August - Patience

August 2023 NEWSLETTER VOL 37.8 S R I A U R O B I N D O S O C I E T Y, Singapore Patience Spanish Cherry (Mimusops elengi) Patience: the capacity to wait steadily for the Realisation to come. The Mother’s Comment To know how to wait is to put Time on your side.

Contemplation for the Month IT is always good to look within oneself from time to time and see that one is nothing and can do nothing, but afterwards one must turn one’s eyes to Thee, knowing that Thou art all and Thou canst do all. Thou art the life of our life and the light of our being, Thou art the master of our destinies. January 3, 1914 Prayers and Meditation By The Mother Editorial Note The August Newsletter looks at ‘Patience’ as one quality required on the path towards the realisation of one’s true self and the path is said to be generally long and arduous. So she says, “This work of unification requires much time to be brought to some degree of perfection. Therefore, in order to accomplish it, we must arm ourselves with patience and endurance, with a determination to prolong our life as long as necessary for the success of our endeavour.” If you recollect, the last two newsletters focussed on Purification and Unification respectively. Invoking the quality of patience inherent in us serves to give support to our endeavour towards the transformation we are aspiring for. Patience There are always difficulties and a hampered progress in the early stages and a delay in the opening of the inner doors until the being is ready. If you feel whenever you meditate the quiescence and the flashes of the inner Light and if the inward urge is growing so strong that the external hold is decreasing and the vital disturbances are losing their force, that is already a great progress. The road of Yoga is long, every inch of ground has to be won against much resistance and no quality is more needed by the sadhak than patience and single-minded perseverance with a faith that remains firm through all difficulties, delays and apparent failures. Sri Aurobindo – Letters on Yoga: CWSA, Vol.29, p110 He who is without resentment, who bears reproaches, blows and chains, whose patience is his true strength, him I consider to be a Brahmin. The Mother – Questions and Answers: CWM, Vol.3, p294

* From Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo, Vol. 29, Letters on Yoga - II, Book II, The Path of the Integral Yoga, Basic Requisites of the Path It is certain that an ardent aspiration for the Divine helps to progress, but patience is also needed. For it is a very big change that has to be made and, although there can be moments of great rapidity, it is never all the time like that. Old things try to stick as much as possible; the new that come have to develop and the consciousness takes time to assimilate them and make them normal to the nature. Keep this firm faith in your mind that the thing needed is being done and will be done fully. There can be no doubt about that. * There are always difficulties and a hampered progress in the early stages and a delay in the opening of the inner doors until the being is ready. If you feel whenever you meditate the quiescence and the flashes of the inner Light and if the inward urge is growing so strong that the external hold is decreasing and the vital disturbances are losing their force, that is already a great progress. The road of Yoga is long, every inch of ground has to be won against much resistance and no quality is more needed by the sadhak than patience and single-minded perseverance with a faith that remains firm through all difficulties, delays and apparent failures. * One who has not the courage to face patiently and firmly life and its difficulties will never be able to go through the still greater inner difficulties of the sadhana. The very first lesson in this Yoga is to face life and its trials with a quiet mind, a firm courage and an entire reliance on the Divine Shakti. * It is true that a great patience and steadfastness is needed. Be then firm and patient and fixed on the aims of the sadhana, but not over-eager to have them at once. A work has to be done in you and is being done; help it to be done by keeping an attitude of firm faith and confidence. Doubts rise in all, they are natural to the human physical mind—reject them. Impatience and overeagerness for the result at once are natural to the human vital; it is by firm confidence in the Mother that they will disappear. The love, the belief in her as the Divine to whom your life is given,—oppose with that every contrary feeling and then those contrary feelings will after a time no longer be able to come to you.

* It is an impatience and restlessness in the vital which makes it feel as if it were no use staying here because things are not moving forward. Sadhana is a thing which takes time and needs patience. There are often periods of quiescence in which a working is going on behind of which the mind is not aware—all seems then to be inert and dull; but if one has patience and confidence, the consciousness passes through these periods to new openings and things which seemed to be impossible to effect at that time, get done. The impulse to rush away is always a mistake—perseverance in the path is the one rule to cling to and with that finally all obstacles are overcome. * Impatience is always a mistake, it does not help but hinders. A quiet happy faith and confidence is the best foundation for sadhana; for the rest a constant opening wide of oneself to receive with an aspiration which may be intense, but must always be[p.111] calm and steady. Full Yogic realisation does not come all at once, it comes after a long preparation of the Adhara which may take a long time. VITAL PATIENCE Flossflower (Ageratum houstonianum)

Guiding Lines from Savitri Above the world the world-creators stand, In the phenomenon see its mys8c source. These heed not the deceiving outward play, They turn not to the moment’s busy tramp, But listen with the s8ll pa8ence of the Unborn For the slow footsteps of far Des8ny Approaching through huge distances of Time, Unmarked by the eye that sees effect and cause, Unheard mid the clamour of the human plane. AEen8ve to an unseen Truth they seize A sound as of invisible augur wings, Voices of an unplumbed significance, MuEerings that brood in the core of MaEer’s sleep. Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

