Daily Questions

Q: My relatives complain that their life is not happy because my father didn’t perform religious ritual since he didn’t believe in them, and my mother is upset about all that. Is there any meaning in performing religious rituals these days?

ALOKDA: There are four types of rituals, and we can arrange them hierarchically in a graded manner.

The first kind of rituals, though the most common, are the mechanical rituals that people follow out of convention. To this also unconscious adherence there is often added some kind of fear of harm if the ritual is not done or a favour that the ritual is supposed to grant us if we observe it. Many of the fasts and common temple rituals are of this nature. Of course sometimes the element of faith and prayer comes in which gives it an uplifting feel. But most often it is done mechanically and hence hardly of any use other than giving us the illusion of being a religious person.

The second type of rituals are related to the occult vital worlds. These are special Pooja ceremonies wherein mainly entities and deities of the lower order are invoked. Even when sometimes the deity being invoked is regarded as some benevolent one, it is actually something else that comes because of the nature of the Pooja. These can be dangerous at times and they are best avoided for a seeker on the spiritual Path since sometimes one can come under the influence of these beings who may grant us wishes but start having a grip upon us because they have been given a foothold through the bait of desire.

The third type of rituals are largely individual and symbolic such as lighting a lamp or offering of flowers with the idea or aspiration that may darkness be dispelled from our life and may the flower of love and devotion and faith blossom within our heart. These are used in certain kind of tantric Pooja also and are generally good, provided we are doing it consciously with the meaning in our head and the feeling in our heart.

Finally, there are rituals or rather spontaneous gestures and bodily actions that are the expression of certain soul states within us. They arise naturally out of a great love or reverence for the Divine and flow outwards to include the bodily life in the aspiration that has already awakened in the our soul. These are the throwing of oneself at the Feet of the Divine or bowing down in a gesture of pranam to give oneself to the Lord and Master of our being. If done truly and with the real bhava they can be very powerful in moulding our spiritual life. They can hardly be called rituals though some may see it that way or even do it mechanically so to say.

Depends upon what we expect from his coming! The idea of Kalki Avatar is straight from the Vishnu Purana considered as few of the authentic puranas rich in occult significance. He is described as a lame warrior according to some texts who rides a white horse and slays the wrong doers by a sword thereby establishing a new Satya Yuga, a new era of spiritual progress. Though the predictions of a second coming are there in both Christianity and Buddhism (both were Avatars) it has been given its true divine sense by Sri Krishna in the Gita. The Gita does not dwell in the outer characteristics as much as it describes the inner work of the Avatar. He is characterised by his works which mainly consist of restoring the dharma, rescuing the doers of good, destroying the doers of evil, and finally, establishing dharma once again amongst the people. Through all these works he leads the collective march of mankind one step further towards its inevitable divine destiny. When we see in this light, then the details of Kalki’s life are clearly symbolic. To imagine that in this age of mankind someone would descend from heaven with a metal sword in hand and ride a white horse to destroy the evil doers is only to perpetuate a story whose true inner meaning will be lost and the Avatar pass by without even being noticed since we are looking at primarily outer physical things and missing the inner. The second coming is always the symbol of the Divine descending in a new form consistent with the Age and leading man according to the need of the hour, what is known as the Yuga Dharma.

When we look at the times we live in with the light that the Gita provides then we will be forced to conclude that the Avatar has come and gone back doing what he had to do. A clear look at the previous century shows us the great divide between the first and the second half. If we look at the figures around, we shall at the center of this change none else but Sri Aurobindo once again as the divine charioteer piloting humanity through the crisis of Nazism, Imperialism, Scientific Materialism, Communism which is like the distorted image of Vedantic Socialism. Among the first tasks that he undertook was to drive the British out of India. At the same time, he stood against Hitler’s Nazism and openly declared that he had put his spiritual force behind the allies seeing in the triad of Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini the Asuras of the Age. India the custodian and upholder of dharma has fallen low and its mighty current of spirituality was either broken into a mass of superstitions and rituals whose meanings had been lost or else begun to dwindle after the wonderful manifestation of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda. It was the moment of dense darkness which is what, dharmasya glani really means. Sri Aurobindo took up the work of restoration whose ground was prepared by the saint of Dakhineswar and the fiery patriot sage as mentioned above. Subsequently Sri Krishna himself handed over the baton of the coming Age to him in the Alipore jail. He gave a new key to the understanding of the Vedas and the Upanishads, laid down the larger lines along which India would attain freedom, stood against the Axis powers until they were defeated and destroyed, and eventually through his tremendous tapasya joined by the Mother’s Force (the white steed) he flashed the sword of Knowledge destroying darkness and opening the doors of man towards a new creation.

