BANDE MATARAM

 

SRI AUROBINDO

 

Contents

 

PRE CONTENT

 India Renascent

1890-92

New Lamps For Old

1893-94

Unity-An Open Letter

 

Bhawani Mandir

 

An Organisation

 

The Proposed Reconstruction Of Bengal- Partition Or Annihilation?

 

Bandemataram

 A Note On  "Bande Mataram"

 

The Doctrine Of Passive Resistance

 

 I. Introduction

11-04-1907

 II. Its Objects 

12-04-1907

III.Its Necessity

13-04-1907

IV. Its Methods 

17-04-1907

V. Its Obligations 

18/19-04-1907

VI. Its Limits

20-04-1907

VII.  Conclusions

23-04-1907

The Morality Of Boycott 

 

 

  

Bandemataram

Daily

Darkness In "Light"

20-08-1906

Our Rip Van Winkles

  20-08-1906

Indian Abroad

20-08-1906

Officials On The Fall Of  Fuller

20-08-1906

Cow - Killing

20-08-1906

National Education And The Congress

22-08-1906

A Pusillanimous Proposal

25-08-1906

By The Way

27-08-1906

The "Mirror" And Mr. Tilak

28-08-1906

Leaders In Council

28-08-1906

By The Way

30-08-1906

Lessons At  Jamalpur

1-9-1906

By The Way

1-9-1906

By The Way

3-9-1906

English Enterprise And  Swadeshi

4-9-1906

Jamalpur

4-9-1906

By The Way

4-9-1906

The Times On Congress Reforms

8-9-1906

By The Way

8-9-1906

The "Sanjibani" On Mr. Tilak

10-9-1906

Secret Tactics

10-9-1906

By The Way

10-9-1906

The Question Of  The Hour

11-9-1906

A Criticism

11-9-1906

The Old Policy And The New

12-9-1906

 

Is A Conflict Necessary?

12-9-1906

The Charge Of  Vilification

12-9-1906

Autocratic Trickery

12-9-1906

The Bhagalpur Meeting

12-9-1906

By The Way

12-9-1906

Strange Speculations

13-9-1906

The "Statesman" Under Inspiration

13-9-1906

A Disingenuous Defence

14-9-1906

The Friend Found Out

17-9-1906

Stopgap Won't Do

17-9-1906

By The Way

17-9-1906

Is Mendicancy Successful?

18-9-1906

By The Way

18-9-1906

Mischievous Writings

20-9-1906

A Luminous Line

20-9-1906

By The Way

20-9-1906

By The Way

1-10-1906

By The Way

10-10-1906

By The Way

11-10-1906

The Coming Congress

13-10-1906

Statesman's Sympathy Brand

29-10-1906

By The Way : News From Nowhere

29-10-1906

 

The Man Of The Past And The Man Of The  Future

26-12-1906

The Results Of  The Congress

31-12-1906

Yet There Is Method In It

25-2-1906

Mr  Gokhale's  Disloyalty

28-2-1906

The  Comilla Incident

15-3-1907

British Protection Or Self-Protection

18-3-1907

By The Way

21-3-1907

The Berhampur  Conference

29-3-1907

The President Of The Berhampur  Conference

2-4-1907

Peace And The Autocrats

3-4-1907

Many Delusions

5-4-1907

Omissions And Commissions At Berhampur

6-4-1907

The Writing On The Wall

8-4-1907

A Nil- Admirari  Admirer

9-4-1907

Pherozshahi  At  Surat

10-4-1907

The Situation In East Bengal

11-4-1907

The Proverbial Offspring

12-4-1907

By The Way

12-4-1907

By The Way

13-4-1907

The Old Year

16-4-1907

A Vilifier On Vilification

17-4-1907

By The Way: A Mouse In A Flutter

17-4-1907

Simple, Not Rigorous

18-4-1907

British Interests And British Conscience

18-4-1907

A Recommendation

18-4-1907

An Ineffectual Sedition Clause

19-4-1907

The "Englishman" As A Statesman

19-4-1907

The Gospel According to Surendranath

22-4-1907

A Man Of  Second Sight

23-4-1907

Passive Resistance In The Punjab

23-4-1907

By The Way

24-4-1907

Bureaucracy At  Jamalpur

25-4-1907

Is This Your Lion Of  Bengal?

