Sri Aurobindo Center of Los Angeles
Monthly Magazine
Theme : Work
  September 2018 Issue - VIII
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 month of September had a celebratory note to it in the birthdays of many of our members. The Mother attached a great significance to the birthday. It is a precious day not only in the year but in one's lifetime, offering a great opportunity for an inner progress. For those whose birthday is coming up we share below the immense importance of this day as revealed by Her.

"Yes, it is truly a special day in one's life. It is one of the days in the year when the Supreme descends into us — or when we are face to face with the Eternal — one of those days when our soul comes in contact with the Eternal and, if we remain a little conscious, we can feel His Presence within us. If we make a little effort on this day, we accomplish the work of many lives, as in a lightning flash. That is why I give so much importance to the birthday — because what one gains in one day is truly something incomparable. And it is for this that I too work to open the consciousness a little upward so that one may come face to face with the Eternal. My child, it is a very, very special day, for it is the day of decision, the day when one can truly make a tremendous progress, when one can unite with the Supreme Consciousness. For on this day, the Lord lifts us up to the highest possible region so that our soul which is a portion of this Eternal Flame, can unite with it and absorb from the Source.
This day is truly an opportunity in life. One is so open and receptive that one can assimilate all that is given. I can do many things, — that is why it is important. 

- The Mother

On Sat, the 29th there was a collective engagement in "Karma Yoga".  More than twelve members gathered for various center maintenance activities which included garden work(trimming, pruning, etc.), cleaning and reorganizing the kitchen, the rooms and bookshelves. The pond was cleaned thoroughly and given a new look. The day concluded with a meditation on the gratitude that all felt on the opportunity to collectively serve the Divine.
"Work" therefore naturally forms the theme for this month. Happy reading!
 

All depends on the attitude with which you do the work. If done with the right attitude, it will surely bring you nearer to me.

One can progress through meditation, but through work provided it is done in the right spirit one can progress ten times more.  

- The Mother.

Those who do work for the Mother in all sincerity, are prepared by the work itself for the right consciousness even if they do not sit down for meditation or follow any particular practice of Yoga. It is not necessary to tell you how to meditate; whatever is needful will come of itself if in your work and at all times you are sincere and keep yourself open to the Mother.
- Sri Aurobindo. 

     
                                       This month's theme:
                                                    Work

The motives of Work                                                                 - Sri Aurobindo

Purification through Work                                                     - Sri Aurobindo

The great secret: Remember and Offer                               - The Mother

Un-egoistic work                                                                      - Sri Aurobindo

An experiment for the readers                                              - The Mother

Leave the result to the Divine                                               - The Mother
 

The motives of work                      - Sri Aurobindo                             Home


Men usually work and carry on their affairs from the ordinary motives of the vital being, need, desire of wealth or success or position or power or fame or the push to activity and the pleasure of manifesting their capacities, and they succeed or fail according to their capability, power of work and the good or bad fortune which is the result of their nature and their Karma. When one takes up the yoga and wishes to consecrate one's life to the Divine, these ordinary motives of the vital being have no longer their full and free play; they have to be replaced by another, a mainly psychic and spiritual motive, which will enable the sadhak to work with the same force as before, no longer for himself, but for the Divine. If the ordinary vital motives or vital force can no longer act freely and yet are not replaced by something else, then the push or force put into the work may decline or the power to command success may no longer be there.    
For the sincere sadhak the difficulty can only be temporary; but he has to see the defect in his consciousness or his attitude and to remove it. Then the Divine Power itself will act through him and use his capacity and vital force for its ends. In your case, it is the psychic being and a part of the mind that have drawn you to the yoga and were predisposed to it, but the vital nature or at least a large part of it has not yet put itself into line with the psychic movement. There is not as yet the full and undivided consecration of the active vital nature.

Purification through Work                                        - Sri Aurobindo     Home

The only work that spiritually purifies is that which is done without personal motives, without desire for fame or public recognition or worldly greatness, without insistence on one's own mental motives or vital lusts and demands or physical preferences, without vanity or crude self-assertion or claim for position or prestige, done for the sake of the Divine alone and at the command of the Divine. All work done in an egoistic spirit, however good for people in the world of the Ignorance, is of no avail to the seeker of the yoga.

