Every Single Minute

Change is painful. Giving up past baggage is never easy. But as in business so in sadhana, it’s the only way to a rebirth. You can’t soar like an eagle unless you have wind beneath your wings. And you can’t have wind beneath your wings if you are weighed down by past memories, mistakes and more... The eagle has the longest life span among birds. It can live up to 70 years. But to reach this age, it must take some hard decisions. In its 40s, the eagle’s long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food. Its long and sharp beak becomes bent. It’s ageing and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, stick to the chest making it difficult for the eagle to fly. Then, the eagle is left with only two options - die or go through a painful process of change that lasts 150 days. The process requires that the eagle fly to a mountain top to make a nest. There it knocks its beak against a rock till it fall out. After that, the eagle will wait for its beak to grow back and then u...

Atom and molecule in their unseen planButtress an edifice of strange onenessCrystal and plant, insect and beast and manMan on whom the World-unity shall seize. - Sri Aurobindo All members of an ecological community are interconnected in a vast and intricate network of relationship, the web of life. Interdependence, the mutual interdependence of all life process on one another is the nature of all ecological relationship. The behaviour of every living member of the eco-system depends on the behaviours of many others. The success of the whole community depends on the success of its individual members, while the success of each member depends on the success of the community as a whole. - Fritjof CapraPhysicist and Author Earth knows no desolation. She smells regeneration in the moist breath of decay. - George Meredith Drowned trees can take a century to decay... during that period, a web of interacting species centers on them which is why biologists call them “nurse logs”... while nurse l...

It is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers. The more solitary I am the more affection I have for them…. Solitude and silence teach me to love my brothers for what they are, not for what they say. (Thomas Merton) The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention.... A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words. (Rachel Naomi Reben) I think the first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to gods who knows how to be silent, even though he is in the right. (Cato the Elder)

Work for Mother is a field of greater yogic effectiveness than meditation. Mother says one can make a greater progress in yoga by doing the work in the right spirit than by meditating. By right spirit Mother means taking interest in the work that comes to us instead of seeking to do the work one likes. It looks simple, but this is one of the most difficult disciplines in any yoga. A boy who loves cricket can agree to stop playing it during study period and sit at his table for hours preparing for the examination. He unbends himself from play and bends his energies to work. This is to do one’s duty. This is admirable. By the above discipline Mother wants this boy to derive the same joy in doing his lessons as he derives from cricket playing. Normally that capacity is not within the reach of the boy. At least he can suppress his enthusiasm for cricket, disregard his dislike for study and do his duty. This way he gives his energies to duty. This is good and Mother approves of it. Now what...

The ideas of Mother and Sri Aurobindo are revolutionary in the extreme. From the beginning neither of them set great store by formal education that leads to a degree. Sri Aurobindo felt that if one learns one subject with a certain thoroughness, his education will be complete and he has the essential equipment to acquire any other subject by himself. He did feel that history and biographies are great educators. The school they founded in the Ashram for the children of the devotees teaches English and French and awards no degree at the completion of the higher level course, a procedure not usually followed anywhere. Mother’s view on education, especially on the capacity of the human mind, is perhaps unique. She feels any man can do anything, if he chooses. She does not see any inherent limitation in the mental capacity. It is known that one’s intelligence does not increase during one’s life-time. What varies is its extent of application or the experience it draws upon. But Mother says t...