This is not to say that there were no other great figures during that period or there will not be other great human beings who will come thereafter. Also, it is not that everything has become wonderful and there are no more crisis for man to face and overcome. As long as humanity resists its divine destiny, he will experience the pressure and the push. But the decisive turn has been taken which becomes obvious only if we slightly enlarge our time to include the previous century and a little before that. Equally when we take a look at the great divine beings who manifested upon earth nowhere do we find this tremendous manifestation that serves at once as a divine example for humanity, reconciles the oppositions of Spirit and Matter with a synthetic spirituality, who by his Force single handedly stayed the wheels of the British Empire and reversed the fortunes of Hitler by his lone spiritual power. Nowhere do we find such a luminously powerful pen that rescued the Vedas from the shroud of obscurity as also gave the Yuga dharma and the Gospel for the New Age which he not only foresaw but for which he worked to establish firmly within the heart of man. There is in Sri Aurobindo a very clear taking up and summing up of the previous Avatars, notably Sri Krishna as well as an embodiment of the anguish of the Age. He changed this anguish into a conscious aspiration and promised a new a happier Age emerging through a change of consciousness within man leading to outside changes in his ways of life.

The Mother clearly said that ‘Sri Aurobindo is the last Avatar in a human body’ and one can simply bow down before her statement in humility and gratitude.

Question: Today somebody shared with me the following Mother’s message:
“To be aware of the liberation of your soul means that you are sufficiently conscious of your soul to feel that something deep in you is quite free, independent from people and circumstances, untouched by grief, displeasure or anger, always calm and with a quiet contentment. This feeling can come suddenly or progressively and can stay for more or less time—all depends on how much and how often your consciousness is in contact with your soul. The aim is that it should be constant, but this comes later on and little by little when all the parts of your being turn towards your soul instead of turning to the exterior, the physical consciousness and being caught in it. The best way to hasten this change is the habit of going within.”
Please explain how do we go within?

ALOKDA:
It comes with practice of interiorisation. What one has to do is to fix a suitable time and place for regular concentration. It is best if the time and place are constant. Of course it need not be rigid but it certainly helps since when we fix a time and place the forces of nature within and without are in a receptive state. A little quiet corner with an atmosphere of Her Presence through Her photograph, music, incense could be created. The seat should be neither too hard as to make one uncomfortable nor too soft to make one feel sleepy. For the same reasons a state of hunger or a state of having eaten too much are not advisable.

One could start the process by taking the help of thought or idea that breathes of divinity, a phrase or a mantra to start the inner connection. One could read Savitri or Her prayer to enter such a state gradually. Then one starts going within by concentrating upon Her Name or Image in the center of the chest (heart centre) or the head (anywhere on the crown area). Practice initially for the minutes bringing the mind back from its wanderings. Do it twice a day and later increase the time to 20 minutes and if possible thrice a day.

Persist despite resistance or absence of immediate result.

To truly succeed one has to do it as an act of love or with a heart with sincere aspiration. this is possible only if one loves the goal. Practice of equanimity and niskama karma (desireless action) is a great help to prepare the ground.

