November 2021 Newsletter

November 2021 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 35.11 Singapore NEWSLETTER Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Surrender To will what the Divine wills is the supreme wisdom. Rosa ‘Edward’ Rose Medium-sized double highly fragrant pink flower. A large shrub. By surrender we mean ... a spontaneous self-giving, a giving of all yourself to the Divine, to a greater Consciousness of which you are a part. Surrender will not diminish, but increase, it will not lessen or weaken or destroy your personality, it will fortify and aggrandise it. Surrender means a free total giving with all the delight of the giving. . . . True surrender enlarges you; it increases your capacity; it gives you a greater measure in quality and in quantity which you could not have had by yourself. This new greater measure of quality and quantity is different from anything you could attain before: you enter into another world, into a wideness which you could not have entered if you did not surrender. It is as when a drop of water falls into the sea; if it still kept there its separate identity, it would remain a little drop of water and nothing more, a little drop crushed by all the immensity around, because it has not surrendered. But, surrendering, it unites with the sea and participates in the nature and power and vastness of the whole sea.

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 Guiding Light of the Month LIKE a flame that burns in silence, like a perfume that rises straight upward without wavering, my love goes to Thee; and like the child who does not reason and has no care, I trust myself to Thee that Thy Will may be done, that Thy Light may manifest, Thy Peace radiate, Thy Love cover the world. When Thou willest I shall be in Thee, Thyself, and there shall be no more any distinction; I await that blessed hour without impatience of any kind, letting myself flow irresistibly toward it as a peaceful stream flows toward the boundless ocean. December 7, 1912 Prayers and Meditations, The Mother From the Editor’s Desk In this issue of out newsletter, we keep our focus on the and nothing else – neither one’s own will or another’s aids along the way of the inner journey. We started with will. As we all know, to give something of ourselves, Concentration as a needed aid on our progress within. In something precious that belongs to us sometimes plagues this issue, we cast our glance and attempt to contemplate us with pain, what then of giving the precious ‘oneself’? on and practice the virtue of Surrender as a needed And that too to a Divinity we may hardly fathom? movement to advance in our aspiration for the spiritual Surrender seems like taking a step forward in pitch life, as we contemplate upon the invaluable words of The darkness without knowing anything of the path forward. Mother and Sri Aurobindo on the subject. The words are This is precisely what, it seems, a devotee or follower is a detailed guidance on surrender and are practical in that asked to do. Why surrender then? The Mother puts across so simply and succinctly the way forward in this movement of surrender, what it is and what “The most important surrender is the surrender of it is not, for the benefit of the sincere aspirants. As usual, your character, your way of being, so that it may one is reminded that integral yoga is something to be change. If you do not surrender your very own nature, practiced in this life itself, inclusive of everything we call never will this nature change. It is this that is most life, excluding nothing. It appears that the inner important. You have certain ways of understanding, psychological movements need to be aligned around a certain ways of reacting, certain ways of feeling, central focal point to make surrender effective. almost certain ways of progressing, and above all, a special way of looking at life and expecting from it Surrender, in the context of integral Yoga, or probably certain things – well, it is this you must surrender.” – any Yoga for that matter, has to be a surrender or the The Mother giving of all of oneself, one’s past, present and future and fate to a higher force we call the Divine. For the Divine Surrender than is not so much of giving something alone is the All-knowing, All-encompassing and outside of ourselves but essentially all that we are. Omnipotent entity who knows all and sets everything in What kind of a psychological state would this this universe and beyond into motion. A surrender to the encompass? One probably has to realise the futility of Divine alone and not to a human consciousness can lead the old way of being against one’s aspiration of self- us on into our own salvation and self-exceeding and self- realisation, self-exceeding and self-knowing. finding. The Mother thus spoke, “To surrender to the Divine is to renounce your narrow limits and let It does appear that it takes much to arrive at a state of yourself be invaded by It and made a centre for Its total self-surrender. According to Sri Aurobindo, The play…In fact, let His vibrations become your vibrations.” Mother is the only one who could surrender totally and unconditionally. Here is what he says, “I never knew This surrender then is a psychological movement where