A thread of threads related to the Mother and #SriAurobindo..
This year marks His 150th Birth Anniversary (1872), Her 144th Birth Anniversary (1878), and the 108th Anniversary of the beginning of Their Collaboration (1914) #InternationalDayofYoga
"But when the hour of the Divine draws near
The Mighty Mother shall take birth in Time
And God be born into the human clay
In forms made ready by your human lives.
Then shall the Truth supreme be given to men.."
- #Savitri, B11-C1
1.1) A thread on the Life of #SriAurobindo - covering His Birth (1872) & Childhood in India, His 14 years in England, and His eventual Return to India in 1893
1.2) Continuing thread on the Life of #SriAurobindo (1893 to 1910) - following His footsteps throughout India;
including His service period in Baroda,
His active Political life,
and the beginning of His Yogic Sadhana which eventually led Him to Pondicherry
1.3) Continuing thread on the Life of #SriAurobindo (1910 to 1920) - following His places of residence in Pondicherry;
including the persecution by the British Govt.,
His Sadhana and Writings in His periodical 'Arya',
and His Collaboration with the Mother
1.4) A thread on the Life of the Mother - covering Her Birth (1872) & Childhood in France,
Her Sadhana,
Her Life as an Artist,
Her training with the Theons,
Her initial collaboration with #SriAurobindo,
Her sojourn in Japan,
& Her permanent return to India
1.5) Concluding thread on the Life of #SriAurobindo & the Mother (1920 - 1973) - following Their Sadhana in Pondicherry;
including Formation of the Ashram,
the Victory over Hostiles,
the Supramental Manifestation,
Creation of Auroville,
& Their MahaSamadhi
59.1) On this day, exactly 66 years ago, the Delhi Branch of #SriAurobindo ashram was inaugurated. Mother had mentioned—There's only one Ashram: in Pondicherry; & only one branch: in New Delhi
Surendranath Jauhar, the founder, had an interesting story to tell about its origins..
59.2) The Land on which the Delhi branch of #SriAurobindo Ashram stands today was abandoned for many years, because it had become a playground for the hostile forces.
All the various attempts to use it fruitfully were in vain..
59.3) Then one day in 1955, suddenly an eccentric acquaintance of Surendranath ji appeared who claimed to have been sent to do some Divine work.
The Man spent consecutive nights on the property, & after a dangerous battle with the forces there, achieved a divine victory..
314.1)"(The Mother continues reading 'The Supramental Manifestation' by #SriAurobindo)
(—Perfection is the true aim of all culture, the spiritual and psychic, the mental, the vital and it must be the aim of our physical culture also—)"
314.2)"(—A total perfection is the ultimate aim which we set before us, for our ideal is Divine Life which we wish to create here,
life of the Spirit fulfilled on earth,
life accomplishing its own spiritual transformation even here on earth in conditions of material universe—)"
314.3)"(—That cannot be unless the body too undergoes a transformation, unless its action & functioning attain to a supreme capacity & perfection which is possible to it or which can be made possible—)
(Q—Mother, how can the functioning of body “attain to a supreme capacity”?)"
Let us go through the सप्त-चतुष्टय (Seven Quartets) sadhana of #SriAurobindo, a spiritual program that was revealed to Him & the practice of which was meticulously recorded by Him in Pondicherry.
303.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's 'Thoughts & Glimpses')
(—Pain and grief are Nature’s reminder to the soul that the pleasure it enjoys is only a feeble hint of the real delight of existence—)"
303.2)"(—In each pain & torture of our being is the secret of a flame of rapture compared with which our greatest pleasures are only as dim flickerings.
It is this secret which forms the attraction for the soul of the great ordeals..of life which the nervous mind in us..abhors—)"
303.3)"..Quite naturally we ask ourselves what this secret is, towards which pain leads us.
For a superficial and imperfect understanding, one could believe that it is pain which the soul is seeking.
Nothing of the kind.."
302.1)"(As an exception, Mother gave this talk on a Thursday evening, before the collective meditation)
Before the meditation this evening I'm going to say a few words to you, b/c several people have asked me the difference b/w collective meditation & an individual meditation.."
302.2)"..Individual meditation—I have already explained to you many times the different kinds.. & I won’t begin to speak to you about that again.
But collective meditations have been practised in all ages for different reasons, in different ways & with different motives.."
302.3)"..What may be called a collective meditation is a group of people who gather together for a definite purpose; for example, in all ages it has been a practice to gather for prayers.
Naturally in the Churches, it is a sort of collective meditation.."
297.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's 'Thoughts & Glimpses')
(—God cannot cease from leaning down towards Nature, nor man from aspiring-towards the Godhead..
When they seem to turn from each other, it is to recoil for a more intimate meeting—)"
297.2)"(—In man nature of the world becomes again self-conscious so that it may take the greater leap towards its Enjoyer.
This is the Enjoyer whom unknowingly it possesses, whom life and sensation possessing deny and denying seek—)"
297.3)"(—Possession in oneness and not loss in oneness is the secret.
God and Man, World and Beyond-world become one when they know each other.
Their division is the cause of ignorance as ignorance is the cause of suffering—)"