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Prayers And Meditations
Contents
1912
1913 1914
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
1915
1916
1917
1918 - 1937
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July 1, 1914
We hail Thee, O Lord, with adoration and with joy, and give ourselves to Thee in a gift constantly renewed, so that Thy will may be accomplished upon earth and in all the places of this universe. When we turn towards Thee the thought is mute but the heart exults; for Thou shinest resplendent in all things, and the least grain of sand may be an occasion for worship. We bow down before Thee, we unite with Thee, O Lord, in a love that is limitless and full of an inexpressible beatitude. Oh, grant this sovereign joy to all. Page - 188
O sovereign Force, O victorious Power, Purity, Beauty, supreme Love, grant that this being in its integrality, this body in all its totality may draw near to Thee solemnly and offer to Thee in a complete and humble surrender this means of manifestation abandoned perfectly to Thy Will, if not perfectly ready for this realisation.... With the calm and strong certitude that Thou wilt one day accomplish the expected miracle and manifest in its fullness Thy sublime splendour, we turn to Thee in a profound rapture, and silently implore Thee.... Immensity, Infinitude, Wonder.... Thou alone art and Thou shinest resplendent in all things. The hour of Thy fulfilment is near. All Nature is ingathered in a solemn concentration. Thou answerest her ardent call. Page -189
All that belongs to the outer, lower being which is still obscure, prostrates itself before Thee in a mute and fervent adoration, calling with all its strength Thy purifying action which will make it fit to manifest Thee fully. And in this adoration is found perfect silence and perfect beatitude. Thou repliest mercifully to the call: “What has to be done will be done. The necessary instruments will be prepared. Strive in the calm of certitude.” Page -190
What plenitude in the perception! The entire individual being, modest, humble, surrendered, adoring, calm and smiling, feeling one with all beings, unable to make any difference of value, in perfect solidarity with all things, is kneeling down before Thee together with them all; and at the same time the formidable omnipotence of Thy Force which is here, ready for the manifestation, waiting, building the propitious hour, the favourable opportunity: the incomparable splendour of Thy victorious sovereignty. The Force is here. Rejoice, O you who are waiting and hoping: the new manifestation is sure, the new manifestation is at hand. The Force is here. All nature exults and sings in gladness, all nature is at a festival: The Force is here. Arise and live; arise and be illuminated; arise and battle for the transfiguration of all: The Force is here. Page - 191
Peace, peace upon all the earth.... Not the peace of an inconscient sleep or a self-satisfied inertia; not the peace of a self-forgetful ignorance and a dark, heavy indifference, but the peace of the omnipotent force, the peace of perfect communion, the peace of integral awakening, of the disappearance of all limitation and all darkness.... Why torment oneself and suffer, why this bitter struggle and painful revolt, why this vain violence, why this inconscient, heavy sleep? Awake without fear, appease your conflicts, silence your disputes, open your eyes and your hearts: the Force is there; it is there, divinely pure, luminous, powerful; it is there as a boundless love, a sovereign power, an indisputable reality, an unmixed peace, an uninterrupted beatitude, the Supreme Benediction; it is self-existence, the endless bliss of infinite knowledge... and it is something more which cannot yet be told, but which is already at work in the higher worlds beyond thought as the power of sovereign transfiguration, and also in the inconscient depths of Matter as the Irresistible Healer.... Listen, listen, O thou who wouldst know. Look, thou who wouldst see, contemplate and live: The Force is here. Page - 192
O divine Force, supreme Illuminator, hearken to our prayer, move not away from us, do not withdraw, help us to fight the good fight, make firm our strength for the struggle, give us the force to conquer! O my sweet Master, Thou whom I adore without being able to know Thee, Thou who I am without being able to realise Thee, my entire conscious individuality prostrates itself before Thee and implores, in the name of the workers in their struggle, and of the earth in her agony, in the name of suffering humanity and of striving Nature; O my sweet Master, O marvellous Unknowable, O Dispenser of all boons, Thou who makest light spring forth in the darkness and strength to arise out of weakness, support our effort, guide our steps, lead us to victory. Page - 193
O Thou who eternally, immutably art, who consentest to Thy becoming in this world that Thou mayst bring into it a new Illumination, a new Impulsion, Thou art here, manifest Thyself more and more completely, always more perfectly; the instrument has given and gives itself to Thee with a fervent adhesion, a total surrender; Thou mayst reduce it to dust or transform it into a sun, it will resist nothing that is Thy Will. In this surrender lies its true strength and its true beatitude. But why art Thou so considerate with the animality of the body? Is it because it must be given time to adapt itself to the marvellous complexity, the powerful infinity of Thy Force? Is it Thy Will that makes itself gentle and patient, is unwilling to precipitate things, leaves to the elements leisure to adapt themselves?... I mean – is it better thus or is it impossible otherwise? Is there here a particular incapacity which Thou dost tolerate with magnanimity or is this a general law which is an inevitable portion of all that has to be transformed?... But it matters little what we think about it, since thus it is; the attitude alone is important: Should we fight, should we accept? And it is Thou who dictatest the attitude, it is Thy Will that determines it at each moment. Why foresee and contrive when it is enough to observe and to give a full adhesion? The working in the constitution of the physical cells Page - 194 is perceptible: permeated with a considerable amount of force they seem to expand and to become lighter. But the brain is still heavy and asleep.... I unite myself to this body, O divine Master, and cry to Thee: Do not spare me, act with Thy sovereign omnipotence; for in me Thou hast put the will to an entire transfiguration. Page - 195