CENTRE ACTIVITIES OF APRIL 2023 - GLIMPSES 2 July 2023: Savitri Reading Circle, Savitri Book Seven: The Book of Yoga; Canto 7, The Discovery of the Cosmic Spirit and the Cosmic Consciousness. Lines from this canto were recited and members of the circle expressed their appreciation, feelings and understanding of the lines. 9 July 2023: Talk by Shri Pradeep Narang, Chairman of Sri Aurobindo Society, Pondicherry Shri Pradeep Narang was invited to address the members of Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore on the upcoming release of the animated movie on Sri Aurobindo’s life on the 15th of August 2023, The New Dawn. Following his talk, there was a screening of excerpts from the movie, and how it was made. 16 July 2023: Readings from The Life Divine, by Sri Aurobindo: “The Triple Status of Supermind” Chapter XVI, Sri Aurobindo’s - ‘The Life Divine’ Sri Aurobindo opens this Chapter by referring to Bhagvad Gita – Chapter 9-Shloka 5 & Chapter 10-Shloka 20 and also from Rigveda – Mandala 5, Sukta 29 and Shloka 1 with following explanation: “ My self is that which supports all beings and constitutes their existence……… I am the self which abides within all beings” - Gita “ Three powers of Light uphold three luminous worlds divine” - Rigveda “But, neither do all beings reside in me. Behold my divine yoga! I am the sustainer and creator of all beings, but my self is not contained in (those) beings” – Gita 9.5 “I am the self, established in the hearts of all beings - O Gudakesha. I am the beginning, middle and also the end of all beings ”- – Gita 10.20 “MAN'S worship of the Gods hath three great lustres, and three celestial lights have they established. The Maruts gifted with pure strength adore thee, for thou, O Indra, art their sapient Ṛṣi” – Rigveda 5.29.1 Shri M.P.Pandit’s systematic explanation of the citation: This manifold universe comes forth from the Being of the Supreme. This Being is not only the cause and origin of all in this creation but also their continuing supporter. It is this Self that

supports all existences. It is this Self again that forms the spiritual substance of all and that is not all. He is the Self that is present in each (Indweller) and governs from this central station the whole evolutionary movement of each. In other words, everything has come into being from the Divine Source, is constituted essentially by the Divine Spirit, is upheld by the Divine Self, and ruled and guided by the Self as its inner monitor. Nothing can exist without the presence and the support of the Divine. Three are the poises taken by Sat-chit-ananda, the blissful unitive Consciousness in its status of the Supermind where the concentration of the Being prepares to diffuse itself in manifestation. The first movement is of extending itself. From a concentrated unity it moves into a self- extension, an equal pervasion, all-comprehending, all-possessing. Throughout all it is one; many are not yet, individualities are not yet. In the second movement, the Consciousness assumes a double status. It lets its formative movement spring into individual forms in which it stations itself as their Self, supporting each individual movement, maintaining each in its distinction from other movements. Yet, all the while it stands behind the distributive movement, supporting it with its massive Unity. The Conscious- Self of all is fully aware of its oneness even in the many forms. The soul-essence is the same all through, the soul-forms vary. Thus both Unity and multiplicity coexist, the essential truth of Oneness being still paramount. In the third movement, the individuation of the many goes further. Each goes on its career, as it were, but awareness of Unity is still present in the background though not in the frontal consciousness. It is the play of relations that takes a premier place, though the underlying unity is not forgotten; in fact it always accompanies the movement but not dominantly. These are the three realms in the world of Mahas, the world of Light, the supramental. Each of the three is supported by a special Radiance of the Supermind. These three form the passage of the One into the Many. It is a graded movement, not sudden. First, the One in its vast self-extension; the second, the One and the Many, with the dominance of the One; the third, the One and the Many, with increasing stress on the Many. In all the three, the Unity is always present, though with varying stresses. 16 July 2023: Readings from Synthesis of Yoga The chapter, Ascent of the sacrifice Part 2 was taken up in this session. The pages 166 to 169 were covered during this sitting. Here is one passage that was taken up:

