I will persist O Lord

I will not faint, O God. There is the thirst,

And thirst supposes water somewhere. Yes,

But in this life we may not ever find;

Old nature sits a phantom by the way,

Old passions may forbid, old doubts return.

Then are there other lives here or beyond

To satisfy us? I will persist, O Lord.

[SABCL 23: 572-73]

Faith is indispensable to man, for without it he could not proceed forward in his journey to the unknown; but it ought not to be imposed, it should come as a free perception or an imperative direction from the inner spirit.

[SABCL 17:110]

Sleep, dream and consciousness

It is a mistake to think that we live physically only, with the outer mind and life. We are all the time living and acting on other places of consciousness, meeting others there and acting upon them, and what we do and feel and think there, the forces we gather, the results we prepare have an incalculable importance and effect, unknown to us, upon our outer life. Not all of it comes through, and what comes comes through takes another form in the physical-though sometimes there is an exact correspondence; but this little is at the basis of our outward existence. All that we become and do and hear in the physical life is prepared behind the veil within us. It is therefore of immense importance for a yoga which aims at the transformation of life to grow concious of what goes within these domains, to be master there and be able to feel, know and deal with the secret forces that determine our destiny and our internal and external growth or decline.
--Sri Aurobindo
[Letters on Yoga, 23:993-94]

Dream and reality

Unreal-seeming yet more real than life,

…truer than things true

If dreams these were or captured images,

Dream's truth made false earth's vain realities.

[Savitri, 28:120]

You are already That

Nothing can be taught to the mind which is not already concealed as potential knowledge in the unfolding soul of the creature. So also all perfection of which the outer man is capable, is only a realising of the eternal perfection of the Sprit within him. We know the Divine and become the Divine, because we are That already in our secret nature. All teaching is a revealing, all becoming is an unfolding. Self-attainment is the secret; self-knowledge and an increasing consciousness are the means and the process.

[Synthesis of Yoga, 20:48]

Why shouldst thou limit thyself?

Why shouldst thou limit thyself? Feel thyself also in the sword that strikes thee and the arms that embrace, in the blazing of the sun and the dance of the earth…in all that is past and all that is now and all that is pressing forward to become. For thou art infinite and all this joy is possible to thee. [The Superman, 16:289]

Physical things have a consciousness

*It is very true that physical things have a consciousness within them which feels and responds to care and is sensitive to careless touch and rough handling. To know or feel that and learn to be careful of them is a great progress of consciousness.

*The rough handling and careless breaking or waste and misuse of physical things is a denial of the yogic consciousness and a great hindrance to the bringing down of the Divine Truth to the material plane.

[Letters on Yoga-p 717]

ON SRI AUROBINDO ASHRAM AND THE MOTHER

There are only two possible foundations for the material life here. One is that one is a member of an Ashram founded on the principle of self-giving and surrender. One belongs to the Divine and all one has belongs to the Divine; There is no question of payment or return, no bargain, no room for demand and desire. The Mother is in sole charge and arranges things as best they can be arranged within the means at her disposal and the capacities of her instruments. She is under no obligation to act according to mental standards or vital desires and claims of the sadhaks; she is not obliged to use a democratic equality in her dealings with them. She is free to deal with each according to what she sees to be his true need or what is best for him in his spiritual progress. No one can be her judge or impose on her his own rule and standard; she alone can make rules, and she can depart from them too if she thinks it fit, but no one can demand that she shall do so.…This is the spiritual discipline of which the one who represents or embodies the Divine Truth is the centre. Either she is that and all this is the plain common sense of the matter; or she is not and then no one need stay here. Each can go his own way and there is no Ashram and no Yoga.

[The Mother, p 233-34]

Achievement by yoga

My sadhana is not a freak, a monstrosity, or a miracle done outside the laws of Nature and the conditions of life and consciousness on earth. If I could do these things or if they could happen in my yoga, it means that they can be done and that therefore these developments and transformations are possible in the terrestrial consciousness …I had no urge towards spirituality in me, I developed spirituality. I was incapable of understanding metaphysics, I developed into a philosopher. I had no eye for painting –I developed it by yoga. I transformed my nature from what it was to what it was not. I did it by a special manner, not by a miracle and I did it to show what could be done and how it could be done. I did not do it out of any personal necessity of my own or by a miracle without any process. I say that if it is not so, then my yoga is useless and my life was a mistake-a mere absurd freak of Nature without meaning or consequence. [Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo-I, 139]

Self

Man twitters intellectually (=foolishly) about the surface results and attributes them all to his “noble self”, ignoring the fact that his noble self is hidden far away from his own vision behind the veil of his dimly sparkling intellect and the reeking fog of his vital feelings, emotions, impulses, sensations and impressions.

[Correspondence with Sri Aurobindo, I, 460