25-4-1907

Anglo-Indian Blunderers

25-4-1907

The Leverage Of Faith

25-4-1907

Graduated Boycott

26-4-1907

Instinctive Loyalty

26-4-1907

Nationalism Not Extremism

26-4-1907

Shall India Be Free?  The Loyalist Gospel

27-4-1907

The Mask  Is Off

27-4-1907

A Loyalist In A Panic

27-4-1907

Shall India Be Free? National Development And Foreign Rule

29-4-1907

Shall India Be Free?

30-4-1907

Moonshine For Bombay Consumption

1-5-1907

The "Reformer" On Moderation

1-5-1907

Shall India Be Free?  Unity And British Rule

2-5-1907

Extremism In The "Bengalee"

2-5-1907

Hare Or Another

3-5-1907

Look On This Picture, Then On That

3-5-1907

Curzonism For The University

8-5-1907

 

By The Way

9-5-1907

The Crisis

11-5-1907

In Praise Of The Government

13-5-1907

How To Meet The Ordinance

15-5-1907

The Latest Phase Of  Morleyism

15-5-1907

An Old Parrot Cry Repeated

15-5-1907

Mr Morley's Pronouncement

16-5-1907

What Does Mr.  Hare Mean

16-5-1907

The "Statesman" Unmasks

17-5-1907

Sui  Generis

17-5-1907

The "Statesman" On Mr. Mudholkar

20-5-1907

Silent Leaders

20-5-1907

The Government Plan Of Campaign

22-5-1907

And Still It Moves

23-5-1907

An Irish Example

24-5-1907

The East Bengal Disturbances

25-5-1907

Newmania

25-5-1907

Mr. Gokhale On Deportation

25-5-1907

The Gilded Sham Again

27-5-1907

National Volunteers

27-5-1907

Bande Mataram

Daily

Weekly

The True Meaning Of  The Risley Circular

28-5-1907

2-6-1097

The Effect Of  Petitionary Politics

29-5-1907

 

The Ordinance And After

30-5-1907

 

Common Sense In An Unexpected Quarter

30-5-1907

 

Drifting Away   

30-5-1907

 

The Question Of  The Hour

1-6-1907

2-6-1907

Regulated Independence

4-6-1907

9-6-1907

A Consistent "Patriot"

4-6-1907

 

Wanted, A Policy

5-6-1907

9-6-1907

Preparing The Explosion

5-6-1907

 

A Statement

6-6-1907

9-6-1907

Defying The Circular

7-6-1907

9-6-1907

By The Way:  When Shall We  Three Meet Again?

7-6-1907

9-6-1907

The Strength Of The Idea

8-6-1907

9-6-1907

Comic Opera Reforms

8-6-1907

9-6-1907

Paradoxical Advice

8-6-1907

9-6-1907

An Out Of Date Reformer

12-6-1907

16-6-1907

The Sphinx

14-6-1907

 

Slow But Sure

17-6-1907

 

The Rawalpindi Sufferers

18-6-1907

 

The Main Feeder Of  Patriotism

19-6-1907

23-6-1907

Concerted Action

20-6-1907

 

The Bengal Government's Letter

20-6-1907

23-6-1907

British Justice

21-6-1907

23-6-1907

 

The Moral  Of  The Coconada  Strike

21-6-1907

23-6-1907

The "Statesman" On Shooting

21-6-1907

23-6-1907

Mr. A. Chowdhury's Policy-

22-6-1907

23-6-1907

A Current Dodge

22-6-1907

 

More About British Justice

24-6-1907

30-6-1907

Morleyism Analysed

25-6-1907

30-6-1907

Political Or Non-Political

25-6-1907

30-6-1907

The "Statesman" On Mr. Chowdhuri

26-6-1907

 

"Legitimate Patriotism"

27-6-1907

 

Personal Rule And Freedom Of Speech And Writing

28-6-1907

30-6-1907

The Acclamation Of The House

2-7-1907

 

Europe And Asia

3-7-1907

7-7-1907

English Obduracy And Its Reason

11-7-1907

14-7-1907

Work And Speech

*12-7-1907

14-7-1907

From Phantom To Reality

13-7-1907

14-7-1907

Swadeshi In Education

13-7-1907

14-7-1907

Boycott And After

15-7-1907

21-7-1907

The Khulna Comedy

20-7-1907

21-7-1907

The Korean Crisis

22-7-1907

22-7-1907

One More For The Altar

25-7-1907

28-7-1907

The Issue

29-7-1907

4-8-1907

The 7th Of August

6-8-1907

11-8-1907

The "Indian Patriot" On Ourselves

6-8-1907

11-8-1907

To Organise

6-8-1907

11-8-1907

A Compliment And Some Misconceptions

12-8-1907

 

