{"id":3768,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:06","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3768"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:06","slug":"17-sadhana-in-the-ashram-and-outside-vol-02-second-series-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-second-series-1949\/17-sadhana-in-the-ashram-and-outside-vol-02-second-series-1949","title":{"rendered":"-17_Sadhana in The Ashram and Outside.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\nSECTION TWELVE<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSADHANA IN THE ASHRAM AND OUTSIDE<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

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

\nObject of Creating the Ashram<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHIS Ashram has been created with another object than that ordinarily common to such
\ninstitutions, not for the renunciation of the world but
\nas a centre and a field of practice for the evolution of
\nanother kind and form of life which would in the
\nfinal end be moved by a higher spiritual consciousness and embody a greater life of the spirit.
\nThere is no general rule as to the stage at which
\none may leave the ordinary life and enter here; in
\neach case it depends on the personal need and
\nimpulsion and the possibility or the advisability for
\none to take the step. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nTypes of Sadhaks and the Problem of
\nTransformation<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is necessary or rather inevitable that in an
\nAshram which is a "laboratory", as A puts it,
\nfor a spiritual and supramental Yoga, humanity <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 465<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nshould be variously represented. For the problem
\nof transformation has to deal with all sorts of elements favourable and unfavourable. The same
\nman indeed carries in him a mixture of these two
\nthings. If only sattwic and cultured men come
\nfor Yoga, men without very much of the vital difficulty in them, then, because the difficulty of the vital
\nelement in terrestrial nature has not been faced
\nand overcome, it might well be that the endeavour
\nwould fail. There might conceivably be under
\ncertain circumstances an overmental layer supers
\nimposed on the mental, vital and physical, and
\ninfluencing them, but hardly anything supramental
\nor a sovereign transmutation of the human being.
\nThose in the Ashram come from all quarters and
\nare of all kinds; it cannot be otherwise. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn the course of the Yoga, collectively\u2014though
\nnot for each one necessarily\u2014as each plane is
\ndealt with, all its difficulties arise. That will explain much in the Ashram that people do not
\nexpect there. When the preliminary work is over
\nin the "laboratory", things must change. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAlso, much stress has not been laid on human
\nfellowship of the ordinary kind between the inmates
\n(though good feeling, consideration and courtesy
\nshould always be there), because that is not the
\naim; it is unity in a new consciousness that is the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 466<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\naim, and the first thing is for each to do his sadhana,
\nto arrive at that new consciousness and realise oneness there. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhatever faults are there in the sadhaks must
\nbe removed by the Light from above\u2014a sattwic
\nrule can only change natures predisposed to a
\nsattwic rule. : <\/font><\/p>\n

\n31-10-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nFlexibility and Variety in the Ashram
\nDiscipline <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n(1)<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nA HUMAN soul and nature cannot be dealt with by
\na set of mental rules applicable to everybody in
\nthe same way; if it were so, there would be no
\nneed of a Guru, each could set his chart of Yogic
\nrules before him like the rules of Sandow’s exercise
\nand follow them till he became the perfect siddha! <\/font><\/p>\n

\n25-10-1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 467<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n(2)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe general principle of self-consecration and
\nSelf-giving is the same for all in this Yoga, but
\neach has his own way of consecration and self-giving. The way that X takes is good for X, just
\nas the way that you take is the right one for you,
\nbecause it is in consonance with your nature. If
\nthere were not this plasticity and variety, if all had
\nto be cut in the same pattern, Yoga would be a
\nrigid mental machinery, not a living power. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen you can sing out of your inner consciousness
\nin which you feel the Mother moving all your
\nactions, there is no reason why you should not do <\/i>it. The development of capacities is not only permissible but right, when it can be made part of
\nthe Yoga; one can give not only one’s soul, but
\nall one’s powers to the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n29-6-1931 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(3)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is a little difficult for the wider spiritual outlook
\nto answer your question in the way you want and
\nevery mental being wants, with a trenchant "Thou
\nshalt" or "Thou shalt not"\u2014especially when the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 468<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n"thou" is meant to cover "all". For while there
\nis an identity of essential aim, while there are general broad lines of endeavour, yet there is not in detail
\none common set of rules in inner things that can
\napply to all seekers. You ask: "Is not such and such a
\nthing harmful?" But what is harmful to one may be
\nhelpful to another, what is helpful at a certain stage
\nmay cease to be helpful at another, what is harmful
\nunder certain conditions may be helpful under other
\nconditions, what is done in a certain spirit may be
\ndisastrous, the same thing done in a quite different
\nspirit would be innocuous or even beneficial….
