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Hieronder vind je meer dan 500 Spiritmails. Deze zijn geschreven door Sri Karmayogi en zijn praktisch geschreven artikelen over de invloed van Spirit in het dagelijks leven. Klik op de links hieronder om de Spiritmail te lezen. 1ste Spiritmail - Spirit is Infectious...

Self-Respect By Karmayogi The more prosperous the nation, the greater is the self-respect of the Individual. In poorer nations, the population is ignorant, illiterate, docile, submissive, and abject. People do not value themselves as something to be counted upon. Poor...

Discovering God By Karmayogi As you are inside, so you are outside. This is a truism of life. God is Infinite and Eternal, perhaps a ZERO. We are the finite. What we discover as God is not God, but what appears as God to us. The Gita says that one can become anything...

M Visveswaraiah Saturday January 8 2005 08:14 IST By Karmayogi If the builders of the nation are to be listed, Viswesvaraiah will figure in any list, however short-listed it is. He was an eminent administrator who became an eminent Indian. By training, he was a civil...

The Secret of the Veda Thursday July 21 2005 09:48 IST By Karmayogi This is the title of Sri Aurobindos book on the Vedas. The most popular of Sri Aurobindos books, not the most important, is Essays on the Gita. Among the Western disciples, the book The Human Cycle...

The Power of Low Consciousness By Karmayogi I have referred to a water diviner more than once. As he had a versatile personality with many facets, each time I dwell on one of them. The endowment he had was a subconscious sensation. His subconscious responded to a...

Importance of Infinity By Karmayogi The mathematics teacher asked his students what would be the result of 7 divided by 7. The class shouted 'one'. He went on asking them, 'what is 1000/1000, 100,000/100,000?' The class answered, 'one'....

The Other Side of Idealism Monday January 10 2005 09:10 IST By Karmayogi The days of freedom fight had in the atmosphere idealism of all types. Congress workers took after the Mahatma, gave up the shirt and took to an angavastram. Some merely used a towel. Stalwarts...

Obedience vs. Punctuality Saturday July 23 2005 09:40 IST By Karmayogi Punctuality is a value; obedience is a behaviour. There are schools that teach a behaviour as a value and others that teach a value as a behaviour. Boys consistently securing first class or A+ from...

Never-say-die, that's their spirit By Karmayogi CHENNAI: ‘‘We will live, we will demonstrate it.''  There is nothing unusual about this slogan unless you see 22-year-old Saktivel, who lost his legs in an accident, use his hands to walk...

The Meaningfulness of the Medium By Karmayogi What happens on its own is an act of God - Grace choosing to act in our lives. It is an ideal of the tradition. For the human nature that is dynamic and full of urges, to wait for events to overcome its course is simply...

The March of Time Tuesday January 11 2005 07:51 IST By Karmayogi Time never stops. It is relentless. Its march is called the progress of civilisation. Century after century, decade after decade, progress continues. Thus the mere existence of Man becomes history. His...

The Invisible Spiritual Infrastructure in Human Personality Karmayogi Often low profile opposition political parties are surprised by a landslide victory in elections. They are generally unaware of the extent of the good will of political support they were creating...

I Can Accept what I Understand By Karmayogi An important issue came up between friends. One was an industrialist and junior. The other was an elderly retired teacher. The teacher had taken a radical decision in his life. The industrialist, being bound to him by...

  The Ideal Teacher By Karmayogi Having completed two years of Ph.D. in one of the most famous American universities, a young man returned to Calcutta where he had been brought up from birth. He is a Tamilian whose parents are sophisticated and idealistic. On seeing...

Seminars Wednesday January 12 2005 08:27 IST By Karmayogi Many people are genuinely sorry about wasteful seminars at the national and international levels. Surely there is more than a grain of truth in it. It is often treated as an academic holiday. The success of a...

The Dominant and the Submissive Karmayogi The submissive daughter-in-law of earlier decades can be seen as the tyrannised mother-in-law of the modern era. The submissive continues to be submissive even when conditions change. Among partners, friends, spouses, and...

Success is Determined, Organised Effort By Karmayogi When democracy was ushered into national life, a great many hearts aspired for the crown. When aspiration rises as ambition, it still retains the fire. It is fire that knows no dying. There are others who have not...

Discovery of Blood Circulation By Karmayogi Harvey's discovery that blood circulates is a landmark in the history of medical knowledge. Harvey explained that the idea occurred to him because he considered the human body as a micro-unit of the universe. He saw the...

