Series III    101-200

101)   Knowledge understood is science; formulated for action it is technology.  Technological power, political power, etc. have behind them their own appropriate formulas. The mathematical formula of Sri Aurobindo which he wrote on 16th August 1935, gives us the evolutionary formula for spiritual evolution.

102)   The artist who draws a figure has it in his mind. His hand is guided by the mind. The Artist who makes water out of hydrogen and oxygen is guided by His intention. After an artist draws the picture of a child or a table, we can explain that because the outline of the picture conforms to the outline of the object; the picture emerges. This is the effect, not the cause; the cause is the picture of the child in the mind of the artist which is occult to us. To acquire that mental picture, the artist must be born in us.

103)   In all our daily activities, the process expresses itself subconsciously, rather the knowledge of routine acts held in the subconscious expresses as complete acts. What the sub­conscious creates is what we already know. The Divine crea­tion is the creation of Superconscience where He self-conceives. But the process is the same for both.

          Man, wanting to create an opportunity for himself, cannot create out of his subconscient possession, nor does he need to new-create like the Divine. Man's opportunities are in this world, presently enjoyed by so many others. For him to create opportunities consciously, he needs to know the opportunity as well as he knows his subconscious endowment. Then he will be able to create.

          New Creation: Man can also create for himself opportuni­ties that are not there in the world which is not like the creation of the Divine. Creation of new ideas, forms of new literature, new organisations will come under this head. For this, neither the subconscious ability, nor the conscious capacity described above will serve the purpose directly.

          He needs to extract the essence of the subconscious abili­ty and apply it to a new situation and create there by the same process a new thing, in a new way.

 104)   When a social relationship is neither pleasant nor useful, it falls away. A psychological relationship turning sour and harming the inner being cannot retain its original intimacy though it lingers in the outer social form. A spiritual relationship can still survive unpleasantness or inner harm but cannot survive when it becomes a vehicle for the hostile influence. How far it can survive in external forms will be decided by the fact of its capacity to lend the outer forms for its inner harm.

 105)   Hypothesis of consciousness emerging out of inconscience:    

           This leads to:       

           the infinite variation emerging out of the mathematical accuracy of  mechanicality;

           knowledge emerging out of ignorance;

           love emerging out of hatred, chastity out of prostitution;

           sweetest of feminine friendliness emerging out of crankiest of wilful stupidity.

 106)   Response from the human end of evolution is sour whereas the response from the evolutionary end is expansive joy.

 107)   Growing human self-awareness is increasing misery; growing divine self-awareness is evolutionary joy of transformation.

 108)   Walking in the crowded bazaar, every moment we find our need to move ahead mixed with dirt, danger, possibility of theft or loss; so in Life, every event is a mixture of great divine opportunity and human misery or tragedy. The choice is at every minute, nor can we give up the journey.

 109)   Every minute man seeks joy from a forked road situation. The level of joy depends upon the level of his life, i.e. his strength of concentration. Raising the level is yoga.

 110)   Joy, Delight, Ananda can be described as the joy of knowing more. This is a joyous sensation of knowing; maybe the joy of sensing more is greater. Joy of knowing is greater than joy of being.

              Satchidananda is joy of being.

              The Absolute seeking the joy of being produced Satchidananda.

              The joy of self-discovery, having lost oneself in the opposite, is joy of  creation.

              Creation turns the joy of being into joy of (sensing more) knowing.

              Hiding and self-discovery make possible raising the level of knowing.

              Evolution of the being of Bliss may be the joy of sensing more.

 111)   The Absolute's seeking joy, joy of being in Satchidananda and joy of knowing in the evolution of ignorance into knowl­edge is the cause of this creation. It has the possibility of its seeking the joy of sensing by evolving the Ananda Maya Purusha.

 112)   Yogic life and its success depends upon the extent to which one seeks the joy of knowing more of his own life and through it, Life.

           Knowledge and the seeking of it is joy.
Pain is preserving ignorance.
Seeking is ever present through preserving.
Direction of seeking decides -- joy or pain.

 113)   Fiction holds the interest in spite of our knowing that it is our creation and fully non-existent. Joy issues as much out of real situations as unreal. In either case, joy is real. The intensity of joy increases from plot to character to character of life.

