Daily Notes and Reflections by Alokda

The Mother reveals to us the truth that Her symbol represents as follows:

“The central circle represents the Divine Consciousness. The four petals represent the four powers of the Mother. The twelve petals represent the twelve powers of the Mother manifested for Her work. It is the symbolic design of the white Lotus of Supreme Consciousness, with the Mahashakti (the form of the Mother as universal creation) at the centre in her four aspects and twelve attributes.”

In other words, this is a dynamic symbol representing the Mother’s action starting with Her Presence in the center to a complete transformation of human nature spreading through the various parts of his being, – mind, heart, life and body, including our outer nature also in its scope so that our very thoughts and feelings and actions embody and express the twelve powers and attributes.

To make this symbol into a living inner Truth of our being we must cast out the ego-self from the centre of life and throne in its place the Divine Consciousness at the centre.

Instead of making life a field for the satisfaction of desires we must offer the powers of our mind and heart and life and body so that She can pour Her Powers into these earthly instruments and make them vessels and channels of Her Force.

Our outer nature too must open to Her and receive and express the Divine Qualities and attributes rather than our present animality and humanity which are but distortions and shadows of the Reality that stands behind these movements.

This is the worship of the Mother, so that becoming conscious of Her as a living Presence our entire life becomes a flawless and faithful, pure and perfect expression of Her Will.

The darkness is dense and clouds assail the sky, denying the sun an unhindered passage to the earth.

Yet the Light grows and the children of Sun throw themselves into the darkness until it cleaves and gives way. In the end it is the drop of Light that conquers.

This is the faith we must always keep alive and burning in our hearts and trust that after the storms and the nightmare there is the day break and the victory.

Look at a River. Watch it flow through varied landscapes, hills and valleys and plains and forests, through boulders and rocks and yet, it always finds its way.

Three things the river teaches us. First to remember the Origin, to stay connected with it. This is the secret of its force and strength. It is the power that impels it from its source filling it with fresh energy and the joy of constant progression.

Second, to remember the Goal. It must flow towards the ocean becoming a beautiful link between the silent snowy summits mating with the vast sky, and the deep blue sea, the vastness of earth upholding a million forms of life.

It knows where to go and the path opens up and forms of itself. It does not flow along a prefixed pre-determined path, but impelled by the power of the Origin and the knowledge of the Goal, it moves forward. As it thus moves, it turns everything into a path, now carrying them along, now skirting around them but always at the end finding its way to the goal, enriching itself, in the journey.
Everything becomes for it a stepping stone on the way, for it never forgets the Goal. Finally, it never dries up for it gives as it goes and always remains connected to the inexhaustible source from which it is born.

Not limited, self-centred and contained like the pond, it never dries up, nor does it become dirty or stale, since it has learnt the secret of constant progression and through it a constant renewal of forces and energies.

The first step is to recognize the mistake. Not to justify the anger even if there was a clear provocation. One must know it as a weakness that has to be conquered whatever be the challenge one meets on the way.

Do not try to change others. It is the most fruitless exercise. Learn to accept people as they are. Be generous knowing that none is perfect. This gives rise to love and compassion.

Do regular workouts and practice deep breathing and meditation to call in Peace and Equanimity.

Keep the will not to repeat it. This may or may not be possible to achieve in a single stroke. But the will must not give up and not accept the suggestion that we cannot do anything, are helpless etc.

Offer the anger to the Divine with a sincere will to get rid of it.

Read books that are inspiring and show the noble side of life, and avoid company of those who are full of anger, because whatever is cleansed by the Grace can return by contamination.

Defects of nature and insincerity are part and parcel of human nature. While it is good to recognise them and work upon them, they should not become our main focus.

The focus should be on beauty and light and love and peace to which we aspire and which is there embedded in every heart. Unfortunately, the crust of millenniums covers it.

But the Grace is there always ready to Help and its touch can and does remove them, bringing light and peace in each and every corner of our being.

The important thing is to keep moving deeper and deeper into our soul-space and to keep calling the Grace from Above through constant remembrance. All the rest will come in due course of time.