Mastery over one’s lower nature is no doubt indispensable for the yoga of transformation though certain yogas do not much insist on this. Some degree of mastery is of course important even otherwise in human life. Without it man remains a plaything of forces and a pawn in the hands of destiny. Normally, in ordinary life people use Reason for arriving at some ‘reasonable’ control over their nature. Though Reason itself belongs to the lower nature, yet it is its highest point, the highest for man for his present level of evolution. It is only reasonable therefore to start with this faculty given to man. The Gita also suggests this when it speaks of the discerning intellect, buddhi, which must be turned inward and upwards instead of outwards and downwards as in average humanity. By doing this, by shifting the center of our focus and goal we slowly begin to reorient our nature in such a way that it acts like a sieve that automatically filters out many undesirable movements in our being. The next thing is about practicing niskama karma of the Gita whereby one engages in works not for any personal profit, though that is bound to come, but as an offering and service to the Divine. These two things that are relatively easy take away the iron grip of lower nature making it supple and open the Higher Consciousness. Cultivating a sattwic temperament is also very helpful. 

Then one should create a field in which the storms of passion and the turbulence of rajasic nature will find it difficult arise or if they do arise they can be easily tackled. This can be done, first by regular practice of meditation, especially by invoking Peace, calm, quietude and a sincere practice of equanimity. At this stage Naam japa helps much by gradually merging the separate ego in the Greater Self of the Divine. If by Her Grace there is a gift of true bhakti then the task of melting the ego becomes easy since then one no more lives for oneself but for the Divine and His work. When one stops referring things to the ego and stops seeing the value of events from the point of view of the satisfactions of the ego then one is getting ready for its merger. By this stage the psychic being is almost invariably released from the prison house of lower nature and one feels now the division between one’s true inner self and the outer personality that is still moved by the lower nature, be it forces of tamasic, rajasic or sattwic nature, since even sattwa is a bondage and often one of the most difficult to go.

Along side this one has to, on the one hand try pushing the lower movements and impulse as much as one can with whatever limited will is at one’s disposal while developing this will at the same time. Or one can offer one’s will to the Divine Will with a sincere prayer to supplement it. One has to offer and expose these lower movements to Her Light and Grace with an aspiration to take them away. All this however does not happen in a day or two. It needs years and decades (for some movements at least) of persistent effort for this longed for clearing to happen. Therefore perseverance and endurance that is full of trust in the Grace and the eventual victory are most important. At the same time one should take care not to be too much preoccupied with the lower movements or rolling into guilt each time one succumbs of getting into despair and giving up attitude. the Adverse forces will find no better ground to enter in that state. Lower nature is still nature normal to man but adverse forces that enter through doors of guilt and depression are far worse. The real preoccupation should be with the positive side of the sadhana such as Peace and Light and Faith and Devotion and Wideness and the means of developing these and growing towards the Divine. The lower is left behind as we grow into the higher. This growth also gives us more clarity and power to overcome the forces of lower nature. But in the end the victory is certain. All that is needed is to keep moving, sometimes slowly and at other times fast. 

In the end it is important to remember that personal effort has its limits and nobody can change one’s nature by one’s own efforts. But with the Divine Grace there is truly nothing impossible. To open to Her Grace more and more is therefore the last and ultimate secret.

Very briefly Sanatana Dharma is a many-sided approach to the One Supreme Reality behind and within everything and, the ways to lead our life so that we can discover and manifest this Reality in our everyday life from the highest aims to the most mundane details of our existence.

Its fundamental truths are as follows.

1. There is One Supreme Reality that people call by different names. This is the truth of Vedanta.

2. There are many approaches to this Reality and as is the approach so is our experience of IT

3. There are many powers and aspects of this Reality since it is One and Infinite. These aspects and powers of the One are known as the gods.

4. This Supreme Reality transcends the creation as well as is Immanent in each particle of it

5. It is given to man to discover / uncover this Reality and becoming one with IT transform his earthly existence.

6. Creation is a progressive manifestation of this Reality that is the essence of everything and dwells in everything as its seed and core. This progressive manifestation is what we call as
evolution.

7. It is only by discovering and becoming one with this Reality that our life can find its true purpose and fulfilment.

8. This Reality is eternal, unchanging and universal (Sanatana) and does not depend upon anything though everything depends upon IT.