The power of keeping a secret Thursday January 13 2005 08:57 IST By Karmayogi Secrets are the secrets of success. Some people usually keep them. They become successful in life and conscience keepers of friends. Others usually do not keep secrets. They are the human...

Flat Dullness, Interest and Liveliness A work can be done at the above three levels. Flat dull work needs no explanation especially where there is no accountability. A visa application is pending for five years as there is no follow up from the applicant or no...

Business Week on India By Karmayogi The Britisher came to India for spices and established an Empire. This is not a century when powerful nations can look for colonies. Nixon befriended Communist China because he wanted to open the Chinese market to USA. Business...

What is Truth By Karmayogi We all swear by Truth. Truth is sacred to all of us. Do we know what Truth is? A boy goes to a film without the knowledge of his family. When he returns home, he says he was in his friend's house. It is a lie. For him to own it, is...

The 21st Century Friday January 14 2005 09:56 IST By Karmayogi Different centuries acquire different distinctions. Empires were built in a century by the various European powers. Expeditions were undertaken in quick succession, as if they were all planned together....

Self-awareness is Self-evaluation Wise men of the world have known that stupidity views itself as exceptionally wise. WISDOM is known as Self-awareness. What helps one arrive at self-evaluation is the desire for self-awareness. There is not one exclusive method to...

How Men Sometimes Receive Grace By Karmayogi Bernie, a homeless man in USA whose wife had left him, had a 10 year old son who was very fond of his father. He drove in an old car, lived on pick-pocketing and was once arrested. After getting released on bail, one day...

The Value of Precision By Karmayogi After the improved versions of telescope arrived, scientists have calculated the time required for the orbit of Mercury and found a variation of 43 seconds in a century! Experimental science demands precision to the second. Science...

The 'virtue' of the excesses Monday January 17 2005 08:24 IST By Karmayogi The tendency to overdoing is present in all walks of life. Especially man tends to over-exercise himself in the pursuit of a virtue. Nature sets its face against excesses of any type. In...

Life Version of Chanting OM The power of OM, which is also spelt as AUM - the three letters representing the Transcendental, Universal and the Individual — is infinite. It reveals its power according to the level of invocation by the human soul. Assume you are an...

Social Consciousness By Karmayogi Society is a collective unit, as man is a gregarious animal. Men live in groups and move in groups. So, the group has a physical authority over the individual. Either the individual obeys the collective or he will be liquidated....

Body Alone is Real By Karmayogi Mind thinks, body acts. The act yields results. This is not how Man has created our civilisation. He worked, his body learnt. That alone was the route Man knew in earlier millennia. As years passed, the human mind awoke. It began to...

Open Mind Tuesday January 18 2005 08:13 IST By Karmayogi To understand the reality of an open mind, it will be helpful to know in real terms what a closed mind is. It is best understood by knowing the process of opinion formation. Mother says opinions look like...

What does quarrel mean? By Karmayogi Mental relationship is conversation. Vital (emotional) relationship is being together pleasantly. Unintelligent conversation or conversation of unintelligent persons degenerates into a verbal contest. Life has many paradoxes. One...

Generosity and Vanity By Karmayogi Generosity in man rises to benevolence. It ennobles the human heart. Its opposite, meanness, is described as asking another man to do what one cannot do. Generosity is to give the other man what he by his best efforts cannot reach....

Perfection and Lapse By Karmayogi The Gita declares we should not be attached to the fruits of our work. It talks about desire. Desire is to be given up. Further, the Gita pleads for the shedding of the ego. Finally, the Gita exhorts us to surrender all our dharmas -...

Neglected Arrears Wednesday January 19 2005 08:17 IST By Karmayogi Arrears can be of any description — arrears of work, duty, or uncollected outstanding of money. People in business sometimes come to a standstill. Money dries up or the market deserts. One contemplates...

Sign of the Presence of the Spirit By Karmayogi Spirit is old, but the Spirit I speak of is not known to the world. This is the evolving Spirit, called in the terminology of this new yoga, Psychic Being. As this version of the Spirit has not been known at all, the...

Feb. 29th, 1956 - The Day of the Lord By Karmayogi While Sri Aurobindo was in jail, Swami Vivekananda appeared before Him, gave Him the Gita and showed Him the Supermind. He did not tell Him how to reach the Supermind. It took Sri Aurobindo ten years to discover it....