 114)   The poet creating out of Parabrahman in himself is litera­ture. God creating out of Parabrahman that is Himself is the material, subtle, causal worlds. Man can create out of the depths of his devotion (that is Mother's creative vibration) everlasting enjoyment in the world that is luck for him.

 115)   Self-discovery is for the God-seeker; discovery is for life. Self-discovery begins after discovery is over. For man in life, it is self-discovery; for God it is Self-discovery. Man is on the path of becoming God when he moves from self-discovery to Self-discovery. The external man of human effort is at discovery; inner man strives after self-discovery.

 116)   The infinite in us sees infinite opportunities everywhere; the finite sees no room to move around; when it moves it sees infinite difficulties all around.

 117)   The joy in sensing an opportunity is less than that of accomplishing. One is sensational and the other is physical. Physical joy in the ascent is relief, in the descent is Joy on the borders of Love.

 118)   How would he, who sees the world as a marvel, respond to a child that by its pranks is about to hurt itself or to lose the opportunity of becoming a good kid?     

           a) The presence of one who sees the world as a marvel will restrain the child from such pillage. The child will not stop the pranks if he is one who is trying to discover the marvel the world is.

     b) He will comprehend the child, the environment he is in ONLY when he loses the personal attachment to the child. As long as that attachment remains, all that he discovers will help him see the reality of that attachment and its intensity.

             c) Once that attachment is dissolved,

                           == he will see the inner determinism -- the Karma -- of the  child at work,

                           == he will see the power of his perception influencing that karma,

                         == he may even see the child overcoming its karma and not spoiling itself in deference to his still lingering subconscious wish, even after the attachment is given up.

        ==  At that point, his wishing to rescue that child will positively save the child and fully dissolve his attachment or negatively reinforce the attachment that was lingering.

            Instances of adult children (or parents) who seek the ruin of parents, spouses having been unfaithful out to destroy the other, when experimented upon from the yogic conscious­ness, will reveal the truth here. A more powerful instance is the guru or sishya who has turned hostile. In all these instances the world continues to be a marvel but his own perceptions change flavour.

 119)   Energy of the rising expectations  p. 303, The Life Divine

           The energy of the rising expectations of the masses is the indispensable social condition for the structure (ethnic, organisational and social structures) of the social sub­stance to evolve into its opposite of material prosperity and mental peace (from present poverty in the Third World and violence in the West).

 120)   Employment is created out of human imagination -- Cleveland

           'A creation out of itself in the boundless finite of the material universe', p. 303 (The Life Divine)

           Society creates out of itself in innumerable social inven­tions ('boundless finite') of the human universe.

           Social evolution on a parallel to the evolution of the world described on p. 303, The Life Divine

121)   Subconscious yoga:

           The intensity of emotional identification with the Master and The Mother will decide the extent of the receptivity or benefit. The same rule is true if one wants to receive from the atmosphere. This is true of the subconscious benefit from the society. Subconscious benefit gives the minimum the relationship can give as the maximum possibility.

          In the conscious effort of a citizen we see the maximum possibility of his becoming the President whereas the mini­mum he is assured of is he will not be arrested without a warrant.

          Becoming a supramental being and a cosy comfort protected from the hostiles are the maximum and minimum for the con­scious effort and the subconscious relationship.

 122)   The scientist's insisting on experimental knowledge in preference to intuitive knowledge is akin to parents in­sisting nowadays on knowledge through experience for their children as against formal education.

 123)   Behind intense adoration lies high idealism, a non-existent state by definition. Realism does not permit adoration. It admits of appreciation. When realism rises to heights of idealism, adoration upgrades itself into self-giving.

124)   Linguistic ability permits translation of a text or summarising it or making critical notes of it, without fully comprehending its import or with no comprehension at all. Linguistic ability is to the contents of the text what social appearance is to the inner psychological content.

 125)   The disgust felt at a bitterly low person and the sweetness felt at an intensely high person are from the SAME spiritual intensity of the being, finding expressions through opposite cultural determinisms. By shedding the cultural sensitivity it can become pure intensity. When cultural determinism is replaced by spiritual determinism, the bitterness, disgust, sweetness will give place to aspiration.

126)   The outer disgust is made possible by our own inner sen­sibility and does not similarly bother others without that relationship or sensibility.