9. It has both static and dynamic aspects. Static IT reveals Itself as the Lord, Ishwara who is the Source and Witness of Creation. Dynamic IT reveals Itself as the Divine Mother (Shakti, Maya, Prakriti) that builds forms for the Lord to dwell in and endows everything with some quality or the other of the Lord (name). The creation therefore is not cut off from the Creator, rather He extends into each and every element of creation. The world is an objectivisation of the Divine. The static aspect is the Purusha of Vedanta. The dynamic aspect is the Shakti or Devi in the tantra.

10. This unfolding and manifesting of the Supreme Reality in creation, in the cosmos as well as the individual is a complex and many-sided process that involves a host of forces. Aligning with the unfolding in the right way is Dharma. Opposing this unfolding and resisting or trying to block or impede it is Adharma.

These are some of the fundamental truths of the Sanatana Dharma around which grew the way of life that we know today as the Hindu culture.

Q: Dr Alok, I think you are praising earth/ lower existence too much. Until the last person is relieved of pain, completely, utterly – until then it should not be done. Isn’t feeling disgust towards this world of misery and darkness the first condition for the yoga of transformation?

Alok da: There is a difference between earth and humanity. That is the first thing to understand if we are candidates for the yoga of transformation. To be disgusted with the very material is surely not the best of ways. Those who felt disgusted, – and there were quite a few, chose to escape. Disgust with earth and even humanity is to, in a way, condemn the Creator. Isn’t it much better, simpler and less judgmental to look at the way things are as a limitation due to the underlying principle of Inconscience rather than feel disgusted? It brings compassion, wisdom, and shows us the path to change.

If one is indulgently enjoying the world as most do, then it is idle to even think of transformation. The return to Earth is after having found the Truth. Savitri did not feel disgusted but felt the challenge of death and fate. She did not blame the darkness but found the way to flood it with Light

Of course if our nature is very crude then perhaps there is the utility of disgust and even temporary withdrawal from earthly life so that we can be reborn into the Spirit. But that is not the path recommended in general by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, even while there is no harm in someone following the way of disgust if that suits someone or is a need of the moment.

Instead, both in their writings and in their own life, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother showed the sunlit way of the soul that progresses with faith and trust and joy and light and love knowing that His Beauty and Light and Love dwells in everything including that which we sometimes, in our pride or vanity, abhor and condescend.

Q: Why lord chooses this route for progressive manifestation which is sometimes not very pleasant for humans.. he is omnipotent and all-powerful, he should have just created the desired manifestation, No??

ALOK DA: Yes He can and indeed He does. All the typal planes of gods etc. are created directly by Him. But there is no evolution in these worlds. So the beings of these worlds are static. They are gods but cannot go beyond.

But man is part of the evolutionary world and therefore he can go beyond the gods and become one with God not only in his soul and inner consciousness but also in the very substance of his bodily existence. This is necessarily a long and laborious process and needs full collaboration of man as evolution implies challenges. It is not readymade so to say. The omnipotence and omniscience of God is therefore veiled as a tree dwells veiled in a seed. Slowly it would emerge through the challenges.

The unique thing would be that once fully emerged man will share the practical omniscience and omnipotence of God which even the gods do not. Besides based upon matter there will be concrete bodies for the otherwise formless Omniscience and Omnipotence. These bodies will also multiply the delight of oneness and become delight of the many though a unity in diversity. All this God cannot manifest fully if He remains in His original formless state.

Of course there are souls that find the game tiring and tedious. It is for them that He has opened the gates of Nirvana to escape and retire.

But there are others who love the challenges and the joy of service and the danger and delight of participating in the Divine Manifestation upon earth. For them now the doors of transformation have been opened.

Q: I have heard many times that we can make Maa our friend. For one day I tried that and the following question popped in my mind – how to avoid feeding the ego or expecting that I will be free from difficulties or any such worldly selfish attitude? Then what should be my attitude?

ALOK DA: Friendship with the Divine is indeed the rarest gift that can be granted to us. When we aspire steadily for such a friendship then surely one day it is given to us and then life begins to change beautifully. You are already blessed to have this feeling within you. It is a sign that She is already your friend. all that is needed is for you to build the bond from your side, since friendship, unlike love, is always a two-way process.