Moving Away from the Surface Mind By Karmayogi The human heart longs for a chain of comedy. Life is a practical reality, not an endless comedy. The child wishes only a glorious happy sequence. Fairy tales provide them copiously. Life is not without a rare possibility...

Infinity in Life Thursday January 20 2005 08:32 IST By Karmayogi In the very beginning of creation, there was Infinity and Eternity, says the scriptures. God is described as an infinite Being living eternally. Mathematics says that the Infinite does not increase or...

I Do Not Know What to Pray For By Karmayogi On most occasions, we know exactly what we want and what we wish to pray for. Occasionally we are in situations where this faculty deserts us. Spiritually, it is a fine moment, as the meddling mind is rendered powerless to...

Loss of Speech By Karmayogi A lady devoted to Lord Nataraja of Chidamabaram was a model of devotion. She worshipped at the temple more than once a day. Her whole life was centred around her devotion. She heard of The Mother. The richness and the rich fullness, the...

Intellectual Content By Karmayogi Friends World College in New York was a college with a new ideal started by the Quakers. Some twenty years ago it was in trouble. Its President was a Quaker and a Vice-President of the American Management Association. The President...

The Personality of Karna Friday January 21 2005 08:25 IST By Karmayogi Karna was the eldest Pandava, born to Kunti and Surya. He knew not his birth. He grew up as the adopted child of a charioteer. Drona refused to teach him, as he was not a Prince. Parasurama, who...

Home Sweet Home By Karmayogi Leaving his office, a man has developed the habit of going to the park where he stays till 9 p.m. before returning home. This he does to avoid spending any time with his wife. He says his sweet home has become bitter. Another man who has...

The Smile on the Face By Karmayogi Friendship is a rich human relationship. Sometimes one is able to confide in a friend what he cannot speak to a family member. When companionship matures into friendship, sensation ripens into emotion. Sensation is primary, is of the...

Health and Disease By Karmayogi Health is very important for all, but no one thinks of it until he falls ill. When we are ill, we only think of getting rid of our illness, and do not so much consider restoring our health. It is a sovereign right of our being healthy...

The Opposites are True Monday January 24 2005 07:52 IST By Karmayogi Discussion of the lives of political leaders is a pastime among their followers. One such leader lived up to the age of 96. What was the secret of his long life, discussed his admirers. Of course, he...

Universal Love Human love is selfish. It can turn into hatred and enmity. We hear occasionally of life long friendship turning sour and bitter. Love is incapable of becoming anything other than love. It is incorruptible as it is Ananda received by the Soul behind the...

Unself-consciousness By Karmayogi We are rarely self-conscious. When we have to make a public appearance and that makes us uncomfortable, we are self-conscious while we are on the dais. We call it shyness. In our own house, we act naturally. In another house, we are...

Theories of Science By Karmayogi W. Edwards Deming became famous in the field of management as an upholder of Quality. No one paid heed to him in the USA. So, he migrated to Japan, and made Japanese industry challenge the US. After that, the US industrialists sought...

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Thursday January 27 2005 08:36 IST By Karmayogi Sri Aurobindo called him a spiritual prodigy. It is a rare spiritual adventure that he undertook to experience the realisations of various religions. He would not have been known outside...

The Quest of the Scientist for the Ultimate Reality Karmayogi The latest conception of Science is that the ultimate Reality is Energy. Indian yoga and philosophy knew that even before the Buddha. Man's highest instrument is mind. It is capable of illusions. It...

Consciousness Responsibility By Karmayogi In order for a meeting of ten people to commence punctually, all ten of them should turn up on time. One man's presence does not depend upon another man. No man can hold himself responsible for another man's...

Good Emerging out of Evil By Karmayogi The post war period was known as the period of the Cold War. All over the world, it was a period when pollution slowly gathered into a veritable evil, resulting in smog in the air, acid rain, DDT in vegetables and in water. Life...

Capacity to Defend Oneself Tuesday January 25 2005 08:29 IST By Karmayogi Democratic nations grant by law to every citizen the right to defend himself. It is a sacred right for the Individual. Law endeavours to ensure justice, but justice being a wider term, law ends...

Theory of Creation Karmayogi Science is trying to discover the ultimate Reality, the process of creation and the future implications of them for humanity. In our ancient past the ultimate Reality was discovered but not the process of creation. That was discovered at...

Hasten Slowly By Karmayogi We can go slow or we can hasten. Hasten slowly is a contradiction. Some people reason and others act on faith. Sri Aurobindo's yoga demands we reconcile reason and faith, power and love, silence and action. In all major occasions of...