the meaning of ‘surrender’ until Mirra surrendered herself to me.” Lets read on and understand what true one is free and ready to give all of oneself firstly and secondly, allow the will of the Divine to be one’s mover surrender means and attempt to live in surrender. www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 Savitri A deep surrender is their source of might, A still identity their way to know, Motionless is their action like a sleep. At peace, regarding the trouble beneath the stars, Deathless, watching the works of Death and Chance, Immobile, seeing the millenniums pass, Untouched while the long map of Fate unrolls, They look on our struggle with impartial eyes, And yet without them cosmos could not be. Impervious to desire and doom and hope, Their station of inviolable might Moveless upholds the world’s enormous task, Its ignorance is by their knowledge lit, Its yearning lasts by their indifference. As the height draws the low ever to climb, As the breadths draw the small to adventure vast, Their aloofness drives man to surpass himself. Our passion heaves to wed the Eternal’s calm, Our dwarf-search mind to meet the Omniscient’s light, Our helpless hearts to enshrine the Omnipotent’s force. Acquiescing in the wisdom that made hell And the harsh utility of death and tears, Acquiescing in the gradual steps of Time, Careless they seem of the grief that stings the world’s heart, Careless of the pain that rends its body and life; Above joy and sorrow is that grandeur’s walk: They have no portion in the good that dies, Mute, pure, they share not in the evil done; Else might their strength be marred and could not save. Alive to the truth that dwells in God’s extremes, Awake to a motion of all-seeing Force, The slow outcome of the long ambiguous years And the unexpected good from woeful deeds, The immortal sees not as we vainly see. Sri Aurobindo www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 Quotes on Surrender (Sri Aurobindo:) “I never knew the meaning of ‘surrender’ until Mirra surrendered herself to me.” (Mother:) “To surrender to the Divine is to renounce your narrow limits and let yourself be invaded by It and made a centre for Its play.” (Mother:) “In fact, let His vibrations become your vibrations.” (Mother to Mona Sarkar:) “The soul has no need to make its surrender – it is an individualised portion of the Supreme. But the soul is veiled by the vital and completely deformed by the material substance. It is the surrender of the vital and of the material substance which is required so that the soul can act freely as the messenger and instrument of the Supreme.” (Surrender - Auroville Wiki) Surrender The Mother explains the notion of surrender to the Divine Question : Does not surrender consist in offering one’s work like a good servant? Answer : Work is a good discipline. But it is not this idea, it is not the idea of a passive, unconscious and almost involuntary submission. It is not that. It does not lie only in work. The most important surrender is the surrender of your character, your way of being, so that it may change. If you do not surrender your very own nature, never will this nature change. It is this that is most important. You have certain ways of understanding, certain ways of reacting, certain ways of feeling, almost certain ways of progressing, and above all, a special way of looking at life and expecting from it certain things – well, it is this you must surrender. That is, if you truly want to receive the divine Light and transform yourself, it is your whole way of being you must offer – offer by opening it, making it as receptive as possible so that the divine Consciousness which sees how you ought to be, may act directly and change all these movements into movements more true, more in keeping with your real truth. This is infinitely more important than surrendering what one does. It is not what one does (what www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 one does is very important, that’s evident) that is the most important thing but what one is. Whatever the activity, it is not quite the way of doing it but the state of consciousness in which it is done that is important. You may work, do disinterested work without any idea of personal profit, work for the joy of working, but if you are not at the same time ready to leave this work, to change the work or change the way of working, if you cling to your own way of working, your surrender is not complete. You must come to a point when everything is done because you feel within, very clearly, in a more and more imperious way, that it is this which must be done and in this particular way, and that you do it only because of that. You do not do it because of any habit, attachment or preference, nor even any conception, even a preference for the idea that it is the best thing to do – else your surrender is not total. As long as you cling to something, as long as there is something in you which says, “This may change, that may change, but that, that will not change”, as long as you say about anything at all, “That will not change” (not that it refuses to change, but because you can’t think of its changing), your surrender is not complete. It goes without saying that if in your action, your work, you