127)   Concentration demanded in yoga is exacting, one pointed, singled-minded that can withdraw from the senses in self- forgetfulness. Consecration requires All-inclusive concen­tration that saturates the purified awakened senses in action. In a wide massive opening, the being becomes eligi­ble for that concentration.

 128)   Blood relationship is thick in the family, but thinly ex­tended to the community. At the soul level, the entire humanity is related and it extends to all beings and things in spirit.

129)   Pity is felt for oneself; sympathy goes to all in the blood relationship. Only compassion extends to all humanity. Grace extends beyond that too to inanimate objects.

130)   Consecration of acts is asked of us by Mother. Consecration of vital existence while not acting is consecration of life that is a steady flow from the life centre to the soul centre.

131)   The Divine Mother's Feet on the face opens the soul in each cell and fills the being with fullness. The power of those feet is not less in the dream or even in imagination.

132)   Human love crosses the border to touch the divine love when abuse is as sweet as adoration.

133)   To discover that a weakness of which one is ashamed of is really one's greatest strength is the ability for transfor­mation which ushers him into the state of transformation. 

134)   To move from a routine personality of occupation in the mind to serious dwelling on the Divine is inwardly indicated by dullness of nerves giving place to stillness of mind felt as peace in the nerves.

135)   Avatars descend to announce a great opportunity. They take birth to reveal.  Mother and Sri Aurobindo came not only to reveal, but to work it out themselves. The book Life Divine  is so constructed that each chapter gives the reader also the capacity to understand the following one. He has not only brought, but prepares you to receive. This is one of HIS secrets of writing. A careful analysis of His arguments reveals this secret.

136)   As in any field, enjoyment is on many levels of relief, comfort, convenience, pleasure, happiness, joy, delight, bliss. God enjoys Being as Bliss. Man enjoys the vital as pleasure and hopes for mental happiness.

              Delight is active Bliss not so far available on earth which God seeks through spiritual evolution. He offers it to man and its embodiment is Mother. Adoration of Mother yields that delight which man can seek in life through living Her principles.

137)   Reading maturing in the mind is indicated by Silence. Silence is born in the mind when the thought is fully ab­sorbed.

138)   The highest positive enjoyment of anyone is the royal road to his progress.

139)   Consecration succeeds for a fleeting moment when we under­stand that it has to be there during all moments. The success­ful moment lifts you out of Time. Its success all the time helps you overcome Time and walk into Timelessness. This is true of any ideal of the next higher plane. 

140)   Sensitivity that stings one into utter shame loses its sting and even becomes commonplace, occasionally issuing joy in the act that stung you earlier when it becomes the daily occurrence in the environment. Mind seeing the silly nature of that earlier sensitivity can make one laugh over it. To find it is God's marvel, the knowledge of the mind should rise to a light in the soul.

141)   Each act from being a routine dull one before turning into God's marvel should reveal the other side as He describes -- the mathematical architecture, of design, of effective arrangement of numbers, of adaptation of means to ends, of inexhaustible device and invention, a constant experimental skill and an automatism of purpose.

142)   When you observe an act in this detail from conception to execution the act reveals its original force of self-conception. An act passes through observation, choice, conception, consent, interest, sensation, energy, organisa­tion, execution. One's characteristics express fully at all these stages. Reliance on Mother at all these stages is Purity. Passing through all these stages in Purity makes the act a marvel.

143)   Mental appreciation of a relationship emotionally expands and when it wants to move to the physical,  it seeks to give a material present. The material present is that which consummates the long process of sweet human relationship mind began. The present by itself is a social token or an expression of a complex.

144)   Pleasant behaviour and proper conduct in the same person is rare. It is obvious that both in combined strength have no capac­ity to give a spiritual opening, but no spiritual opening in substantial measure will be there in their absence or in the absence of similar traits. In exceptions, spiritual capacity in the extreme is seen with no regard to their presence or absence.

145)   Life brings to us our own traits, e.g. a selfish man meets with selfish people. One who seeks discipline is asked to serve people of his own qualities. This is a method of life to exhaust a vibration. To serve another of his own traits is to exhaust that vibration in the external. At its extreme it even turns into its opposite -- selfless man serving a selfish person -- thereby exhausting the fullness of that vibration. 