Of course the idea of bigness and smallness is quite foreign to the spiritual truth.... Spiritually there is nothing big or small.  Such ideas are like those of the literary people who think writing a poem is a high work and making shoes or cooking the dinner is a small and low one. But all is equal in the eyes of the Spirit – and it is only the spirit within with which it is done that matters. It is the same with a particular kind of work, there is nothing big or small.
   

The great secret: Remember and Offer                     - The Mother       Home

In all pursuits, intellectual or active, your one motto should be, “Remember and Offer.” Let whatever you do be done as an offering to the Divine. And this too will be an excellent discipline for you; it will prevent you from doing many foolish and useless things.
***
Truly speaking, it depends more on the way of doing a thing than on the thing itself. You take up some work which is quite material, like cleaning the floor or dusting a room; well, it seems to me that this work can lead to a very deep consciousness if it is done with a certain feeling for perfection and progress; while other work considered of a higher kind as, for example, studies or literary and artistic work, if done with the idea of seeking fame or for the satisfaction of one’s vanity or for some material gain, will not help you to progress. So this is already a kind of classification which depends more on the inner attitude than on the outer fact. But this classification can be applied to everything.

- The Mother
*******************
It is quite possible for you to do sadhana at home and in the midst of your work - many do so. What is necessary in the beginning is to remember the Mother as much as possible, to concentrate on her in the heart for a time every day, if possible thinking of her as the Divine Mother, to aspire to feel her there within you, offer her your works and pray that from within she may guide and sustain you. This is a preliminary stage which often takes long, but if one goes through it with sincerity and steadfastness, the mentality begins little by little to change and a new consciousness opens in the sadhak which begins to be aware more and more of the Mother's presence within, of her working in the nature and in the life or of some other spiritual experience which opens the gate towards realization.
- Sri Aurobindo

Un-egoistic work                                                     - Sri Aurobindo       Home

 

The ego-centric man feels and takes things as they affect him. Does this please me or displease, give me gladness or pain, flatter my pride, vanity, ambition or hurt it, satisfy my desires or thwart them, etc. The un-egoistic man does not look at things like that. He looks to see what things are in themselves and would be if he were not there, what is their meaning, how they fit into the scheme of things—or else he feels calm and equal, refers everything to the Divine, or if he is a man of action, how they will serve the work that has to be done or the life of the world or the cause he serves, etc. etc. There can be many points of view which are not ego-centric.

 

An experiment for the readers                                             - The Mother   Home


You understand, there is no movement, no action which in itself is good or bad; it depends absolutely on the spirit in which it is done...Now there are people who always take their desires for their needs,...They are convinced that without this or that one cannot live: “It is impossible, one can't live without that... I shall fall ill or something very unpleasant will happen to me or I shall not be able to do my work. It is impossible, if I don't have this I can't do my work.” So, the first step for these people is to try a small experiment (if they are sincere): “Well, I won't have this thing and we are going to see what happens.” This is a very interesting experiment. And I can guarantee that 999 times out of a thousand, after a few days one asks oneself, “But why the devil did I think I had such a great need of this thing, I can do without it very well !” There you are. And like this, little by little, one makes progress.
*
There is a sovereign royalty in taking no thought for oneself. To have needs is to assert a weakness; to claim something proves that we lack what we claim. To desire is to be impotent; it is to recognize our limitations and confess our incapacity to overcome them. If only from the point of view of a legitimate pride, man should be noble enough to renounce desire.

Leave the result to the Divine                                    - The Mother       Home

Q: Sweet Mother,

Each time I have encountered an obstacle in my life, each time I have been deprived of some happiness some apparent happiness a consolation has come immediately to dispel my psychological pain. For something tells me: “All that happens is done for your own good and is done by the Divine Grace.”

Is it good, is it healthy to think like this?