Men often identify the path with the goal. They get attached to the forms and processes, methods and techniques and forget the purpose and the aim.

If we remember the Goal and the Aim and aspire for it steadily, then methods and techniques will become redundant and fall away, leaving us free to seek Him everywhere and in everything. Or they are used freely and with a conscious and deliberate will behind them, to be used as needed and left behind their purpose is over.

All these methods and processes take us only up to a point, they may help us reach until the door of the Lord but cannot help us enter into it or have His glimpse. That comes only by Grace.

When the door opens and the gaze of the Beloved falls upon us we realize that all the time it was Grace indeed that was leading and carrying us through the rigors of the journey or else we would never have been able to sustain it.

To be carried by this wonderful Grace rather than relying on some external methods and outer techniques is the great secret to be learned by man, who thinks himself responsible for everything even to the extent of ignoring Him who alone is responsible and waits for us right by our side.

Our real life runs parallel and concealed below the surfaces. It is the true life, the life of the soul. There all is seen and welcomed as the Lord’s play to bring us closer to Him and share His delight.

But there is a veil of Ignorance that prevents us from knowing and living our true life. Our being is trapped in a prison of ego-self engaged in a game of reward and punishment, joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, success and failure.

Blows also belong to that domain. The Divine does not give any blow to anyone since to HIM there is no ‘other’. He is simply drawing everything towards Himself which is a state of pure felicity, but the mind gets attached to small comfort zones and feels even Grace as a blow.

The only way to get out of this vicious cycle is to press deeper and deeper towards our soul, to open more and more to the Grace, and live and breathe in Her Light and Love and Peace and Harmony and Bliss.

The law of karma is not so much about reward and punishment but about learning and growth, through action and consequences. In one word it is an evolutionary mechanism rather than a tribunal of Justice which is a human mistranslation of a divine Law.

The Divine does not punish or reward but simply leads us forward by putting a pressure from within and Above, a silent pressure of His Will. If we align with the Will we go faster, if not we slow down, if we actively resist we are pushed strongly as if through blows.

The soul accepts all circumstances with joy and progresses through everything, including what we call as sorrow and misfortune and vice versa, often more through pain than through pleasure. Outer events are not the real issue though the ego takes so much more interest in it.

The real game goes on within and there we discover not the stern hand of a Judge but the loving embrace of the Divine Mother who carries us despite everything. This Love and Grace are the deeper truths that override and even cancel the law of karma, thereby shortening the Path. This is the secret that Sri Aurobindo reveals to us.

This is the Integral view of health as we understand it. It is less of a conceptual and more an experiential view. Its justification lies not so much in the discoveries of modern science but in the sheer mass of empirical evidence accumulated over the centuries since man first began to walk on earth and lift his head to the sun. The experience has been verified throughout the ages by men and women of all races, education and culture. It is naturally enough understood that when one uses terms like psychic being, or higher levels of energies one is likely to locate them in the body and hence identify physically. But this is not so. The Integral view does not limit itself to the assumption that matter is the sole reality. The limitations of this view lie in the limitations of the human instruments of sensory experience and narrow logic. We shall attempt to expand this model in subsequent issues but doing so carries the risk of reducing it into a rigid formula. That is why only broad outlines are presented. The rest is to be filled up by each according to his individual need and turn of nature. The subscribers to these views may be few because the mind of humanity is still conditioned by the physical discoveries of science.

Thus we find ourselves far removed from the traditional view of health and body as well as psychological fitness. To discover health one has to discover its source. The need for health and immortality arises from our soul of which we are usually not conscious. The first step then toward a healthy living is to discover this secret soul in us. Next, we have to take each and every activity of our physical-nervous-mental being as an opportunity for linking up the outer instruments to the soul. Depending upon our present need and turn of nature one can take up one or the other of these to prepare and discipline oneself in the ‘right’ direction and with ‘right’ attitude. Gradually, the whole of life has to become a field of action and work of this kind. Finally, with the aid of the psychic one has to develop an increasing receptivity to higher and higher levels of being till finally, one touches the Truth-Substance. It is then that health will be spontaneous and immunity from illness automatic and total.