Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles
Monthly Magazine
The Quest for the Divine  Feb 2018 Issue - I
There is nothing mind can do that cannot be better done in the mind's immobility and thought-free stillness.

-Sri Aurobindo
Dedicated to the Mother and Sri Aurobindo who gave their lives to changing the earth-nature and earth-conditions so that the earth becomes a tenement of a Divine Life, and brought down the force of a supreme consciousness ushering a new age of Truth, Harmony, Peace and Love progressively.  The path to the Divine need not be anymore a "walk on the edge of a razor".
 

Center  Activities:

The 140th birthday of the Mother was celebrated on Saturday 24th Feb with offerings of music, readings and prasad from devotees. Anya, Nika, Janani, Ara and others made the center beautiful and ready to receive Her children. Her love drew devotees from as far as San Diego. Ashok Misra and Piyali carried our invocation to the Divine with their soulful songs and beautiful voice. The readings were absorbing and imbued with the love the devotees felt for Her. Hansa and Lakshman relived the time spent in Her presence captivating our soul with the eternal mystery of the Divine at play with the human, and drawing all irresistibly to Her sweetness and Love. Tyler, our new member, shared a profound passage from the Agenda on humility.  One saw in the altar a labor of love and felt that She was indeed there presiding over Her birthday celebrations.
Some of our members are traveling to India, and some others were unable to attend. All were missed. Also was missed Elizabeth's evenly paced, lucid,  measured and spontaneously flowing reading of Savitri.
Hansa aptly described the evening: "It was a joyful and reflective five hours spent together with The Mother with us in the room!".  Truly!.
 
     
This month's theme is the quest for the Divine.

Awaken to the purpose of life                                         - The Mother
 
First step is to step back                                                  - The Mother

Discipline to be followed                                                 - Sri Aurobindo
 

Awaken to the purpose of life     -  The Mother                                         Home

Behind this life so unconscious, so futile, so destitute of sense, there is something to be found which is worth living, that there is a reality, a truth behind these falsehoods and illusions.

You feel suddenly that all that you do, all that you see has no sense, has no purpose, but there is something which has sense and after all you are here on earth for something. All that, all these movements, all this restlessness, all this waste of force and energy must have a purpose, a goal and this uneasiness you feel within yourself, this dissatisfaction, this need, this thirst for something must lead us elsewhere.

And one day, you put the question to yourself, “But wherefore one is born ? Wherefore does one die ? Why does one suffer ? Why does one act ?”

You no more live like a little machine, that is hardly half-conscious. You want to feel truly, act truly, know truly. Then in the ordinary life you look for books, you look for persons who know of the thing a little more than you do; you set about in quest of someone who can solve your questions, lift the veil of ignorance.

We do not want the life as it is, because we have enough of suffering and unconsciousness, because we have enough of disorder and ill-will, because Sri Aurobindo came to tell us, “One need not leave the earth to find the Truth, one need not leave the life to find his soul, one need not abandon the world or have only limited beliefs to enter into relation with the Divine.” The Divine is everywhere, in everything and if He is hidden, it is because we do not take the trouble to discover Him.”

We can, simply by sincere aspiration, open a door sealed within us and find that something which will change the whole significance of life, which will answer all our questions, solve all our problems and take us towards that perfection to which we aspire without knowing it, to that Reality which alone can satisfy us and give us joy and poise and force and life that are durable.

All that you have heard many times.

You have heard, — yes, there are even some who have been so accustomed to it that it seems to them to be the same thing as drinking a glass of water or opening the window to let in the sun.

We have tried a little, but now we are going to try seriously.

The starting point is will, to will truly, to have need of it. The next step is to think of that above all. A day comes very soon when you cannot think of anything else.

That is the only thing that counts.

And then you formulate your aspiration, you throw up from your heart a true prayer, expressing the sincerity of the need and then… well, we shall see what is going to happen.

Something will happen, it is sure that there will come something. That will take a different form for different people.

First step is to step back    -  The Mother                                                 Home

Most of you live on the surface of your being, exposed to the touch of external influences. You live almost projected, as it were, outside your own body, and when you meet some unpleasant being similarly projected you get upset. The whole trouble arises out of your not being accustomed to stepping back. You must always step back into yourself – learn to go deep within – step back and you will be safe. Do not lend yourself to the superficial forces which move in the outside world. Even if you are in a hurry to do something, step back for a while and you will discover to your surprise how much sooner and with what greater success your work can be done. If someone is angry with you, do not be caught in his vibrations but simply step back and his anger, finding no support or response, will vanish. Always keep your peace, resist all temptation to lose it. Never decide anything without stepping back, never speak a word without stepping back, never throw yourself into action without stepping back. All that belongs to the ordinary world is impermanent and fugitive, so there is nothing in it worth getting upset about. What is lasting, eternal, immortal and infinite – that indeed is worth having, worth conquering, worth possessing. It is Divine Light, Divine Love, Divine Life – it is also Supreme Peace, Perfect Joy and All-Mastery upon earth with the Complete Manifestation as the crowning. When you get the sense of the relativity of things, then whatever happens you can step back and look; you can remain quiet and call on the Divine Force and wait for an answer. Then you will know exactly what to do. Remember, therefore, that you cannot receive the answer before you are very peaceful. Practice that inner peace, make at least a small beginning and go on in your practice until it becomes a habit with you.