have in the least this feeling, “I am doing it because I have been told to do it”, and there is not a total adherence of the being, and you do not do the work because you feel it must be done and you love doing it; if something holds back, stands apart, separate, “I was told it had to be done like that so I did it like that”, it means there is a great gulf between you and surrender. True surrender is to feel that one wants, one has, this complete inner adherence: you cannot do but that, that which you have been given to do, and what you have not been given to do you cannot do. But at another moment the work may change; at any moment it may be something else, if it is decided that it be something else. It is there that plasticity comes in. That makes a very great difference. It is well understood that those who work are told, “Yes, work, that is your way of surrendering”, but it is a beginning. This way has to be progressive. It is only a beginning, do you understand? (The Mother, Questions and Answers, 28 April 1951) * Surrender is not inertia (i.e. tamasic surrender) Question : “A tamasic surrender refusing to fulfil the conditions” – if it refuses to fulfil the conditions, it is no longer surrender, is it? Answer : Exactly. But there are many who think that they have surrendered and tell you, “I no longer do anything myself, I have given myself to the Divine, the Divine ought to do everything for me.” This they call surrender… That is to say, it is a movement of laziness and tamas which doesn’t want to make any effort and would very much like the Divine to do everything for you, because that is much more comfortable!* Question : Sweet Mother, here it is written: “But so long as the lower nature is active the personal effort of the sadhaka remains necessary.” I didn’t understand here “so long as the lower nature is active”. How? Answer : Generally, the lower nature is always active. It is only when one has surrendered completely that it stops being active. When one is no longer in his lower consciousness, when one has made a total surrender, then the lower nature is no longer active. But so long as it is active, personal effort is necessary. In fact, so long as one is conscious of one’s own self as a separate person, personal effort has to be made.It is only when the sea of separation is lost, when one is not only completely surrendered, but completely fused in the Divine that there is no longer any need of personal effort. But so long as one www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 feels that one is a separate being, one must make a personal effort. This is what he calls the activity of the lower consciousness. * Effort versus Surrender Question: You have said: “If you surrender you have to give up effort, but that does not mean that you have to abandon also all willed action.” But if one wants to do something, it means personal effort, doesn’t it? What then is the will? Answer: There is a difference between the will and this feeling of tension, effort, of counting only on oneself, having recourse to oneself alone which personal effort means; this kind of tension, of something very acute and at times very painful; you count only on yourself and you have the feeling that if you do not make an effort every minute, all will be lost. That is personal effort. But the will is something altogether different. It is the capacity to concentrate on everything one does, do it as best one can and not stop doing it unless one receives a very precise intimation that it is finished. It is difficult to explain it to you. But suppose, for example, through a concurrence of circumstances, a work comes into your hands. Take an artist who has in one way or another got an inspiration and resolved to paint a picture. He knows very well that if he has no inspiration and is not sustained by forces other than his own, he will do nothing much. It will look more like a daub than a painting. He knows this. But it has been settled, the painting is to be done; there may be many reasons for that, but the painting has to be done. Then if he had the passive attitude, well, he would place his palette, his colours, his brushes, his canvas and then sit down in front of it and say to the Divine: “Now you are going to paint.” But the Divine does not do things this way. The painter himself must take up everything and arrange everything, concentrate on his subject, find the forms, the colours that will express it and put his whole will for a more and more perfect execution. His will must be there all the time. But he has to keep the sense that he must be open to the inspiration, he will not forget that in spite of all his knowledge of the technique, in spite of the care he takes to arrange, organise and prepare his colours, his forms, his design, in spite of all that, if he has no inspiration, it will be one picture among a million others and it will not be very interesting. He does not forget. He attempts, he tries to see, to feel what he wants his painting to express and in what way it should be expressed. He has his colours, he has his brushes, he has his model, he has made his sketch which he will enlarge and make into a picture, he calls his inspiration. There are even some who manage to have a clear, precise vision of