The Divine Love only can redeem.
The Divine Love It will not become operative, it will not act unless we are willing to surrender our humanity, its obscurity and ignorance, its animal life, its ego‑bound existence. The new life cannot be realised within the human framework. For the aspirant to the divine life, it is very important to understand that nothing in him must hanker even in the least degree after the human existence. He must utterly renounce the human world, if to live the divine life be his intention. One who is fortunate to have a glimpse of the divine life, its peace and joy, its beauty and harmony, its vast unity, its abiding sense of infinity, the concreteness of eternity and above all, the fulfilling experience of the divine Presence, feel no difficulty at all in giving up the human existence. But for most, the fascination of the human love and relation seems to be the insuperable difficulty. A thousand times deceived and duped, tortured and humiliated, torn to shreds and massacred, love seems to survive in the human breast. Be it blessed. For the human love, though disfigured and made ugly and brutal beyond recognition, has its origin in the divine love. It is only the divine love that can redeem it and release it from its dreadful limitations. It is only the true divine love descending from the transcendental heights that can transform matter progressively. It descends if there is an exclusive call to the Divine. In simple words, all our love must be turned exclusively to the Divine and only then there can be a transforming response from Above.
Our whole being must be unified in a single call for the Divine. The Divine must become the sole reality by the breaking down of all veils and barriers. In every being and thing we meet the one limitless Person, the Friend and the Beloved, the Mother and the Source. Our heart, mind, body and soul join in a single yearning for the constant flow of love that streams from Anandamayi, the Mother of Love and Felicity. When She descends, then matter at her contact will gradually undergo the divine transformation.
May we live for Thee alone, O Divine Mother
Niranjan Guha Roy 1985
The Mother and Sri Aurobindo speak of a divine life and divine body
In my early youth, I became aware of the tremendous suffering of the human race. I observed that every one suffered big or small, rich or poor, young or old, even the very best had some hidden cancer and I used to wonder and pray how this suffering could be alleviated, eliminated. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo have given the answer. The human consciousness must be sublimated, transformed and replaced by the spiritual and divine consciousness. The suffering is an inseparable intrinsic attribute and substance of the normal human consciousness. That is to say, as long as we are human with the human consciousness, the suffering is inevitable. True happiness, delight, ananda is an attribute, an intrinsic dynamic principle and substance of the spiritual and Divine Consciousness. Unconditional, unalloyed, ever present, luminous joy is inherent in the spiritual and divine consciousness, its very substance. It is only by the discovery of the Divine Consciousness and by the gradual and increasing union with the Divine that we become ultimately free from suffering once for all. The suffering is the inevitable result and consequence of all our inferior human attributes, qualities and actions and of unillumined movements of mental and vital consciousness. Desires, search and satisfaction of sensual pleasures, attachment to sex, greed, jealousy, ambition, search for power, position and name, falsehood, self assertion, anger, cruelty, violence, all these elements are natural attributes of the human consciousness and they cannot be eliminated or suppressed, controlled by the mental vital effort alone. Even by high spiritual powers, high spiritual consciousness, they are refIned, controlled but not eliminated. Only the Grace of the Mother Divine, the supramental consciousness, the Divine Consciousness, gnosis has the absolute power of transmuting them into its own substance of force, delight and consciousness, its inalienable unity and oneness. Man must become divine in order to be entirely free from the mental, vital consciousness and its natural attributes and qualities. That means, to be entirely divine, his mind, life and the body too must be divinised. Even if we attain spiritual peace and calm and other higher realizations our body remains subject to pain, thirst, hunger, disease, decomposition and death. Even in the Vedas, we find recorded such lamentations. So, to be truly happy, we must have a body free from pain, thirst and hunger, fatigue and disease, degeneration and if possible death, at least, accidental death, that is to say forced or unwilling exit from life. Death too must become a willful act of the soul, not imposed on us. It is here that the yoga of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo is fundamentally different from the traditional spirituality in India and elsewhere. Just because nobody could find a real way of divinising mind, life and especially the body, the handy solution of illusionism was adopted, which completely paralyzed life and eventually all spiritual endeavour. To be really happy, we must have a divine body, transformed radically in its form and function, in its very substance and constitution. Up till now some yogas have attempted to achieve the physical