SAIEN

I am a speaker, and as a speaker on spiritual subjects, I am also a ‘preacher’ – the ‘do what I say, not what I do’ kind. Although I do not practice what I preach, I get away with it. My mind might be still young, but my body is more than three quarters of a century old. As a speaker, I illustrate the points that I make with stories and anecdotes, and sprinkle my talks with humour. The content staying the same, the talks change, their titles change even more, but the stories and jokes seldom do. Thus, spicing the talks is essentially a copy and paste job. Like most people my age, I keep repeating my favourite spices and enjoy it. But unlike in their case, my audience neither finds my repeat performances irritating, nor does it start laughing midway through a joke. I get away with being repetitive because my audience keeps changing. While for most people my age, their audience is their family; in my case my audience turns into my family. It is among those whom I preach, those whom I kee...

The true test of spiritual equanimity and balance is how one responds to adverse circumstances. It is relatively easy to be calm and peaceful when there is no external pressure and one is surrounded by a quiet and nourishing environment. It is quite another to remain focused, balanced and equal on the “battlefield”. Sri Krishna provided his guidance to Arjuna in the middle of the battlefield of Kurukshetra, as a great war was about to come to its climax in a battle that would pit cousins against cousins and force the protagonists to take up arms against beloved elders and respected teachers. There are numerous anecdotes about renunciates experiencing blissful meditations in their cave of tapasya, who, however, when they entered into society, exhibited anger, lust or other disruptions of the vital energy, as their peace was conditioned on their surroundings. This is not to imply, however, that one should seek out difficult environments and purposely subject oneself to disruptions as a f...

Holding the ache of my heart Beholding through the teary eyes How my worth has reduced to ashes, Truths of today hit harder than the ties of lies.   Melancholy of past is heavy upon the present  The shackles around my feet stubborn to let My feet free, my wings fly high  And I doubt, is this my fate obstinate.   The screams and shrieks  Alas! Can be perceived by none No one can see the heart shattered  And the stifling past, I often reckon.   The Prison, O my Mind,  My enemy art thou. Unleash me from your bondage of sorrow. Forget not, I'm your worthy master, though enslaved now.   They say – "Mind of the Man is powerful." Self-Introspection lead to realization.  And I discovered a bridled Mind  Trained by Man is most powerful.   The reality of my present is The manifestation of my yester-thoughts Mind attracts the way it thinks This is the Law of Universe . O My Sacred Soul! Arise! Awake from the  oblivious slumber Thou a...

Nature is abuzz with action, always. The individual's choice of withdrawing from action, either in the tamasic sense of inertial stupor, or in the sattvic sense of stepping back from life-activity, are not decisions of non-action but certain forms of action. Even if he does not do, he thinks, feels, emotes – that is action. Even if he stops all movements of thought and feeling, he still breathes, and that is action. Even if he is absolutely still in every sense of the term, by dint of his very presence of being, he is in communion with nature, and hence squarely in the middle of action.    The individual's choice of non-action does not prevent Nature's ongoing action around him, straddling the spectrum between the superconscious and the unconscious. His refusal of personal action is also a form of action, i.e. that of his perceived non-participation in Nature's action. Understood from the standpoint of him being inextricably connected to all that is, his choice of non-a...

There is a distinction which might be helpful in understanding the practice of Integral Yoga. For the most part, Sri Aurobindo and the Mother did not prescribe a fixed set of practices or methods for spiritual development.     On the other hand, a careful look at their writings reveals that in spite of the hundreds of methods they offered to various disciples, there are a few essential psychological principles underlying the many practices. By “principles” I don’t mean something abstract or theoretical. Sri Aurobindo, in many of his letters to his disciples, wrote that his Yoga involved primarily “psychological” methods. If you come to understand the psychological principles underlying the Integral Yoga, you will have a key to developing an individualized Yoga practice which honors the unique qualities of your soul. So, what is the distinction between a “psychological principle” or movement of consciousness, and a practice?  Here is a description from Sri Aurobindo of the...