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Prayers And Meditations
Contents
1912
1913 1914
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
1915
1916
1917
1918 - 1937
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August 2, 1914
What are these powerful gods whose hour of manifestation upon earth has come, if not the varied and perfected modes of Thy infinite activity, O Thou Master of all things, Being and Non-Being and What is beyond, Marvellous Unknowable One, our sovereign Lord? .... What are these manifold brilliant intellectual activities, these countless sunbeams illumining, conceiving and fashioning all forms, if not one of the modes of being of Thy infinite Will, one of the means of Thy manifestation, O Thou Master of our destinies, sole unthinkable Reality, sovereign Lord of all that is and all that is not yet.... And all these mental powers, all these vital energies, and all these material elements, what are they if not Thyself in Thy outermost form, Thy ultimate modes of expression, of realisation, O Thou whom we adore devotedly and who escapest us on every side even while penetrating, animating and guiding us, Thou whom we cannot understand or define or name, Thou whom we cannot seize or embrace or conceive, and who art yet realised in our smallest acts.... And all this enormous universe is only an atom of Thy eternal Will. In the immensity of Thy effective Presence all things blossom! Page - 211
All the being, this morning, is mute adoration and the immensity of Thy love fills its soul.... The preparation and the work, the work and the preparation alternate and interpenetrate to such an extent that sometimes it becomes difficult to distinguish them; and their combination constitutes Thy divine life upon earth. What one must be, what one must do: the perfecting of Thy instrument and its utilisation go together; sometimes Thou wantest it to enrich itself and grow, to open all its doors on infinite horizons, to unite with the god it can manifest, to develop its power of conscious relation with the various worlds, and sometimes Thou wantest that, losing so to speak all consciousness of itself, it may be nothing but Thy force in action. And in the two is found the supreme law of communion with Thy will. All the being, this morning, is mute adoration and the immensity of Thy love fills its soul. Page - 212
O Lord, O eternal Master! Men, driven by the conflict of forces, are performing a sublime sacrifice, they are offering their lives in a bloodstained holocaust.... O Lord, O eternal Master, grant that all this may not be in vain, grant that the inexhaustible torrents of Thy divine Force may spread over the earth and penetrate its troubled atmosphere, the struggling energies, the violent chaos of battling elements; grant that the pure light of Thy Knowledge and the inexhaustible love of Thy Benediction may fill men's hearts, penetrate their souls, illumine their consciousness and, out of this obscurity, out of this sombre, terrible and potent darkness, bring forth the splendour of Thy majestic Presence! My being is laid before Thee in a holocaust conscious and complete, that their unconscious holocaust may by it be made effective. Accept the offering, answer our call: Come! Page - 213
O Eternal Master, Thou art in all things like a vivifying breath, a sweet peace, a sun of luminous love piercing the clouds of darkness. Grant that we may be Thy vivifying breath, Thy sweet peace, Thy luminous love upon the earth amidst our ignorant and sorrowful human brothers. O divine Master, accept the offering of all myself as a holocaust that Thy work may be accomplished and the time may not pass by in vain. In a serene ecstasy I give myself to Thee, that Thou mayst once again become the Master of what is Thine, the possessor of Thyself in each one of the countless atoms and in the consciousness that is synthetic and one. O divine Master, accept this offering, this complete holocaust that the time may not have come in vain. My whole being is transformed into a living flame, a flame of sacrifice of pure love. Become once again the king of Thy kingdom, deliver the earth from the heavy weight which is crushing it, the weight of its own inert, ignorant, and obscure ill will. O my sweet Master, my being is ablaze with the ardent flame of the sacrifice of love: accept my offering that the obstacle may be overcome. Page - 214
What then are the defects, the blemishes that prevent the offering from being complete enough for Thee to welcome it, the holocaust from seeming to Thee worthy to be received?... There are still some limitations in this being, but wilt Thou not shatter them? O Lord, we know that it is an hour of great gravity for the earth: those who can be Thy intermediaries to it to make a greater harmony arise from the conflict and from its dark ugliness a diviner beauty, must be ready for the work. O Lord, O eternal Master, we entreat Thee, answer our endeavour, enlighten it, show us the way, give us the strength to break down all inner resistance and overcome every obstacle. O my sweet Master, I prostrate myself at Thy feet; my entire being cries to Thee in an ardent supplication.... “Deliver me from the incapacity of the personal being.” Page - 215