146)   If one who is capable of knowing or realising or having a siddhi of the Absolute continues to think of the Absolute, his thought will lead him nowhere. Beyond a point, the thought could be a bar. The Absolute can be reached only by the Absolute in the mind. That which can take us to the gates of the Absolute is the spirit, not the mind, much less the thought. The spirit either as the soul or psychic can take us to its borders. The spirit emerging in the mind's silence or the psychic coming forward by consecration are the first steps towards this goal.

147)   A vast surrender is his great strength.

            The light in the prakriti rising and seeking the Psychic is consecration.

           Purusha, the Silent witness, coming to give orders becomes Ishwara.

           Consecration by which the prakriti submits to Purusha is the surrender of Prakriti.

           This is done by the light in the prakriti rising and domi­nating it.

           The dynamics of action acquire proportions of Silence, Light, Love and Power.

           Thereby the powers of the Infinite -- Silence, Light, Love, Power

           -- replace the powers of the finite.

           Next, consecration raises itself to surrender.

           The light that emerged out of prakriti is the purusha of prakriti.

           That Light offers SURRENDER to prakriti giving prakriti the power of Purusha.

           Now prakriti, the finite, acquires the powers of the Infi­nite.

           Silent Purusha; finite prakriti -- Ishwara; obedient prakri­ti -- prakriti offering surrender through consecration acting through the powers of the purusha, viz. Silence, Love, Light, Power -- Purusha in the prakriti surrendering to Prakriti through a vast surrender making prakriti wield the Infinite itself instead of its powers -- this is also the process of

              Knowledge emerging out of Ignorance;

              Spirit evolving from silence to activity.

              Ishwara, the giver of commands, receives HER COMMANDS.

              The chaste wife becomes lokamatha.

          The female -- the woman -- the wife -- devoted chaste wife -- Snekcele is the evolution she passes through. The female is an organism, the woman is the social female, the wife creates the family, by devotion and chastity she is spiritual, BY ACCEPTING THE SURRENDER OF THE LORD, she becomes Snekcele.              .

148)   Meticulous correction of memorised composition that cannot do any good to anyone will do all the spiritual good to the subconscious physical of the teacher who corrects it. That work came to him to give that perfection.

149)   Of the trio money, woman, and power, only the woman has a soul. Money is social and vital and its attraction for the human ego is spurred by its capacity to bring status. Power is of the same plane but exercises a greater power on the vital nerves. Money and power are incomplete in one aspect, but are powerful forces of attraction to the ego, not equally powerful tools in self-perfection. Woman, having a soul, though devoid of the capacities of money or power, can offer perennial attraction to man if ever she opens to him in her soul for the purpose of being his complement. Of the three attractions to his ego, only she has the capacity to be his complement if she chooses. Thus, when she chooses so, she becomes the vehicle for transformation from his ego.  Having thus chosen, his finding a soul complement in her opens the way to realise all in each or each in all, a status of Supermind.

          The woman whom all spirituality shunned as a devil is born with a soul capacity to lead him to Supermind.

150)   Personal relationships with men of hostile forces lived to outline those vibrations come to an end in several ways at several stages -- material, subtle, causal. The subtle relationship coming to an end is often marked by the consum­mation of a work they were trying to neutralise. And it falls on their birthdays.

151)   Honest men first coming to recognise in themselves traits like jealousy or betrayal faint, since it requires a more than total effort of the being. The Godward endeavour of man reaching its fullness gives him trance, since it is a positive effort of that dimension.

152)   We demand of man total surrender, but only the Lord is capable of it.

           Man's part is surrender but only when he becomes God can he do it.

           Total surrender of Purusha is total freedom for Shakti.

           Without Shakti getting total freedom, Integral Yoga will remain incomplete.

153)   Computer technology endowed the pen with  human skill. The pen has the skill of writing as an inanimate instrument, the hand has the animate skill. The computer has upgraded the inanimate instrument to be an animate part. Mother's consciousness is trying to give the finger the ability of the brain.

154)   Life was born by the inconscient becoming subconscious. Spiritual evolution is to raise the subconscious to become conscious.

155)   The inconscient is death; the subconscious is born, grows and dies; the conscious cannot die and is ever-living.

156)   To make our mind fully conscious and raise the level of the vital and physical to higher levels of consciousness is yoga. Hence the value of shedding habits, likes and prefer­ences.