\nthere are so many things to be considered: the
\nspirit, the circumstances, the person, the need and
\ncast of the nature, the stage. That is why it is said
\nso often that the Guru must deal with each disciple according to his separate
\nnature and accordingly guide his sadhana; even if it is the same line
\nof sadhana for all, yet at every point for each it
\ndiffers. That also is the reason why we say that the
\ndivine way cannot be understood by the mind,
\nbecause the mind acts according to hard and fast
\nrules and standards, while the spirit sees the truth
\nof all and the truth of each and acts variously
\naccording to its own comprehensive and complex
\nvision. That also is why we say that no one can
\nunderstand by his personal mental judgment the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 469<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nMother’s actions and reasons for action: it can
\nonly be understood by entering into the larger
\nconsciousness from which she sees things and acts
\nupon them. That is baffling to the mind because
\nit uses its small measures, but that is the truth
\nof the matter. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nSo you will see that here there is no mental rule\u00bb
\nbut in each case the guidance is determined by
\nspiritual reasons which are of a flexible character.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is no other consideration, no rule. Music,
\npainting, poetry and many other activities which
\nare of the mind and vital can be used as part of spiritual development or of the work and for a spiritual
\npurpose: it depends on the spirit in which they are
\ndone. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAim of the Ashram Work<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n
\n(1)<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHIS is not an Ashram like others\u2014the members
\nare not Sannyasis; it is not moksha<\/i> that is the sole aim
\nof the Yoga here. What is being done here is a preparation for a work\u2014a work which will be founded
\non Yogic consciousness and Yoga-Shakti, and can <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 470<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nhave no other foundation. Meanwhile, every member
\nhere is expected to do some work in the Ashram as
\npart of his spiritual preparation. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n(2)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWork can be of two kinds\u2014the work that is a field
\nof experience used for the sadhana, for a progressive
\nharmonisation and transformation of the being and
\nits activities, and work that is a realised expression,
\nof the Divine. But the time for the latter can be only
\nwhen the Realisation has been fully brought down; to the earth-consciousness; till then all work whether done in the Ashram or without it, must be of the
\nformer kind. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n17-3-1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nBasic Consciousness of Karmayoga<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT you received and kept in the work is indeed
\nthe true basic consciousness of Karmayoga\u2014the
\ncalm consciousness from above supporting and the<\/font><\/p>\n

\nstrength from above doing the work, with that the
\nBhakti which feels it to be the Mother’s consciousness <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 471<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\npresent and working. You know now by experience what is the secret of Karmayoga. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n15-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nWork for the Mother<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWORK for the Mother done with the right concentration on her is as much a sadhana as
\nmeditation
\nand inner experiences. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nOpenness to the Mother<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTo be open is simply to be so turned to the Mother
\nthat her Force can work in you without anything
\nrefusing or obstructing her action. If the mind is
\nshut up in its own ideas and refuses to allow her to
\nbring in the Light and the Truth, if the vital clings
\nto its desires and does not admit the true initiative
\nand impulsions that the Mother’s power brings,
\nif the physical is shut up in its desire habits and inertia
\nand does not allow the Light and Force to enter in
\nit and work, then one is not open. It is not possible <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 472<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nto be entirely open all at once in all the movements,
\nbut there must be a central opening in each part
\nand a dominant aspiration or will in each part
\n(not in the mind alone) to admit only the Mother’s
\n‘workings’, the rest will then be progressively done. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n28-10-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nTrue Attitude in Work<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHIS happens when the work is always associated
\nwith the Mother’s thought, done as an offering to
\nher, with the call to do it through you. All ideas of
\nego, all association of egoistic feelings with the work
\nmust disappear. One begins to feel the Mother’s
\nforce doing the work; the psychic grows through a
\ncertain inner attitude behind the work and the
\nadhar becomes open both to the psychic intuitions
\nand influences from within and to the descent from <\/i>above. Then the result of meditation can come
\nthrough the work itself. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n5-5-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 473<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nTrue Movement in Sadhana<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT do you call meditation? Shutting the eyes and
\nconcentrating? It is only one method for calling
\ndown the true consciousness. To join with the true
\nconsciousness or feel its descent is the only thing
\nimportant and if it comes without the orthodox.