immortality. In ancient Egypt the attempt was made over thousands of years to find the secret of physical immortality, which they achieved but in a sad way, through mummifcation of dead bodies. In Greece, there was an attempt to find physical perfection and beauty and harmony. In ancient China, Japan, there have been various attempts of prolonging the life of the body through physical and spiritual means, specially by bringing a universal calm and tranquility and peace in their mind, life and body. Though man has always dreamed of an immortal glorious body, in actual practice in all these attempts, we find that there is no conception of transforming the actual body and its functionings, but only an attempt of prolonging the life of this body as it is, probably with a little refining of its actions, reactions and functions. The Mother and Sri Aurobindo tell us that if we can get in contact with the divine consciousness beyond mind, the supramental Truth Consciousness and open ourselves to the supramental Divine Shakti, then She will gradually transform our mind, life and finally the body into a divine mind, a divine life and a divine body. Through much experience it has been found that the body of an aspirant, though animal in its character and origin, can open and receive the Divine Shakti far more easily and with greater positive consequences and effectivity than the mind and the vital part in an ordinary man can do. Since we are primarily embodied souls, that is to say, our soul, mind consciousness, vital consciousness are expressed or manifested through the body, the body itself is the expression of the soul and the mental and the vital consciousness in evolution. So, if we can open the body directly to the infuence and power of the Divine Consciousness, the body will necessarily be transformed though gradually and extremely slowly by the descent of the higher consciousness into the body. The mental and the vital powers and faculties can be considered as attributes of the present body and if the transforming Divine Shakti comes in the body, they too will be necessarily transformed. The mental and the vital consciousness in man being nearer to the subtle substance of the Divine Consciousness can and will undergo a relatively quick transformation. The body though it is more receptive has been built on such a solid and stable basis, that transformation may take centuries. Though once started the process will lead to the final result inevitably, if that be the intention and destiny of the individual soul. The problem here is two-fold, first and foremost, to prepare the body and the consciousness in such a way as one would be able to live long enough to get in touch with the supramental Divine Shakti. The second part of the problem is the natural consequence of the spiritual realization. Once we are in contact with the supramental Divine Shakti and once Her Power, Force, Light and Consciousness are pouring down into the body, how best to collaborate with the supramental transforming Power is a vital problem, for the simple reason that this has not been done before and many attempts will have to be made till a general line of development and evolution is clearly seen. But this second problem, that is to say, transformation of this present body into the divine body is not our principal preoccupation for the moment, at least for the majority. Our problem is how to prepare the body, how to make it more and more receptive without risk and danger, immune and free from unpleasant even disastrous consequences. How to prolong the life in good, strong and healthy condition, at least so long as required for getting in contact with the supramental divine Shakti, for, once the contact is established the first indispensable phase of the great journey, the ascent to Truth will be accomplished. It is this first phase which is of utmost importance to us as a community of spiritual seekers. We will discover that if we are sincere in our aspiration, the Power will begin to work perceptively in our body from the very first day we turn towards the Divine Mother. The Power is our teacher, guide and master. The supreme Shakti, the Mother Divine will take us step by step, each one towards the great fulfllment and all She requires from us is an illumined obedience, a conscious collaboration and a joyful confident surrender to the Divine Force and Her working.
Niranjan Guha Roy 1967
The human consciousness and the spiritual consciousness
In a state of meditation, we become conscious of the Divine in all, beyond all, in the normal state of consciousness, we are very much human and see everything in a human way. There is as if a thick covering on it through which no light can come in. At times, everything becomes divine but the experience does not last for long. When we see the Brahman in all and everywhere, then there is no problem. We are uplifted into a world where there is no problem at all. It is a world of total harmony and beauty. All is truly divine eternally. The disguise of forms falls away. We see the players in their costumes for the drama. It is so strange and unfamiliar to the human consciousness that the physical mind is unable to accept it as real. The difference between the two states of consciousness is so great that they seem to have no connection or bridge between them. There is no transition like white becoming gradually blue or red. These two states can alternate for years and years, sometimes one can be stronger than the other.