157)   Arrogance offends, chases away grace, opportunity or pros­perity. Arrogance of weakness is subtle and it seeks subter­fuges. It ensures safe survival in eternal poverty.

158)   Man above the line in an atmosphere of Grace succeeds in the small ventures and builds on it to a high possibility. When he who is below the line fails because of his inadequacy, the Grace does not fully write him off; but makes his present failure a possibility of a great future victory. Should the man insist on drawing upon Grace to somehow rectify his present failure in a small endeavour, his misfortune enables him to succeed, permanently cancelling the future Grace held in store.

159)   In the small man life prepares a future capacity of great success through his failures even as it does with the great man through his success.

160)   There are two alternatives for the man who failed. To recti­fy the basis in his character of failure or to repeat fai­lure till it exhausts itself. Both lead to the same goal of success.

161)   Failure is the occasion for man to see the needs of success and acquire them.

162)   Changing the person when his work is imperfect will lead to another person of similar imperfection when the situation reflects your own inner imperfection.

163)   Perfect execution of work is possible only for those perfect in consciousness.

164)   The Life Divine  is difficult to comprehend, and the first generation in education plods along because mind is not made to comprehend what is not before it. It is there to under­stand what is there before it, rather around it, in the atmosphere. The Life Divine presents concepts that are not there in the universal atmosphere; the pupil from the first generation of education is confronted with reading material not grown in this milieu.

165)   Thought is unidimensional, idea multidimensional, life and its reality are dimensionless planes for thought or idea. To grasp life, one has to live it in its own plane. Reality is not contained in any one plane or several planes. We ap­proach Reality by thought and find it difficult to grasp.

166)   Work is always a drudgery because the new work needs greater energy than is there and the old work is repetitious. It ceases to be so only when the vital enjoys doing it, releas­ing more energy. The ideal work that can never be a drudgery releases fresh physical energy since it is consecrated to the spirit in the physical.

167)   An un-ideal or even anti-ideal goal can serve the cause of idealism. This does not apply to the elect Krishna speaks of, but to the efficient outside that elect. Purna Yoga that stands for the abolition of ego, at a lesser height works best by an egoistic incentive. He who wishes to transcend the money value brings out his best in working successfully for great amounts for a non-personal cause. Mercenary folks put up their very best non-mercenary values for a high monetary goal.

168)   Noble ideals implemented in utter disregard to the anti-idealistic milieu will turn into fields of vice. In the subtle plane, it is capable of letting loose the pure evil, as in the case of the devadasi system and Gandhiji's ahimsa.

169)   Behind each activity such as success, failure, benevolence, etc. there is a dynamism which is an organised ability. Knowing that helps raise it or dissolve it. Nirvana is the ultimate of this process.

170)   An act expressed in the material field is complete and yields results or punishment. No result accrues or no pun­ishment is meted out to acts not executed in the physical plane.

171)   Values belong to the subtle plane of mind and feelings. Values cherished there are real. Thoughts contrary to values make us lose those values by the very act of thinking. They exist at two levels, social values and psychological values.

172)  Perfection belongs to the substance of consciousness which belongs to the  physical plane. A value becomes perfect only when it belongs to the substance. Such presence makes it impossible to think of ideas opposite to a value.

    The result is for work. There is no punishment for an uncommitted crime.

To think ill is a sin, not a crime. Once the thought entertains it is sin, there is no  pardoning it. To be pure, one must be incapable of that, even in thought.   Perfection is purity in inconceivable depths. It is divinity.

Act gets the result, thought incurs sin. The being of the dpeth alone can be pure.

 173)   What makes Mother effective in one's life depends on the plane we are in and the measure of endowment of that plane. The psychic is closest to Mother, next is            mind and the grade goes down to vital and physical.

          Mind represents the highest part of being and the psychic total being. Mind's highest endowment is organisation and gratitude is the highest psychic faculty.

           The vital opens to Mother by self-giving and the body by its obedience. If these are the grades in the descent, different faculties arise in the ascent of transformation. There body is the ultimate when its material mind begins to learn.

174)   To know and accept Mother is given to the mind. By that, the mind accepts only itself. To feel Mother and accept Her is gratitude. He who feels and accepts, accepts fully.

175)   Genuine emotions of one for another bring tears to the eyes, until the emotion is fulfilled. Fulfilled emotions mature into cheerful joy no longer capable of tears of joy.

