Daily Questions

Q: In Sri Aurobindo’s words, “in every being there is a Soul, but Psychic Being is not present in everybody … after a long process it can be developed”. Please explain?
ALOKDA: The soul is the divine element in man. It is like a seed that carries within itself all the divine possibilities that must one day blossom. But this blossoming is through a long passage of time running through several lives. In this process all experiences, whether we in our ignorance consider ‘good’ and ‘pleasant’ or ‘bad’ and ‘painful’ are feeders for its growth. Night and day, darkness and light are simply two sides of a single movement whose aim is to fulfil the divine possibility that is embedded within itself. That is what the real game of life is about and it goes on behind the surface experiences and reactions of our outer personality.

Then a time comes when this divine seed has grown sufficiently under the cover of darkness and is ready to open to the Light. It is when this happens that we open to Divinity within or around us. It is at this stage that there is the birth of conscious aspiration and a seeking for Light and Truth and Beauty and Harmony and Good. This seeking meets an answer within and the Divine immanent in our inmost heart manifests Himself in the form of our Master and Guru and Guide. We meet the One who is destined to carry us further following the ways and trail of the Light. We become aware of a sacred Presence within that is the Source of all that we have thus far sought outside. This second phase of growth ends in the blossoming of the soul, the divine seed into the fully grown psychic being. This completes our basic schooling in the fields of Ignorance.

It is then that we are given another choice. The fully developed psychic being can either withdraw from terrestrial existence by extinguishing itself into the One Supreme, – the aim of traditional yoga; or it can consciously enter into the curve of further evolution awaiting earth and thereby participate consciously in the destiny of humanity by expressing its divine potential into the play. If it chooses the latter possibility then it must take upon itself a much greater challenge and it is of preparing human nature and its instruments that have evolved so far into becoming free and unobstructed channels of the Divine outpouring upon creation. This is an enormous work and can be fulfilled only through the yoga of transformation.

In between these two there are other intermediary possibilities for the fully developed psychic being. It can linger on some higher plane of consciousness after departure casting its influence and help for those still laboring in the ignorance. Or it can come back incarnating some being of the higher worlds and thereby express some breath of divinity upon earth though short of the perfect perfection of the supermind.

To put it in another way we can say that the soul within us is a divine spark. It grows into a flame as it passes repeatedly through the doors of Death and Rebirth. This divine flame can withdraw into the Sun out of which it had emerged as a spark. Or it can grow further into a living Fire setting the earth ablaze with its divine Energy.

Loving regards,
alok

Q: People say that you can either be scientific or spiritual, because they’re counter to each other or that science disproves spirituality or the existence of divine. I don’t at all agree with that. I think it’s the rigidity of scientific people that they can’t accept anything without a solid proof. I am interested to hear about creation of the universe and evolution of life from a spiritual point of view.

ALOKDA: Dear A., at one level the relation between Science and Spirituality is very simple. Science is a study of natural phenomena, that is to say, what we can observe through the senses. It observes and studies phenomena through various tools available to it or devices new tools to augment its field of observation. Spirituality on the other hand is a search and a quest for Reality, meaning the Truth underlying all the various countless phenomena. In doing so it tries to understand that meaning of creation. Science studies the immediate and the intermediate causes of things whereas Spirituality studies the ultimate original cause of all creation itself. Science studies the field of observation. Spirituality studies the Observer himself.

Thus seen the two complement each other rather than contradict. However, the problem starts when science in its search for the processes and the how behind every phenomenon stands at the doorsteps where it must either take a leap of understanding to know what lies beyond the field that it has probed so far or else remain contented with its limits and say that thus far can it go and no further. Spirituality, on the other hand, tends to extend itself from the Source towards the least detail that has emerged from IT. Here again, it finds the threads of creation lost beyond a point and has to either make a leap of understanding or else say thus far and no further. This is how the two have so far tried to draw an invisible fence between their respective fields. Science takes for its field the objective world taking its stand upon studying only that which is observable and definable. Spirituality on the other hand accepts as its field the subjective field, that which cannot be measured. However, the common element in both is a search for Truth. In this process, they have both entered a field where they would meet one day.