what is to be done. But then, day after day, hour after hour, they have this will to work, to study, to do with care all that must be done until they reproduce as perfectly as they can the first inspiration That person has worked for the Divine, in communion with Him, but not in a passive way, not with a passive surrender; it is with an active surrender, a dynamic will. The result generally is something very good. Well, the example of the painter is interesting, because a painter who is truly an artist is able to see what he is going to do, he is able to connect himself to the divine Power that is beyond all expression and inspires all expression. For the poet, the writer, it is the same thing and for all people who do something, it is the same. (The Mother, Questions and Answers, 14 July 1954) * Sri Aurobindo on the nature of surrender The core of the inner surrender is trust and confidence in the Divine. One takes the attitude: “I want the Divine and nothing else. I want to give myself entirely to him and since my soul wants that, it cannot be but that I shall meet and realise him. I ask nothing but that and his action in me to bring me to him, his www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 action secret or open, veiled or manifest. I do not insist on my own time and way; let him do all in his own time and way; I shall believe in him, accept his will, aspire steadily for his light and presence and joy, go through all difficulties and delays, relying on him and never giving up. Let my mind be quiet and trust him and let him open it to his light; let my vital be quiet and turn to him alone and let him open it to his calm and joy. All for him and myself for him. Whatever happens, I will keep to this aspiration and self-giving and go on in perfect reliance that it will be done.” That is the attitude into which one must grow; for certainly it cannot be made perfect at once – mental and vital movements come across – but if one keeps the will to it, it will grow in the being. The rest is a matter of obedience to the guidance when it makes itself manifest, not allowing one’s mental and vital movements to interfere. (Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, Basic Requisites of the Path) * Distinction between active surrender vs passive surrender Active surrender is when you associate your will with the Divine Will, reject what is not the Divine, assent to what is the Divine. Passive surrender is when everything is left entirely to the Divine – that few can really do, because in practice it turns out that you surrender to the lower nature under pretext of surrendering to the Divine. (Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Yoga, Basic Requisites of the Path) * The vital’s resistance to surrender I have said that the human vital does not like to be controlled or dominated by another and I said that that also was a reason why Sadhaks find it difficult to surrender to the Mother. For the vital wants to affirm its own ideas, impulses, desires, preferences and to do what it likes, it does not want to feel another force than that of its own nature leading or driving it; but surrender to the Mother means that it must give up all these personal things and allow her Force to guide and drive it in the ways of a higher Truth which are not its own ways: so it resists, does not want to be dominated by the Truth Light and the Mother’s Force, insists on his own independence and refuses to surrender. These ideas of breakdown and personal frustration are again wrong suggestions and the dissatisfaction with the Mother would be. It prevents the confidence and courage necessary for following the path of the Sadhana. You must dismiss these suggestions from you. (Sri Aurobindo in the book “The Mother”, Section on “Opening and Surrender to the Mother”) October 2021 Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpse 3 October 2021: Savitri Reading Circle; page 709 to end of page 710. “Earth’s bodies shall be conscious of a soul; Mortality’s bond-slaves shall unloose their bonds, Mere men into spiritual beings grow And see awake the dumb divinity.” Sri Aurobindo foresees the divinized humanity in whom the dormant divinity awakes. Truth shall lead men’s lives. Truth shall govern their thought ,speech and act; Men shall feel themselves lifted up nearer www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 to sky, as though they are but a little lower than the gods. For knowledge shall flood with its radiant streams and even the darkened, obscure mind shall vibrate with a new life, burn with the lire of the Ideal and turn to free itself from the hold of mortal ignorance. Human Will shall tune to Divine Will, and come to feel their oneness in the Spirit. the earthly senses shall grow capable of experiencing heavenly sensation, the flesh and nerves shall learn to feel a new ethereal joy, the mortal bodies shall find it possible to assume immortality “A divine force shall flow through tissue and cell And take the charge of breath and speech and act And all the thoughts shall be a glow of suns And every feeling a celestial thrill.” A divine force shall course through every tissue and cell and govern the breath, speech and act; all the thoughts shall be luminous with the radiance of knowledge