There is another great difficulty. When one lives in the divine consciousness, one cannot not really, fully act in the divine way for the physical mind of other people would never understand it. Also, when one lives in the physical consciousness, one cannot act in the divine way. It would be an imitation, ineffective, not genuine. With the emergence of the psychic being, most of the violence and folly of the untransformed human nature could be avoided but as long as the physical consciousness is not wholly transformed, there is a double nature - sometimes divine, at other times undivine, even antidivine. As the Divine consciousness transforms the physical consciousness, as one acquires more and more the divine nature, one has to face a new problem. How to live and act in a world which is not conscious of the Divine. Unless one lives in the divine consciousness, one cannot truly recognise another person living in the divine consciousness. Human beings generally cannot tolerate anyone claiming to live in a higher consciousness. History is a faithful witness of this tragic human feature. Christs big and small have most often been burnt and crucified in all countries throughout the ages. Earth is not yet quite a safe place for the divine beings.
The psychic being is easily covered up with the diabolic upsurge of all the dirt and filth accumulated over ages. Yet if one lives in the Divine consciousness even for a moment, one realises how absurd and distorted, twisted and dangerously perverted is the human point of view. The spiritual Sun emanates constantly the light, power , ananda, peace and harmony and the riches of the divine consciousness. It is partial to none, rejects no one, spreads Its Light equally on everyone. It all depends on our receptivity. The more we receive , the closer we move to oneness, light and immortality. The single purpose is to create a divine race. The more one is receptive, the more he is likely to become a spiritual being.
The Divine is not far or near according to the ordinary human standards. We can live constantly in His gracious presence. It all depends how far we are willing to give up our ego and its incurable blindness. When we live with the Divine, we live in a different world. There are no problems whatsoever. The Divine alone is real. He lives and acts in numberless bodies. It is His play, His manifestation -: this hairy caterpillar, that majestic swan, this lovely horse, that monstrous tyrant, this bird-loving saint, this blind woman, that murdered child, this pure white lotus are sketches from His unfathomable mysterious Lila. For Him there is no birth nor death, no going or coming. A single infinite Being, incalculably numerous, ever changing, ever unfolding its hidden marvellous contents through eternity. When the golden lid over the human ignorant mind is removed, then we are admitted into this ineffable Splendour.
Only the Divine Mother can do it if our aspiration is sincere and our surrender perfect.
Om Sri Aurobindo, Om Douce Mère.
*******
Niranjan Guha Roy
The divine will is the absolute law of divine love based on the visionof the supreme Reality, the Lord, the Mother
The highest wisdom from all points of view is to give oneself to the divine will. Because after all, it is the divine will which is being accomplished at every moment through apparent collaboration, non-collaboration, resistance and revolt. What is this divine will? It is the absolute law of love based on the vision of the indivisible supreme divine Reality, the Being, the Lord, the Mother, the Eternal, where one sees nothing but the Divine in everything and the substance of everything, where there is no moment except of the Divine, where there is no other aim than the enjoyment of the felicity and love. How can we be certain of this law of love, the divine will? Unless we have become identified with the Divine entirely, exclusively, it is difficult to perceive and realize this law in action. So the ultimate wisdom is to call upon the divine will, His law of love, His sacrifice of Oneness to take possession of us entirely, to do its work without consent and collaboration or in spite of them and even against their refusal and resistance. If our call is sincere the law of love is accomplished however poor might be the instrumental being. By our passivity to the law we can allow it to be fulfilled.