It is the field of psychology where already they have begun to meet. Though they find the meeting ground slippery and uncomfortable, yet it is here in the isthmus of the mind that material science and spiritual science would meet or are already meeting. As to people they are in the habit of having opinions and views even about fields that they have not even casually glanced at. I have seen that very often people who have opinions about either science or spirituality know neither. Regardless of all this a new mind of light is beginning to arise and awaken in at least the elite of humanity who beautifully harmonise and synthesise these two apparently distinct fields.

In other words, everything in creation has a material side as well as a spiritual truth that upholds it. Connecting the two is a whole mass of subtle and occult forces that form a watershed area between science and spirituality. To take the example of the earth itself, it is at once a material and a spiritual reality. It is also an occult formation with a very specific purpose and function. I am not aware of any authentic books that describe the integral reality except Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, so would therefore strongly recommend reading especially all the writings of the Mother. When we read them, we see that the veil of ignorance is slowly lifted and the confusion of understanding is cleared and a new integral vision of things begins to automatically appear before the mind.

Affectionately,
Alok da

Q: What about settlement of karmic account with people, especially those in close relationships, is it required?

ALOK DA: Dear A., Fortunately God is not an accountant, otherwise this universe would have had no hope. Nor is He a judge who is busy judging us from afar with a carrot and stick. For Him , to His supreme consciousness there are obviously no others since all is Himself and there is nothing else but He. The vast material universe is His outermost body and He resides within it, in each of its elements in the subtlest of forms. We too are His portions who carry His wonderful Presence in our own depths. It is given to us by become conscious of our depths and thereby become conscious of Him, one with Him and work upon creation with Him as co-sharers and partners of His divinity. The path towards this highest consummation possible for man is through works, karma, as we call it. But karma itself is not something mechanical and outward but the whole internal mechanism starting from our inmost state of consciousness, our inner motives and intents, the action of guns or modalities of nature through which the will operates and finally the instruments developed so far to execute the work. The energies thereby released go back to the Divine through this entire machinery. We think it is to this person or that person but it is ultimately moving towards that secret Goal from where ultimately all impulsion and power and knowledge comes.

Now here comes the real purpose of the law of karma. Its sole purpose is to perfect ourselves and through us the world around us. The more we are attuned to the higher and highest state the more we engage and collaborate in fulfilling this purpose. On the other hand the more we deviate from this truth, the more we add up to the chaos and confusion. The karmic law therefore is not a law of transaction between individuals as it is a transaction between Soul and Nature with god as the eternal Witness whose role is not merely to watch the play indifferently or to judge and reward and punish us but to keep realigning each one of us and the world in general so that the secret Will that has gone into creation and operates in it is fulfilled. That Will is the will to be Divine in each of its units, it is the will for Ananda, the will for harmony and unity and peace, the will to conquer darkness and thereby grow strong, the will to manifest the entirety of the Divine Perfection. The results of actions, the consequences etc. are so designed so as to realign us back to the Goal. If we stray far, very far, then the sudden jolt of realignment comes to us as pain. But as we grow nearer to the Will and align with IT then there is automatically a growth of Peace and Joy and Harmony and Wisdom within us and in all who are touched by the same Will through us. Through all experiences, the seemingly pleasant and the seemingly painful we are growing towards Him who is the Source of endless peace and Beatitude and Love and Harmony and Sweetness and Power and Knowledge and Bliss. In this process there are cosmic agencies that help or hinder but they too in the end, even when they oppose end up fulfilling God’s plan. Quoting from Savitri (p. 458):

Fate is Truth working out in Ignorance.
O King, thy fate is a transaction done
At every hour between Nature and thy soul
With God for its foreseeing arbiter.
Fate is a balance drawn in Destiny’s book.
Man can accept his fate, he can refuse.
Even if the One maintains the unseen decree
He writes thy refusal in thy credit page:
For doom is not a close, a mystic seal.
Arisen from the tragic crash of life,
Arisen from the body’s torture and death,
The spirit rises mightier by defeat;
Its godlike wings grow wider with each fall.
Its splendid failures sum to victory.
O man, the events that meet thee on thy road,
Though they smite thy body and soul with joy and grief,
Are not thy fate,—they touch thee awhile and pass;
Even death can cut not short thy spirit’s walk:
Thy goal, the road thou choosest are thy fate.
On the altar throwing thy thoughts, thy heart, thy works,
Thy fate is a long sacrifice to the gods
Till they have opened to thee thy secret self
And made thee one with the indwelling God.
O soul, intruder in Nature’s ignorance,
Armed traveller to the unseen supernal heights,
Thy spirit’s fate is a battle and ceaseless march
Against invisible opponent Powers,
A passage from Matter into timeless self.

