Pearls of Wise

25/06/2018 12. Usually the non-understanding occidental says "No! You should not control your senses; it is suppression; it is depression; it will create various sorts of neurotic complexes". It is only when self-control is thrust upon someone, against one’s wish, that it may bring about certain psychological aberrations like neurosis and complexes and so forth, because of the inhibitions. But this is not so in the case when one voluntarily takes it upon himself knowing its value, blessedness, importance and its immense benefit. So, when anything is taken upon oneself voluntarily, there is no adverse or negative reaction upon the psychic. This is a point very few people understand, and therefore, there is a lot of controversy about self-control as exercised by the Yogi. Yoga is an ancient science, which has a very great relevance to us in this age of free indulgence, sensuality and sense control. We are all hedonists. Modern man has got the peculiar idea that lif...

25/06/2018 17. What are these heavens anyhow? Places where to sing psalms all the time. What for? To live there and have a nice healthy body with phosphorescent light or something of this kind coming out of every part, with a halo around the head, and with wings and the power to penetrate the wall? If there be powers, they must pass away sooner or later. If there is a heaven — as there may be many heavens with various grades of enjoyment — there cannot be a body that lives forever. Death will overtake us, even there. Every conjunction must have a disjunction. No body, finer or coarser, can be manufactured without particles of matter coming together. Whenever two particles come together, they are held by a certain attraction; and there will come a time when those particles will separate. This is the eternal law. So, wherever there is a body — either grosser or finer, either in heaven or on earth — death will overcome it. Therefore, all desires of enjoyment in this life, or...

24/06/2018 9. So, Yoga gives us a great message: the message not of any scripture, not of any religion, but the message of the Cosmos, the message that comes from the distant stars, like the cosmic rays, as the modern scientists tell you, which come and impinge on us without our knowing that they are on our heads. The Universe is speaking to us in the language of desire and it tells us that our destination, our central goal of life, is a graduated attunement of our personality with the various degrees of manifestation of this ultimate Reality. The necessity to tune ourselves with the requirements of political administration, the needs of human society, the requirements of even a family or the demands of our own physical personality – all these are the various degrees of the expression of the law of the one Universal Existence. The various duties that we are called upon to perform in the different vocations of life are the obligations that we owe to this one Reality in its ...

24/06/2018 The supermind has various poises, depending on which level of the manifestation it is acting upon at the moment. It can take its native poise at the highest levels of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss, and it can take a poise of action through the individual soul in manifestation. In each case, the expression is modified or tempered to bring about the intended result for the role that is being played at the time. There are therefore, as Sri Aurobindo explains, various gradations or levels of supramental awareness that can be conceived, and the human individual, undertaking the evolutionary ascent, will experience successive levels of widening and heightening awareness and power of action. There is a famous sloka which expresses the sense of going from darkness to light, then from light to greater light. The levels of the supramental consciousness represent the “light to greater light” portion of this insight. “It must be remembered that there is always a difference bet...

23/06/2018 Mahatma Gandhi was respected not because of his dress, but because of his mind and the power of his thoughts. The biographies of all great persons, admired generation after generation, show that it is only those who had the right kind of mind who became great in life, not those who had bigger buildings and longer cars. You may work in whatever profession you like, your greatness in the society, your contribution to the world, all depends upon the quality of your mind. Out of these observations, the great acharyas concluded that a man is only what his mind is. It is a truth that has been demonstrated by thousands of mighty men. See the life of Buddha. From a useless prince, he became a prince of compassion. How did it happen? His mind changed it was not an external physical change. Thus did Siddhartha become Buddha. To be continued ..

23/06/2018 BG sloka-s 24-25 describes a spiritual aspirant as Gudakesha whose chariot is placed by Bhagavan between his good and bad tendencies, as Krishna has placed Arjuna’s chariot between the Kauravas and Pandavas. Each man’s character is a sum total of his habits. Habits in turn are produced by repetitive thoughts, which direct habitual actions. We have the ability to think good and transform to discrimination and discipline or continue habitual mistakes and blindly follow the senses. This dual nature of the mind, causes some discomfort for a devotee who tries to correct his wrong doings. It is important to be under the control of Bhagavan to know the right actions to take, like Arjuna is directed by Krishna. Today’s lesson:- A true devotee is not one who blindly worships. Blind piety is a low level of spiritual- mindedness. What we need is wisdom, understanding, Intelligence and reasoning which will caution and protect us every step of our life. Towards the end of chapt...

07/06/2018 16 We are slaves in the hands of nature — slaves to a bit of bread, slaves to praise, slaves to blame, slaves to wife, to husband, to child, slaves to everything. Why, I go about all over the world — beg, steal, rob, do anything — to make happy a boy who is, perhaps, hump-backed or ugly-looking. I will do every wicked thing to make him happy. Why? Because I am his father. And, at the same time, there are millions and millions of boys in this world dying of starvation — boys beautiful in body and in mind. But they are nothing to me. Let them all die. I am apt to kill them all to save this one rascal to whom I have given birth. This is what you call love. Not I. Not I. This is brutality. There are millions of women — beautiful in body and mind, good, gentle, virtuous — dying of starvation this minute. I do not care for them at all. But that Jennie who is mine — who beats me three times a day, and scolds me the whole day — for that Jennie I am going to beg, borrow, che...