It is here that the emergence of the secret psychic being in us as the leader of the sacrifice is of the utmost importance; for this inmost being alone can bring with it the full power of the spirit in the act, the soul in the symbol. It alone can assure, even while the spiritual consciousness is incomplete, the perennial freshness and sincerity and beauty of the symbol and prevent it from becoming a dead form or a corrupted and corrupting magic; it alone can preserve for the act its power with its sig- nificance. All the other members of our being, mind, life-force, physical or body consciousness, are too much under the control of the Ignorance to be a sure instrumentation and much less can they be a guide or the source of an unerring impulse. 23 July 2023: Readings and Reflections We continued with the reading of passages from Synthesis of Yoga pgs. 153-157; The Yoga of Divine Works; The Ascent of the Sacrifice – 1, where we caught glimpses of nature of the innermost being. In this session, we concluded the long passage on the Psychic Being with these lines:: All true Truth of love and of the works of love the psychic being accepts in their place: but its flame mounts always upward and it is eager to push the ascent from lesser to higher degrees of Truth, since it knows that only by the ascent to a highest Truth and the descent of that highest Truth can Love be delivered from the cross and placed upon the throne; for the cross is the sign of the Divine Descent barred and marred by the transversal line of a cosmic deformation which turns it into a stake of suffering and misfortune. Only by the ascent to the original Truth can the deformation be healed and all the works of love, as too all the works of knowledge and of life, be restored to a divine significance and become part of an integral spiritual existence. 30 July 2023: Questions and Answers by The Mother. Vol.6, Pg. 410-411 In this session, we took up the following questions posed to The Mother: “Sweet Mother, what is the difference between willing and desiring?” “Sweet Mother, why do some children have the habit of always asking for things?” Here is an excerpt answering the first question: They are not at all the same thing. When you see that something ought to be done, for instance, that it is good to do it — take your reason: say your reason decides that this ought to be done — then your will starts working and makes you do the things required for this thing to be done. Your will is an executing power, which ought to be at the disposal, the service of what was decided by the reason or a higher force. It is something coordinated, organised, which acts in accordance with a plan, precisely in a fully controlled way. Desire is an impulse. It takes hold of you... it doesn’t necessarily hold you with any conscious thought. It is an impulse which pushes you to get possession of something. You can put your will at the service of your desire, but desire is not will. Desire is an impulse. Krishnamurthy, Jayanthi, Jayanthy, Shailaja

Walk Review - 1st Sunday Walk, June 2023 at Pasir Ris Town Park Our Society’s July 2023 walk was held on 2nd July 2023. The pleasant weather made it perfect to conduct our walk at Pasir Ris Town Park, located in the eastern part of Singapore. We started the walk by exploring the mangroves in the park, and as we continued this leisurely stroll on the boardwalk, I was amazed at the wildlife I found there. On the other side of the park, we got to run alongside our “walk leader,” Coco, at the beach. My way back to our meeting point was also full of fun. We fed a couple of horses at a stable nearby and we wandered through a garden filled with herbs and beautiful flowers. As the walk came closer to its end, I was mesmerised by the intricately carved wooden statues that we had found which depicted the different aspects of nature. Finally, all of us were able to enjoy a scrumptious lunch prepared specially by our hosts; this was complemented by the delicious black forest cake that we cut to celebrate the birthdays of this month. Walk Details for 1st Sunday Walk, 6 August 2023 Date: Sunday, 6 August 2023 Walk Venue: MacRitchie Reservoir Mee-ng Point: Car Park at entrance Time: 8:00 A.M. sharp for warm-up exercise Hosts’ Residence for Brunch and Media-on at 10:15 A.M. Mr KV Rao & Family 45 Mandalay Road unit #17-01 Mandale heights S308225 Contact: S. Ramanathan (9138 5130)

PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 2023 DATE TIME DETAILS Monthly Morning Walk * 6 August 2023 8 AM Sunday 6 PM Savitri Circle by Venkatesh Rao 6 PM Thematic Study Circle by Rakesh: The Synthesis of Yoga 13 August 2023 Sunday Youth Programme 7 PM 15 August 2023 Tuesday 7 PM Sri Aurobindo’s 151st Birth Anniversary Celebrations 20 August 2023 5 PM Secret of the Veda by Krishnamurthy and Jared Sunday 6 PM Mother’s Questions and Answers by Shailaja 26 August 2023 Special Programme Celebrating Sri Aurobindo’s Birth 150th Saturday Anniversary 27 August 2023 Details to be announced soon. Sunday

Sri Aurobindo’s 151st Birth Anniversary Celebrations 15th AUGUST 2023 Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore 2A Starlight Road, #01-07 Singapore Evening Programme 7.00 pm Meditation with the Mother’s Organ Music Reading of Mother’s Prayers Darshan Message from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry Welcome Address by Chairman Sri Aurobindo Society Singapore Savitri Reading Closing Meditation 26-27th August Special Programme celebrating Sri Aurobindo’s 150th birth Anniversary Please look out for a separate flyer for details of the special programme NB: Centre will remain open through the day on 15th Aug for devotees to offer their prayers. Printed and Published by The Sri Aurobindo Society of Singapore 2A Starlight Road 01-07, Singapore 217755. Anand Venkat: 86126067 or [email protected]; Anand Patel:[email protected]; Email: [email protected] Visit our website at: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg