Daily Offerings from Alokda

Q: Bhaya, I have one question – why are you doing this yoga and how have you chosen this path?

ALOKDA: It is not we who chose the Path as much as the Path, or the Goal and the Master who chooses us. But I understand your question since so does it appear from our side as if we are choosing it. The truth of the matter however is that I was not really seeking anything at the time that Sri Aurobindo entered my life or rather took me into His vast infinite life. I was an agnostic since whatever I had read about God and all other philosophies, I could not find my answers in them. I had few experiences also but not sure of what it meant I simply let them slip into some corner of my memory.

My search was for the ultimate meaning of life like many others I suppose. Living life as others do seeking success, fulfilling ambitions, accumulating money and all those things that one normally enjoys and lives for did not attract me. Besides it seemed such a selfish thing to live for, so small and little. Then there was the alternative of spiritual life. But that too seemed selfish since everyone spoke about personal mukti and nirvana or having some kind of bliss or experience by certain practices. All this did not answer my questions about the reason for suffering in this world. It moved me deeply but the standard answer of the karmic theory seemed incomplete. Therefore, having searched whatever I could, I became an Agnostic and thought that best to be a good human being and a good doctor so that I could help those who are suffering. But without any stable Permanent Reality it also seemed a vain thing.

Well it was during this phase that Sri Aurobindo drew me to His heart and I found Him, or rather literally walked into Him in a busy Delhi street, one winter afternoon when I entered a bookstore. There He was in His word body speaking His first phrase to me like a mantra of initiation written in the first page of the book that I opened. He wrote ‘All Life is Yoga.’ Something clicked instantly, like a revelation and I knew I was home. His name kept vibrating lie some heavenly rhythm in my heart and the whole evening, in fact the next two days I was as if in an ecstasy forgetting everything else except to pore through the pages of the heavenly script. It was love at first or shall I say first word. All else that happened was contained in that single phrase whose full meaning and impact is still unfolding before me, – ‘All Life is Yoga’. There was then no calculation, no weighing of options, no looking at advantages and disadvantages, no consideration of difficulties and dangers. In fact there was no option, but to accept all that He said as true, to aspire for what He wanted us to be, to surrender to the New Vision that opened before my soul.

Later the Mother revealed Herself to me and that completely sealed it if there was any other thought ever at all. Once She came or rather drew me to Her then all considerations and questions about the path, the goal everything was gone. Only She remained, at the center and circumference of life, to serve Her and love Her the only joy and purpose of existence.

Affectionately
Alok bhaiyya

Q: When an individual is suffering from his childhood – what can be the reasons behind it, and how and when these difficulties will come to an end?

ALOKDA: A very good question. To understand this we have to understand the field and the knower of the field. The field is the whole gamut and play of forces that comprises the world existence, more specifically the earth nature into which the soul enters. This rendezvous of soul and nature is a win-win situation for both if we see it in the larger perspective for each time nature comes in contact with the soul it receives an impetus to progress and evolve towards Light and Beauty. As to the soul it feels the burden of nature as a load but as it passes from life to life the soul grows stronger until one day it becomes her Lord.

In the first few lives the soul is like a slave held captive to Nature as in a prison. But as it grows it becomes more and more its master and lord. In the first few lives the soul is as if dragged helplessly by the forces of nature. During this phase when the soul is developing out of its infancy towards adulthood it may try unusual things such as take a leap cutting through layers of darkness and even go through a hell of outer suffering to hasten the purifying ordeal. Finally, it is out of the dense dark fields and enters a quieter zone, progressively moving towards freedom away from the school of ignorance and the law of suffering.

Q: I’ve heard people repeating the Mother’s words “The Mother’s protection is with me, nothing bad can happen” even while harming others intentionally. Does it really protect the person even when one says this from one’s ego? How does it work?

ALOKDA: To expect that the Divine will protect someone consciously engaging in evil is in itself a contradiction. Sri Aurobindo has clearly said that there are conditions required to open to the Divine Help such as faith, sincerity and surrender. There is of course such a thing as unconditional protection but it is extremely rare and given only under very special conditions for a very special purpose. Otherwise, no sadhana would be needed. One has to simply say and things will be done magically regardless of the person’s inner state. Well sometimes it can happen but this cannot be made a rule of life or a law of spiritual living.

However we may add that the words of Sri Aurobindo has the power in it to fulfill its promise, the promise of the Divine to man that if he sincerely calls for His help and seeks His Protection, even in His thoughts with faith and trust then regardless of his past, however dark it may be and his present, however evil it may be, the Grace does come and intervene and changes the fixed course of destiny. Not only does it protect him from the hostility around but also from himself and opens the doors for redemption by the Grace. It is similar to the great word of the Gita, the eternal promise of the Godhead in man, his eternal friend and lover, – sarvadharmaparityajya mamekamsharanam vraja. Aham tva sarvapapebhyo mokshisiyami ma suchhah, abandon all dharmas and take refuge in Me Alone, I will deliver thee from all fear and evil, do not grieve.