My pen is silent.... So absorbing is this material world! Why must we let it take so much place in our consciousness? Is it an incapacity in us? Is it Thy Will? O my sweet Master, I would live only in Thee but Thou hast told me that I must live for Thee, and in thus living for Thee our consciousness turns towards external fields and we seem to go far from Thee. I know this is not altogether true; but there is a resistance still in the being which refuses to yield, there is a door which remains closed, a certain door of luminous intelligence which no effort has been able till now to open, and this terribly impoverishes Thy manifestation. When wilt Thou decide that the hour has come for all this resistance to disappear? Monstrous forces have swooped down upon the earth like a hurricane, forces dark and violent and powerful and blind. Give us strength, O Lord, to illumine them. Thy splendour must break out everywhere in them and transfigure their action: their devastating passage must leave behind it a divine sowing.... O my divine Master, do not reject my offering. Make me worthy to be wholly Thine in the plenitude of the giving and the fullness of the manifestation. Page - 216
Lord, we are before Thee that Thy will may be done. Remove from our thought all obstacles, doubts, all weaknesses, limitations, all that veils our knowledge and obscures our understanding. I am athirst for Thy consciousness, I am athirst for an integral union with Thee, not in inaction and a flight from physical activity but in a complete, absolute, perfect accomplishment of Thy will. The splendour of Thy supreme light must spring forth from all the darkness that has swept down upon the earth. Page - 217
O My sweet Master, enter into all these confused thoughts, all these anguished hearts; kindle there the fire of Thy divine Presence. The shadow of the earth has fallen back upon it, it has been completely shaken by it; but this shadow was hiding Thy immutable sun, and now that it has crashed down upon this poor world, rocking its very foundations and transforming it into a formidable chaos, wilt Thou not once again move upon the chaos and speak Thy will: “Let there be Light”? O Thou marvellous Unknown One, Thou who hast not yet manifested Thyself, Thou who awaitest the propitious hour and hast sent us upon earth to prepare Thy ways, all the elements of this being cry to Thee, “May Thy will be done” and give themselves to Thee in a supreme, unconquerable urge.... Envelop this sorrowful earth with the strong arms of Thy mercy, permeate it with the beneficent outpourings of Thy infinite love. I am the powerful arms of Thy mercy. I am the vast bosom of Thy boundless love.... My arms have enfolded the sorrowful earth and press it tenderly to my generous heart; and slowly a kiss of supreme benediction is laid upon this struggling atom: the kiss of the Mother which soothes and heals.... Page - 218
The being stands before Thee, with arms lifted, palms open, in an ardent aspiration. O sweet Master, it is a Love more wonderful and formidable than any manifested so far which the earth needs; it is for this Love that it yearns.... Who will be capable and worthy of being its intermediary to it? Who? That matters little; but it must be done. O Lord, answer my call, accept the offering of my being despite its little worth and its limitations: Come. More, always more; may the regenerating streams roll over the earth in beneficent waves. Transfigure and illumine. Work this supreme miracle so long awaited, and break all ignorant egoisms; awaken Thy sublime flame in every heart. Do not let us become benumbed in a tranquil serenity. We ought not to take any rest before Thy new and sovereign Love is manifested. Listen to our prayer; answer our call: Come! Page - 219
For three days I waited in an ardent prayer, hoping to see the new things... and all the obstacles surged up to veil, retard, deform Thy manifestation. And now we do not seem any nearer the goal than before. O my sweet Master, why hast Thou told me to leave the blessed place in Thy heart and return to earth to attempt a realisation which everything seems to prove impossible?... What dost Thou expect of me that Thou hast torn me away from my divine and wonderful contemplation and plunged me again into this dark, struggling universe? When Thy force descends towards the earth in order to manifest, each one of the great Asuric beings who have resolved to be Thy servitors but preserved their nature's characteristic of domination and self-will, wants to pull it down for itself alone and distribute it to others afterwards; it always thinks it should be the sole or at least the supreme intermediary, and that the contact of all others with Thy Power cannot and should not be made except through its mediation. This unfortunate meanness is more or less conscious, but it is always there, delaying things indefinitely. If even for the greatest it is impossible in the integral manifestation to escape these lamentable limitations, why, O Lord, impose upon me the calvary of this constraint?... If Thou willest that it be thus, Thou shouldst rend the last veil and Thy splendour come in all its purity and transfigure the world! Accomplish this miracle or else let me withdraw into Thee. Page - 220
All errors, all prejudices, all misunderstandings must vanish in this whirlwind of destruction that is carrying away the past.... The light must become perfectly pure, free from all limitation, so that Thou canst manifest Thyself fully within it. Lord, Thou hast the Power and Thou wilt realise this supreme miracle.... Into this consciousness Thou hast put the certitude of victory! Page - 221