Spur of Idealism By Karmayogi There is nothing greater than idealism in human life, especially in youth. Not many are idealistic, even in youth. Employment for men, marriage for women are the ideals that possess youth. If someone is idealistic during his education, it...

Unsuspecting Character Friday January 28 2005 08:19 IST By Karmayogi Faith, trust, belief, conviction, doubt, disbelief, suspicion are the grades in which the human mind responds to a situation or a person. Especially when we are in an alien culture, we are keenly...

Follow the Heart Karmayogi The heart that loves is more sacred and powerful than arranged matrimony is the ruling law of life in the West. In the film, The Matrix, the whole world has become a victim to its own obsession created by the mind. The few who are outside...

Observer, Thinker, Censor By Karmayogi For any yogic experience of value, the first possession is Silence. Vishnu Lele asked Sri Aurobindo to sit down, close his eyes and see thoughts entering the mind from outside. Lele asked him to throw out the thoughts. It is a...

Cleanliness By Karmayogi The author of The Vital Difference during a conversation, came to a list of indispensable disciplines. He found cleanliness on the top of the list and said, ''The importance of cleanliness cannot be over-emphasized. I have heard enough.''...

The Urge to Give Saturday January 29 2005 08:04 IST By Karmayogi The urge to give is spiritual. It is overpowering. When it takes possession of someone, it is impossible to wait, not a question of restraining. The opposite, the urge not to give or the urge to take is...

Unemployment and the Unemployed Karmayogi There are certain rules of life that have no exception, as when you eat hunger is quenched; at night exhaustion brings overwhelming sleep; beauty attracts; power energises. One such rule is overflowing interest in work - not a...

Goodness By Karmayogi Goodness is one of the three aspects of Sat - Sat Purusha. Each aspect of Sachchidananda splits itself into some aspects. Sat becomes Unity, Truth and goodness. Chit becomes knowledge and will. Ananda resolves itself into Beauty, joy and Love....

DEO's Inspection By Karmayogi Inspection is an annual event of great moment in a school. There is no such inspection at the level of college. The DEOs will spend the lion's share of their speech on English teaching and divide the rest over all the other...

The Strength of Personality Monday January 31 2005 07:59 IST By Karmayogi Good manners are good. Behaviour and character are more formed and seated deeply. Personality is beyond the formation of character, swabhava, and is known commonly as charm or the opposite.A...

Family Deity, its Blessings and Limits Karmayogi A foreigner can collect lakhs of instances of prayers answered in towns and villages here. The same is true in the West. Devotees cut across religions seeking relief. A rich man had a heart attack. His wife, who had a...

Ardent Devotees By Karmayogi Man generally thinks of work to be done. If he prays, he prays in the time allotted to prayer. To think of God often or always is not a normal human behaviour. ‘‘God will save me'' is a phrase commonly heard. It...

The Consciousness of Science By Karmayogi For 17 long years, Nehru was sorry that Indian poverty could not be removed. For another 17 years, Indira Gandhi had the same grievance. Most of us who belonged to the generation of freedom fighters consoled ourselves saying...

The Purity of Spiritual Rituals Tuesday February 1 2005 00:00 IST By Karmayogi Waste is unpardonable. To utilize the higher for a lower purpose is a crime against humanity, just as releasing atomic energy for the destruction of the population. The sensation is asuric,...

Salary Arrears By Karmayogi Employment, especially in Government, is a great psychological cushion of security. Minor and major frictions may develop inside the department but rarely do they lead to drastic actions such as suspension or dismissal. Whether it is just...

Kalyana Sraddha By Karmayogi Sraddha is faith. The purest of faith is the child's faith in the mother. The child is innocent. Its psychic being is on the surface. In our minds, many temperaments and opinions find play. They warp our faith. We can never have a...

Peaceful Inner Life By Karmayogi ‘I want a peaceful life' is what we hear from people burdened with overwhelming duties or nearing retirement. Having had a hectic life where one problem after another crops up to be solved, or having worked hard all through...

Shanghai Wednesday February 2 2005 08:02 IST By Karmayogi A German Jew, for some mysterious reasons of wartime exigency, found himself in the refugee camp in Shanghai immediately after the World War. It was a bedlam. No one could understand German there. In his own...

Srinivasa Ramanujam By Karmayogi President Dr Abdul Kalam has suggested that instead of waiting for a Hardy to discover another Indian genius, we should set about seriously searching for one. It is a laudable suggestion from an eminent personality. It is not a...