          Tears of joy rise in fulfilment to secure rich joy entrenched.

176)   Rationality has such an ethical status in men's minds that almost all speak in its name. Impermissible desire or irra­tional aggrandisement hoping to accomplish without conflict resorts to 'rationality' of calm presentation of its urges. Not being assertive or aggressive in peaceful pursuit of its original urges is rationality for them.

177)   Inexperience can put forward its expectation persuading itself to be rational.

178)   Being is the highest, higher than the cosmic Self; Non-Being is higher still; the Supreme transcends both Being and Non-Being; That is final; Absolute is the name of That;

          These are human, finite conceptions of the Infinite, our highest conceptions today. What prevents us from raising our level of conception? Is there a limit to the Infinite that the finite can set?

           It Being Infinite, the finite cannot conceptually limit It.

179)   Capacity for progress is determined by the capacity to submit. Social progress is decided by the capacity to submit to society.

180)   When the mind turns to Mother and pleasantly and fully allows Her to possess it, it stops chattering and moves into self-existent peace. At this point, the distinction between the surface and the depth thins and disappears. Maybe this is the discipline HE means by which one can go in or the positive condition as against the less negative psychic opening.

          Corresponding positions in the vital and physical will be self-existent joy and self-existent power.

181)   Any property at the point of saturation leads to its next grade. Any property at its point of perfection leads to its consciousness, its absolute. Purna Yoga is yoga of self-perfection. It leads to the absolute of Self in manifesta­tion. The other yogas lead by their fullness -- saturated tapas -- to the Self; Purna yoga, being the yoga of self-perfection, leads to the Absolute of Self's perfection, viz., its evolutionary goal.

182)   The goodness of selfishness will be more of selfishness than of goodness, since goodness is passive and selfishness active.

183)   Wide information and small assimilation result in informa­tion expressing itself with energy and joy, popularly known as an inveterate talker.

184)   Manners that are of the merest surface, when perfect, ex­press the deepest grain of nature that is beyond formed character and the unformed personality.

185)   Happiness is human experienced by the mind. Delight is spiritual enjoyed by the evolving soul.

185)   Gratitude is the soul's recognition of the Divine in the world. Soul's moving to the Self in adoration issues de­light. Thus self-giving precedes delight.

           Gratitude matures into self-giving by adoration resulting in delight. Inactive Bliss is of the soul; Delight is active Bliss experienced by the evolving spirit in the world.

187)   Without conceiving of the Infinite, the Absolute will remain incomprehensible. One needs a practical perception of Infin­ity for his emotions to grasp it. Infinite expansion must become a physical reality for realising the Absolute in the physical.

188)   Often the problem of betrayal is not so much a conscious initiative on the part of the culprit as the innocent or ignorant victim walking obliviously into the life of the culprit expecting a different behaviour from him.

189)   Overlooking one essential procedure in any act is like removing one essential part from the machine.

190)   While in sympathy with another character of his own type, man brings out the most irrational beliefs or behaviour to the surface.

191)   Again and again we forget that Grace comes through the soul's opening as well as the soul's darkness because it is Grace and only Grace that acts. How often we are sorry for not acting rightly or forgetting to do so? Maybe there are two types of graces attracted to us according to the condi­tion we are in.

192)   Pressing our ability to pray into service will stir up deeper unstable conditions.

193)    As the punishment is more for the thought than for the act, punishment is meted out sometimes even after the error is rectified.

194)   This century's highest rainfall was in the year of Mother's arrival. SHE wants to reward us again with the same when a few come forward to transform themselves.

195)   When unformed minds are elevated by meditation, they wander loosely to the point of thinking that the mind is dizzy.

196)   Prayer for harmony with one has the capacity to bring harmo­ny to him in another occasion of relationship not prayed for.

197)   One who removes a trouble-maker from a situation gets also removed from that situation unless he is on guard.

198)   As prayer can bring good, there are situations when the absence of prayer can also bring it. In such cases it will not be good, but Good.

199)   Accepting failure as Grace with frustration gives the conse­quence of frustration, not the intention of Grace.

200)   Methods meticulously followed lead to a glorious failure to successive acts of success. Its way of wreaking vengeance on the source of failure is to destroy another citadel of methods the opponent may foolishly harbour.