But it is given to us to choose whether we want to pass longer through the hands of the darkness lingering through the purifying fire of suffering or else through the hands of light and the gods who help us pass through the evolutionary journey in lesser time and through least pain. Or else we have a still better choice, the best of all wherein we give ourselves to the Divine, offer all our action to the Divine and live and act for the sake of the Divine and the fulfillment of His Will in us and in all. Accordingly the outer events unfold. The law of karma then turns out to be a law of evolution and not so much about the balance of justice or worse still an exact mathematical account balance in the book of God. Justice is no doubt a part of the divine working in creation but it is a law of balance against an excess of evil. So too there is something which can be called as a reward but it is not related to the good done to this or that person but a law of nature whereby we receive back from creation what we have issued forth into it, though not necessarily from the same people. It comes back in its own way and in its own time and the soul accepts it. It comes when it is needed for our growth to the next level rather than as a crude system of reward and punishment.

To turn this unconscious process into a conscious one is what is called as yoga. It means to do things for the Divine even though apparently they are being done for this or that person.

Affectionately,
Alok bhaiyya

Q: I have been tormented by tremendous negative thoughts. I have been praying to both the Mother And Sri Aurobindo intensely with a zero result. The negative thoughts are intense and are causing tremendous harm. I understand that it takes a while for Her Grace to respond but the situation is dire here. What can be done? Please help.

ALOKDA: Dear A., surely prayers will help, yours as much as mine. An ardent sincere prayer is always responded to. The problem is that we go back to our old ways and hence the help is nullified and things that we do not want return.

At the same time there are few ways that you may try to help countering negative thoughts:

First, you can always try to deliberately give yourself positive thoughts and suggestions. Say for example you can say to yourself that ‘All will be well” and so on and so forth.

Secondly, spend your time reading good and beautiful things that uplift us rather than being drawn towards things that pull us down. For example you can make a choice either to watch the TV channel which is all the time busy showing the most pessimistic possibility or else a Health channel that is showing you how we can strengthen our immune system and remain happy and cheerful amidst all circumstances.

Thirdly, especially when negative thoughts arise then turn your mind away by doing something constructive such as arranging your cupboard neatly or tending some plants.

Fourthly, you can learn to witness the thoughts and feelings without indulging or flowing with them in a non-judgmental attitude. However, this self-watching itself should not into become an obsession but a means to separate yourself from the thoughts and know that you are not these thoughts and feelings.

Finally, one can offer these thoughts to the Divine Grace either by writing them in a notebook with a prayer to remove them. Later one can burn the notebook or destroy it by tearing the pages with a forceful will to be free from these things.

At the same time, it is important not to be too obsessed with this negative side of life. Rather spend your energies cultivating inner Peace and Light and Wideness and Joy. As the Light grows the darkness will slowly this out and eventually disappear. This is much more effective and a long term solution than fighting with the darkness while being still oneself in darkness.

Affectionately
alok da

Q: You say Sri Aurobindo is the last avatar and Savitri is the ultimate scripture, but for Mussulmans Mohammad is the last prophet and the quran is the only book, while sikhs say Guru Nanak is the all time greatest. Is it not the disciples ego to declared this without knowing declaring who is the greatest?

ALOKDA: It is perfectly fine for a disciple to see the Supreme in one’s own Master as this helps him to go beyond the physical and other limitations of his Guru. That has been the wisdom of the Ages endorsed by all who have gone before us. It is rather the sign of the disciple’s ego that refuses to acknowledge the Master through whom he has been called to the path as the representative of the Divine and chooses instead his own mental yardsticks and standards to either judge the Master or else to go Master hopping. To each his own ego.

