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From May’s Prison Bars to April’s Silent Shore — A Saga of Illumining the World

Dawn of May 2, 1908, history changed its course; Handcuffed stood the revolutionary Sri Aurobindo, Arrested in the wake of the Muzaffarpur bombing. The world saw a captive; Heaven saw a chosen instrument. May 5, 1908, prison life commenced. The human mind and restless vital suffered, The body dwelt within cold, unyielding walls, Yet the soul awoke to a boundless sky. In that lonely Alipore cell, Silence became the voice of the Divine; Darkness ripened into revelation, And prison became God's tabernacle. Within that cell, God-knowledge poured from above, A new world-knowledge blossomed from within; His thoughts looked ever to the Eternal One, His every act flowed from an inner Light. Two hundred witnesses examined, One hundred and thirty-one days of relentless trial; On May 6, 1909, Justice prevailed—Sri Aurobindo was acquitted. The bars had opened; the world-mission had begun. As Chittaranjan Das—Sri Aurobindo’s chief defence counsel—had foretold: “The poet of patriotism, The proph...
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Two Ways to Overcome Suffering — the Way of the Self and the Way of the Psychic Being

Sri Aurobindo provides a detailed overview of the causes and types of suffering we experience and how to transcend the suffering through a shift in standpoint away from the external nature to the Self above or the psychic being within. Sri Aurobindo writes:  "It is not the soul that suffers; the Self is calm and equal to all things and the only sorrow of the psychic being is the sorrow of the resistance of Nature to the Divine Will or the resistance of things and people to the call of the True, the Good and the Beautiful. What is affected by suffering is the vital nature and the body. When the soul draws towards the Divine, there may be a resistance in the mind and the common form of that is denial and doubt — which may create mental and vital suffering. There may again be a resistance in the vital nature whose principal character is desire and the attachment to the objects of desire, and if in this field there is conflict between the soul and the vital nature, between the Divine ...
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The Screen of Light

Sterile impressions hurled against an eternal Might, Projections of matter cast on a screen of light, The light absorbed in a mystic trance,   Sanctions in play, matter’s grim appearance. Exceeding the indifference of a screen’s stance, It embraces in love the projected substance. The sterility of the impressions is revealed, By the effulgence of the light hitherto concealed.   The grimness of the projection weakens As the screen of light unveils and beckons, Melted down the gnome, the dwarf, the troll, By the sweet dance of light that consumes all. - Anahita Sanjana (India)
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Death’s Lessons

Death remains one of the greatest truths of Life. Not really THE truth, but one of them, relevant till it is conquered, necessary because through the passage of death Life continues, renews itself. Witnessing the death of a loved one teaches so much. That one moment ends up giving so much as it takes away so much. The moment of earthly goodbye becomes a moment of lifelong blessing. That moment changes something deep inside, even awakens something as a deep sense of peace begins to emerge in the midst of the pain. A faint remembrance of the eternal truth becomes a source of calm strength. Death is not the opposite of Life. Death is the opposite of Birth. Life goes on. Only Form changes. All this and more which is mere book learning, becomes real and living only in that moment of death. Months and years continue to pass. For many months after my mother’s death in 2013, she came to me often. At night when I would close my eyes. In the wee hours of the morning when I wasn’t yet fully a...
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Seeking Inner Light, Not Outer Noise

On New Year’s Eve, The streets bloom with restless noise, hotels overflow with delicacies, the midnight sky breaks into fire and thunder, music shouts against silence, while restless hearts chase fleeting pleasures. Thousands are spent for moments of outer joy, for glittering nights that vanish by dawn, while inner peace fades beneath the weight of noise, and health is traded for sleepless celebration; the body grows weary, the spirit grows hollow, longing for a moment of silence and light. Every New Year’s Eve, no crackers burn in my hands, no desire rises for thunderous festivities; shutting out the noisy night, I play   “Sri Aurobindo’s Gayatri Mantra”, and open the luminous pages of “Savitri”, where transformation begins, and the Eternal whispers through stillness and silence. - Dr. Sudevi Basu (India)
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Financial Scrupulousness: An Element of Yogic Sadhana

I. The Spiritual Nature and Origin of Money Money is consistently described not merely as a material item but as an expression of a  universal force .1 The Essence and Function of Money Universal Force : Money is the visible sign of a universal force that manifests on the vital and physical planes and is indispensable for the fullness of outer life.2 Divine Origin and Delegation : In its origin and true action, this force belongs entirely to the Divine.3 Like other Divine powers, it is delegated on Earth.4 Vital Energy : Money is a vital force that enables men to command success.5 The money-power itself has a twofold rhythm: gathering and throwing away; those who maintain this rhythm, like big industrial magnates, typically have plenty of money.6 Condition for Purity : Money is likened to water, requiring movement to remain pure.7 It is only valuable when it circulates or is spent.8 Mere hoarding is considered an obstacle.9 Collective Possession : Money is inherently a  collec...
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