Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
At the Feet of The Mother

Letters to a Young Disciple

Sri Aurobindo’s correspondence with Nagin Doshi from 1933-1937.


What is the Yogic method of getting rid of a pain or illness?

To separate yourself from the thing and call in the Mother’s Force to cure it — or else to use your will force with faith in the power to heal, having the support of the Mother’s Force behind you. If you cannot use either of these methods then you must rely on the action of the medicines.

During the working period the useless thoughts intrude and interrupt the contact of the outer with the inner being. To what special difficulty do you attribute this?

There is no special difficulty beyond what everybody feels, that of reconciling work with the inner concentration. It is a difficulty that has to be conquered, but for most it takes time to conquer. You must be able to work and keep the silence of the inner being.

With what is the sexual impulse to be replaced? And of what Divine part is it a degradation?

The Divine Ananda in the vital and in the body. Ananda — which is the source of the Divine Creation.

In my last night’s dreams I saw two events [...] Both these predictions have become facts today.

One can see beforehand things that happen in the physical. One can see them on the vital plane or on the subtle physical, — but the subtle physical foreseeing is usually more exact and sure.

I am quite unconscious of my nights. I do not remember any dreams even though there is a recollection of having seen something.

It does not matter much. The sleep consciousness can be effectively dealt with only when the waking mind has made a certain amount of progress.

Is it helpful to study one’s own dreams, unravel them and find out their meaning?

Unless they are really significant dreams it is a waste of time. I don’t think it is necessary to make the effort to remember unless you feel that there has been something of special importance.

"The impulse towards laya is a creation of the mind, it is not the sole possible destiny of the soul. When the mind tries to abolish its own ignorance, it finds no escape from it except laya, because it supposes that there is no higher principle of cosmic existence beyond itself [...] Those who go through the heart (love, bhakti) do not accept laya, they believe in a state beyond of eternal companionship with the Divine or dwelling in the Divine without laya."