Pal On The Brain

12-8-1907

 

To Organise Boycott

14-8-1907

14-8-1907

The Foundations Of Nationality

14-8-1907

18-8-1907

Barbarities At Rawalpindi

*19-8-1907

25-8-1907

The High Court Miracles

*19-8-1907

25-8-1907

Justice Mitter And Swaraj

*19-8-1907

25-8-1907

Advice To National College Students(Speech)

25-8-1907

 

Sankharitola's Apologia

24-8-1907

25-8-1907

Our False Friends

26-8-1907

 

Repression And Unity

*27-8-1907

1-9-1907

The Three Unities Of  Sankharitola

*11-8-1907

1-9-1907

Eastern Renascence

3-9-1907

8-9-1907

The Martyrdom Of Bepin Chandra

12-9-1907

15-9-1907

The Unhindu Spirit Of Caste Rigidity

20-9-1907

22-9-1907

Caste And Democracy

22-9-1907

22-9-1907

Impartial Hospitality

23-9-1907

 

Free Speech

24-9-1907

29-9-1907

"Bande Mataram" Prosecution

25-9-1907

29-9-1907

The Chowringhee Pecksniff And Ourselves

26-9-1907

29-9-1907

The "Statesman" In Retreat

28-9-1907

6-10-1907

True Swadeshi

4-10-1907

 

Novel Ways To Peace

5-10-1907

6-10-1907

"Armenian Horrors"

5-10-1907

6-109-1907

The Vanity Of Reaction

7-10-1907

13-10-1907

The Price Of A Friend

7-10-1907

13-10-1907

A New Literary Departure

7-10-1907

13-10-1907

Mr. Keir Hardie And India

8-10-1907

8-10-1907

The Nagpur Affair And True Unity

23-10-1907

27-10-1907

The Nagpur Imbroglio

29-10-1907

3-11-1907

English Democracy Shown Up

31-10-1907

3-11-1907

How To Meet The Inevitable Repression

2-11-1907

 

Difficulties At Nagpur

4-11-1907

10-11-1907

Mr.  Tilak And The Presidentship

5-11-1907

10-11-1907

Nagpur And Loyalist Methods

16-11-1907

17-11-1907

The Life Of Nationalism

16-11-1907

17-11-1907

By The Way: In Praise Of Honest John

18-11-1907

24-11-1907

Bureaucratic Policy

19-11-1907

24-11-1907

The New Faith

30-11-1907

1-12-1907

About Unity

2-12-1907

8-12-1907

Personality Or Principle

3-12-1907

8-12-1907

Persian Democracy

3-12-1907

8-12-1907

More About Unity

4-12-1907

8-12-1907

By The Way

5-12-1907

8-12-1907

Caste And Representation

6-12-1907

8-12-1907

About Unmistakable Terms

12-12-1907

15-12-1907

The Surat Congress

13-12-1907

15-12-1907

Reasons Of  Secession

14-12-1907

15-12-1907

The Awakening Of Gujerat

17-12-1907

22-12-1907

"Capturing The Congress"

18-12-1907

22-12-1907

Lala Lajpat Rai's Refusal

18-12-1907

22-12-1907

The Delegates' Fund

18-12-1907

22-12-1907

The Present Situation (Speech)

19-1-1908

 

Bande Mataram (Speech)

29-1-1908

 

Revolutions And Leadership

6-2-1908

9-2-1908

 

The Slaying Of Congress (A Tragedy In Three Acts)

*11-15-2-1908

16-23-2-1908

Swaraj

18-2-1908

23-2-1908

The Future Of The Movement

19-2-1908

 

Work And Ideal

20-2-1908

23-2-1908

By The Way

20-2-1908

23-2-1908

The Latest Sedition Trial

21-2-1908

23-2-1908

The Soul And India's Mission

21-2-1908

1-3-1908

The Glory Of God In Man

22-2-1908

1-3-1908

A National University

24-2-1908

1-3-1908

A Misconception

24-2-1908

1-3-1908

Mustafa Kamil Pasha

3-3-1908

8-3-1908

A Great Opportunity

4-3-1908

8-3-1908

The Strike At Tuticorin

4-3-1908

8-3-1908

Swaraj And The Coming Anarchy

5-3-1908

8-3-1908

Back To The Land

6-3-1908

8-3-1908

The Village And The Nation

*8-3-1908

 

Welcome To The Prophet Of Nationalism

10-3-1908

 

The Voice Of  The Martyrs

11-3-1908

 

Constitution-Making

11-3-1908

 

What Committee?