The entire physical being would like to be dissolved and reconstituted in an adoration that would have no bounds. O Lord, Thou who comest to touch Matter as the Messenger of the Supreme Power and Supreme Beatitude, Thou createst the conception of what the total realisation can be. And when the being believed it was definitively invested with Thy sublime mandate, Thou withdrawest, making it understand that it was only a promise, a token of what can be. Alas, what an imperfection in Matter it is that we cannot hold Thee! O Lord, use Thy omnipotence, work the miracle of Thy permanent Presence.... Why so much consideration? We must triumph or perish!... Victory, victory, victory! We want the victory of Transfiguration! Page - 196
In all the states of being, in all the modes of activity, in all things, in all the worlds, one can meet Thee and unite with Thee, for Thou art everywhere and always present. He who has met Thee in one activity of his being or in one world of the universe, says “I have found Him” and seeks nothing more; he thinks he has reached the summit of human possibilities. What a mistake! In all the states, in all the modes, in all things, all worlds, all the elements we must discover Thee and unite with Thee and if one element is left aside, however small it may be, the communion cannot be perfect, the realisation cannot be accomplished. And that is why to have found Thee is but a first step on an infinite ladder.... O sweet Master, sovereign Transfigurator, put an end to all negligence, all lazy indolence, gather together all our energies, make them into an indomitable, irresistible will. O Light, Love, ineffable Force, all the atoms cry to Thee so that Thou mayst penetrate and transfigure them.... Give to all the supreme delight of the communion. Page - 197
Patience, strength, courage, calm and indomitable energy.... Let the mind learn to be silent, let it not be eager to profit immediately by the forces which come to us from Thee for the integral manifestation.... But why hast thou chosen for the expression of Thy Will the poorest element, the most mediocre, the most imperfect?... Page - 198
What, O Lord?... Just as Thou wilt, just as Thou wilt.... This instrument is weak, mediocre; Thou hast taught it that all activities are possible to it, that nothing was radically strange to it in all human activities; but it is in intensity, in perfection only that the Divine begins, and until now Thou hast not granted to it any extraordinary intensity, any real perfection.... Everything is in a state of promise, a promise not individual but collective; nothing is completely realised. Why, O Lord? Thou hast placed in my heart a peace so total that it seems to be almost indifference and in an immensity of calm serenity it says: Just as Thou wilt, just as Thou wilt.... Page - 199
Salutation of my silent and humble adoration.... I bow down before Thy glory, for it dominates me with all its splendour.... Oh, let me dissolve at Thy feet, melt into Thee! Page - 200
Earthly realisations easily take on a great importance in our eyes, for they are proportionate to our external being with this limited form which makes us men. But what is an earthly realisation beside Thee, before Thee? However perfect, complete, divine it may be, it is nothing but an indiscernible moment in Thy eternity; and the results obtained by it, however powerful and marvellous they may be, are nothing but an imperceptible atom in the infinite march to Thee. This is what Thy workers must never forget, otherwise they will become unfit to serve Thee.... O my sweet Master, what childishness to think oneself responsible for anything at all and want to individualise Thy supreme and divine Will! Is it not enough to unite with Thy heart and live there permanently? Then Thou takest all the responsibilities and Thy will works without even our needing to know it.... Only a realisation independent of all outer circumstances, free from all attachment and all understanding, however high, is a true realisation, a valuable realisation. And the only such realisation is to unite with Thee integrally, closely, definitively. As for the care of Thy transitory, momentary manifestation in a fugitive existence and in a transient world, it is Thou who must be responsible for it and do what is necessary for it to exist, if Thou thinkest it good. O my sweet Master, sovereign Lord, Thou hast taken away all my cares and left me only the Beatitude, the supreme ecstasy of Thy divine Communion. Page - 201
Two things remain unshakable despite all storm-winds, even the most violent: the will that all may be happy with the true happiness – Thine, and the ardent desire to unite perfectly and be identified with Thee.... All the rest is perhaps still the result of an effort and a pretension, this is spontaneous, unshakable; and just when it seems that the ground is giving way and everything breaking down, this appears luminous, pure and calm, piercing through the clouds, dispelling the shadows, emerging still greater and stronger from the ruins, carrying in itself Thy infinite Peace and Beatitude. Page - 202
O Lord, Thou art the omnipotent Master of Thy own manifestation; grant to these instruments that they may escape from frames too narrow, from limits too fixed and mediocre. All the riches of human possibility are needed to translate even one atom of Thy infinite Force.... Open the doors that are closed, make the sealed fountains spring forth, that the floods of Thy eloquence and Thy beauty may overspread the world. Let there be amplitude and majesty, nobility and grace, charm and grandeur, variety and strength: for it is the will of the Lord to manifest. O my sweet Master, Thou art the sovereign Ruler of our destinies; Thou art the omnipotent Master of Thy own manifestation. Thine is all this world, Thine all these creatures and all these atoms. Transfigure them, illumine. Page - 203