You have asked what does it mean to make Maa as your friend. Well at the very outset a friend is someone with whom we share everything without fear of being judged or condemned. We know that a friend will always understand us and be there to help us whenever we need it. It is the same thing with the divine Mother. To ask for Her friendship means that we start sharing everything with Her from what we think to be the most trivial to what we imagine as something that is of great importance. I have said seeming because the divine values and looks things very differently. Yet He acts taking into account our values. So instead of sharing things, what gives us happiness and what gives us pain with Maa we begin to notice that a divine Hand begins to silently arrange our circumstances of life in a way that only a friend who knows what is best for us can do. A friend does not only give us advice also does what needs to be done for us if it is within his limits and capacities to do it. The divine Friend may give us advice if we want it. But even more importantly He starts doing things for us to ensure that our life ahead is made smooth as far as possible in the present conditions and through the circumstances that we choose to be in.

The first thing, however, is to make Her a confidante of your life and open and lay before Her all your thoughts and feelings and will and actions without any hesitation. What we instead do is to either keep everything inside us or else turn towards human beings to share them. Nothing wrong with that but the problem is that human beings even at their best are limited. they are limited in knowledge, limited in power, limited in love. It is best, therefore, to turn towards the Divine who is the Source of everything. then what one receives from Him can be shared with others or with someone we may feel love for. What I mean by saying this is that friendship with the Divine does not exclude other relationships in our life. It is just that we do not depend upon them but on Her for everything. On the other hand, when we have friendship with the Divine we receive so much more all the time that it improves our relationship with the world around.

The second thing is that we should develop a bond whereby She is the first (and preferably the last) person we call whenever in difficulty just as we call a friend in need or in distress. She becomes our ICE (In Case of Emergency) number and once we have called Her we know that she will do what needs to be done through whatever human or other instrumentation. But when the thing is done do not forget to express gratitude. People often thank the human being because they are not yet able to perceive that it is She who impels everything. Therefore all must be offered back to Her with gratitude and love. Not that the Divine needs it but a bond of friendship has to be built from both sides. It is not a one-way process of only taking from your friend. What does the Divine want from us? People often think that by giving Him a little bit of money, often extra from what they need, they are forging a bond. Well, money is needed for His Work but for Himself He needs our love and trust. This is developed by thinking of Her as often as you can. This constant Remembrance of the Divine, this feeling of an insatiable need of Her, this thirst for Her Love, this utter self-giving and abandon of what we have and are and do to in a gesture of service to Her is what seals the bond between the Divine and man. After all, we would also want to do something for our friend, isn’t it? What can we do for the Divine who Himself is the doer? Well, we can choose to offer ourselves in His hands to become Her faithful instruments and channels. This is how the two=way relationship develops.

Finally, we should take out some special time to sit with Her, to speak with Her, to be with Her just as we wish to be with our a friend. This begins as we get less and less enamoured of humanity and begin to seek Her. Share everything with Her, when you take a walk, let Her walk with you. when you go for work let Her be with you, when you eat and sleep, ask Her to eat and sleep with you. Let Her be with you with each breath and heartbeat of your life.

Let me close with two passages of the Mother which beautifully describe this bond of relationship with the Divine as Friend:

‘I have cried too with the joy of a child, “O supreme and only Confidant, Thou who knowest beforehand all we can say to Thee because Thou art its source! “O supreme and only Friend, Thou who acceptest, Thou who lovest, Thou who understandest us just as we are, because it is Thyself who hast so made us! “O supreme and only Guide, Thou who never gainsayest our highest will because it is Thou Thyself who willest in it! “It would be folly to seek elsewhere than in Thee for one who will listen, understand, love and guide, since always Thou art there ready to our call and never wilt Thou fail us! “Thou hast made me know the supreme, the sublime joy of a perfect confidence, an absolute serenity, a surrender total and without reserve or colouring, free from effort or constraint. Joyous like a child I have smiled and wept at once before Thee, O my Well-Beloved!”
[Prayers and Meditations, CWM 1: 374-375]