11-3-1908

15-3-1908

A Great Message

12-3-1908

15-3-1908

The Tuticorin Victory

13-3-1908

15-3-1908

Perpetuate The Split!

14-3-1908

15-3-1908

Loyalty To Order

14-3-1908

15-3-1908

Asiatic Democracy

16-3-1908

22-3-1908

Charter Or No Charter

16-3-1908

 

The Warning From Madras

17-3-1908

22-3-1908

The Need Of The Moment

18-3-1908

22-3-1908

The Early Indian Polity

20-3-1908

22-3-1908

The Fund For  Sj. Pal

21-3-1908

22-3-1908

The Weapon Of Secession

23-3-1908

29-3-1908

Sleeping  Sirkar And Waking People

23-3-1908

29-3-1908

Anti- Swadeshi In Madras

23-3-1908

29-3-1908

Exclusion Or Unity?

24-3-1908

 

Biparita Buddhi

24-3-1908

 

Oligarchy Or Democracy?

25-3-1908

29-3-1908

Freedom Of  Speech

26-3-1908

29-3-1908

The Comedy Of Repression

26-3-1908

29-3-1908

Tomorrow's Meeting

27-3-1908

29-3-1908

Well Done, Chidambaram!

27-3-1908

29-3-1908

The Anti-Swadeshi Campaign

27-3-1908

29-3-1908

Spirituality And Nationalism

28-3-1908

29-3-1908

The Struggle In Madras

30-3-1908

 

A Misunderstanding

30-3-1908

 

The Next Step

31-3-1908

5-4-1908

A Strange Expectation

31-3-1908

5-4-1908

A Prayer

31-3-1908

 

India And The Mongolian

1-4-1908

 

Religion And The Bureaucracy

1-4-1908

 

The Milk Of  Putana

1-4-1908

 

Oligarchy Rampant

2-4-1908

 

The Question Of  The President

3-4-1908

5-4-1908

Convention And Conference

4-4-1908

5-4-1908

By The Way

4-4-1908

5-4-1908

The Constitution Of The Subjects Committee

6-4-1908

 

The New Ideal

7-4-1908

12-4-1908

The "Indu And The Dhulia Conference

8-4-1908

 

The Asiatic Role

9-4-1908

12-4-1908

Love Me Or Die

9-4-1908

 

The Work Before Us

10-4-1908

12-4-1908

Campbell-Bannerman Retires

10-4-1908

12-4-1908

United Congress (Speech)

10-4-1908

 

The Demand Of The Mother

11-4-1908

12-4-1908

Baruipur Speech

12-4-1908

 

Peace And Exclusion

13-4-1908

 

Indian Resurgence And Europe

14-4-1908

19-4-1908

Om Shantih

14-4-1908

19-4-1908

Conventionalist And Nationalists

18-4-1908

19-4-1908

The Future And The Nationalists

22-4-1908

26-4-1908

The Wheat And The Chaff

23-4-1908

26-4-1908

Party And The Country

24-4-1908

26-4-1908

The "Bengalee" Facing-Both-Ways

24-4-1908

26-4-1908

Providence And Perorations

24-4-1908

26-4-1908

The One Thing Needful

25-4-1908

26-4-1908

Palli Samiti (Speech)

26-4-1908

 

New Conditions

29-4-1908

3-5-1908

Whom To Believe?

29-4-1908

3-5-1908

By The Way: The Parable Of Sati

29-4-1908

3-5-1908

Leaders And A Conscience

30-4-1908

3-5-1908

An Ostrich In Colootola

30-4-1908

3-5-1908

I Cannot Join

30-4-1908

3-5-1908

By The Way

30-4-1908

 

Ideals Face To Face

*1-5-1908

3-5-1908

The New Nationalism

 

 

 

Bibliographical Note

Contents arranged subjectwise

 

February 1, I914

 

I TURN towards Thee who art everywhere and within ail and outside ail, intimate essence of all and remote from ail, centre of condensation for ail energies, creator of conscious individualities: 1 turn towards Thee and salute Thee, O liberator of the worlds, and, identified with Thy divine love, I contemplate the earth and its creatures, this mass of substance put into forms perpetually destroyed and renewed, this swarming mass of aggregates which are dissolved as soon as constituted,  of beings who imagine that they are conscient and permanent individualities and who are as ephemeral as a breath, always alike or almost the same, in their diversity, repeating indefinitely the same desires, the same tendencies, the same appetites, the same ignorant errors.

