simplicity and the spiritual path
In India, in our spiritual tradition, the highest qualification we give to a person is when we call him " simple " , meaning without any complication whatsoever. This is the aim of yoga
To be simple, absolutely simple without any division, confusion or conflict in the being, when all our thoughts and emotions, our acts and sensations, all our existence inner and outer are unified around the Divine in us, moved, activated, sustained and transformed by the Divine. This too is the whole evolutionary effort.
The process of ordinary evolution may take very, very long to arrive at this simplicity, this unity. Through yoga one goes through the process in a short time. It is the soul who chooses to do the yoga but often the physical being is unhappy and disturbed by the choice of the soul. In most cases man tries to stiffle the urge of the soul. Our suffering comes mainly from the resistance we offer to the call and the demand and the aspiration of the soul. In the measure the various parts of our being learn to collaborate with the soul, are illumined by the inner light and begin to feel a deeper joy, a beauty and harmony, our sufferings diminishe, conflicts and confusions cease and there is a greater unity in the being, a greater peace . Gradually we enter in a new cvonsciousness which is far removed even from the most brilliant human consciousness.
The spiritual consciousness is irreal to ordinary human consciousness. The spiritual growth gradually takes us away from the human life, from the human race as such. Human things start having more and more a sense of illusion and we lose interest in them, prefering the exploration of the vast, luminous, illimitable life open to us. Then arrives the time in our development when the inner growth is so strong that our soul strongly rejects its bond with the human world. Once the fire has been lit , it cannot be extinguished any more. Once one has boarded the ship of the spiritual destiny the voyage shall continue.
We should consider ourselves fortunate for having chosen this path. We should not fix conditions for our growth and demand even to know where we are going. We have to leave more and more the direction of our life to the transforming power of the Grace. Only the love of truth, beauty , harmony and the Divine should be the highest and noblest guiding principle of our life. The Divine in his infinite wisdom will create circumstances favorable to the growth of consciousness. Let us depend on Him alone with faith.
Niranjan Guha Roy
Panting : Prayer for the animals
Prayer to the Grace of the Mother for our faithful friends
Niranjan Guha Roy
The emergence of the psychic being
The integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo, the yoga of the future, is based on the emergence of the psychic being.
As soon as the psychic being comes out even so little
He brings with him the love or rather the adoration for the Supreme and his incarnations.
This love-adoration is part of the very substance of the psychic being.
Not to feel that love is a sure sign that the psychic being has not yet emerged.
It will come in time as it is the destiny of everyone.
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Niranjan Guha Roy
The transformation of desire in evolution
The ant looks for sugar, the bee for nectar;
Cats watch for the mice, the vulture feasts on the corpses,
The sea attracts the sailors, high mountains the fearless climbers,
Forests attract the hunters, the desert sandstorms,
Fruits attract birds, rivers attract fishermen,
Monuments attract tourists; Gold, adventure and violence.
Music attracts music lovers. Colors fascinate the painters.
The wine draws its fans. The thirst of blood creates the gladiators.
Beauty ignites a war amongst her admirers.
The thirst of power reveals the original beast in man.
Desire is the tyrannical king of all human beings.
Desire is the fire put in man by God in his divine wisdom.
Man roams ceaselessly in search of happiness, always disappointed.
The smoking black fire grows, becomes intense, more and more clear,
Man abandons hunting for a short lived materiel comfort.
The desire becomes more refined; he pursues a less fragile aim.
One day when he has tasted , exhausted all the known happiness,
He turns his glance to the unexplored Infinity, to the Unknown.
The earthly fire becomes a sacred flame which rises towards the sky,
Desire is transformed into burning aspiration for the eternal joy.
The world is supported by the divine Felicity hidden in atoms.
Attracting by His irresistible bliss, the Divinity
Leads all the creation towards the sublime metamorphosis.
The being who tasted only once the nectar of immortality roams no more.
The long, mad, painful search stops.
All in him burns as a single flame, a single appeal:
"Come my Love, my Beloved, O Lord of Bliss."
The ant does not look anymore for sugar,
It swims in an ocean of nectar.
Niranjan Guha Roy
Prayer to the divine Will
Om Douce Mère, Om Sri Aurobindo
Make us conscious of Thy Will in us and in the world.
May we live constantly in the vision of Thy unique eternal Reality
Now and ever, here or anywhere, in all existence and beyond.
May we see You only, Sweet Mother, in all things and beings completely unveiled.
May we become conscious of Your spontaneous perfect handling of each situation
Leading the Creation at each moment towards a greater divine manifestation.
All that happens is part of Your conscious action.
As we are not aware of Your intention
And most often do not accept Your way of handling it but rebel against it
We create unhappy confusion and useless suffering.
We must remember at all times that whatever happens in the world, the least movement
Is truly the best that can happen under the circumstances.
If we are conscious and full of trust and faith
Then we will feel everywhere Your Supreme benediction in action.
