May - Self-Observation

May 2023 NEWSLETTER VOL 37.5 S R I A U R O B I N D O S O C I E T Y, Singapore Self-Observation Groundsel (Senecio) Significance given by the Mother Observation The Mother’s Comment Likes to prolong its attention in order to see better.

Contemplation for the Month . . YET what patience is needed! How imperceptible the stages of progress! . . . Oh! how I call Thee from the very depths of my heart, True Light, Sublime Love, Divine Master who art the source of our light and of our living, our guide and our protector, the Soul of our soul and the Life of our life, the Reason of our being, the supreme Knowledge, the immutable Peace! July 21, 1913 Prayers and Meditation By The Mother Editorial Note Proceeding from the last theme on Aim of Life, we take a glimpse at Self-Observation in this May issue of our Newsletter. Self-observation is a fundamental tool in this sadhana, as it helps us to look within oneself and understand in whatever degree, the constituents of our nature, the modes of its action, our tendencies and habits that help or do not help in our forward march in the quest we have set for ourselves. Ultimately, it may, when carried out in a spirit of consecration, with freedom and faith, reveal to us an entity residing deep within, with which the outer personality could identify with and submit all of itself for a life divine. Self-Observation Painting by Huta To work for your perfection, the first step is to become conscious of yourself, of the different parts of your being and their respective activities. You must learn to distinguish these different parts one from another, so that you may become clearly aware of the origin of the

movements that occur in you, the many impulses, reactions and conflicting wills that drive you to action. It is an assiduous study which demands much perseverance and sincerity. For man’s nature, especially his mental nature, has a spontaneous tendency to give a favourable explanation for everything he thinks, feels, says and does. It is only by observing these movements with great care, by bringing them, as it were, before the tribunal of our highest ideal, with a sincere will to submit to its judgment, that we can hope to form in ourselves a discernment that never errs. ‘Science of Living’, The Mother * This means to be conscious of one’s inner truth, conscious of the different parts of one’s being and their respective functions. You must know why you do this, why you do that; you must know your thoughts, know your feelings, all your activities, all your movements, of what you are capable, etc. And to know oneself is not enough: this knowledge must bring a conscious control. The Mother as quoted in ‘Psychic Education’ * Your consciousness can connect itself with your outer or your inner body, your outer or inner vital, your outer or inner mental, with your psychic or with the Atman. If you want to observe yourself properly it is good to know where your “I” consciousness is located. For getting familiar with this The Mother recommends an exercise that makes you conscious of how you can shift around the location of the “I” in your being. She talks about this in one of her Playground talks: “...one succeeds in entering into contact with something, something which gives you the impression of being—”Yes, that’s ‘myself”. And this something I can move around, I can move it from my body to my vital, to my mind, I can even, if I am very... how to put it?... very practised in moving it, I can move it into other people, and it’s in this way that I can identify myself with things and people.” Excerpts from ‘Psychic Education’ * …to become conscious of all the constituent elements of the being, material and sensory as well as intellectual and spiritual; we must become acquainted with the mechanism of the life within us, with all its tendencies, qualities, faculties and varied activities, very impartially, that is, without any preconceived idea of good or evil, without any absolute or arbitrary judgment (for our judgments are inevitably lacking in clear-sightedness) about what should subsist and what should disappear, what should be encouraged and

what should be suppressed. Our vision of what we are must be objective, without bias, if we want it to be sincere and integral: we are faced with a universe which we must explore down to its smallest details, know in its most obscure and infinitesimal elements, with a scientific attitude of perfect mental impersonality, that is, without any apriori judgments. * Whatever we may think, this work of observation, analysis and introspection is never completed. At all events, as long as we are on earth in a physical body, we should always study the immensely complex being that we are, so that no element may elude our knowledge and therefore our control: for we can only master what we know and command what we have mastered. The Mother CWM-Vol-2- pg.132 Guiding Lines from Savitri A greater Gnosis shall regard the world Crossing out of some far omniscience On lustrous seas from the still rapt Alone To illumine the deep heart of self and things. A timeless knowledge it shall bring to Mind, Its aim to life, to Ignorance its close. Above in a high breathless stratosphere, Overshadowing the dwarfish trinity, Lived, aspirants to a limitless Beyond, Captives of Space, walled by the limiting heavens, In the unceasing circuit of the hours Yearning for the straight paths of eternity, And from their high station looked down on this world Two sun-gaze Daemons witnessing all that is. A power to uplift the laggard world, Imperious rode a huge high-winged Life-Thought Unwont to tread the firm unchanging soil: Accustomed to a blue infinity, It planed in sunlit sky and starlit air; It saw afar the unreached Immortal’s home And heard afar the voices of the Gods. Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

