Daily Offerings from Alokda Archives - Page 9 of 34

How Does the Journey of a Human Soul Begin?

Q: My question is… if we, as humans, go through the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth, then how does the journey begin? If we are the seeds of the creator, does he create new seeds as well? Or is it the same old soul that has been progressing since time immemorial? Your discourses ignite the mind with numerous questions.

ALOKDA: The appearance of human beings marks the transition from the largely instinct-driven animality tied to an upward looking partly self-conscious creature. The human form evolves after a long preparatory play of Nature with several forms where the main work is to find the balance between life and matter. With man begins the emergence of mind with its capacity to make us self-conscious and conscious of the world around. It is at this stage that the seeds or sparks of the Divine enter the play. The entry of the soul creates in man a seeking and an urge to know, to progress, to discover the Creator and even to become one with Him. But the soul must pass through a long cycle of birth and death to arrive at the point of conscious aspiration. This is an ongoing process since the Divine is Infinite like a Fire that burns forever releasing new sparks to enter the cycle. This there are old souls and new entrants into the earthly play, souls that are more developed creating a more evolved humanity and souls that have just begun the journey and are completely under the influence of the animal consciousness and lesser evolved human states.

Affectionately,
Alok da

2024-10-30

On Magic and Miracles (4) Miraculous Expectations

There is a flipside to this matter of expectation. We often find men in religious garb making stupendous and fantastic claims. So often we even hear men of little apparent merit claiming that their practices, techniques and methods, or even mere presence, is sufficient to cure anyone of every ill, from problems of money to every physical and psychological malady. When some illnesses are cured or partially rectified, primarily due to the faith people place in the process, then the claimant opens shop. Those in whom it does not work simply succumb to their fate and do not raise a word of dissent, lest it be held a sacrilege.

Even God would not make such fantastic claims, though potentially He is fully capable of them — not because He is less powerful than these god-men, but because His power is commensurate with His wisdom. His compassion is not blinded by a passion to rush in and help, as if He dwelled in an alien world and the rest of humanity in another. The fact is that He is here too and knows perfectly well what is going on. If He does not always seem to respond to our prayers for help, it is simply because He has seen beyond the rush and rumour of the present moment of anguish and realises the daybreak and advent of Light that waits behind the storm and night. He also knows that the storm and night are often a preparation for the day, so we grow stronger in our energies and not sink into an abyss of inertia or tamas.

2024-10-30

Songs of the Soul: October 30, 2024

Mother Divine, You take care of all the countless creatures and their needs in ways we cannot even conceive, through seen and unseen hands. It is You who impels the heart and moves the hands that give, You who brings together the giver and the receiver, yet each thinks it is he who is helping. The one receiving the help too believes it is the man who helped not seeing the Power that moved his heart and the circumstances that brought things and people together by Thy agent of execution, Time. Man’s eyes are limited to the outer fields and appearances and knows not the Power that drives the engines of life from behind. Perhaps this illusion too is necessary at a certain stage so that we may put in the effort, else even when You would impel, man will refuse to do his bit which is part of the needed instrumentality in the totality of Thy cosmic play.

If only we could do what You bid us to do knowing fully that it is Your Knowledge that impels, Your Force that executes, Your Wisdom that determines the outcome and Your Love that carries us through it all, then life would be so much simpler, free of complications. But man’s mind prefers to keep Thee aside, shuts Thee in the cabin of his ideas or in the confines of a place as if he is the doer and he the enjoyer of the fruits. But by doing so he only limits Thy action, though only apparently so, since Thou art everywhere and in everything. What a relief it is to know that Thou art the sole doer while engaged in every action, to know that all is Thine while outwardly engaged in giving and getting.

May all be granted this release that comes by knowing that it is Thou alone who art playing in different forms, that there is nothing else but Thee.

Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa

2024-10-30

Is full Divine Manifestation in physical world inevitable?

Q: I don’t see a logic behind the evolution and God’s final manifestation in matter. While Sri Aurobindo says the final goal of physical creation is Eternal Supramental Perfect Manifestation, the question arises how is it that none of the previous Universes before ours actually arrived at it! Why nobody asked Sri Aurobindo that question while he was alive is another puzzling conundrum!
God absolutely has zero obligation to manifest his fullness here in the physical world if (as expressed in traditional Hindu knowledge) this physical world was always meant to give souls initial experience of lower stages of consciousness before they proceed to higher worlds where the Divine is already manifested. So it may never get transformed into a Paradise as we hope. Please comment.

