All Life Is Yoga: Two Ancient Laws of Living E-Book

Sri Aurobindo

• Herausgeber: Sri Aurobindo Digital Edition
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 67

Beschreibung

Long back, a college student visited Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan where he met Dr. Gurdial Malik, eminent scholar and Tagore’s personal secretary. In response to a request for his autograph, Dr. Malik complied adding the message “Know Thyself”. Emboldened, the student then met Tagore with his autograph book. The great man looked at Dr. Malik’s observation, smiled a bit and wrote “Forget Thyself” along with his signature. These two ancient laws of living are profound in wisdom; in this eBook we present some passages excerpted from the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother on these two counsels.

Leseprobe

Omsriaurobindomira

All

Life

Is

Yoga

“All life is Yoga.” – Sri Aurobindo

Two Ancient Laws of Living

Know Thyself and Forget Thyself

Sri Aurobindo | The Mother

SRI AUROBINDODIGITAL EDITION

SRI AUROBINDO BHAVANBERCHTESGADENER LAND

www.sriaurobindo.center

PublisherAURO MEDIAVerlag und FachbuchhandelWilfried SchuhGermany

www.auro.media

eBook Design

SRI AUROBINDO DIGITAL EDITIONGermany, Berchtesgaden

ALL LIFE IS YOGATwo Ancient Laws of Living– Know Thyself and Forget ThyselfSelections from the Works ofSri Aurobindo and the MotherFirst edition 2022ISBN 978-3-96387-094-1

© Photos and selections of the works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother:Sri Aurobindo Ashram TrustPuducherry, India

Flower on the cover:Lagerstroemia indica. Various colours.Spiritual significance and explanation given by the Mother:Intimacy with the DivineComplete surrender to the Divine and total receptivity to His influence are the conditions for this intimacy.

Publisher’s Note

This is one in a series of some e-books created by SRI AUROBINDO DIGITAL EDITION and published by AURO MEDIA under the title All Life Is Yoga. Our effort is to bring together, from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, simple passages with a practical orientation on specific subjects, so that everyone may feel free to choose a book according to his inner need. The topics cover the whole field of human activity, because true spirituality is not the rejection of life but the art of perfecting life.

While the passages from Sri Aurobindo are in the original English, most of the passages from the Mother (selections from her talks and writings) are translations from the original French. We must also bear in mind that the excerpts have been taken out of their original context and that a compilation, in its very nature, is likely to have a personal and subjective approach. A sincere attempt, however, has been made to be faithful to the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. These excerpts are by no means exhaustive.

Bringing out a compilation from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, which have a profound depth and wideness unique, is a difficult task. The compiler’s subjective tilt and preferences generally result in highlighting some aspects of the issues concerned while the rest is by no means less significant. Also without contexts of the excerpts the passages reproduced may not fully convey the idea – or may be misunderstood or may reduce a comprehensive truth into what could appear like a fixed principle.

The reader may keep in mind this inherent limitation of compilations; compilations are however helpful in providing an introduction to the subject in a handy format. They also give the readers a direct and practical feel of some of the profound issues and sometimes a mantric appeal, musing on which can change one’s entire attitude to them.

The excerpts from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother carry titles and captions chosen by the editor, highlighting the theme of the excerpts and, whenever possible, borrowing a phrase from the text itself. The sources of the excerpts are given at the end of each issue.

We hope these compilations will inspire the readers to go to the complete works of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother and will help them to mould their lives and their environments towards an ever greater perfection.

“True spirituality is not to renounce life, but to make life perfect with a Divine Perfection.” – The Mother

* * *

Contents

Title PageCopyrightPublisher’s NoteQuotationKNOW THYSELF – WORDS OF SRI AUROBINDO1. Reminiscence2. Realise Who He Is3. Realise Thy Self in All Things4. Become Thy True Self5. Living of an Ordinary Man and the First Necessity6. Behind the Frontal Consciousness7. The Inner Being8. Recognise the Inner Guide9. What Man Is10. The True Object of Our Birth11. Steps to Get Out of the IgnoranceFORGET THYSELF – WORDS OF THE MOTHER1. A Blank Page for the Divine’s Will to be Written2. O Lord, Deliver Me from Myself3. Annul Thyself That Only God May Be4. Individual Effort5. Why Do We Do Sadhana?6. Expression of the Divine in Manifestation and Return of the Force Without Personal Use7. Crystallisation and Surrender8. Looking at Oneself Acting9. A Way to Forget Oneself10. The First Thing to Learn11. When the Intellectual Mind Is EnlightenedAPPENDIXReferences

Guide

CoverTable of ContentsStart Reading

Self-denial is a mighty instrument for purification; it is not an end in itself nor a final law of living. Not to mortify thyself but to satisfy God in the world must be thy object.

– Sri Aurobindo

* * *

I.

KNOW THYSELF

WORDS OF SRI AUROBINDO

Chapter 1

Reminiscence

My soul arose at dawn and, listening, heard

One voice abroad, a solitary bird,

A song not master of its note, a cry

That persevered into eternity.

My soul leaned out into the dawn to hear

In the world’s solitude its winged compeer

And, hearkening what the Angel had to say,

Saw lustre in midnight and a secret day

Was opened to it. It beheld the stars

Born from a thought and knew how being prepares.

Then I remembered how I woke from sleep

And made the skies, built earth, formed Ocean deep.

* * *

Chapter 2

Realise Who He Is

Lift your eyes towards the Sun; He is there in that wonderful heart of life and light and splendour. Watch at night the innumerable constellations glittering like so many solemn watchfires of the Eternal in the limitless silence which is no void but throbs with the presence of a single calm and tremendous existence; see there Orion with his sword and belt shining as he shone to the Aryan fathers ten thousand years ago at the beginning of the Aryan era, Sirius in his splendour, Lyra sailing billions of miles away in the ocean of space. Remember that these innumerable worlds, most of them mightier than our own, are whirling with indescribable speed at the beck of that Ancient of Days whither none but He knoweth, and yet that they are a million times more ancient than your Himalaya, more steady than the roots of your hills and shall so remain until He at his will shakes them off like withered leaves from the eternal tree of the Universe. Imagine the endlessness of Time, realise the boundlessness of Space; and then remember that when these worlds were not, He was, the Same as now, and when these are not, He shall be, still the Same; perceive that beyond Lyra He is and far away in Space where the stars of the Southern Cross cannot be seen, still He is there. And then come back to the Earth and realise who this He is. He is quite near to you. See yonder old man who passes near you crouching and bent, with his stick. Do you realise that it is God who is passing? There a child runs laughing in the sunlight. Can you hear Him in that laughter? Nay, He is nearer still to you. He is in you, He is you. It is yourself that burns yonder millions of miles away in the infinite reaches of Space, that walks with confident steps on the tumbling billows of the ethereal sea; it is you who have set the stars in their places and woven the necklace of the suns not with hands but by that Yoga, that silent actionless impersonal Will which has set you here today listening to yourself in me. Look up, O child of the ancient Yoga, and be no longer a trembler and a doubter; fear not, doubt not, grieve not; for in your apparent body is One who can create and destroy worlds with a breath.