\nmethod, as it always did with me, so much the better.
\nMeditation is only a means or device, the true movement is when even walking, working or speaking, one
\nis still in sadhana. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-6-1933<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nSadhana through Work<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n(1)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTo work in calm, ever-widening consciousness is
\n<\/i>at once a Sadhana and Siddhi. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n26-5-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 474<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n(2) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWhy argue from your personal experience, great or
\nlittle, and turn it into a generalisation? A great
\nmany people (the majority perhaps) find it (sadhana
\nthrough work) the easiest of all. Many find it easy
\nto think of the Mother when working; but when they
\nread or write, their mind goes off to the thing read
\nor written and they forget everything else. I think
\nthat is the case with most. Physical work, on the
\nother hand, can be done with the most external part
\nof the mind, leaving the rest free to remember or to
\nexperience. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nConsciousness in Physical Things<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is very true that physical things have a
\nconsciousness within them which feels and responds to care
\nand is sensitive to careless touch and rough handling.
\nTo know or feel that and learn to be careful of them
\nis a great progress of consciousness. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n16-4-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 475<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nSports in the Ashram <\/font><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nCERTAINLY, we do not want only sportsmen in the
\nAshram: that would make it not an Ashram but a <\/i>playground. The sports and physical exercises are primarily for the children of the school and they
\nalso do not play only but have to attend to their
\nstudies as well. Secondarily, the younger sadhaks
\nare allowed, not enjoined or even recommended,
\nto join in these sports, but certainly they art not
\nsupposed to be sportsmen only: they have other
\nand more important things to do. To be a sportsman must necessarily be a voluntary choice and
\ndepends on one having the taste and inclination.
\nThere are plenty of people who would never dream
\nof engaging in sports and the Mother also would
\nnever think of asking them to do so. Some, of
\ncourse, might ask why any sports at all in an Ashram
\nwhich ought to be concerned only with meditation
\nand inner experiences and the escape from life into
\nthe Brahman. But that applies only to the ordinary
\nkind of Ashram to which we have got accustomed
\nand this is not that orthodox kind of Ashram. It
\nincludes life in Yoga, and once we admit life we
\ncan include anything that we find useful for life’s
\nultimate and immediate purpose and not inconsistent with the works of the Spirit. After all, the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 476<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\northodox Ashram came into being only after Brahman
\nbegan to shun all connection with the world and
\nthe shadow of Buddhism stalked over all the land
\nand the Ashrams turned into monasteries. The old
\nAshrams were not entirely like that; the boys and
\nyoung men who were brought up in them were
\ntrained in many things belonging to life; the son
\nof Pururavas and Urvasie practised archery in the
\nAshram of a Rishi and became an expert bowman
\nand Kama became disciple of a great sage in order
\nto acquire from him the use of powerful weapons.
\nSo there is no a priori<\/i> ground why sports should
\nbe excluded from the life of an Ashram like ours
\nwhere we are trying to equate life with the Spirit. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPropaganda for the Ashram<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI DON’T believe in advertisement except for books etc.
\nand in propaganda except for politics and patent
\nmedicines. But for serious work it is a poison.
\n<\/b>It <\/b>means either a stunt or a boom\u2014and stunts and
\nbooms exhaust the thing they carry on their crest
\nand leave it lifeless and broken high and dry on
\nthe shores of nowhere\u2014or it means a movement.