As we become more and more open to the divine reality our participation in this law of love becomes more and more active, dynamic and effective. In the first stages even if we do not feel the love so much there can be a peace of infinity which is invariable, impartial, equal and works for the highest good for all the beings, and as our contact with the divine reality increases and as we become more and more possessed by the divine reality and identified with it, the law of love becomes operative and effective and all embracing. We need not bother about the worthiness of any being or beings to receive and respond to this law of love - according to the development of the beings and their response to this highest Love there will be automatically, spontaneously, inevitably formation of a collectivity or groups like the galaxies around each divine inspiration and the blossoming would be spontaneous, everything directed by, presided over by the Lord of sacrifice of love, by the Divine Mother Herself through Her active Presence in all things and beings and beyond.
*****
Niranjan Guha Roy
The witness in us, thoughts and imagination
More and more I see that by giving ourselves entirely to the Divine, all our personal problems - problems of the collective life, even the problems of the world - are practically solved, for by our act of surrender we become aware of the Divine, we become aware of our soul and its line of work and development, how it can take part in the divine plan, in the world plan. In our mind, our thoughts have different worlds. By careful observation we can gradually separate and classify the thoughts. We may say there are purely bodily thoughts, then vital thoughts, then mental thoughts from mind regions, then soul thoughts or psychic thoughts: but these too are often mixed and cannot be put in a clear-cut way in one class or another. The aspiration, which is like a wordless need for something higher, truer, durable, eternal, comes from the soul. The speculative mind trying to pierce the mystery of existence through thought process can also become an aspiration. The impulses, feelings which seek a more refined pleasure or delight or search for a durable love can be the beginning of a true vital aspiration. The body itself, in a mute way groping and longing for a perfect and painless existence, can participate in the aspiration. The mind can watch as a witness over all the activities going on in it. This separation of the witness, the observer, is a very important step in this yoga. When we discover the true witness, self, in the mind, we find that it is truly impartial, but has a deep view of things and is not attached to our personal way of thinking. It is a true outsider in the sense that it cannot become accomplice of our thoughts. It is the representative of the Divine in our mind. We have to become more and more quiet and detached in order to disengage it and distinguish it from the flux of thoughts. What you call fantasy or imagination or dreaming comes from different regions. For instance, a chocolate mountain is a vital imagination, or a push-button organisation is a mental imagination, peace and harmony among the nations is a psychic imagination. The nearer we come to the soul and its perception, the truer are the images, fantasies and dreams. Many of the imaginations could be a direct or slightly veiled and indirect perception and feeling of some reality in this world or in other subtle worlds. Morbid people have an unconscious access to many unpleasant and dangerous and ugly ranges of consciousness in the vital worlds. Optimists are forward-looking people - they live in tomorrow in a better world. To be an optimist is a sign of wisdom. The spiritual optimism comes from a true and deep perception of our deliverance in the Divine, in His Beauty, Joy and Harmony. So, all you have to watch is: that you do not harbor any unhelpful, sad, gloomy, tragic, dangerous and destructive imaginations. Instead, you should always imagine happy, beautiful, harmonious, helpful thoughts. They have a tremendous power of creation. The dreamers create the new world. Sri Aurobindo says something like this” God dreams and Time realizes His dreams.” So let us find our soul which is always one with the divine, then dream. In any case, we will not be able to do anything else for we will be constantly dreaming God’s own dream. God is never unhappy. Tragedy is the lot of the broken pot, not of the potter. We must cease to be the pot and become one with the Creator and His marvelous rapture.
********
N.Guha Roy 1978
Remembering the Divine in all our actions
Our effort must be to remember the Divine at all times, in all circumstances in action and at every waking moment of our life. Then in course of time the remembrance will gradually extend in our sleep as well. But that would take a very long time. If we succeed in remembering the Mother during any action we may be doing we would feel a general weakening of all resistance to the Divine in the mind, especially the vital and then the body consciousness. This will permit a better receptivity of the Mother's Force from above and a better and stronger inner awakening of the soul. The psychic being will come out from behind the veil and be more prominent in our active consciousness. Those who have in any way accepted Sri Aurobindo and the Mother as their spiritual Guides and Teachers are certainly more evolved beings than the common man.
