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 1) On the Lives of the Mother and #SriAurobindo

"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

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..

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—)"

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.

The Quartets form the basis of the Yoga of self-perfection.
#InternationalDayOfYoga 1) शान्तिचतुष्टयं (The Quartet of Peace)

#SriAurobindo describes it thus:
समता शान्तिः सुखं हास्यमिति शान्तिचतुष्टयं

(Equality, Peace, Absence of Grief, Active Cheerfulness are the 4 elements of the Quartet of Peace)

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—)"

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.."

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—)"

295.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's 'Thoughts & Glimpses')

(—In a word, godhead; to remake ourselves in the divine image—)" 295.2)"(—Not to go on..repeating what man has already done is our work, but to arrive at new realisations & undreamed-of masteries.
Time-soul-world are given us for..field,
vision-hope-creative imagination stand for..prompters,
will-thought-labor are..all-effective instruments—)"

294.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's 'Thoughts & Glimpses')

(—Impossibility is only a sum of greater unrealised possibles. It veils an advanced state and a yet unaccomplished journey—)" 294.2)"(—If thou wouldst have humanity advance, buffet all preconceived ideas.
Thought thus smitten awakes and becomes creative.
Otherwise it rests in a mechanical repetition and mistakes that for its right activity—)"

252.1)"(During the meditation following this conversation, "the 1st descent of Supramental Light-Force in earth-atmosphere" took place)

(Mother starts reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.4,"The Sacrifice, the Triune Path & the Lord of the Sacrifice").." 252.2)"(—The law of sacrifice is the common divine action that was thrown out into the world in its beginning as a symbol of the solidarity of the universe—)

(Q—Sweet Mother, what does the "sacrifice to the Divine" mean?)
It is the word the Gita uses for self-giving.."

241.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.2, "Self-Consecration")

(—The difficulty of the task has led naturally to the pursuit of easy and trenchant solutions.. to separate the life of the world from the inner life—)" 241.2)"(Q—I haven't understood this:
"The powers of this world & their actual activities, it is felt, either don't belong to God at all or are for some obscure & puzzling cause, Maya or another, a dark contradiction of divine Truth")
It's a certain attitude which produces this.."

240.1)"(Mother starts reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.2, "Self-Consecration")

(—In whatever way the call comes, there must be a decision of the mind and the will and, as its result, a complete and effective self-consecration—)" 240.2)"(Q—One can make an offering of oneself only when one reaches quite a high level, but when one is leading a more or less unconscious life, the self-giving becomes more or less mental.. & it isn't effective.
What should one do?
Can one begin from beginning by self-giving?)"

239.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.1, "The Four Aids")

(—Time presents itself to human effort as an enemy or a friend, as a resistance, a medium or an instrument.
But always it is really the instrument of the soul—)" 239.2)"(Question—How is Time a friend?)
It depends on how you look at it. Everything depends on the relation you have with it.
If you take it as a friend, it becomes a friend. If you consider it as an enemy, it becomes your enemy.."

238.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.1, "The Four Aids")

(—The Sadhaka of the integral Yoga will not be satisfied until he has included all other names and forms of Deity in his own conception—)" 238.2)"(X—I did not understand this)
Why? It says what it means. What is it that you don't understand there?..

(X—I don't understand the meaning)
(Silence)
But my child... You are told: there is only one reality & all that is is only a multiple expression of a single reality.."

236.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.1, "The Four Aids")

(—Our sense of personal effort & aspiration comes from the attempt of egoistic mind to identify itself in a wrong & imperfect way with the workings of the divine Force—)" 236.2)"(X—Mother, I don't understand this)
What is it that you do not understand? The sentence or the idea?

(X—The idea, Mother.)
It can be put in very familiar terms.."

234.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.1, "The Four Aids")

(—The word within may be the utterance of the inmost soul in us which is always open to the Divine or it may be the word of the secret & universal Teacher (in the heart)—)" 234.2)"(Question—Why are they different, the Divine and the universal Teacher?)
The universal Teacher is only an aspect of the Divine, you see. The Divine contains all the possible activities; the Teacher is only one activity, the One who teaches.."

233.1)"(Mother starts reading from #SriAurobindo's "The Synthesis of Yoga", Pt.1 Ch.1, "The Four Aids")

(—Yoga-Siddhi, the perfection that comes from the practice of Yoga, can be best attained by the combined working of 4 great instruments:
- śāstra
- utsāha
- guru
- kāla—)" 233.2)"(Question—Sweet Mother, here: "Last comes the instrumentality of Time, Kāla; for in all things there is a cycle of their action and a period of the divine movement...." What is this period of the divine movement?)

For each thing it is different.."

232.1)"(Mother continues reading from "The Great Secret" - Monologue of the Unknown Man)

(—The present human consciousness will be replaced by a new consciousness, no longer mental but supramental..And this consciousness will give birth to a higher race, superhuman and divine—)" 232.2)"..When is it going to happen, eh? There. That's the question I was waiting for.

(To a child) What did you want to ask?
(X—What you said just now)

You see, I know how to read thoughts.
And so, if I were to say that it depends upon you?.."

231.1)"(Mother continues reading from "The Great Secret")

I had the intention of leaving out the last speeches & going straight to the answer of the Unknown Man..b/c..it seemed to me that it didn't give rise to enough questions to justify the time we would spend in reading it.." 231.2)"..But it happens that, for this one, "The Scientist", someone who, by the way, is not here, has urgently asked two questions which seem interesting to me.
So I shall read "The Scientist" today, and next week we shall directly take up "The Unknown Man".."

228.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's Lights on Yoga, Ch.4, "Work")

(—Work can be of two kinds:
the work that is a field of experience used for the Sadhana, for a progressive harmonisation & transformation...
& work that is a realised expression of the Divine—)" 228.2)"(—But the time for the latter can be only when the Realisation has been fully brought down into the earth-consc.; till then all work must be a field of endeavour & a school of experience—)

(X—"All work" is "a school of exp."?)
Yes..You don't understand?

(X—No, Mother).."

227.1)"(Mother continues reading from #SriAurobindo's Lights on Yoga, Ch.4, "Work")

(—One must have the same consciousness in inner experience and outward action and make both full of the Mother—)" 227.2)"(Question—Sweet Mother, when someone wants to do some work, is it better that you choose the work for him or that he chooses it himself?)
This depends on the point of view one takes.."