 

The Discipline to be followed    -  Sri Aurobindo                                       Home

The first necessity is the practice of concentration of your consciousness within yourself. The ordinary human mind has an activity on the surface which veils the real Self. But there is another, a hidden consciousness within behind the  surface one in which we can become aware of the real Self and of a larger deeper truth of nature, can realise the Self and liberate and transform the nature. To quiet the surface mind and begin to live within is the object of this concentration. Of this true consciousness other than the superficial there are two main centres, one in the heart (not the physical heart, but the cardiac centre in the middle of the chest), one in the head. The concentration in the heart opens within and by following this inward opening and going deep one becomes aware of the soul or psychic being, the divine element in the individual. This being unveiled begins to come forward, to govern the nature, to turn it and all its movements towards the Truth, towards the Divine, and to call down into it all that is above. It brings the consciousness of the Presence, the dedication of the being to the Highest and invites the descent into our nature of a greater Force and Consciousness which is waiting above us. To concentrate in the heart centre with the offering of oneself to the Divine and the aspiration for this inward opening and for the Presence in the heart is the first way and, if it can be done, the natural beginning; for its result once obtained makes the spiritual path far more easy and safe than if one begins the other way.

That other way is the concentration in the head, in the mental centre. This, if it brings about the silence of the surface mind, opens up an inner, larger, deeper mind within which is more capable of receiving spiritual experience and spiritual knowledge. But once concentrated here one must open the silent mental consciousness upward to all that is above mind. After a time one feels the consciousness rising upward and in the end it rises beyond the lid which has so long kept it tied in the body and finds a centre above the head where it is liberated into the Infinite. There it begins to come into contact with the universal Self, the Divine Peace, Light, Power, Knowledge, Bliss, to enter into that and become that, to feel the descent of these things into the nature. To concentrate in the head with the aspiration for quietude in the mind and the realisation of the Self and Divine above is the second way of concentration. It is important, however, to remember that the concentration of the consciousness in the head is only a preparation for its rising to the centre above; otherwise, one may get shut up in one’s own mind and its experiences or at best attain only to a reflection of the Truth above instead of rising into the spiritual transcendence to live there. For some the mental concentration is easier, for some the concentration in the heart centre; some are capable of doing both alternately – but to begin with the heart centre, if one can do it, is the more desirable.

The other side of discipline is with regard to the activities of the nature, of the mind, of the life-self or vital, of the physical being. Here the principle is to accord the nature with the inner realisation so that one may not be divided into two discordant parts. There are here several disciplines or processes possible. One is to offer all the activities to the Divine and call for the inner guidance and the taking up of one’s nature by a Higher Power. If there is the inward soul-opening, if the psychic being comes forward, then there is no great difficulty – there comes with it a psychic discrimination, a constant intimation, finally a governance which discloses and quietly and patiently removes all imperfections, brings the right mental and vital movements and reshapes the physical consciousness also. Another method is to stand back detached from the movements of the mind, life, physical being, to regard their activities as only a habitual formation of general Nature in the individual imposed on us by past workings, not as any part of our real being; in proportion as one succeeds in this, becomes detached, sees mind and its activities as not oneself, life and its activities as not oneself, the body and its activities as not oneself, one becomes aware of an inner Being within us – Inner mental, inner vital, inner physical – silent, calm, unbound, unattached which reflects the true Self above and can be its direct representative; from this inner silent Being proceeds a rejection of all that is to be rejected, an acceptance only of what can be kept and transformed, an inmost Will to perfection or a call to the Divine Power to do at each step what is necessary for the change of the Nature. It can also open mind, life and body to the inmost psychic entity and its guiding influence or its direct guidance. In most cases these two methods emerge and work together and finally fuse into one. But one can begin with either, the one that one feels most natural and easy to follow.

TO BE CONTINUED
Copyright © Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles
All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
12320 Marshall St, Culver City, Los Angeles, CA 90230

Contact - 310-390-9083
email : ewcc@sriaurobindocenter-la.org