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Tyaga (Inner detachment) or Sannyas (Outer detachment) in Spiritual Journey

We come across two sets of paths chosen by seekers on spiritual journey – one who practice Inner detachment (TYAGA) and second who practice Outer detachment (SANNYAS). For householders like me who have commitments in family and social front and so indulge in a professional career to earn livelihood and fulfil professional commitments, this path is akin to Karma Yogi (selfless service). Attachment to family and intense desire to give, to arrange resources needed, to facilitate family decent living and ensuring good quality of education to children with positive values and ethics principles, to survive and grow in objective world, are considered normal.  Having had an opportunity at early age to get connected with teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother through study circles, which had routine of reading passages from books written by Sri Aurobindo and The Mother with brief meditation in beginning and closing of each meeting, sowed the seeds of positive values and attributes and in...
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Even You Will Learn To Love

O mind, be still, Long have you had your kill, Can you hear the whispered longing, Echoing behind your incessant thronging? Be quiet that in that silence you may hear, The roseate call of the unshed tear, Of that which in quiet depths resides, The softness and beauty, your veil hides. Stop a bit that in the pregnant while, You may glimpse the eternal world-consuming smile And uncover love’s mud concealed treasure trove, Then may be even you will change, and learn to love. - Anahita Sanjana (India)
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Tests of Equality

Facing the difficulties and obstacles presented by the external world to our ego-personality, we frequently become disturbed and react with anger, frustration or some other indication of a lack of peace. We tend to "become" the reaction. Someone cuts in front of us on the road and we become angry, in some cases expressing ourselves through what is known as 'road rage' or at least mentally engaging in some type of upset reaction. If we reflect on our daily reactions, we can easily identify situations where someone has angered us, someone has insulted us, where things occur that distress us, where we have relationship, financial or other setbacks, where flights get cancelled, where we get delayed for a meeting, etc. Each of these situations creates 'ripples' in the mind-stuff and the nerve channels. These ripples disrupt our ability to receive and channel the higher energies with light, clarity and serenity. For the spiritual seeker, therefore, it becomes even m...
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Breath and Thought

Relation between Breath and Thought The breath, or Prana, is intimately connected with  thought  and  mental activity . 1  Sri Aurobindo notes that  Pranayama , the practice of breath regulation, sets the  Pranic currents  free and removes dullness from the brain, allowing  higher consciousness  to descend. 2  His personal experience at Baroda demonstrated that practising Pranayama for several hours daily led to an  illumined and powerful mind , significantly increasing poetic output and enhancing memory. 3  This indicates that the Pranic currents sustain mental activity, and changes induced by Pranayama alter the brain, removing obstructions that hinder higher thought communication. 4 Furthermore, the  cessation of thought  is observed to lead to the  cessation of breath ; the entire  kumbhak  (breath retention) effortlessly establishes itself when thought ceases. 5  Conversely, when thought resum...
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Food and Agriculture in Auroville, India

As consciousness advances, Sri Aurobindo (1939) envisioned that the desire for food would “…progress from the type of a mutually devouring hunger to the type of a mutual giving, of an increasingly joyous sacrifice of interchange … Thus the law of Hunger must give place progressively to the law of Love, the law of Division to the law of Unity, the law of Death to the law of Immortality.” (The Life Divine: Death, Desire and Incapacity). We are being called to view agriculture not as a ‘business’ or a transaction with nature, but a participatory ‘joyous sacrifice of interchange’, a way of mutual action and growth.   Can agriculture be more than growing food? Can it be a path toward human unity and the evolution of consciousness?  Over the last five decades, Auroville has undertaken remarkable ecological restoration work—today, much of the township is now under a forest canopy. Alongside this, a network of community farms has taken root, supplying fruits, vegetables, grains, milk,...
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Tryst

Places of worship Temple, Church, Mosque, Synagogue . . . Mirror the divinity Within each soul With ageless purity. Why allow anything  To come in the way When seeking Ananda? Let nothing count, Nothing be important Except yearning For pure joyfulness.  To be one With Godliness, Absolutely, entirely. The seeking spirit  Wholeheartedly, Focussed,   Firmly resolute. Rishi Aurobindo's Integral Yoga More powerful  Than any shlokà . . . Urges the elevation Of the human mind Towards Sat-Chit-Anand. Leads, guides Every sadhak To manifest  Highest potential Of human evolution. As sacred, Awe inspiring; No less   Edifying Than The altar of worship  Or heartfelt prayer. It awakens, Stirs, inspires, Mesmerizes The searching soul To become aware, Seek, joyfully attain Tryst with the Divine. - Mira Ramchand Daryanani (India)
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What is Yoga?

Particularly in the West, when people think about Yoga, they believe it is a series of physical postures or exercises done with a certain sense of concentration. They associate Hatha Yoga with the entirety of yogic practice, and in many instances, treat Yoga as a form of physical conditioning. The field of Yoga is, however, something much different, far vaster and more powerful than just physical conditioning. Yoga means 'union' and the object of yoga is the union of the soul with the Divine. Sri Aurobindo has noted that yoga is essentially a form of applied psychology, as it delves into the inner realms, the thoughts, feelings, emotions, actions and reactions of the being and aims to shift the standpoint from that of the external ego personality to one of union with the Divine, with the motive force and power of action derived from that oneness with the divine Force as it manifests. Once the seeker recognises the deeper aims of Yoga, the perfection of the physical conditioning...
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