But from time to tune Thy sublime light shines in» a being and radiates through him over the world, and then a little wisdom, a little knowledge, a little disinterested  faith, heroism and compassion penetrates men's hearts, transforms their minds and sets free a few elements from that sorrowful and implacable wheel of existence to which their blind ignorance subjects them.

But how much greater a splendour than ail that have gone before, how marvellous a glory and light would be needed to draw these beings out of the horrible  aberration in which they are plunged by the life

of cities and so-called civilisations! What a formidable

Page - 47


and, at the same rime, divinely sweet puissance would be needed to turn aside ail these wills from the bitter, struggle for their selfish, mean and foolish satisfactions,  to snatch them from this vortex which hides death behind its treacherous glitter, and turn them towards Thy conquering harmony!

O Lord, eternal Master, enlighten us, guide our steps, show us the way towards the realisation of Thy: law, towards the accomplishment of Thy work.

1 adore Thee in silence and listen to Thee in a. religious concentration.

 

February 2, 1914

 

O LORD, 1 would be a love so living that it can fill every solitude and assuage every sorrow.

O Lord, 1 cry to Thee: make me a burning brazier which consumes ail suffering and transforms it into a glad light pouring its rays into the hearts of all !...

Grant my prayer: Transform me into a brazier of pure love and limitless compassion.

 

February 5, 1914

 

WHAT can be said except the same identical aspiration : the law of divine love, the purest

Page -48


expression of what we can conceive of Thee, must realise itself more and more upon the earth and triumph over all ignorant egoism; we must become more and more perfectly the faithful servants of that power of love and light, live in it and by it; it must be that alone which lives and acts in us.

O Lord, become the sovereign Master of our lives and dispel ail the darknesses which can still prevent us from seeing and constantly communing with Thee.

Liberate us from ail ignorance, liberate us from ourselves that we may open wide the doors of Thy glorious manifestation.

 

February 7, 1914

 

FOR him who is integrally united with Thee, and therefore constantly conscious of what most perfectly expresses Thee in act under given circumstances,  no external rule is necessary. The principles of life are in sum nothing but makeshifts meant to diminish in the measure of the possible the ignorance of those who do not yet know Thee, and to remedy, as well as one can, the moments of blindness and obscurity .of those who have only an intermittent contact with Thee.

To make rules for oneself and to make them as general, that is to say, as supple as possible, is good, but on condition that they are considered as no more

Page - 49


than artificial lights which should be employed only when the full and natural light of the communion with Thee is lacking. Moreover, a constant revision of these rules is imperative; for they can only be the expression of a present knowledge and must necessarily  gain by every increase, every improvement of knowledge.

That is why when meditating on the attitude which one should have towards ail who approach us, so as not only to abstain from doing them any harm, but above ail to strive to do them the greatest good possible—and that means to help them best in making the supreme discovery, the discovery of Thee in them —it seemed to me that no rule was vast and supple enough to adapt itself to Thy law, the sole true way was to be always in communion with Thee, so that any solution might be perfectly adapted to the infinite diversity of circumstances.

 

February 8, 1914

 

O LORD, sweet Master of love, Thou makest us emerge out of darkness that we may awake to consciousness, who deliverest us from suffering to make us commune in Thy eternal peace, every morning my aspiration rises ardently towards Thee and 1 implore that my being integrally awakened to the knowledge of Thee, may live only by Thee, in Thee

Page - 50


and for Thee, I implore that more and more perfectly identified with Thee, I may become nothing else than Thou manifested in word and act; I implore that all those who approach us, all those who are connected with us, may awaken to the full knowledge of Thy divine presence. Thy sovereign law, and let themselves be definitively transformed by it; I implore that all men on earth may feel, inspite of their harsh suffering and in it, the sublime consolation dawn of Thy light and Thy love and the marvellous relief of Thy peace; I implore that all substance more and more penetrated with Thy sovereign forces may less and less oppose to Thee the resistance of blind ignorance,  and that triumphing over all obscurity. Thou mayst transfigure definitively, integrally, this world of struggle and anguish into a world of harmony and peace.

So that Thy law may be accomplished.