What is the greatest difficulty on the way to our realization of the Divine? We all know more or less what is demanded from us by the yoga, what we must do to follow the yoga, we all know more or less our spiritual obligations and duties and conditions laid down by the yoga. What prevents us from achieving our aim and goal is not so much our incapacity but our unwillingness to leave behind the familiar ways and habits. In short, especially the vital refuses to give up its favorite haunts . Now in the process of yoga we come to a serious point. The soul, the psychic being inside gets stronger and brighter by the influx of the Mother Force from above, now powerfully active in the earth atmosphere but the outer physical being refuses to budge an inch, like the obstinate donkey who says, "tempt me with as many carrots as your want but I won't give up my favorite field of thistles." Well something has to give in, either the divine power must withdraw and the psychic stop growing or the donkey must move forward, otherwise an explosion is inevitable. And that is happening in everyone without exception under the pressure of the supramental consciousness dominating the earth evolution. Either give in to the Divine or disappear, get blown up, lose the balance . This is the inevitable process of the change-over from the human to the divine consciousness. Of course, it is not possible to change our habits overnight, but if a good beginning is made, not just a pious unfulfilled resolution to follow the Divine, then one is more or less safe and enjoys the protection of the Mother who will give us strength and protect us on the upward way. She will change our weakness into strength and power if only we wish to belong to Her in all sincerity. She will take out all the painful spines in our flesh, one by one and release us into Her light, peace, joy and beauty.
To conclude, it is for our own safety on the road that we should do what we know as the right and the best thing to be done, not to postpone it indefinitely but set our teeth and with all our courage, take the decisive step forward to belong truly to the Mother. This is what She expects from us and this is what will make Her happy in our relation with Her. We must not keep Her waiting.
Om Douce Mère, help me to overcome my obstinate resistance.
Om Sri Aurobindo, our kind and benevolent Teacher, be with us always.
*****
N.Guha Roy
Paintings - Aspects of the Mother Divine
Fierce for the dark hypocrisy , lies and falsehood
Passionate protecting mother for the sincere aspirants to the Light
She is Herself the symbol of absolute love and dedication to the Supreme.
She is the Fire burning, purifying, transforming the argile into gold
******
Ananda - Mother of FelicityHer smile, Her gaze, the music of Her presence
Penetrate the soul in a flow of benedictions.
Luminous Felicity,
She emanates a magnetic grace like the fragance of a flower
An eternal unending Felicity binds us all in Her embrace
******
The Mother of Divine Love
Her love is like subtle delicate perfume purifying our house of life,
A charming melody turning softly around our soul.
She pours Her love like a sacred rain
Tansforming slowly the arid earth in a garden of roses.
**********
Gentleness , tenderness , compassion incarnate.
She fills our hearts with her appeasing sweetness
And heals all our wounds with her smile.
In our immortal soul, we discover the infinite sweetness
Of the smile of the Divine Mother
*****
Divine willThe supreme Force , always at work
She directs in detail the evolution of the earth.
*****
Sincerity, simplicity, humility incarnate
This is our Douce Mère
She is incredibly humble, supremely simple, accessible
Clear as the crystal. She is our infaillible friend.
***********
Only the supramental force can gradually create a new divinised matter.
The yoga of Sri Aurobindo is extremely difficult, impossible by one’s own effort alone.
Unless we really aspire to be free from the iron grip of the lower nature anddesperately want to leave behind our animal humanity and rise to divinity, nothing much happens, we remain tied to ignorance and suffering.
The divine life cannot be imposed on anyone who is not ready for the evolutionary mutation, whose psyche is not sufficiently formed.
The divine life means complete freedom from desire, greed and passion, a life entirely consecrated to the supreme Lord, to His Shakti and Will, to be shaped, remade, animated and moved by the Divine Mother alone.
We become aware of the Divine, His infinity, His eternity, His light and bliss.
All the beings, things, events and happenings and all the worlds and universes are His own manifestation, gradual unfolding of His hidden splendour.
By His Grace, when we emerge into light, live in His marvellous presence we realise that we have no real existence by ourselves apart from Him. We are only a portion, a spark of His sun, an instrument for His play.