May we have an unwavering loving faith in You.
May our surrender and collaboration be complete and perfect, a service of love and trust.
There is yet so much unconsciousness in us that the work of purification seems interminable.
But now there is no suffering or regret.
The house cleaning work gives a thrill of joy.
May we keep Your house as clean and tidy as possible.
Om Douce Mère, Om Sri Aurobindo, pranam
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Niranjan Guha Roy
The Lotus bud
Thy Will be done, Thy Will is the Supreme Benediction, Thy Will is the Divine Love in action.
At every moment the world moves forward a little towards peace and harmony and a greater awakening.
Man as long as he remains man, a mental vital being, a thinker in an animal body is bound to his nature. He is unaware of his soul, unaware of his true mission in life.
The mind substance is too opaque to express the bliss of Oneness, too murky to let through the light, the peace and harmony, the joy and beauty. The spiritual equality cannot settle in his agitated mind and turbulent heart.
Man must renounce his humanity in order to become divine. One cannot be on two banks at the same time, the two banks of the river that separates mind from the Spirit.
Though man is unaware of the Divine, of the spiritual Reality, he has the possibilty of discovering God hidden in the mystic lotus of the heart, deep within.
Everyday somewhere in the world a new lotus bud is blossoming by the touch of the Divine Force radiating from the Mother.
A new Light has illumined our gloomy house of life. All the long accumulated junk and filth have to be thrown away to make room for the haevenly guests wanting to stay with us. Every nook and corner of our being must be thouroughly wiped clean again and again to blot out the least trace of the past ages.
Psychic aspiration brings down from the highest haevens the Force of the Divine Mother which gradually burns and transforms the clay-jar into an unbreakable golden calyx filled with nectar.
Even if we do not see or hear the Mother, She is always in front of us. As our love grows, we feel Her in a hundred ways, gentle and strong.
Om Douce Mère, Thy will be done, Thy Will is our protection
Om Sri Aurobindo saranam mama
Niranjan Guha Roy
Trust in the Mother
Let the Mother enter your life like a swift river
and let Her wash away all your human belongings and attachments
and gradually release the Godhead imprisoned in the mud.
We must allow Her to build in us Her Temple
by removing brick by brick the old human structures
and replacing them with new bricks from the kiln of God.
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We must trust Her, She will carry us to the summits.
Let us keep quiet and not be afraid, let us not look behind.
Trust Her.
As a flash of lightning we will pass through fields of fire and icy zones
Let us not bre afraid and have peace.
Soon we shall be on the other bank forever luminous.
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Remembrance - To Douce Mère
Douce Mère
Once in an evening class, You mentioned that You were no poet.
But when I read Your prayers ,
I feel the rythm, beauty and imagery of the noblest poetry,
Transporting the soul on its inspired wings to the heart of Mystery.
When I think of Your simple acts and gestures,
I see in them the majesty and greatness of a mystic ritual
Having incalculable spiritual consequences in the history of Time.
When I look at Your drawings and sketches,
I see the soul emerging by the prodigious economy of a few master lines.
When I listen to Your music,
I feel that each phrase is a divine motif for a magnificent symphony.
When I think of You,
All I know is that the Mother is noble and that I belong to Her forever.
I haven't seen any piece of sculpture done by You,
But I meet constantly living souls sculptured by Your hand.
I haven't seen any architecture designed by You,
But I get a glimpse of the wonderful New Haeven that You have created in Your vision.
My whole being lies prostrate at Your feet.
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Niranjan Guha Roy
To the Awakened Soul
Frightened souls in search of Light
Fall very often in misleading steps,
Get lost, intoxicated in enchanted labyrinths.
Bright reflexion in a dewdrop of a hidden sun
Holds them prisoners.
O you, awakened soul, call the Haeven to guide you.
The road is long, hard, strewn with a thousand dangers.
Be without ambition, transparent as a diamond.
Examine yourself mercilessly, throw far away your old coat.
Plunge inside, far, far, far in the depths of your mystic heart,
There, find the sacred divine Fire.
Let the divine Force transform the natural man into a rising god.
Become the flame which lights the inanimate candles,
The lighthouse which brings hope in the hopeless night,
A constant link between the haeven and the earth.
Even though our days are counted,
It is necessary to dig, to dig, and to dig again.
The Mother waits for us with all Her sweetness.
You are an immortal soul in a temporary mould.
Even though the body falls exhausted, it does not matter, O pilgrim.
Your soul will return in a more resistant sheath,
Will resume the unfinished task , to dig , to dig.
May your beautiful and generous soul
Emerge henceforth in the Eternity.
Watched by the white peaks, the huge lilies of Himalayas.
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Niranjan Guha Roy
The Psychic Being
The psychic being will radiate the divine peace and harmony as a rosebush fills the garden with its fragrance.
The only way to become so is a total and unreserved surrender of our whole being to the Mother Divine.
Niranjan Guha Roy