 

February 9, 1914

 

WHATEVER may be the names they give Thee, O Lord, the elite of humanity athirst for an absolute, ardently seek Thee. Even those who seem to move farthest away from Thee, even those who are solely occupied with themselves, are they not seeking an absolute in sensation, an absolute of satisfaction, and inspite of its vanity, that seeking also can one

Page - 51


day lead towards Thee, Thou art too much in the; centre, in the heart of everything for even the worst egoisms themselves not to be transformed by The& into aspirations... The only thing which must be feared and shunned is the inertia of inconscience, of blind and heavy ignorance. That state is quite at the nethermost of the infinite ladder which leads to Thee, And all Thy effort consists in drawing the substance from this first obscurity so as to make it be born into consciousness. Passion itself is preferable to inconscience.  We must therefore constantly march to the conquest of this universal bedrock of inconscience, and making our organism the instrument, transform. it little by little into luminous consciousness.

Oh! Lord, sweet Master of love. Thou whom I see so living, so conscious in all, I adore Thee with a limitless devotion.

 

February 1O, 1914

 

WITH peace in the heart and light in the mind, we feel Thee, O Lord, so living in us that we await events with serenity, knowing that Thy way is everywhere since we carry it in our being, and that in all circumstances we can be heralds of Thy word and servant of Thy work.

With a calm and pure devotion we salute Thee and we recognise Thee as the only reality of our being.

Page - 52


February 11, 1914

 

AS soon as we rise above the perception of contingencies,  as soon as we identify our consciousness  with Thy supreme consciousness, as soon as we thus enter into that consciousness which I cannot define otherwise than as absolute Knowledge, how all problems regarding what we should or should not do or concerning all the resolutions to be taken, appear easy, a little childish.

The only thing important from the standpoint of the eternal work, is to become conscious of Thee, to be identified with Thee and to maintain constantly this conscious identification. But in what concerns the best use to be made of our physical organism. Thy mode of manifestation upon earth, it is enough, when Thou alone art conscious in us, to turn our regard towards this body to know indisputably what is the tiling it can do best, what is the activity which will employ most completely all its energies.

And without attaching any great importance to this activity, to this quite relative utilisation, we can take, without any difficulty, without any inner discussion, the decisions which, to the outer consciousness, appear most daring, most hazardous.

How all is simple to him who sees things from the height of Thy eternity!

I salute Thee, O Lord, with a glad and confident devotion. May the peace of Thy divine love be on all beings!

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February 12, 1914.

 

WHEN conscious with Thy supreme consciousness,  we consider all terrestrial circumstances we perceive all their relativity and we say, "Doing this or that has after all no great importance, yet such and such a way of action will be the best utilisation of such and such a faculty or temperament. All actions whatever they may be, even the most contradictory in appearance, can be the expression of Thy law in the measure in which they are imbued with the consciousness of that law, which is not a law of practical application capable of being translated into principles or rules in the ordinary human consciousness,  but which is a law of attitude, of a constant and general consciousness, something which is not at all expressed by formulas but which is lived."

But as soon as we fall back into the ordinary consciousness,  nothing should any longer be treated lightly, with indifference, the smallest circumstances, the smallest acts have a great importance and should be seriously considered; for we should at every moment strive to do that which will facilitate the identification of our consciousness with the eternal consciousness, and carefully avoid all that can be an obstacle to this identification. It is then that the rules of conduct having at their base a perfect personal disinterestedness should assume all their value.

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With peace in the heart, light in the mind, hope of certitude in all my being, I salute Thee, O Lord, divine Master of eternal love. Thou art our reason of existence and our goal.

 

February 13, 1914

 

IN the silence of an intense concentration I would unite my consciousness with Thy absolute consciousness, I would identify myself with Thee, O sovereign Lord of our being, divine Master of love, so that Thy law may become perceptible to us and clear and we may live only by it and for it.

How all is beautiful, great, simple and calm in the hours when my thought takes its flight towards Thee and unites with Thee! And from the day when it will be possible for us to maintain constantly this supreme clairvoyance, how we shall march in life with steps at once aerial and assured, above all obstacles  and without any hesitation. For, I know by experience, all doubt, all hesitation ceases from the very moment in which we are conscious of Thy law, and if we clearly perceive the extreme relativity of all human action, we know at the same time, with exactitude and precision, what is, in relation to out body, to our means of acting, the action that is the least relative...and the obstacles as if by enchantment but very really disappear. All our efforts, O Lord,

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will henceforth tend more and more constantly towards the realisation of this marvellous state. May the peace of Thy certitude awaken in all hearts!

 

February 14, 1914

 

PEACE, peace upon all the earth!