CENTRE ACTIVITIES OF MARCH 2023 - GLIMPSES 2 April 2023: Savitri Reading Circle, Savitri Book Seven: The Book of Yoga; Canto 7, The Discovery of the Cosmic Spirit and the Cosmic Consciousness; pg. 553 During the discussion, these three terms on the page were noted to be of importance: 'Crossing the immobile silence of her mind:' 'Her vacant heart was like a stringless harp;' 'Her divine emptiness was their instrument.' All these indicate that our human vessel should be kept void to allow the divine consciousness to occupy it. There is a line from the book, 'The Mother' by Sri Aurobindo which also resonates the same meaning: 'You must keep the temple clean if you wish to install the living Presence.' (Pg 10 The Mother by Sri Aurobindo) Sri Aurobindo has also stated in his Letters on Yoga (III) in Pg.81: 'The emptiness, silence and peace are the basic conditions for the spiritual siddhi—it is the first step towards it.' Contemplating on these, we concluded the session. 9 April 2023: Readings from Synthesis of Yoga The readings on Synthesis of Yoga continued from the last paragraph read. We read from The Ascent of the Sacrifice – Part 2, pg. 164-165. We read about the need to become a vessel of the Divine Love by putting aside all of the surface nature, that the Divine Consciousness is there all the time. We need only to open to it; become receptive to it, become dedicated to it, serve it, surrender to it. Then the path opens before us. Here is a passage we read to contemplate upon: If the spirit of divine love can enter, the hardness of the way diminishes, the tension is lightened, there is a sweetness and joy even in the core of difficulty and struggle. The indispensable surrender of all our will and works and activities to the Supreme is indeed only perfect and perfectly effective when it is a surrender of love. All life turned

into this cult, all actions done in the love of the Divine and in the love of the world and its creatures seen and felt as the Divine manifested in many disguises become by that very fact part of an integral Yoga. 16 April 2023: Readings from The Life Divine, by Sri Aurobindo: “The Supermind as Creator” Chapter XIV Sri Aurobindo’s - ‘The Life Divine’ Sri Aurobindo opens this Chapter by referring to Vishnu Purana’s 39th Shloka from Book II, Chapter 12, with the sentence, “All things are self-deployings of the Divine knowledge.” In Life Divine, he always cites from the scriptures at the head of each chapter. Sri M.P.Pandit systematically explains each of these citations contextually so as to assist the reader in following Sri Aurobindo’s organized presentation with a deeper understanding. Following is his explanation for understanding of this chapter. “The Reality is One. The Universe which is the manifestation of this Reality is the Many. But the one does not directly precipitate itself in to the Many from its status of oneness. The Sat-chit-ananda – the Reality turned towards manifestation – poises itself as the Divine Knowledge in possession of the Truth to be manifested as also of the process and the goal of the movement. It is the Real Idea that is at the core of each form, each movement. This Idea is both universal and individual. And it is because this Knowledge of what is to be is there at the heart of things that Nature fulfills herself invariably in accord with the divine Intention. This Knowledge carries the Power to effectuate itself. It is the Knowledge – Will that presides over the manifestation of the One into the Many and leads each back to the One. Sri Aurobindo terms this Knowledge-Will the Supermind. It is the link between the upper hemisphere of Sat-chit-ananda and the lower one of our Mind-Life-Matter. The Supermind is the Sat-chit-ananda itself in its creative poise, self-gathered for the finitisation of what is infinite. It is from this status that the Triune Reality deploys itself into myriad multiples and maintains the manifold creation. At the origin and head of every existence is this Divine Knowledge; it is the same principle of Divine Knowledge that is embedded in the depths of every existence urging it on the right course of evolution. It is this Truth-Knowledge that organizes and shapes the worlds and not any Power of Ignorance or Falsehood”. Following is Sri Aurobindo’s text of Para 1:

