SAIEN

The instrument watches in awe, Beauty that transcends the human law, Being channeled through its modest reed, Filling  every gap, satiating every need. The flautist playing the blessed flute,   Renders it drunk and mute. Love drenched into the music the flute drowns, Amazed and struck by the rich deep sounds, From its own body wafting, Unable to comprehend the sublime grafting, Only one truth the simple flute knows One seed, its happiness sows: Not in itself lies the music but in its player, Unmoved by praise, it lies quenched in prayer. - Anahita Sanjana (India)

In his epic poem  Savitri: A Legend and a Symbol ,   Sri Aurobindo states: “God shall grow up while the wise men talk and sleep.” Until an individual has an actual experience of an inward state of consciousness, or that of the silent mind, or one in which the experience is that of an uninvolved witness, or one experiences the descent of knowledge, or power or ecstatic bliss that goes outside the bounds of the normal human experience, he cannot truly understand what is meant by these descriptive terms. The matter of spiritual experiences, for those who have not personally experienced them, is one of either belief or disbelief, or one of argument in favor of or against. For those who are locked into the logical, rational, mental mind-set, these experiences are almost impossible to fit into their world-view, and thus, they will declare them as hallucinations, dreams, delusions or any number of other derogatory terms that, more than anything else, define the limits and framework t...

Before the sun shines its first ray To glitter the sky with golden hue, The rooster perches quietly, and cracks the shell of dawn. His crowing every daybreak Is sharp as truth and pure as oath, Meandering the dark sleeping world   Lifting morning from its sheathe. Through him, the earth hears The divine beginning to revitalize, He rises where heaven blushes awake, Propelling to an entity brighter than itself. He is the coupling   Between sleep and waking, A feathered messenger   In the tabernacle of eternity. In the context of spiritual growth,   The rooster helps the aspirant's awakening   to higher consciousness and   the pursuit of inner transformation. He serves as a potent metaphor   for the soul’s progression   from ignorance to divine consciousness,   A liaison between the self and The Divine! The above poetic prose is an inspiration from my own experience of taking the Aurobindonian path as a result of the self-awakening action of the...

The entire existence, this world is a gradual self-expression and manifestation of the Divine, says the Indian spiritual tradition. But without the vision to experience the world, and everything and everyone in the world, as a manifestation of the Divine, and more importantly, without the experience of our own self as a manifestation and as a portion of the Divine, we continue to exist in Ignorance and separated from the omnipresence of the Divine. Only through a sincere aspiration and an intense personal effort of the  sadhak  the Divine Grace begins to slowly tear apart the many layers of the veil behind which is hidden the deeper, inner vision which is able to see the Divine all around and within. Such intense  sadhana  also includes rejection of all that obstructs the path of aspiration, and surrender of one’s entire being and all the movements within – the act of aspiration and the rejection included – as an offering to the Divine so that He may decide the cours...

A song has escaped the confines of soundproof walls, A light has danced its way out of darkness’ pall, A smile has fought its way through the tear, That which was so distant, now feels so near, Light that dances to the song of love, Has finally lit the dim alcove. Dance sweet light to the song of your beloved, In your rhythms let me melt, By your footfalls let my yearning be led. - Anahita Sanjana (India)

We frequently hear from people who say that they cannot focus on their spiritual practice as they don't have a quiet space in which to meditate, or they live in a crowded, noisy city, or they are overwhelmed with all their duties relating to education, career, family, etc. They focus their attention on all of the external obstacles and use that as an excuse to avoid the focus on their inner spiritual life. "If only I could find the time and a quiet place, I would meditate every day." We hear this refrain repeated in one form or another regularly. If only we could create the 'ideal' external circumstances! Those who take up a spiritual practice in all earnestness, soon discover that there are no 'perfect' surroundings nor any 'perfect' times to focus on their spiritual life. They therefore have to create the space internally needed to remain connected regardless of what they have in front of them in their external lives. It is interesting to note th...