May all escape from the ordinary consciousness

and be delivered from the attachment for material things; may they awake to the knowledge of Thy divine presence, unite themselves with Thy supreme consciousness and taste the plenitude of peace that springs from it.

Lord, Thou art the sovereign Master of our being. Thy law is our law, and with all our strength we aspire to identify our consciousness with Thy eternal consciousness, that we may accomplish Thy sublime work in each thing and at every moment.

Lord, deliver us from all care for contingencies, deliver us from the ordinary outlook on things. Grant that we may henceforth see only with Thy eyes and act only by Thy will. Transform us into living torches of Thy divine love.

With reverence, with devotion, in a joyful consecration  of my whole being, I give myself, O Lord, to the fulfilment of Thy law.

Peace, peace upon all the earth!

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February l5, I9I4

 

O THOU, sole Reality, Light of our light and Life of our life. Love supreme. Saviour of the world, grant that more and more I may be perfectly awakened to the awareness of Thy constant presence. Let all my acts conform to Thy law; let there be no difference between my will and thine. Extricate me from the illusory consciousness of my mind, from its world of phantasies; let me identify my consciousness  with the Absolute Consciousness, for that art Thou.

Give me constancy in the will to attain the end, give me firmness and energy and the courage which shakes off all torpor and lassitude.

Give me the peace of perfect disinterestedness, the peace that makes Thy presence felt and Thy intervention  effective, the peace that is ever victorious over all bad will and every obscurity.

Grant, I implore Thee, that all in my being may be identified with Thee and may I be nothing else than a flaming torch of love, one utterly awakened to Thy supreme action of love.

 

February 16, 1914

 

O SUPREME, sole Reality, true Consciousness, permanent Unity, sovereign repose of perfect light, with what intensity I aspire to be no

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more conscious of anything else than Thee, to be no more anything else than Thou. This incessant whirl of unreal personalities, this multiplicity,  this complexity, this excessive inextricable confusion of conflicting thoughts, struggling tendencies, battling desires, appears to me more and more woeful. We must emerge out of this sea in fury, land on the serenity of Thy peaceful shore. Give me the energy of an indefatigable swimmer.  I would conquer Thee, whatever may be the efforts necessary for that...O Lord, ignorance must be overthrown, illusion dispelled, and this sorrowful world must come out of its frightful nightmare, end its terrible dream, to awake at last to the consciousness  of Thy sole Reality.

O immutable Peace, deliver men from ignorance, may Thy full and pure Light reign everywhere!

 

February 17, 1914

 

O LORD, how ardently my aspiration rises towards Thee: give us the full consciousness of Thy law, the constant perception of Thy will, so that our decision may be Thy decision and our life may be solely consecrated to Thy service and as perfect an expression as possible of Thy inspiration.

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O Lord, dispel all darkness, all blindness, and may every one possess the calm certitude which is brought by Thy divine illumination!

 

February 19, 1914

 

O LORD, be always present in my thought! Not that I ask it of Thee, for I know that Thy Presence is constant and sovereign, I know that all that we see and all that escapes our sight is only what it is because of Thy marvellous intervention, because of Thy divine law of love; but I say and I say it again, I implore, in order to avoid forgetfulness and negligence.

O! To become Thy living love so completely as to transfigure and illumine everything; so completely as to generate in all peace and benevolent satisfaction.

O! To become Thy divine love clairvoyant and pure! O! To be that everywhere and always.

 

February 2O, 1914

 

THE only thing important, the only thing that counts, is to will more and more to be identified with Thee, to unite our consciousness with Thy absolute consciousness, to be more and more a peaceful,

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calm, disinterested, strong servitor of Thy sovereign law. Thy will of love.

O Lord, give me that peace of perfect disinterested- ness, that peace which makes Thy Presence effective, Thy intervention efficacious, that peace which is ever victorious over all bad wills, over all darknesses.

O Lord, very humbly, I pray in order that I may be equal to the height of my task, that nothing in me, conscious or not, may betray Thee by neglecting to serve Thy sacred mission.

In a silent devotion, I salute Thee.

 

February 21, 1914

 

EACH day, each moment, must be an occasion for a new and completer consecration; and not one of those enthusiastic and trepidant consecrations, overactive,  full of the illusion of the work, but a profound and silent consecration which need not be apparent, but which penetrates and transfigures every action. Our mind, solitary and at peace, must rest always in Thee, and from this pure summit it must have the exact perception of realities, of the sole and eternal Reality, behind unstable and fugitive appearances.