Let me turn to Thee in a profound and silent contemplation; let me place this integral being and its multiple activities at Thy feet as an offering; let me stop all the play of these forces, unify all these consciousnesses, so that one alone may persist, the one which is able to hear Thy command and understand it; let me plunge again into Thee as in a sovereignly beneficent sea, that which purifies from all ignorance. I feel as if I have gone down very deep into an unfathomable abyss of doubt and darkness, as if I am exiled from Thy eternal splendour; but I know that in this descent is the possibility of a higher ascent which will enable me to span a vaster horizon and draw a little nearer to Thy infinite heavens. Thy light is there, steady and guiding, shining without intermission in the depths of the abyss as in the luminous splendours; and a serene confidence, a calm indifference, a tranquil certitude dwell permanently in my consciousness.... I am like a boat which has long enjoyed the delights of the port and, despite the dark storm-laden clouds which hide the sun, unfurls its sails to launch forth into the great unknown, towards shores unheard of, towards new lands. I am Thine, Lord, without any restriction or preference; may Thy will be done in all its rigorous plenitude; all my being adheres to it with a joyous acceptance and a calm serenity. I have no longer any idea about the future: it is Page - 222 Thou who wilt awaken the new conception more closely answering Thy law. In a most perfect surrender and a most entire trust I wait: Thy voice showing me Thy path. Page - 223
To see the goal from a new angle which may usefully light up the others, we should constantly renew the experience of the inner discovery and return to the extreme limit of consciousness without at any time postulating beforehand what the end of our journey will be. But instinctively the mind remembers the impression that it received from one or from some of the former contacts of our consciousness with the ultimate centre, and tells itself: “That is what one finds at the end of the road.” It does not realise that the “That” which is in its thought is only one of countless ways of translating the goal or even of travestying it, nor does it perceive that the intellectual conception should follow the experience and not precede it. To retrace the path in all innocence as though one had never before travelled it, is the true purity, the perfect sincerity – the sincerity that brings an uninterrupted progress, growth, an integral perfectioning. Despite myself, in the silence of all thought, that is, of all conscious formulas, something in my being, deeper than words, turns to Thee, O ineffable Lord, in an ardent aspiration, giving Thee in offering all its activities, all its elements, all its modes of being, and imploring for all these the supreme illumination. O Thou, whom I cannot think, but whom with certitude I know! Page - 224
O Lord, Lord, the whole earth is in an upheaval; it groans and suffers, it is in agony... all this suffering that has descended upon it must not be in vain; grant that all this bloodshed may produce a swifter germination of the seeds of beauty and light and love which must blossom and cover the earth with their rich harvest. Out of the depths of this abysm of darkness the whole being of the earth cries to Thee that Thou mayst give it air and light; it is stifling, wilt Thou not come to its aid? O Lord, what must we do to triumph? Hear us, for we must conquer at any price. Break down every resistance: appear! Page - 225
Lord, it is in a heart-felt gratitude that I draw near to Thee. Thou hast given me the first words of the knowledge I so longed for, and with this knowledge has come effectivity, the true power in each field of realisation. It is only a beginning, it is not an accomplishment; but the road opens, visible and straight, there is nothing to do but to follow it; the veil is rent in answer to the humble but all-powerful effort of the dark days. Grant, O Lord, that the path may be thus lit up for all, and that after having seen clearly into ourselves there may not be any new difficulties for the knowledge to become conscious in others. Despite everything, a human being, no matter how great, is limited, at least for a long time, by the very fact that he is human and because, even when he is in contact with immensity, this immensity is translated in his outer consciousness from the angle of his own personality. It is very difficult for him not to have a perspective partially obliterated as it were by his own viewpoint. But these last obstacles must be overcome, definitively broken down, so that they may no longer be able to rise again. The road must be entirely free and the knowledge that has been glimpsed become firmly established. Thy grace is with us, Lord, and it never leaves us, even when appearances are dark; night is sometimes necessary to prepare more perfect dawns. But perhaps this time Thou hast placed us in the presence of the Dawn that does not pass away.... Page - 226 Receive the offerings of our ardent gratitude and our integral surrender. I knew that this notebook would end with the closing of one phase of my spiritual life. That is indeed what is happening. The light has come, the road has opened; with a grateful bow to the laborious past, we shall move swiftly forward on the new way opened wide by Thee before us. On the threshold of this new field of a vaster and more conscious realisation, we bow before Thee, O Lord, in an integral surrender and adoration. We give ourselves to Thee without reservation. Once again it is Thou who livest in us, and Thou alone. Thou hast once more become the King of Thy kingdom, but a kingdom vaster and more perfect, a kingdom more worthy of Thy rule. Page - 227
