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Relations with Persons Outside the Ashram
I appreciate your feelings about what a sadhak ought to be and from that point of view, what you say is quite true. But it is well understood that the Ashram is not exclusively composed of sadhaks. The Ashram is a reduced image of life where those who practice yoga are a minority, and if I were to keep here only those who are quite sincere in their sadhana, very few indeed would remain. Sri Aurobindo always reminds us of the fact that the Divine is everywhere and in everything, and asks us to practise a true compassion, as is so beautifully expressed in this aphorism which I am just commenting upon, “Examine thyself without pity, then thou wilt be more charitable and pitiful to others.” And in this light, I must ask you to let X come and see his mother who loves him dearly and would be very miserable if she were deprived of his visits. As for his work it is a matter between myself and him, and I know we shall come to some satisfying arrangement. So I must ask you once more to be in peace, and to trust in the Divine’s Grace and Wisdom. 26 January 1962 The proximity of the heart and feelings is much stronger and truer than the proximity of the bodies. Love truly your mother and without sorrow or suffering you will let her go to America, knowing that the earth is small and the love is vast. 22 July 1968 My dear child, Certainly we are your true parents, and your true duty is Page – 149 towards the Divine. Let the ignorant say according to their ignorance and keep in you the light, knowledge and peace of the Divine Consciousness. With our love and blessings.
I am glad you are taking all this “drama” as it deserves to be taken, that is to say with a good laugh. They call you “refugees” but it is indeed a glorious thing to be God’s refugees and to enjoy his shelter and His love.. Let them write if it pleases them to display their lack of faith in the Divine Life, we cannot be affected by that.
Sri Aurobindo says: Better to put behind you your past altogether and not reestablish broken ties. It would be better not to write nor to send a wire.
A good advice to all the Ashramites in their dealings with visitors and foreigners (and even among themselves): “When you have nothing pleasant to say about something or somebody in the Ashram, keep silent. “You must know that this silence is faithfulness to the Divine’s work.”
I am thinking of inviting articles for publication in our journal from two writers whose names have been recommended to me by X. Page – 150 But I do not know what is their attitude towards Sri Aurobindo. X tells me that they are competent writers and have studied Sri Aurobindo and 146so they will be able to write well for our journal. My experience is that these writers, if they are open-minded and progressive, sometimes write about Sri Aurobindo from a new angle which is very interesting. But more often they try to judge Sri Aurobindo from their own narrow and conditioned intellectual outlook. So I would like to have Your guidance in this matter.
Not to ask anything from people we do not know and we are not sure of their mind. What I have written holds for all of them. 22 October 1965
Mother, in the letter below Sri Aurobindo has written about the necessity of restricting our contacts with the outside world and separating ourselves from the ordinary life, in order to carry on our special work of bringing down a new consciousness for the earth. This letter was written in 1933. But now all types of people from the outside world are freely allowed to come to the Ashram, and the sadhaks of the Ashram also freely mix with them. Is it because we have now reached a new stage in our work in which the earlier restrictions in our contacts with the outside world are no longer necessary? Will you please enlighten me on this point?
Question to Sri Aurobindo
“Love of the Divine in all beings and the constant perception and acceptance of its workings in all Page – 151 things”¹― if this is one of the ways of realising the Divine and seeing Him in all, why do we here restrict our contacts with people in the outside world? Why can we not give our love to all? Reply of Sri Aurobindo
That is all right in the ordinary Karma yoga which aims at union with the cosmic spirit and stops short at the overmind― but here a special work has to be done and a new realisation achieved for the earth and not for ourselves alone. It is necessary to stand apart from the rest of the world so as to separate ourselves from the ordinary consciousness in order to bring down a new one. It is not that love for all is not part of the sadhana, but it has not to translate itself at once into a mixing with all― it can only express itself in a general and when need be dynamic universal goodwill, but for the rest it must find vent in this labour of bringing down the higher consciousness with all its effect for the earth. As for accepting the working of the Divine in all things that is necessary here too in the sense of seeing it even behind our struggles and difficulties, but not accepting the nature of man and the world as it is― our aim is to move towards a more divine working which will replace what now is by a greater and happier manifestation. That too is a labour of divine Love. 22 October 1933 What Sri Aurobindo has written is absolutely true and must be followed. There is only one new fact ―from the beginning of this
¹Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga ²Letters onYoga, Cent. Vol. 23, p. 851. Page – 152 year a new consciousness has manifested and is working energetically to prepare the earth for the new creation. 17 April 1969
On the occasion of Sri Aurobindo’s centenary, many people will come to the Ashram. What can we do to show them the reality of the Ashram?
Live it. Live this reality. All the rest ― talking, etc. ― is of no use.
How to prepare ourselves for it?
By communion with the psychic being, the incarnate Divine, deep within us,
an intense aspiration, a perfect concentration, a constant dedication. Page – 153 |