O Lord, my heart is purified from trouble and anguish; it is firm and calm, and it sees Thee in everything;  and whatever the outer actions, whatever the

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circumstances the future has in store for us, I know that Thou alone livest, that Thou alone art real in Thy immutable permanence, and it is in Thee that we live. May there be peace upon all the earth.

 

February 22, 1914

 

WHEN I was a child—about the age of thirteen and for about a year—every night as soon as I was in bed, it seemed to me that I came out of my body and rose straight up above the house, then above the town, very high. I saw myself then clad in a magnificent  golden robe, longer than myself, and as I rose, that robe lengthened, spreading in a circle around m& to form, as it were, an immense roof over the town. Then I would see coming out from all sides men, women, children, old men, sick men, unhappy men; They gathered under the outspread robe, imploring help, recounting their miseries, their sufferings, their pains. In reply, the robe, supple and living, stretched out to them individually, and as soon as they touched it, they were consoled or healed, and entered back into their body happier and stronger than they had ever been before coming out of it. Nothing appeared to me more beautiful, nothing made me more happy, and all the activities of the day seemed to me dull and colourless, without real life, in comparison with this

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activity of the night which was for me the true life Often as I thus rose, I would see on my left an old man, silent and immobile, who looked at me with a benevolent affection and encouraged me by his presence.  This old man, dressed in a long robe of sombre violet, was the personification—I knew later—of him who is called the Man of Sorrows.

Now the profound experience, the almost ineffable reality is translated in my brain by other notions which I can define thus:

Many a time during the day and in the night it seems to me that I,—that is to say, my consciousness is wholly concentrated in my heart, which is no longer an organ, not even a feeling, but the divine Love, impersonal, eternal; being this Love, I feel myself living in the centre of everything Upon the whole earth, and at the same time it seems to me that I am stretching out immense, infinite arms and enveloping with a limitless tenderness all beings clasped, grouped, nestled upon my breast vaster than the universe... Words are poor and clumsy, O divine Master, and mental translations are always childish...But my aspiration for Thee is constant, and, to tell the truth, it is very often Thyself and Thou alone who livest in this body, an imperfect means of Thy manifestation.

May all beings be happy in the peace of Thy illumination!

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February 23, 1914

 

GRANT, O Lord, that we may be more and more conscious of Thy law; that is to say " one " with it in order to facilitate its manifestation in every

thing.

O Lord, grant that I may become master of my vagrant thoughts, that living in Thee, I may perceive life only through Thee, and that the illusion of the reality of Matter may come to an end, to be replaced. by a perception conforming more to Thy eternal reality.

Let me live constantly in Thy divine Love, so that it may be that which lives in me and by me.

Grant that I may be a useful and clairvoyant collaboratrix  and that all in me may promote the plenitude  of Thy manifestation.

I know all my imperfections, my difficulties, my weaknesses, I feel where I am ignorant, but I put all my trust in Thee and I bow down before Thee with a silent devotion.

 

February 25-26, 1914

 

ONE who would serve Thee worthily should not be attached to anything, not even to the activities which enable him to commune more consciously with Thee... But if, in consequence of a mass of

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circumstances, material things take a greater place in life than usual, we must know how not to let ourselves be absorbed by them, to keep in the depth of the heart the clear vision of Thy presence, and live constantly in that serene peace which nothing can trouble.

O, to do everything seeing Thee alone everywhere, and thus to soar above the accomplished act, without any claim which holds us prisoners to the earth, coming to burden the flight.

O Lord, grant that the offering I make of my being may be integral and effective.

With a respectful and loving devotion, I bow down before Thee, O ineffable Essence, inconceivable Reality, without the name.

 

February 27, 1914

 

O LORD, I foretaste the infinite happiness which is the share of those whose life is wholly consecrated to Thee. And this does not depend upon outer- circumstances, but upon the state of the being and its more or less of illumination. A perfect consecration to Thy law cannot but bring about modifications  in the mass of circumstances, but it is not they that allow and express this perfect consecration. I mean to say that it is not in given circumstances, always the same for all, that Thy law is manifested;

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far every one this manifestation is different according to his temperament, that is to say, according to the mission which is for the time being assigned to him. in the physical life.

But what is invariable and general, is the happy peace the luminous and immutable serenity of all those who are solely consecrated to Thee, who have no longer in them any darkness, any ignorance, any egoistic attachment, any bad will. 

O, may all awake to this divine peace.

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