O Lord, let Thy Will be done, Thy work be accomplished. Fortify our devotion, increase our surrender, give us light upon the path. We erect Thee within us as our supreme Master that Thou mayst become supreme Master of all the earth. Our speech is still ignorant: enlighten it. Our aspiration is still imperfect: purify it. Our action is still powerless: make it effective. O Lord, the earth groans and suffers; chaos has made this world its abode. The darkness is so deep that Thou alone canst dispel it. Come, manifest Thyself, that Thy work may be accomplished. Page - 228
O my sweet Master, O Lord of Felicity, all these worlds of felicity interpenetrating and completing one another are an immensity difficult to perceive in their totality. Give us the knowledge of these laws, give us the power to awaken the earth to an understanding and perception of the aim so blindly pursued. In all things Thou art the happiness without alloy, a blessed felicity... but the felicity is perfect only when it is integral, from the most external manifestations down into the most unfathomable depths. O Lord, Thou hast placed me on a threshold of wonder; confirm me in this knowledge. Establish me in that centre of consciousness whence all my activities will be an unmixed expression of Thy law. In a potent and mute adoration, I wait. Page - 229
To be the divine love, love powerful, infinite, unfathomable, in every activity, in all the worlds of being – it is for this I cry to Thee, O Lord. Let me be consumed with this love divine, love powerful, infinite, unfathomable, in every activity, in all the worlds of being! Transmute me into that burning brazier so that all the atmosphere of earth may be purified with its flame. Oh, to be Thy Love infinitely.... Page - 230
O Lord, O eternal Master, my thought lies mute and powerless before Thee but my heart calls to Thee; awaken all my being that it may be for Thee, entirely, the needed instrument, the perfect servitor. Oh, to be infinitely Thou, Thou in all things, Thou everywhere, Thou always, the absolute silence, the absolute movement... To be nothing other than the One, all-containing, contained in all – free from every limitation and from all blindness. O Supreme Triumphant, triumph over every obstacle. Page - 231
What would be the use of man if he were not created to throw a bridge between That which is eternally but is unmanifested and that which is manifested, between all the transcendences and splendours of the divine life and all the dark and sorrowful ignorance of the material world? Man is the link between What must be and what is; he is the footbridge thrown across the abyss, he is the great cross-shaped X, the quaternary connecting link. His true domicile, the effective seat of his consciousness should be in the intermediary world at the meeting-point of the four arms of the cross, just where all the infinitude of the Unthinkable comes to take a precise form so that it may be projected into the innumerable manifestation.... That centre is a place of supreme love, of perfect consciousness, of pure and total knowledge. There establish, O Lord, those who can, who must and truly want to serve Thee, so that Thy work may be accomplished, the bridge definitively established, and Thy forces poured unwearyingly over the world. Page - 232
In this formidable disorder and terrible destruction can be seen a great working, a necessary toil preparing the earth for a new sowing which will rise in marvellous spikes of grain and give to the world the shining harvest of a new race.... The vision is clear and precise, the plan of Thy divine law so plainly traced that peace has come back and installed itself in the hearts of the workers. There are no more doubts and hesitations, no longer any anguish or impatience. There is only the grand straight line of the work eternally accomplishing itself in spite of all, against all, despite all contrary appearances and illusory detours. These physical personalities, moments unseizable in the infinite Becoming, know that they will have made humanity take one farther step, infallibly and without care for the inevitable results, whatever be the apparent momentary consequences: they unite themselves with Thee, O Master eternal, they unite themselves with Thee, O Mother universal, and in this double identity with That which is beyond and That which is all the manifestation they taste the infinite joy of the perfect certitude. Peace, peace in all the world.... War is an appearance, Turmoil is an illusion, Peace is there, immutable peace. Mother, sweet Mother who I am, Thou art at once the destroyer and the builder. The whole universe lives in Thy breast with all its Page - 233 life innumerable and Thou livest in Thy immensity in the least of its atoms. And the aspiration of Thy infinitude turns towards That which is not manifested to cry to it for a manifestation ever more complete and more perfect. All is, in one time, in a triple and clairvoyant total Consciousness, the Individual, the Universal, the Infinite. Page - 234 |