and every feeling shall throb with a celestial thrill. A luminous inner dawn shall come often, lighting up the chambers of the sleeping mind; a sudden bliss shall flow through every limb and Nature shall he filled with a mightier Presence. “Thus shall the earth open to divinity And common natures feel the wide uplift, Illumine common acts with the Spirit’s ray And meet the deity in common things. Nature shall live to manifest secret God, The Spirit shall take up the human play, This earthly life become the life divine.” Thus shall the earth open to divine Nature and common natures begin to feel the all-embracing, to illumine common acts with the ray of the Spirit and to meet the divine being in common things. Then shall Nature live to manifest the Godhead hidden in her, the Spirit take charge of the human play and this earthly life become the life divine. (from Savitri Study by MP Pandit) My personal thoughts as a participant - Jayalakshmi When I read the above lines, it relates to the wonder I get when I see the huge trees, with wide spread branches almost touching the sky and every leaf so green and dancing with joy. It is really beyond our human understanding how the water from underground can course up to every tip of infinite number of leaves so high. Just the thought of the Divinity like water coursing through every cell of our body can make that as our daily prayer! There are many Vedic Slokas for many Deities written by our many Vedic Rishis like Vyasa, Vasishta and Agastya. These at the end say the benefits by chanting them - good health, wealth, knowledge, long life and attaining Siva Loka after death. But our Sri Aurobindo Rishi has the future vision of Man becoming GOD on Earth, since He experienced it himself! 10 October 2021: Readings from The Mother We completed the section on Mahasarasawati in the book \"The Mother\" as well as read some of the Mother's and Sri Aurobindo's references regarding Mahasaraswati. According to Sri Aurobindo, “the science and craft and technique of things are Mahasaraswati’s province. This Power is the strong, the tireless, the careful and efficient builder, organiser, administrator, technician, artisan and classifier of the worlds. For the will in her works is scrupulous, unsleeping, indefatigable. Of all the Mother’s powers www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 she is the most long-suffering with man and his thousand imperfections. Kind, smiling, close and helpful, not easily turned away or discouraged, insistent even after repeated failure, her hand sustains our every step on condition that we are single in our will and straightforward and sincere. All the work of the other Powers leans on her for its completeness; for she assures the material foundation, elaborates the stuff of detail and erects and rivets the armour of the structure.” 17 October 2021: Question and Answers by The Mother; The 5 Dreams of Sri Aurobindo Having looked at the first dream last month, we went on to read and understand the 2nd dream: Another dream was for the resurgence and liberation of the peoples of Asia and her return to her great role in the progress of human civilisation. Asia has arisen; large parts are now quite free or are at this moment being liberated: its other still subject or partly subject parts are moving through whatever struggles towards freedom. Only a little has to be done and that will be done today or tomorrow. There India has her part to play and has begun to play it with an energy and ability which already indicate the measure of her possibilities and the place she can take in the council of the nations. 24 and 31 October 2021: Readings and Reflections - The Inner Journey In these two days, we completed walking through the attitudes The Mother offered us to keep in view in our journey towards the discovery of the Psychic within. The Mother brought to our attention how to look upon oneself while reflecting on the points. Some members shared their thoughts and feelings on the words read or their interpretations of the lines. The entire text that we were contemplating over for the past three months were shared in the common whatsapp so that we could all attempt to follow through The Mother’s guidance in our day to day life, even if only one of the guidelines are taken in consideration for practice at a time. - Jayalakshmi, Ram, Krishnamurthy, Shailaja, Jayanthy PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2021 DATE TIME DETAILS 7 Nov 2021 8 AM Monthly Morning Walk * Sunday 6 PM Savitri Circle by Venkatesh Rao 7 PM Youth Programme www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender

Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. November 2021 14 Nov 2021 6 PM Readings from The Mother by Ram Sunday The Mother's Mahasamadhi Day 17 Nov 2021 7 PM Wednesday 5 PM Secret of the Veda by Krishnamurthy and Jared Mother’s Questions and Answers by Shailaja 21 Nov 2021 Sunday 6 PM 7 PM Youth Programme 24 Nov 2021 7 PM Siddhi Day Wednesday 28 Nov 2021 6 PM Readings and Reflections: The Inner Journey by Jayanthy Sunday *Details can be found in the SAS Whatsapp Group 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 www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10 Journeying Within Aids Along the Way: Surrender