But the comparision drawn between the followers of the Quran and the Bible is incorrect since they add that this alone and no other. It is this exclusivity that opens the doors to fundamentalism and even fanaticism leading to all kinds of evil in the name of one’s Master. It is perfectly fine to see one’s own Master as the Ultimate for oneself but to impose this upon others, worse still try to convert others by force or lure or for that matter even look down upon them condescendingly for out of superior pride is surely the sign of the ego. But to impersonally look at the merits and demerits of a book and a religious movement is a step to go beyond it. That kind of blind indiscriminate and undiscerning equality that assumes all Masters and Books to be the same and equal is only another kind of blindness.

That apart as to the place of Sri Aurobindo and Savitri in the history of spiritual evolution, it is something that can be easily ascertained by an impartial view of things, of his life and works and teachings. Sri Aurobindo and Savitri does not need anyone to reveal who they are. All that is needed is sufficient unbiased discernment even as an outsider to see what they stand for.

Q: Can you give me a simple daily routine which is as practical as it is spiritual so that we can connect to The Mother and start her work of purifying us and making us receptive to her influence?

ALOKDA: Connecting with the Mother has more to do with attitudes and aspiration than with a routine. However a routine can be helpful because it helps us organise our life and time. It also instills some kind of a discipline which is helpful to channelize and focus our energies rightly. Of course anything, any routine or practice becomes counterproductive if followed too rigidly. It takes away the plasticity needed for a natural organic growth towards the Divine and can sometimes hinder the suddenness of the divine disclosure in our life in unexpected moments. Also we need to understand that each one is different in their constitution, temperament, life situations and circumstances and one routine that may work for someone may not do so for another. Even the practices (not the fundamental attitudes and approach) differ from person to person. Given this proviso, a basic daily routine that may be good for most practitioners should include the following:

1. About half an hour to one hour at least for the study of Sri Aurobindo’s and the Mother’s books. The book to be read first depends upon one’s temperament and seeking. My favourites have been ‘Savitri’ and ‘Prayers and Meditations’. I have also found writing down select passages from these two books very helpful.

2. About half an hour to one hour of meditation / concentration with an aspiration to find the Divine. This period is best divided into two or three sittings at different times of the day, for example 20 to 30 minutes in the morning and another 20 to 30 minutes in the night with another spell of concentration during mid-day. This can be a period of concentrated Japa with one’s consciousness focused on the Mother and Sri Aurobindo in the heart center or above the head.

3. About one hour of selfless work for the Divine. This could be done either by giving time to offer services at one of the Sri Aurobindo centers or else some other online work that is associated with the Mother and Sri Aurobindo and Their teachings. If neither is possible then one can offer whatever work one is doing to Her and do it in a spirit of selfless service to Her in a state of Remembrance.

4. About half an hour to one hour of exercises daily split into 15 to 20 minutes of stretches and breath focusing and another 40 to 45 minutes of walk.

5. It is helpful if one can write a dairy in the form of a letter to the Mother about all that is going on in one’s life with a prayer to open oneself to Her Light and Love and Peace and Joy and Grace.

Apart from this one should basically lead a balanced life of moderation in food and sleep, avoid excesses of any kind and stop indulging in smoking and alcoholic drinks. As to sexuality, the attitude should be to gradually get it off one’s system. This takes time, sometimes really long but eventually one succeeds if the aspiration is persistent and one keeps calling Her Grace for help. This effort again should not be some kind of a forced and sudden suppression, especially if one continues indulgence in the mind. One has to first practice samyama (regulation) with an eventual will towards mastery and conquest.

It is important to remember that in yoga it is not just what one does but equally what one does not do that is important. Thus it is best to avoid social interchanges with all kinds of people, especially partying or marriage or gathering together for gossip. A healthy friendship is one thing and having a host of social circle with all kinds of people, especially those whose life and thoughts are not at all aligned with the goal and the path one has chosen.

It is important for the seekers of this yoga to make a visit to the Ashram once or twice an year to recharge themselves with the intense vibrations that radiate from their Samadhi. It gives an extra push towards the goal. Even few moments spent near the samadhi in this place which is the seat of Their tapasya is more than worth the effort and time taken to reach.