07/06/2018 11 This is the way in which Yoga is not a physical culture; Yoga is a health culture, making use of this knowledge of Prana of which very little is known by the Western biologist and physiologist. Very little is known of this thing called Prana which holds the key to health. Through Pranayama, they bring about psychological stability, harmony and steadiness, and through Pranayama combined with Asanas, they bring about healthy, sound functioning of all the different systems that go to make up the inner physical man, the physiological man, whose sound functioning holds the key to health. It is supported by self-control, moderation and purity of life, the functioning of your various senses; because if the eye looks upon something very passionate, very carnal, very exciting in a low manner, in a gross manner, the whole system is shattered, shaken up by that type of excitement. If the ear hears things that are base and ignoble, low and vulgar, they excite the lower pro...

06/06/2018 8. Human society, in the Vedic hymn I mentioned, is envisaged as one single organism. We owe an obligation mutually among ourselves, merely on account of the fact that we live a single life of immanent relationships which obliges us to manifest this inner communion in outward activity, conduct, behaviour etc. Our conduct or behaviour, externally, in human society, is an outward manifestation of the internal bond that is perpetually maintained among ourselves, even without our knowing the very existence of this relationship. We are called phenomenal beings merely because of this fact – phenomenal, because we do not know the 'noumenal' implication of our existence. Yoga is the technique, the art, the science of bringing you into union with the noumenal implication of your own self. The phenomenal individuality of yours is brought into coordination with the noumenal universality of your existence. This is something very profound for us to contemplate. P...

06/06/2018 2. Lord Krishna is styled as one who steals butter, because he used to eat butter stealthily in the houses of the Gopis on account of his extreme love for them. But he really steals the evil thoughts of devotees and fills their minds with divine thoughts. This stealing of butter was a sort of sport (Lila) when he was a boy, to instil delight in the hearts of the Gopis who were His devotees. The Gopis liked this immensely. They were eagerly expecting Krishna to come and eat their butter. He really steals or captivates the hearts of His devotees, makes them forget the world, draws their minds towards His blessed feet and makes them enjoy everlasting peace and bliss. He steals the letter “Da” in the feeling “Dasoham” (I am servant) of devotees and make them feel the right significance of “Soham” (I am He), or their identity with the Supreme Self. Lord Krishna says in the Gita, “I give My devotees the Yoga of discrimination.” (Chapter IX-10.) How merciful is Lord Krishna!...

05/06/2018 People often ask how to control anger. All of us get angry in some situations and it is acceptable as long as you can tell your victim in a calm tone later why you were angry and how you want the situation to be different. But, when we speak of “Krodha in a defective personality” we are talking of the habitually angry, irritable mood, impatient person, whose “fuse burns” for any trivial thing.  Generally, these people take out their anger at individuals that they want to establish their power on. So innocent children, spouses, employees or sub-ordinates are their victims. When the angry person sees fear and helplessness on the face of the victim or tears, their ego identified consciousness gets a boost. This pleasure forces them to retort to this behavior whenever they feel insecure and need the “power kick”. They never realize the people who loves them the most or helps them the most, are the ones who suffer the most, because of their crudeness. Thus, you cr...

05/06/208 What is it in me that repels others? These unwanted tendencies are called negative qualities. They lead to immoral or unethical actions. Just as there is a negative and a positive electric current, there are also negative and positive ideas. When negative ideas are expressed in my character, others will be repelled from me. If I can bring out in the expression of my life the fragrance of my positive qualities, then people will flow in attraction towards me. It has been found true all over the world whether in South Africa or New York that people, of whatever caste, creed or colour, are magnetically pulled by certain qualities. These qualities which attract others are called positive qualities. When I am dealing with others, if I open out the sweetness of these qualities in my personality, I find that more and more people circle round me, love me and are ready to support me. These positive qualities are there in all of us, but it is not sufficient that we just know abo...

05/06/2018 We may look upon consciousness as a continuum, starting from the all-conscious, Sat-Chit-Ananda which is the divine knowledge and will in its highest form of existence. In order to create a manifested universe with various planes of consciousness and existence, this ultimate status undergoes a process of “involution” whereby the broader knowledge and power are veiled and reduced in their immediate capacity and action, analogous to a “step-down transformer” taking raw electrical power generation and converting it into a form that can be transmitted through wires into homes to operate the electrical devices. The supramental consciousness is the lynch-pin that carries out this “step-down” transformation of consciousness. It remains fully aware and connected to the higher status of conscious awareness, while at the same time, it is able to develop differentiation of forms and functions consistent with the needs of the manifestation of the Divine through Time, Spa...