There was no longer any body, no longer any sensation; only a column of light was there, rising from where the base of the body normally is to where usually is the head, to form there a disk of light like that of the moon; then from there the column continued to rise very far above the head, opening out into an immense sun, dazzling and multicoloured, whence a rain of golden light fell covering all the earth. Then slowly the column of light came down again forming an oval of living light, awakening and setting into movement – each one in a special way, according to a particular vibratory mode – the centres above the head, in the head, the throat, the heart, in the middle of the stomach, at the base of the spine and still farther down. At the level of the knees, the ascending and descending currents joined and the circulation thus went on uninterruptedly, enveloping the whole being in an immense oval of living light. Then slowly the consciousness came down again, stage by stage, halting in each world, until the body-consciousness returned. The recovery of the body-consciousness was, if the memory is correct, the ninth stage. At that moment the body was still quite stiff and immobile. Page - 204
Thou art all love, O Lord, and Thy love shines resplendently in the depths of every thought and every heart. Accomplish Thy work of transfiguration: illumine us. Open the still closed doors, widen the horizon, establish strength, unify our beings and make us participate in Thy divine beatitude that we may be able to make all men share in it. Grant that we may conquer the last obstacles, inner and outer, overcome the final difficulties. An ardent and sincere prayer has never risen in vain to Thee; always in Thy munificence Thou answerest every call and Thy mercy is infinite. O divine Master, let Thy light fall into this chaos and bring forth from it a new world. Accomplish what is now in preparation and create a new humanity which may be the perfect expression of Thy new and sublime Law. Nothing will stop our impetus; nothing will tire our effort; and, resting upon Thee all our hopes and all our activities, strong in our complete surrender to Thy Supreme Will, we shall march on to the conquest of Thy integral manifestation with the calm certitude of victory over all that would oppose it. Hail to Thee, Master of the world, who triumphest over all darkness. Page - 205
Lord, Thou art all-powerful: become the fighter, gain the victory. May Thy Love be the sovereign Master of our hearts and Thy Knowledge never leave our thoughts.... Do not abandon us to impotence and darkness; break every limit, shatter every chain, dispel every illusion. Our aspiration rises to Thee in ardent prayer. Page - 206
At the rising of the sun I sang the praise of this world in which it is possible not only to desire Thee but to know Thee and even to become Thee. And I was astonished that there should be some who so ardently aspire to leave this universe and enter another world of perfection. Thou hast placed such contentment in my heart that it has become impossible for me not to feel satisfied in all circumstances, inner or outer. And yet something in my being always aspires for more beauty, for more light, for more knowledge, for more love – in a word, for a more conscious, a more constant relation with Thee.... But this too depends upon Thy will, and when it is Thy will, Thou shalt grant me the entire transfiguration. Page - 207
Humbly, quietly, my prayer rises to Thee, O sweet Master, Thou who acceptest without argument and without censure all that is offered to Thee, Thou who givest Thyself and makest Thyself known to all, without asking whether they are worthy of it or not, Thou who findest nothing too weak, too small, too modest, too inadequate to manifest Thee.... Let me lay myself at Thy feet, let me melt into Thy heart and disappear in Thee, let me be annihilated in Thy beatitude, or rather let me be only Thy servant, claiming nothing more. I desire, I aspire for nothing else. To be only Thy servant is all I ask. Page - 208
It seems to me that Thou wouldst make me taste successively all the experiences which are ordinarily put at the summit of a Yoga as its culmination and the proof of its perfect accomplishment. The experience is striking, intense, complete; it carries within it the knowledge of all its effects, all its consequences; it is conscious, willed, the result of methodical effort and not of unexpected chance; and yet it is always single of its kind, like milestones set along a route which are separated from each other by a long ribbon of road; and, moreover, these milestones which mark the infinite ascent are never alike; they are always new and seem to have no connection one with the other.... Will a time come when Thou wilt make this being capable of synthetising all these countless experiences so as to draw from them a new realisation, more complete and more beautiful than all achieved so far? I do not know. But Thou hast taught me not to regret an exceptional state when it disappears any more than I desire it before it comes. I see in the disappearance no longer the sign of an instability in the progress made, but the evidence of a march which goes deliberately forward without stopping any longer than is indispensable for the various stages of the road. Each time Thou teachest me yet a little better that the means of manifestation is limited only because we think it so, and that it can effectively partake of Thy Page - 209 infinitude; each time something of Thy immensity makes itself kin to the instrument which is its dwelling-place, flinging wide the doors which open on boundless horizons. Page - 210 |