‘We don’t like the company of someone who has a contagious disease, and avoid him carefully; generally he is segregated so that it does not spread. But the contagion of vice and bad behaviour, the contagion of depravity, falsehood and what is base, is infinitely more dangerous than the contagion of any disease, and this is what must be very carefully avoided. You must consider as your best friend the one who tells you that he does not wish to participate in any bad or ugly act, the one who gives you courage to resist low temptations; he is a friend. He is the one you must associate with and not someone with whom you have fun and who strengthens your evil propensities. Indeed, you should choose as friends only those who are wiser than yourself, those whose company ennobles you and helps you to master yourself, to progress, to act in a better way and see more clearly. And finally, the best friend one can have —isn’t he the Divine, to whom one can say everything, reveal everything? For there indeed is the source of all compassion, of all power to efface every error when it is not repeated, to open the road to true realisation; it is he who can understand all, heal all, and always help on the path, help you not to fail, not to falter, not to fall, but to walk straight to the goal. He is the true friend, the friend of good and bad days, the one who can understand, can heal, and who is always there when you need him. When you call him sincerely, he is always there to guide and uphold you—and to love you in the true way.’
[Conversation of 13 March 1957, CWM 9: 58-59]

Q: How does one then align one’s will with the divine? And in this context please elaborate on the role of surrender.

ALOK DA: Sri Aurobindo cautions us against tamasic surrender wherein one inertly accepts all kinds of suggestions as if coming from the Divine. Added to this we as human beings have a tendency to automatically justify everything. That is why one of the first things that awakens through yoga is the flame of discernment which is a faculty higher than reason. Its light separates the true from the false, reality from appearances and masks. This is the first light through which we can receive some reflection of the Divine Will.

This light of discernment grows as we learn to stand back from our nature and its movements and quieten our mind by turning the senses within rather in a discursive way outside. When the habit of justifying in some way whatever we do is dropped and we learn to look at things calmly and without preferences, this light begins to spring forth into the mind as a full moon shines upon a placid lake.

The next step is to quieten not only the mind but also the vital movements within us, that is to say the heart and its turbulent emotions, the storms of the vital passions and the restless upsurges of desires. This is gained by a steady practice of equanimity within us of which the practice of niskam karma or action without an eye on the fruits or results (but doing it well nevertheless) done as an offering to the Divine is an important element. When we have thus grown in equanimity at least to a reasonable extent then the Divine Will gets reflected in our mind or the heart as a gentle push in a certain direction.

Finally, as a result of these and a growth of aspiration the psychic being within begins to emerge. It is then that we know with certainty the Divine Will, the sure indication of the thing to be done and the way to do it.

As you can well see that such a process is bound to take some time. Until then one has to make some working rules. These rules are not so much as do’s and don’ts or some rigid mental and moral dogmas but rather states of consciousness and a general understanding of the truths of yogic life. One such rule is the golden rule of this yoga given to the sadhaks by Sri Aurobindo thus: “Live always as if you were under the very eye of the Supreme and of the Divine Mother. Do nothing, try to think and feel nothing that would be unworthy of the Divine Presence.” [Sri Aurobindo, CWSA 32: 172].

Another rule is the rule of balance and moderation that avoids excesses and activities that cause excitement and throws up our nature into a rough ride.

A third rule is to feel out the actions that bring or create peace and harmony and inner joy and the spirit of unity as opposed to those that bring thrills and depressions and confusion and discord and quarrels and clashes.

In any case whatever we do must be done as an offering to the Divine so that eventually His Wil may prevail upon our ignorant choice. This offering of our will to the Divine, that is doing what we may conceive as the best course of action at a given moment gradually starts the tuning process. it is what is known as consecration. There grows along with it the urge to obey the Divine which naturally in present context is not as it used to be before when people could write and get direct replies. Now one has to feel for the response within. It invariably comes but we have to feel for it within as well as build a knowledge base, at least some general things by reading Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. This last one is well within our reach and the one closest to common sense and the basic logic of the yoga practice. Rest can develop alongside on this base.