 

A:  Not only is it right, good and healthy to think like this, but it is an absolutely indispensable attitude if one wants to advance on the spiritual path. As a matter of fact, it is the first step without which one cannot advance at all. That is why I always say: “Whatever you do, do the best you can, and leave the result to the Lord; then your heart will be at peace.

 

Q: Before undertaking any action one tries to know whether the impulse comes from the Mother or not, but generally one doesn't have enough discernment to know it and yet one acts. Can one know from the result of the action whether it came from the Mother or not ?
A: One does not have the discernment because one does not care to have it ! Listen, I don't think there is a single instance in which one does not find within oneself something very clear, but you must sincerely want to know – we always come back to the same thing – you must sincerely want it. The first condition is not to begin thinking about the subject and building all sorts of ideas: opposing ideas, possibilities, and entering into a formidable mental activity. First of all, you must put the problem as though you were putting it to someone else, then keep silent, remain like that, immobile. And then, after a little while you will see that at least three different things may happen, sometimes more. Take the case of an intellectual, one who acts in accordance with the indications of his head. He has put the problem and he waits. Well, if he is indeed attentive, he will notice that there is (the chronological order is not absolute, it may come in a different order) at first (what is most prominent in an intellectual) a certain idea: “If I do that in this way, it will be all right; it must be like that”, that is to say, a mental construction. A second thing which is a kind of impulse: “That will have to be done. That is good, it must be done.” Then a third which does not make any noise at all, does not try to impose itself on the others, but has the tranquillity of a certitude – not very active, not giving a shock, not pushing to action, but something that knows and is very quiet, very still. This will not contradict the others, will not come and say, “No, that's wrong”; it says simply, “See, it is like this”, that's all, and then it does not insist. The majority of men are not silent enough or attentive enough to be aware of it, for it makes no noise. But I assure you it is there in everybody and if one is truly sincere and succeeds in being truly quiet, one will become aware of it. The thinking part begins to argue, “But after all, this thing will have this consequence and that thing will have that consequence, and if one does this... “ and this, and that... and its noise begins again. The other (the vital) will say, “Yes, it must be done like that, it must be done, you don't understand, it must, it is indispensable.” There! Then you will know. And according to your nature you will choose either the vital impulse or the mental leading, but very seldom do you say quite calmly, “Good, it is this I am going to do, whatever happens”, and even if you don't like it very much. But it is always there. I am sure that it is there even in the murderer before he kills, you understand, but his outer being makes such a lot of noise that it never even occurs to him to listen. But it is always there, always there. In every circumstance, there is in the depth of every being, just this little (one can't call it “voice”, for it makes no sound) this little indication of the divine Grace, and sometimes to obey it requires a tremendous effort, for all the rest of the being opposes it violently, one part with the conviction that what it thinks is true, another with all the power, the strength of its desire. But don't tell me that one can't know, for that is not true. One can know. But one does not always know what is necessary, and sometimes, if one knows what is to be done, well, one finds some excuse or other for not doing it. One tells oneself, “Oh! I am not so sure, after all, of this inner indication; it does not assert itself with sufficient force for me to trust it.” But if you were quite indifferent, that is, if you had no desire, either mental or vital or physical desire, you would know with certainty that it is that which must be done and nothing else. What come and gets in the way is preference – preferences and desires... Besides, you were saying a while ago that it is the result which gives you the indication; it has even been said (it has been written in books) that one judges the divine Will by the results! All that succeeds has been willed by the Divine; all that doesn't, well, He has not willed it! This is yet again one of those stupidities big as a mountain. It is a mental simplification of the problem, which is quite comic. That's not it. If one can have an indication (in proportion to one's sincerity), it is uneasiness, a little uneasiness – not a great uneasiness, just a little uneasiness. Here, you know, you have another means, quite simple (I don't know why you do not use it, because it is quite elementary); you imagine I am in front of you and then ask yourself, “Would I do this before Mother, without difficulty, without any effort, without something holding me back ?” That will never deceive you. If you are sincere you will know immediately. That would stop many people on the verge of folly.
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