sri Aurobindo's Force

Therapeutic Force and Healing

Lights, Visions, Dreams

Darshan

Contact with People Outside the Ashram


 

PART FOUR

 

THE PRACTICE OF YOGA IN THE ASHRAM AND OUTSIDE

 

Section One

The Practice of Yoga in the Ashram, 1926 ­ 1950

 

Entering Sri Aurobindo's Path

Admission, Staying, Departure

The Ashram and Its Atmosphere

Sadhana in the Ashram

Discipline in the Ashram

Rules in the Life of the Ashram

The Ashram and Religion

Human Relations and the Ashram

Work in the Ashram

Life and Death in the Ashram

Miscellaneous Matters

 

Section Two

The Practice of Yoga in the Ashram and the Outside World

 

The Ashram and the Outside World

Yoga Centres and Movements


 

PART FIVE

 

MANTRAS AND MESSAGES

 

Section One

Mantras

 

On Mantras

Mantras Written by Sri Aurobindo

 

Section Two

Messages

 

Messages Written for Special Occasions

 

 

NOTE ON THE TEXTS

Lights, Visions, Dreams

 

Sri Aurobindo's Light

 

If it is pale blue, it may be my colour. Pale lavender blue, pale blue but very brilliant in its own shade.

6 August 1932

 

*

 

Nowadays I see Sri Aurobindo's light for most of the time but in different forms —  sometimes like a big star, sometimes like a moon, sometimes like a flash of light. Why do I not see it in the same form?

 

It varies according to the circumstances. Why should it be always the same?

21 April 1933

 

*

 

Two days back in a dream I saw Sri Aurobindo coming towards me. His body and dress were blue. Why did I see him in this colour and not any other?

 

It is the basic light Sri Aurobindo manifests.

23 June 1933

 

*

 

Sri Aurobindo's light is not a light of the illumined mind —  it is the divine Illumination which may act on any plane.

7 September 1933

 

*

 

Someone was giving an explanation of the legend of the churning of the ocean. He said that blue is the colour of poison, which is why Shiva is called Nilakantha, while whitish blue is the colour of Sri Krishna and therefore of you.

 

The different blues mean different forces (the real blue has nothing to do with poison). The whitish blue is specially called my  

 

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light —  but it does not mean that that alone can come from me.

22 November 1933

 

*

   

There are many blues and it is difficult to say which these are. Usually deeper blue is higher Mind, a paler blue Illumined Mind —  whitish blue Sri Krishna's light (also called Sri Aurobindo's light).

March 1934

 

*

   

It depends on the shade of the blue. Ordinary pale blue is usually the light of the illumined Mind or something of the Intuition. Whitish blue is Sri Aurobindo's light or Krishna's light.

6 February 1935

 

Receiving Sri Aurobindo's Light

 

How can I receive Sri Aurobindo's light in the mind?

 

It can always come if you aspire patiently. But the basic condition, if you want that Light, is to get rid of all other mental influences.

29 May 1932

 

*

 

What is the meaning of "to get rid of all other mental influences"? Is it this that I had better not read any other books except Sri Aurobindo's or not try to learn anything by hearing or admiring others?

 

It is not a question of reading books or learning facts. When a woman loves or admires, her mind is instinctively moulded by the one she loves or admires, and this influence can last after the feeling itself has gone or appears to be gone. This does not refer to X's influence merely. It is a general rule given to keep yourself from any other admiration or influence.

30 May 1932

 

Light in a Photograph

 

As one approaches your photograph in the Reception Room,  

 

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there is a feeling that it is an emanation of yours. There seems to be a special light in it.

 

The Sadhaks may themselves bring this light by approaching me through the photo.

24 August 1934

 

Meditation with a Photograph

 

When the meditation is done with the photo, it is better done with open eyes.

 

Seeing Sri Aurobindo in Vision

 

I looked at your photograph in the Reception Room after meditation and clearly saw the portrait move its shoulders and as if breathing.

 

There was a movement in the vital plane and you opened to an inner vision of it.

22 March 1933

 

*

 

As I was sitting in prayer, I saw Sri Aurobindo in a vision coming down the staircase till he came just near to the floor. What does this mean?

 

It indicates perhaps the bringing of the Divine Consciousness down from level to level till it is now nearer the material.

23 September 1933

 

*

 

Today while meditating I saw in a vision that in Sri Aurobindo's light Nataraja Shiva was manifesting with many hands. What does this signify?

 

It is the sign of the manifestation.

 

Then I saw that in the sky Sri Aurobindo's light and red light were manifesting in the form of a globe. Does this signify the manifestation of Sri Aurobindo's divine light on the physical plane?  

 

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Yes.

 

Then I saw that Sri Aurobindo's light was manifesting on a sea along with another light of pale blue colour. Does this mean that in the vastness of consciousness Sri Aurobindo's divine light is manifesting through the Intuitive Mind consciousness?

 

Yes.

15 October 1933

 

*

 

I saw Sri Aurobindo last night in a vision seated on a chair and writing something. Behind his head there was a circular green light. What does this mean?

 

The green light is that of a dynamic vital energy (of work). As I was writing —  at work —  it is natural that that light should be behind my head.

5 November 1933

 

*

 

I have started concentrating in the heart now. Last Sunday while I was meditating I had the vision of your face floating before me for about an hour or so, accompanied by a deep joy. I was fully conscious, but the body became as if dead, all movements stopped, and what a rapture it gave me.

 

That was very good!

 

Has anything opened up in me, really? Or is it only a momentary phase of a descent like Peace or Ananda? But I feel as if you have given me a lift forward —  the fulfilling of the Mother's promise —  "I am coming". Am I right?

 

It looks like it. At any rate there is evidently an opening in the heart-centre or you would not have had the change or the vision with the stilling of the physical consciousness in the body.

30 October 1934

 

*

 

Last night I had a dream that you had come out of your seclusion for once; you were tall, quite young, but very dark. I began to wonder if this was Sri Aurobindo of former years!  

 

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No. It is not likely. It is probably some subtle physical form —  the one corresponding to the Shiva element in me. I have seen myself like that sometimes and it was always the Shiva formation.

11 December 1934

 

Help in Dreams

X had a dream of you as shown in the photograph giving him instructions in his engineering work. Two features: (1) Sri Aurobindo has come out of retirement; (2) he has come out as an engineer!

 

I suppose, the present Sri Aurobindo having left all engineering work to the Mother, the previous Sri Aurobindo had to come to do it in this case. Anyhow what has it to do with coming out? Any number of people meet me in dreams and get instructions or intimations about this or that. It is an activity of the vital plane where I am not in strict retirement —  it has nothing to do with any future physical happening.

25 August 1936

 

*

 

Do you mean to say that people getting instructions from you in dreams is as real, effective and correct as if you had written them on paper?

 

Yes, if the record is correct.

26 August 1936  

 

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