\nA movement in the case of a work like mine means <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 477<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe founding of a school or a sect or some other
\nnonsense. It means that hundreds or thousands
\nof useless people join in and corrupt the work or
\nreduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth
\nthat was coming down recedes into secrecy and
\nsilence. It is what has happened to the "religions"
\nand is the reason of their failure. If I tolerate a
\nlittle writing about myself, it is only to have a
\nsufficient counter-weight in that amorphous chaos,
\nthe public mind, to balance the hostility that is
\nalways aroused by the presence of a new dynamic
\nTruth in this world of Ignorance. But the utility
\nends there and too much advertisement would
\ndefeat that object. I am perfectly "rational", I
\nassure you, in my methods and I do not proceed
\nmerely on any personal dislike of fame. If and so
\nfar as publicity serves the Truth, I am quite ready
\nto tolerate it; but I do not find publicity for its
\nown sake desirable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n This "contemporary philosophy", British or
\nIndian, looks to me very much like book-making
\nand, though the "vulgarisation" of knowledge\u2014to
\nuse the French term\u2014by book-making has its use,
\nI prefer to do solid work and leave that to others.
\nYou may say that I can write a solid thing in philosophy and let it be book-made. But even the solid
\ntends to look shoddy in such surroundings. And <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 478<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbesides, my solid work at present is not philosophy
\nbut something less wordy and more to the point.
\nIf that work gets done, then it will propagate itself
\nso<\/i> far as propagation is necessary\u2014if it were not
\nto get done, propagation would be useless. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Propagandist Spirit<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWELL-KNOWN or unknown has absolutely no importance from the spiritual point of view. It is simply
\nthe propagandist spirit. We are not a party or
\na church or religion seeking adherents or proselytes.
\nOne man who earnestly pursues the Yoga is of more
\nvalue than a thousand well-known men. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n16-1-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe first Necessity<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTo concentrate most on one’s own spiritual growth
\nand experience is the first necessity of the sadhak\u2014
\nto be eager to help others draws away from the inner
\nwork. To grow in the spirit is the greatest help one <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 479<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ncan give to others, for then something flows out
\nnaturally to those around that helps them. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n9-4-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nAbandoning the Ordinary Life for Yoga<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n(1)<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nEVERYTHING depends upon the aim you put before
\nyou. If, for the realisation of one’s spiritual aim, it
\nis necessary to give up the ordinary life of the Ignorance (samsara), it must be done; the claim of the
\nordinary life cannot stand against that of the spirit. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf a Yoga of works alone is chosen as the path,
\nthen one may remain in the samsara, but it will be
\nfreely, as a field of action and not from any sense
\nof obligation; for the Yogin must be free inwardly
\nfrom all ties and attachments. On the other hand,
\nthere is no necessity to live the family life\u2014one can
\nleave it and take any kind of works as a field of
\naction. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn the Yoga practised here the aim is to rise to at
\nhigher consciousness and to live out of the higher
\nconsciousness alone, not with the ordinary motives.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 480<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nThis means a change of life as well as a change of
\nconsciousness. But all are not so circumstanced that they can cut loose from the
\nordinary life; they accept it therefore as a field of experience and self-
\ntraining in the earlier stages of the sadhana. But they must take care to look at it as a field of experience only and to get free from the ordinary desires,
\nattachments and ideas which usually go with it; otherwise, it becomes a drag and hindrance on their sadhana. When one is not compelled by circumstances
\nthere is no necessity to continue the ordinary life.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nOne becomes tamasic by leaving the ordinary
\nactions and life, only if the vital is so accustomed to
\ndraw its motives of energy from the ordinary consciousness and its desires and activities that if it loses
\nthem, it loses all joy and charm and energy of existence. But if one has a spiritual aim and an inner
\nlife and the vital part accepts them, then it draws
\nits energies from within and there is no danger of
\none’s being tamasic. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n6-6-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(2)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt is not absolutely necessary to abandon the
