The Divine within

ned said, on November 17th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
When will we stop clinging to authoritarian leaders, religious or otherwise? When we are totally surrendered to the only true authority, the Divine within.

Believing with Reason from The Stumbling Mystic by ned

...like the criticism that atheists like Daniel Dennett put forth: that most people don’t believe in God, only in beliefs about God. Authentic faith develops as a result of lived experience. It is not dependent on beliefs and intellectual constructs.

It was her friendship with Dilip Kumar Roy which brought her to the Ashram

The first tremor of the Light—by Sahana Devi
by RY Deshpande on Fri 16 Nov 2007 08:18 PM PST Permanent Link
[In the Ashram Sahana Devi wrote, long ago, mystic poetry in Bengali; the present piece of hers is a translation in English by Nolini Kant Gupta. Will our lotus-scented senses awake and will we hear the cry of the Spaces? But for that to happen a golden vision should flutter over our eyelids. For that to happen should begin our dream-journey. Let’s prepare ourselves for that journey. Let's respond to its mysterious yet calm evocative utterance, to that which is so deep beneath it, in its golden hush. RYD]

Re: The first tremor of the Light—by Sahana Devi
by RY Deshpande on Sat 17 Nov 2007 08:13 PM PST Profile Permanent Link
Sahana Devi was one of the few earliest members of the Ashram. She came in 1928 and lived here until she passed away in 1990. She was the niece of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das and it was in his house that, in her girlhood, she had seen Sri Aurobindo for the first time, after the Alipore Bomb Case trial was over and he had been released (1908-09). C. R. Das had successfully defended Sri Aurobindo who was charged by the then British Government for his acts of sedition. Before coming to the Ashram, Sahana Devi not only knew Rabindranath Tagore very well but was an authority on Rabindra Sangeet. In fact, such enchanting was her voice that she was called as “the Nightingale of Bengal”. It was her friendship with Dilip Kumar Roy which brought her to the Ashram. Her inner call for a life of sadhana was so strong that she gave up everything in this pursuit.

The adventure of consciousness and joy

Sri Aurobindo or The Adventure of Consciousness

Many of the westerners who have settled in Auroville came after reading an excellent introduction to what is really being attempted here, in the form of the book with the above named title. The book was written by (French) Satprem in the late nineteen-sixties at the request of the Mother. Its name is derived from a line in Sri Aurobindo's epic poem 'Savitri', referring to "the adventure of consciousness and joy".

In the intro it says:
In this century, so hurried, incoherent, full of riches which dominate us more than they serve, we have need of a true mastery, of that joy which comes of this mastery. But our psychology knows yet only the surfaces of being, and our imported orientalisms illumine some obscure depths which may perhaps be all right for the cross-legged sage, but not for the beleaguered men we are.

This book has been written from a Western point of view and for those who yearn for a truth of Life and not only a truth with eyes closed. It presents just one aspect of Sri Aurobindo, the most practical one. We only hope it will lead the reader to explore for himself Sri Aurobindo, and perhaps, with him, find the perfect harmony of East and West, of inner freedom and outer mastery.

And further on:
--- Now, Sri Aurobindo shows us how to make a double discovery of which we are in urgent need if we want not only to give outlet to our stifling chaos but to transform our world. For, following step by step with him his prodigious exploration - his technique of inner spaces, if one may venture to put it thus - we are led to the greatest discovery of all times, to the door of the Great Secret which must change the face of the world, namely, that consciousness is power.

The book has been widely translated. For more information, refer to the AVI Centre in your country, or go to http://sriaurobindoashram.org/home.htm www.auromere.com

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Auro-Mirran-centric view of spirituality

The Limitations of Religionism from The Stumbling Mystic by ned

I of course have an Auro-Mirran-centric view of spirituality — and I don’t think anyone else even comes close to them in terms of just how fulfilling and complete their philosophy is — but I have no problems with others who choose different paths. I think each soul has its own calling depending on a number of different factors. And lesser Light always seeks greater Light, so if one is so convinced that their path is the most complete and most universal or integral, then one must live it and time will tell if that conviction can stand the test of lived experience or not. If this yoga that I am practicing is not the most universal one, then I will gladly welcome a day when I will be consumed by an even wider spiritual path. I do not think that the spiritual transmission ended at Sri Aurobindo and the Mother — of course not. As Sri Aurobindo says: “Our life is a march to a Victory never won.”