“ A PRINCIPLE of active Will and Knowledge superior to Mind and creatrix of the worlds is then the intermediary power and state of being between that self-possession of the One and this flux of the Many. This principle is not entirely alien to us; it does not belong solely and incommunicably to a Being who is entirely other than ourselves or to a state of existence from which we are mysteriously projected into birth, but also rejected and unable to return. If it seems to us to be seated on heights far above us, yet are they the heights of our own being and accessible to our tread. We can not only infer and glimpse that Truth, but we are capable of realizing it. We may by a progressive expanding or a sudden luminous self-transcendence mount up to these summits in unforgettable moments or dwell on them during hours or days of greatest superhuman experience. When we descend again, there are doors of communication which we can keep always open or reopen even though they should constantly shut. But to dwell there permanently on this last and highest summit of the created and creative being is in the end the supreme ideal for our evolving human consciousness when it seeks not self-annulment but self- perfection. For, as we have seen, this is the original Idea and the final harmony and truth to which our gradual self-expression in the world returns and which it is meant to achieve”. 16 April 2023: Questions and Answers by The Mother This session was based on Sri Aurobindo’s Bases of Yoga, Chapter 1: Calm – Peace – Equality appearing in The Mother’s Questions and Answers of 1954. The highlighted portions below help consolidate the main idea contemplated upon.

23 April 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.. Here is an excerpt from what we read: Its character is a one-pointed orientation towards the Divine or the Highest, one-pointed and yet plastic in action and movement; it does not create a rigidity of direction like the one-pointed intellect or a bigotry of the regnant idea or impulse like the one-pointed vital force; it is at every moment and with a supple sureness that it points the way to the Truth, automatically distinguishes the right step from the false, extricates the divine or Godward movement from the clinging mixture of the undivine. Its action is like a searchlight showing up all that has to be changed in the nature; it has in it a flame of will insistent on perfection, on an alchemic transmutation of all the inner and outer existence. by Sundari.L,, Jayanthi, Krishnamurthi, Anitha, Jayanthy Walk Review - 1st Sunday Walk, April 2023 Our Society's April 2023 walk was held on 2nd April 2023 in Lakeside gardens, the newest garden in Singapore. This was opened just one day prior to our walk day. In addition to the well-manicured garden with numerous exotic flower plants, this newly opened section contains a huge skate park of 17, 000 square metres to cater to the skaters at all levels of expertise. One could not but marvel at how the Singapore gardens have evolved over the years. As we explored the grounds of this beautiful garden, we found ourselves surrounded by nature in all its verdant glory and were happy to see monitor lizards and squirrels happily moving around oblivious of our presence. We were glad to know that the main attraction, Rainforest pavilion, was constructed using mass engineered timber, a material sourced from sustainably managed forests. Moreover the footpaths were

mostly made of a type of concrete that captures carbon dioxide which in turn improves the strength of the materials. Our walk was thus an educational experience also. It was gratifying to see nearly 40 people turn up for the meditation and the brunch lovingly hosted by Mr Yogesh Kantaria & Family. - Ramanathan Walk Details for 1st Sunday Walk, May 2023 Walk Venue: East Coast Park Walk Date: 7th May 2023. Commencement time: 8 am. Assembly point for the walk: Costa Del Sol Condominium Lobby 3 & 4. Walk coordinator: S.Ramanathan (91385130) Brunch & Meditation hosts: Mr Ashok Patel & Famly. Address: 68 Bayshore Road, Costa Del Sol 19-04 Contacts: Ashok - 98380234 Bhakti - 96373274 Meditation starts @ 10.15 am.

PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2023 DATE TIME DETAILS 8 AM Monthly Morning Walk * Savitri Circle by Venkatesh Rao 7 May 2023 6 PM Sunday 7 PM Youth Programme 14 May 2023 6 PM Thematic Study Circle by Rakesh: Sunday The Synthesis of Yoga 5 PM Vedic Mantras from The Life Divine by Krishnamurthy and Jared 21 May 2023 Sunday 6 PM Mother’s Questions and Answers by Shailaja 7 PM Youth Programme Readings and Reflections: The Inner Journey by Jayanthy 28 May 2023 Sunday 6 PM 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