\nordinary life in order to seek after the Light or to <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 481<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\npractise Yoga. This is usually done by those who want
\nto make a clean cut, to live a purely religious
\n<\/b>or <\/b>exclusively inner and spiritual life, to renounce the
\nworld entirely and to depart from the cosmic existence by cessation of the human birth and passing
\naway into some higher state or into the transcendental Reality. Otherwise, it is only necessary when
\nthe pressure of the inner urge becomes so great that
\nthe pursuit of the ordinary life is no longer compatible with the pursuit of the dominant spiritual
\nobjective. Till then what is necessary is a power to
\npractise an inner isolation, to be able to retire within
\noneself and concentrate at any time on the necessary
\nspiritual purpose. There must also be a power to
\ndeal with the ordinary outer life from a new inner
\nattitude and one can then make the happenings
\n<\/b>of <\/b>that life itself a means for the inner change of nature
\nand the growth in spiritual experience. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nNecessity of Sadhana in the Ashram<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is certainly quite true that the psychic contact can
\nexist at a distance and that the Divine is not limited
\nby place, but is everywhere. It is not necessary for
\neverybody to be in the Ashram or physically near to <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 482<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe Mother in order to live the spiritual life or to
\npractise the Yoga, especially in its early stages. But
\nit is only one side of the truth; there is another; otherwise the logical conclusion might be that there was
\nno necessity for the Mother to be here at all, or for
\nthe existence of the Ashram, or for anyone to come
\nhere. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being is there in all, but in very few
\nit is well developed, well built up in the consciousness
\nor prominent in the front; in most it is veiled, often ineffective or only an influence, not conscious enough
\nor strong enough to support the spiritual life. It is for this reason that it is necessary for those drawn towards this truth to come here in order
\nthat they may receive the touch which will bring
\nabout or prepare the awakening of the psychic being,
\n\u2014that is for them the beginning of the effective
\npsychic contact. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is also for this reason that a stay here is needed
\nfor many,\u2014if they are ready\u2014in order that under
\nthe direct influence and nearness they may have the
\ndevelopment or building up of the psychic being in
\nthe consciousness or its coming to the front. When
\nthe touch has been given or the development effected, so far as the sadhak is at the moment capable of
\nit, he returns to the outside world and under the protection and guidance even at a distance is able <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage –  483<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nto keep the contact and go on with the spiritual life.
\nBut the influences of the outside world are not
\nfavourable to the psychic contact and the psychic
\ndevelopment and if the sadhak is not sufficiently
\ncareful or concentrated, the psychic contact may
\neasily be lost after a time or get covered over and the development may become
\nretarded, stationary or
\neven diminished by adverse movements or influences. It is therefore that the necessity exists and is often
\nfelt of return to the place of the central influence in
\norder to fortify or recover the contact or to restore or to give a fresh forward
\nimpulse to the development. The aspiration for such nearness from time
\nto time is not a vital desire; it becomes a vital desire
\nonly when it is egoistically insistent on or mixed
\nwith a vital motive, but not if it is an aspiration of
\nthe psychic being calm, deep and without clamour in it or perturbing insistence.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThis for those who are not called upon or are not
\nyet called upon to live in this Ashram under the direct pressure of the central
\nforce and presence
\nThose who must so live are those called from the
\nvery beginning or who have become ready or who
\nare for some reason or another given a chance to
\nform a part of the work or creation which is being
\nprepared by Yoga. For them the stay here in the
\natmosphere, the nearness is indispensable; to depart <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 484<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nwould be for them a renunciation of the opportunity
\ngiven them, a turning of the back upon the spiritual
\ndestiny. Their difficulties are in appearance greater
\nthan the struggle of those who remain outside because the demand and the pressure are greater; but
\nalso is their opportunity greater and the power and
\nthe influence for the development poured upon them
\nand that too which they can spiritually become and
\nwill become if they are faithful to the choice and the
\ncall. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nAction of Spiritual Force at a Distance<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nLEAVE aside the question of Divine or undivine, no spiritual man who acts dynamically is limited to
\nphysical contact\u2014the idea that physical contact
\nthrough writing, speech, meeting is indispensable to
\nthe action of the spiritual force is self-contradictory, for then it would not be a spiritual force. The
\nspirit is not limited by physical things or by the body.
\nIf you have the spiritual force, it can act on people
\nthousands of miles away who do not know and never
\nwill know that you are acting on them or that they
\nare being acted upon\u2014they only know that there is
\na force enabling them to do things and may very
\nwell suppose it is their own great energy and genius<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 485<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nSadhana Outside Ashram<\/b>
\n<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(1) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is quite possible for you to do sadhana at home
\nand in the midst of your work\u2014many do so. What
\nis necessary at the beginning is to remember the
\nMother as much as possible, to concentrate on her
\nin the heart for a time every day, if possible thinking
\nof her as the Divine Mother, to aspire to feel her
\nthere within you, offer her your works and pray that
\nfrom within she may guide and sustain you. This is
\na preliminary stage which often takes long, but if one goes through it with
\nsincerity and steadfastness
\nthe mentality begins little by little to change and a
\nnew consciousness opens in the sadhak which begins
\nto be aware more and more of the Mother’s presence
\nwithin, of her working in the nature and in the life
\nor of some other spiritual experience which opens
\nthe gate towards realisation. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n22-2-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(2)<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhen one is living in the world, one cannot do as in an Ashram\u2014one has to mix with others and keep <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 486<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nup outwardly at least ordinary relations with others.
\nThe important thing is to keep the inner consciousness open to the Divine and grow in it. As one does
\nthat, more or less rapidly according to the inner
\nintensity of the sadhana, the attitude towards
\nothers will change. All will be seen more and more
\nin the Divine and the feelings, actions, etc. will more
\nand more be determined, not only by the old external
\nreactions, but by the growing consciousness within
\nyou.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n14-9-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(3) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n"Dedication of life" is quite possible for some
\nwithout their staying here. It is a question of inward
\nattitude and of the total consecration of the being to
\nthe Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n28-6-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nPeace in Worldly Life<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPEACE is never easy to get in the life of the world
\nand never constant, unless one lives deep within <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 487<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand bears the external activities as only a surface front of being.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n13-9-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nSpiritual Destiny and Outer Circumstances<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHEN someone is destined for the Path, all circumstances through all the deviations of mind and life
\nhelp in one way or another to lead him to it. It is
\nhis own psychic being within him and Divine Power
\nabove that use to that end the vicissitudes both of
\nmind and outward circumstance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n8-1Q-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nDestiny in Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nDESTINY in the rigid sense applies only to the outer
\nbeing so long as it lives in the Ignorance. What we call destiny is only in fact
\nthe result of the present condition of the being and the nature and
\nenergies it has accumulated in the past acting on
\neach other and determining the present attempts <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 488<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand their future results. But as soon as one enters
\nthe path of spiritual life, this old predetermined
\ndestiny begins to recede. There comes in a new
\nfactor, the Divine Grace, the help of a higher
\nDivine Force other than the force of Karma, which
\ncan lift the sadhak beyond the present possibilities
\nof his nature. One’s spiritual destiny is then the
\ndivine election which ensures the future. The only
\ndoubt is about the vicissitudes of the path and the
\ntime to be taken by the passage. It is here that
\nthe hostile forces playing on the weaknesses of the
\npast nature strive to prevent the rapidity of the progress and to postpone the fulfilment. Those
\nwho fall, fall not because of the attacks of the vital
\nforces, but because they put themselves on the
\nside of the hostile Force and prefer a vital ambition
\nor desire (ambition, vanity, lust, etc.) to the spiritual
\nsiddhi. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n16-6-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe Past and the Future<\/i><\/font>
\n<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE past has not to be kept,\u2014one has to go into
\nthe future realisation. All that is necessary in the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 489<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\npast for the future will be taken up and given a
\nnew form. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-1-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nSpiritual Opportunity<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nA<\/i> SPIRITUAL opportunity is not a thing that should
\nbe lightly thrown away with the idea that it will
\nbe all right some other time\u2014one cannot be so
\nsure of the other time. Besides, these things leave
\na mark and at the place of the mark there can be
\na recurrence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 490<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECTION TWELVE SADHANA IN THE ASHRAM AND OUTSIDE Object of Creating the Ashram   THIS Ashram has been created with another object than that ordinarily…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-second-series-1949","wpcat-99-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3768","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=3768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3768\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}