As I said, this ‘routine’, if it can be so called, should not be turned into a universal ritual. Eventually each one must find one’s own inner rhythm and outer means for connecting oneself to the Divine Mother. What is most important is not what one does but why one does it. any or even all of these things done as a soulless ritual or for some covert ambition or desire for some kind of fruit of one’s effort takes away the real thing. Even japa if done for getting power or satisfying some kind of spiritual or other ambition closes the doors to Light and Truth. The inner attitude is thus the most important. The outer derives its value from that and not vice versa.

Q: (1) Which Yuga are we in right now? It seems that Sri Aurobindo said that we are out of Kaliyuga, but Vaishnava schools believe it still continues. (2) Nama Japa in Kali Yuga is believed to have the potency of god realisation, so is it sufficient to do only Nama Japa? (3) Also, what are the rules for taking Ma Sri Aurobindo name?

ALOKDA: (1) There are two main different time frames mentioned with regard to the yugas. If we look at the time gap between the appearance of at least the two recognised Avatars, Sri Rama and Sri Krishna, it will be clear that the duration of each Age is not as enormous as the Purana suggests granting that we have decoded it correctly. We can best describe this Age as a transition from the Kaliyuga to Satyuga, which has begun but is dragging the shadows of Kaliyuga behind. It will take at least a few centuries for Satyuga to manifest in its fullness.

(2) Of course Nama Japa has a great power in it but to make it a stand alone practice can help only in some ascetic yogas of withdrawal from life but not in the yoga of integral transformation. Else Sri Aurobindo and the Mother would not have given us so much about the practice of the Yoga.

(3) There are no rules for doing Nama Japa. It can continue even in the washroom and everywhere else.

Q: What is the wisdom that ties us with the physical body? How do we become one with it so that we won’t be perplexed when the time comes (for us or for those near and dear ones) to untie it? This is of special interest for older people who make preparations to leave and have to wait patiently but do get frustrated from time to time not understanding when the time to leave would come.

ALOKDA: The Wisdom that has tied us to the body is the same that has gone into creation. In fact, the very purpose of creation is to manifest the Divine through matter. The human body is therefore meant to be an instrument of the soul.

But first the soul must grow through all the varied experiences while it is in the human body. At this stage the soul continues in the human body as long it is necessary and possible to get the experiences needed for the growth. Even when the surface mind, vital and the ego-based personality has lost interest or have entered a state of coma, yet the inner being is awake and continues to gather the needed experience and thereby helps the soul to grow, even though the body is decrepit and old.

That is why euthanasia is never a good thing since its decision is often taken based on the condition of the outer being.

Later when the soul has developed fully then it is free to remain tied to the body or leave it as it wills depending upon its mission and the work it has come to do.

Q: Why can’t I love other gods the way I love Sri Maa? What to do about other gods in the puja room? Is it alright if I do not any kind of traditional worship and only do Sri Maa Nama Japa?

ALOKDA: There are two things or rather two distinct domains of action each with its own working, – the occult and the spiritual. The major as well as minor gods belong largely to the occult domain. They have certain specific though mostly limited powers in certain fields. When rightly worshipped they can help their devotee with worldly and other-worldly goods. Some great gods can help us in our spiritual growth as well. This is as far as the traditional Puja of the gods is concerned. It is a way to connect with and appease them, mostly to gain certain earthly goods.

The first radical step for the spiritual life is freedom from ignorance and the discovery of the soul and the Divine within us. The gods cannot grant us that. They can help us in the spiritual journey but they do not have the power to liberate us. They can help us while we are struggling in the net of lower nature but they cannot free us from its mesh. That is why most spiritual paths insist on surrendering to the One Divine or His Representative in the form of the Guru or the Avatar. If one is fortunate to have found the Guru then there is obviously no further need of seeking help from the gods. The gods are each an aspect of power of the Divine that is acting with a certain degree of independence. But this independence limits them as well from the One Infinite Source. In the Divine the gods themselves arrive at their true and harmonious togetherness. Therefore their worship in the lower and lesser forms of their manifestation is not only no longer needed but can sometimes create confusion by pulling us in a direction contrary to our core aspiration.

As far as the Supramental Transformation is concerned, we look upon the gods with a benevolent understanding of a luminous indifference knowing their labour in creation but all our faith, allegiance, worship and surrender go to the Divine Mother and no one else.