But this is only half the story. Our soul now free is given to the Divine.
Our physical being created through long biological evolution remains anchored to the soil of the earth by heavy gravitational pull of matter.
Inwardly we are illumined, detached, tranquil, unaffected by lower nature. Mind is full of Light, sees the Divine everywhere, even the vital being has lost its turbulence and become a faithful docile instrument. But the body is hardly different from any other body, dull and heavy, subject to the bio-chemical process, beyond our effective control, subject to animal reactions, disease, decay and final disintegration.
The cells of the body function meticulously, automatically driven by an inconscient power with utmost precision in a huge complex system.
Unless this inherent nature-power in the body cells is radically transformed by a superior Force descending from the highest spiritual planes above, we will remain imprisoned, a conscious soul in a death-bound body.
Only the supramental force can gradually create a new divinised matter.
And this supramental force is no other than the supramental Mahashakti.
No human effort or ambition can divinise matter, only the Divine Mother.
****
N.Guha Roy
Paintings - The Divine Mother of Compassion
Discover in your immortal soul
The infinite sweetness of the smiling Mother
Who will tranform your existence into bliss.
Her tenderness simply takes away all suffering
And illumines our consciousness
An absolute power, a goodness healing all wounds
A peace appeasing all tempest.
A love divine not yet known on earth is at work
To create a New World
The force and healing power of Compassion
The divine Grace erases , purifies and allows the spiritual new birth
the unfathomable Mystery is nothing else
Than the infinite heart of the all healing Love
Appeasing,, liberating of the Divine Mother.
N.Guha Roy
Spiritual Unity-Let us concentrate on the Divine and allow Him to do his work in us and shape us in his vision into beautiful instruments to play his sonatas, concertos and symphonies.
As I am entering more and more in the true consciousness, becoming more and more aware of the Divine, more and more I am moving away from the human affairs and the human world. Our life and action are natural expressions of our state of consciousness. An ant lives the life of an ant. A sparrow builds its nest without learning how to do it from anybody. In short, man cannot be anything but man as long as he lives in the mental, vital consciousness. Of course, there are gradations within the human consciousness - from the animal man to the enlightened man, but the fundamental character of man, the mental being remains unaltered. He lives in duality, in division and a separatist consciousness. Good and bad, ugly and beautiful, kind and cruel, selfish and unselfish, life and death, etc., ad infinitum. The very substance of mind is based on division and its highest effort is to construct a unity and oneness. By its very nature, it is impossible for mind to achieve any unity. Whereas in the spiritual consciousness, Oneness, indivisible Oneness, the One who is All, the all-containing, all-pervading Spirit, is the very substance of the consciousness. When you live in the spiritual consciousness there is no conflict, no division, but a natural Oneness, an infinite Presence manifested in countless forms and bodies. Man's consciousness by its very nature is conflictual - a constant clash of interests on a thousand levels, mental, vital, material, cultural, religious, political, etc., with others and within himself. So man, unless he rises to a spiritual consciousness will always suffer the consequences of his limited and divided consciousness. There is only one solution to all the problems individual and collective - to rise to a luminous consciousness above the mind. Our only work is to establish in ourselves the spiritual consciousness as solidly, as totally as possible. As more and more souls enter the spiritual life and try to realise the great Ideal set before us by the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, a new world emerges, governed by unity and harmony and divine love. This new world will have a purifying, tranquilizing effect on the human world. So if we are truly concerned with the well-being of humanity, then, we ourselves must embody the unitary divine consciousness and manifest it through peace and harmony and divine love. In other words, if we want to save the world, then we must practice the yoga sincerely and intensely in our life. To work for saving an untransformed humanity cannot be a wise undertaking. With the descending light of the Sspramental consciousness, the earth will be purified. What cannot change will gradually disappear. That portion of humanity which will be able to receive and assimilate the Light, will be gradually transformed.
Let us concentrate on the Divine and allow Him to do his work in us and shape us in his vision into beautiful instruments to play his sonatas, concertos and symphonies.
1991 N Guha Roy