ALOKDA: Well, God may not intend a Divine Manifestation here and the whole purpose of evolution may be to reach a point from where one is hooked up to some higher world. This question has been discussed by Sri Aurobindo in different ways. This idea of ascension of beings who are ready through the evolutionary process into some higher plane is no doubt very lucrative and appealing to a kind of mysticism.

But there has always been another side of mystic endeavour since the time of the Vedas. It is to make life here upon earth perfect. This aspiration would be a meaningless absurdity if God intended Earth to be only a preparation for a post mortem salvation as certain religions say. How would one know in the absence of hearing God’s direct Command? We come back to the same point. Either we can trust Sri Aurobindo that if he says that this is the Divine Intent in creation then it is so. Or else one feels the aspiration in one’s heart and takes this aspiration as the sign of the Divine Intent in the individual at least.

Other than these two ways, it is doubtful that the matter of God’s final Intent can be decided by any kind of logic. At best we can find hints, and if we look at evolution itself, the hint is towards a growing perfection and manifestation here itself upon earth. It is difficult to conceive that all this many-sided evolutionary labour and the hard material passage and toil through evil and suffering is to end abruptly with a queer and clumsy unsettled product that man presently is. That is much more likely and conceivable that these are intermediary stages of a process whose far end is yet to be revealed.

2024-10-29

On Magic and Miracles (3) Can a Miracle Be Made to Order?

Another common misconception is to see events from a very personalised point of view. So, when things happen in our favour we regard it as a miracle and take it as synonymous with the will of God. A deeper study reveals that this may not be so. Life and Nature do not move with the sole objective of satisfying us. They have their own rhythm and purpose. And whilst our personal choices are taken into account, they are not the sole or perhaps even major determining factors. But our choices do make a difference. Because inherent in our choices are our attitudes towards life, which may or may not be aligned to the cosmic purpose. When it is aligned, we feel happy even if adversity appears. When not aligned, we eventually suffer even if the results seem favourable and happen according to our choice!

Another misconception is that a miracle can be made to order. This arises from an ignorance of the way a miracle works. Even when a miracle seems instantaneous, there is a process, however subtle or swift it may be. It overrides the known laws and conditions of working, but there are other hidden laws and conditions through which it works itself out. It is not a creation out of nothing. That would be an impossibility or a trick. Even the Divine does not totally disrespect the conditions of the field in which He works. The field and forces are also Him and have a great purpose in His grand plan. This grand plan and purpose is often far more important than the immediate impulse of the moment.

Recently a girl demonstrated her power of subtle vision to see and diagnose pathologies and illnesses. The scientists demanded proof. The little girl was placed under strict scrutiny and left alone with a group of disbelieving sceptics. The stress created in the child was evident. Yet she could accurately match four out of seven diagnoses and was almost correct with the fifth. But the sceptics were not satisfied! Under such strict criteria, even well-qualified and experienced doctors would fail to pass the test and medical science might be dubbed a superstition rather than a science! That may well be so, but the point is that miracles require certain inner conditions as science requires certain outer ones.

2024-10-29

Songs of the Soul: October 29, 2024

Mother Divine,
the gap between where humanity stands today, even at its very best, highest and noblest, and where You have willed to take us seems like an impossibility, if we look at it from our side. Even great Yogis and Tapaswis would not be able to achieve or even conceive of it in their highest flights that comes to an abrupt close with samadhi, that trance of annulment waiting to be absorbed back into the Silence. But Your Will and Divine Command for us is not losing oneself in the Divine but to manifest Him in each and every field and detail of life. It is the work of a New Creation here, in every activity and mode of being, a work impossible but for Thy Grace. It is relatively easy to cut oneself from the crowded tramp of life and live in Thy ecstatic contemplation. But to live in this great divided world where each thing seems its lonely separate self while seeing oneness everywhere is a far more difficult thing.

Yet when we look at Thy infinite Grace then this seems not only possible but certain. For the whole creation hints at this, a oneness behind and differentiation outside. Oh, to be a channel fully open to Thee so that Thy Divine Forces may pour upon earth, unhindered and unobstructed by our egoism, fears, doubts and desires. Oh, to be very simply what Thou wouldst want us to be without preferences of being this or that. To choose what You would choose for us, to execute what Thou wouldst Will is peace and felicity, the supreme consummation, the Divine way to live.

To will what Thou Willest is to be Divine.

Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa

2024-10-29

Is it possible to live in a soul-based relationship, and how it can be achieved?

Q: Is it possible for us the commoners to make relations with others on the basis of soul? If then how it can be achieved? Please explain.

ALOKDA: It is not about being common or uncommon since the soul is within all of us. Only in some people it is dormant whereas in others it is either awakened or close to its awakening.

Until the soul is awakened, it is good to regard all human relations as stamped with transience and imperfection so that we do not keep high expectations from people thereby creating needless stress upon them. Human relationships, like every other aspect of our human life should primarily be seen as a training ground for cultivating and harnessing the energy of Love within us. It should be seen as a field of experience through which we learn to love unselfishly, to give generously, to look upon all with benevolence, compassion and forgiveness. It is also a great opportunity to develop qualities of self-forgetfulness, tolerance, wideness in understanding and many other qualities that are helpful to walk on the path. One can discover different aspects of oneself through our relation with others since each provides us a mirror.

Going through life and relationships this way we become better equipped for discovering our soul. By learning to love selflessly, without expectations, unconditionally we eventually pass behind the human appearance and discover the principle of love that is found in the soul. In other words our relationships themselves become a path to the great discovery.

Of course once we discover the soul then things change. It is then and only then that some beautiful elements, some truth, some harmony and sweetness can be added to the story of human love. Otherwise even at best it remains woven on shaky grounds with storms and turbulences often round the corner, often ending in disappointments and frustrations. as long as love is rooted in the ego and desire self it remains uncertain and full of turbid mixtures. It is only what is rooted in the soul that can last and find true wings to uplift it from the earthly grounds to heavenly fields and ethereal skies.

Affectionately
Alok da

2024-10-28

On Magic and Miracles (2) Miracles in Time

A miracle is also not necessarily an instantaneous event that dazzles the eye. There are many miracles that unfold over a period of time and which are no less miraculous on this account. So, for example, the seed of life grows over the years from a tiny cell to a mighty king or an illumined sage. Such a miracle evolves slowly; it not only creates a king, but also often equips him with the instruments to rule.

The most perfect acts that weave such intricate patterns of life need time and patience. These are God’s true miracles: the opening of a flower bud, the turning of an all-devouring caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly, the evolution of these many tiered universes and systems of galaxies and stars out of a single point of intense concentration. These are the greatest miracles that no human magic can imitate and yet these miracles take the longest.

They are not the miracles of things that are accomplished and known but the miracles of the still unknown and unborn. And yet man hardly recognises them as such; he passes by without even noticing them, since they extend beyond his arc of vision in terms of time and space.

2024-10-28

Songs of the Soul: October 28, 2024

Mother Divine,
may we wake up to Thy all-transfiguring Love and Thy wonderful Grace whose alchemist power knows no limits and can change even the dullest, most obscure material into a lamp of Thy Light. It is only natural that this be so because it is this wonderful Grace that has engaged in this labour of love pulling creation out of its fallen Inconscient state. It knows all the steps, It has marshalled all the forces that have gone into creation, It has the detailed knowledge of the complex and intricate fabric of creation. What we call nature is simply a small frontal play brought out by Thee to prepare us for Thy vaster play. And what we know as Supernature, whose miraculous interventions baffles our intelligence is simply one aspect of Thy working, incomprehensible and hence abnormal to our limited mind but perfectly normal to Thee. It is our limited understanding that refuses to believe that everything is possible if You so Will. Your Grace can work out the seemingly impossible, that which our highest imagination and conception cannot know. Hence we call it a random play or a Chance event. Or else we give it the ubiquitous name of miracle. Or limit the free action of an infinite Wisdom by hedging it with systems and philosophies and rules of life and theories that explain action and consequence. Yet in our haste to explain we miss the one most important single factor, Thy incalculable immeasurable Grace that overtops and overrides everything. It uses rules as well as transcends them.

Yet there is a method in this seemingly random game and Chance and Fate are simply words that display our ignorance of the deeper working. Even what we call as accidents of Time or label it as whims and fancies of an arbitrary Creator carries within it the stamp of a far-seeing Wisdom that knows Its steps and uses all means, even the most seemingly contradictory to arrive at Its prefigured Goal. What is marvelous is that this is as much true for an individual as for nations and the world. Once we begin to glimpse this infinity, this wonderful Grace, this marvelous Love then our hearts are at complete rest and peace and our hope has no limits.

May all be blessed with this vision and this Hope.

Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa Maa

2024-10-28