{"id":262,"date":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=262"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:26:58","slug":"125-the-soul-and-indias-mission-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/01-bande-mataram-volume-01\/125-the-soul-and-indias-mission-vol-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","title":{"rendered":"-125_The Soul and India’s Mission.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nThe Soul and India’s Mission<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nWind and Water<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font> <\/font>
\n<\/b>                       
\n<\/font> WIND<\/font><\/b>
\nand water are always types of the human soul in our literature. Wind is so light
\na substance that we cannot grasp it, water so fluid that we cannot seize it.
\nWhen the soul is in a state of lightness and fluidity, it is then that it is
\ncompared to wind and water. When it is hard and rigid, then it is a stone. Wind
\nand water are the light and fluid soul, stone the hard and rigid. Soul is
\nvariable and not easily distinguished from the European description of mind.
\nSuch a description may seem fanciful but it is true. Whoever has practised prā<\/font>nā<\/font>yā<\/font>ma <\/i>knows that sometimes the breath is as
\nlight and fluid as wind or water, sometimes as hard and rigid as stone. This
\nchangefulness of the soul is the true reason for mā<\/font>yā<\/font><\/i>. <\/i>If the soul were not changeable, it
\nwould be too much akin to the brahman <\/i>\u2014 but because
\nit is changeable, it lays itself open to the influence of <\/font>
\n
\nmā<\/font>yā<\/font><\/i>.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nLight<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nLight is an emanation from the sun, but the sun is itself an emanation from God.
\nWhen it is full of Him, then it is full of light. So the ancient Rishis used to
\nsay that He was in the sun. Yo\u2019sau purusah <\/i>etc. But this was only a
\nmanner of speaking. When the sun is full of God’s presence, it is full of light
\nand heat, when it is empty of Him, the light and heat are withdrawn. So too the
\nhuman soul is like the sun: When it is full of light and heat, it is said to be
\nalive, when the light and heat are withdrawn, it is said to die. But this too is
\nonly a manner of speaking. The soul is imperishable. When the body feels the
\npresence of God within, it is conscious of life, but when the light and heat of
\nHis presence are withdrawn it ceases to become active and conscious. This is
\ncalled death. There is no hard and fast line to be drawn between<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-710<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nlife and death. The one is only the positive, the other the negative of God’s
\npresence.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nBody and Soul<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tSoul is a presence, body a piece of mā<\/font>yā<\/font><\/i>. <\/i>When the body is full of the presence
\nof the soul it lives, but when the soul withdraws from it it dies. In other
\nwords, the soul while in the body feels a sense of imprisonment which ceases as
\nsoon as the body falls from it. This is the work of mā<\/font>yā<\/font><\/i>
\nwho lives by creating the sense of restriction in the illimitable and free
\nbrahman<\/i>.
\nMā<\/font>yā<\/font> <\/i>is the negative quality of brahman
\n<\/i>making for darkness, vidyā<\/font><\/i>, <\/i>the positive quality making for light.
\nThey subsist together in the soul, and sometimes one prevails, sometimes the
\nother. When mā<\/font>yā<\/font> <\/i>prevails, the soul thinks itself bound,
\nwhen vidyā<\/font> <\/i>prevails, it thinks itself free. But
\nthere is no bondage. So too when a people feels itself bound and subject it
\nacquiesces in its bondage, but the moment a light from God is sent into it, and
\nthe prophet of God is commissioned from on high, the nation wonders at its
\nblindness and wakes to the sense of its inalienable freedom.<\/font><\/p>\n

Immortality<\/font><\/h1>\n

\nDeath, we have said, is a mere phase. There is no death, only the change from
\nbondage to freedom. Death of the body is the first release from physical
\nbondage, death of the soul the last release from spiritual bondage. The soul
\ndoes not really die, but merely shakes off the false sense of separateness from
\nbrahman<\/i>. <\/i>Who then will fear death? Death is no enemy, no King of Horrors,
\nbut a friend who opens the gates of Heaven to the aspiring soul. Heaven is a
\nmyth in the opinion of modern science, but if Heaven means eternal happiness
\nthen Heaven is no myth. It is the state of the soul released from mā<\/font>yā<\/font><\/i>, <\/i>rejoicing in the sense of its own
\nillimitable being; and those attain it who are in this world able to rise above
\nthe self to the knowledge of the<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-711<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhigher self either by yoga <\/i>or by selfless action for the sake of others.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n            Heaven awaits the patriot who dies for his country, the saint who
\npasses from this life with the thought of God in his heart, the soldier who
\nflings his life away at the bidding of his nation, all who can put the thought
\nof self away from them.<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nRest<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhen the soul is at rest, peace unutterable becomes its possession. How is rest
\nto be attained? By the thought of brahman<\/i>. <\/i>Whoever thinks of Him at the
\ntime of death, passes into Him. Not the mere act of intellectual cognition, but
\nthe thought which dwells in the heart. The heart is the meeting place of God and
\nthe Soul. When the two meet then all action ceases, and rest becomes the
\npossession of the soul. Whoever wishes to realise this truth must try to seek
\nGod in his heart. If he can find Him there he will experience rest.<\/font><\/p>\n


\n <\/font> <\/font> <\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\nFinal Cessation<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nNirvana is the goal of the soul’s progress. Nirvana is the cessation of all
\nphenomenal activity. Saints and sages are agreed in all religions on this one
\ncommon truth, that so long as the phenomenal world is present to the soul, there
\ncan be no communion with God. Whoever imagines that by communion with the
\nphenomenal world he can reach God is committing error, for the two are
\nincompatible. The West is full of interest in phenomena, and it is for this
\nreason that no great religion has ever come out of the West. Asia on the other
\nhand is full of interest in Brahman and she is therefore the cradle of every
\ngreat religion. Christianity, Mahomedanism, Buddhism and the creeds of China and
\nJapan are all offshoots of one great and eternal religion of which India has the
\nkeeping.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-712<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nIndia’s Mission<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So with India rests the future of the world. Whenever she
\nis aroused from her sleep, she gives forth some wonderful shining ray of light
\nto the world which is enough to illuminate the nations. Others live for
\ncenturies on what is to her the thought of a moment. God gave to her the book of
\nAncient Wisdom and bade her keep it sealed in her heart, until the time should
\ncome for it to be opened. Sometimes a page or a chapter is revealed, sometimes
\nonly a single sentence. Such sentences have been the inspiration of ages and fed
\nhumanity for many hundreds of years. So too when India sleeps, materialism
\ngrows apace and the light is covered up in darkness. But when materialism thinks
\nherself about to triumph, lo and behold! a light rushes out from the East and
\nwhere is Materialism? Returned to her native night.<\/p>\n


\nBande Mataram<\/i>,
\n<\/i>
\n<\/font>
\nFebruary 21, 1908<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage-713<\/font><\/p>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Soul and India’s Mission   Wind and Water                             WIND and water are always types of the human soul in our…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-01-bande-mataram-volume-01","wpcat-8-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}