Brahma Jananam By Karmayogi Brahman is the origin. It is the Eternal and Infinite. It is immutable. It is never born, nor does it grow. It knows no end. This is the description we know. This is the description of Mind's Infinity. Infinity is the opposite of...

Total Positivity By Karmayogi One can reduce his negative side, but cannot eliminate it. Sri Aurobindo's theme is there is nothing negative or undivine. Only to the view of Ego, everything other than itself is Negative. It is a new philosophy, not easy to...

Avoidable errors Thursday February 3 2005 08:07 IST By Karmayogi Experts in management know that avoiding avoidable waste changes a losing company into a profit-making one. Waste becomes a source of prestige and status, especially with the newly rich. To them the...

Not a Pretty Face; but a True Heart Karmayogi Man is charmed by a beautiful feminine face, which initiates romance. The handsome masculine appearance of a tall man is of instant appeal to the feminine heart, for which the woman is willing to die. This romantic charm...

Ego, Purusha, Psychic Being By Karmayogi Man lives in his ego. The Rishis withdraws into the Purusha, during meditation. The Psychic being is a new spiritual concept to the world. When Churchill joined the British Cabinet, his aunt wrote him advising him to run his...

Vaccination By Karmayogi Vaccination saved the world from smallpox. The man who discovered a vaccine for polio was awarded the Nobel Prize. Plague killed a third of the population in England. Plague too met its death at the hands of modern medicine. Today most of the...

Stampedes Friday February 4 2005 08:49 IST By Karmayogi Stoicism is in our blood. We take a stampede as one that is inevitable. In the scheme of things, it looks all right. Those who are in charge of managing such events, if such authorities exist, can review the...

The Genius of India Genius is greatness of the Mind that knows all that is relevant to one's subject, not by plodding search or research, but by virtue of one's being a genius. A genius is born, not made. In the occult worlds, there is a place where the...

Comprehensiveness of Accomplishment By Karmayogi Manners are of the surface. It means nothing to us, except a pleasant exterior for the social occasion. Behaviour is to believe in the valid truth of manners. A man of really false consciousness inside always speaks the...

The Social Value of Commerce By Karmayogi Sri Aurobindo says that the earliest preoccupation of man is the search for God, Freedom, Light and Immortality. That is man's spiritual quest. This is reflected in his social life as the quest for equality in Knowledge,...

Power of the moment Saturday February 5 2005 08:05 IST By Karmayogi A work must be attended to, not left to itself. Any work left to itself is sure to be spoiled. Man is greater than the drifting Time. Man has risen above life and conquered it. He has in him an...

Disbelief in Superstition In earlier centuries all over the world, superstition was a way of life, often an occasion for pride. Not to believe things that are superstitious is the present way of life. Of course, one must have the discrimination to know what is...

Linguistic Capacity of Memory By Karmayogi Memory is often identified with intelligence. They are two different faculties, as the ink and the ballpoint pen are materially different. Memory acts on the basis of the context and previous experience, not necessarily aided...

Old Age Home Monday August 23 2004 10:29 IST By Karmayogi Till the war, most of us lived as joint families. Who will take care of the aged was no question. It was a matter of affectionate privilege to tend the aged that were sick. Not to do so was a sacrilege. The...

How to Become God Monday February 7 2005 09:07 IST By Karmayogi Not even in his wildest imagination has Man dreamt of being God. All that man wants is to get a boon from God. Brahma created the world, Vishnu protects it, Shiva destroys it. Do we wish to create the...

Two Sides of Human Nature CHENNAI: Life contains heaven as well as hell. It is for us to choose. Individuality that is a high endowment can also be used to create opposite results. In the best sense, the concept of Individuality means exclusive concentration of a...

Levels of Reading By Karmayogi Reading a serious philosophical BOOK certainly has different levels of appreciation. The Life Divine, Sri Aurobindo's magnum opus, is NOT a book for reading in any sense of the word. Now that He has written it as a book, of course,...

Transforming Anger Tuesday August 24 2004 09:55 IST By Karmayogi There was a Muslim Chief of Justice in Pondicherry in the sixties who used to ask everyone whom he considered wise, ''What shall I do to control anger?'' He was genuine in his quest. No one had given him...

Tsunami Tuesday February 8 2005 07:43 IST By Karmayogi Natural calamities have always been there, in different parts of the world, in different fashions. Man was no silent victim to them. He has always tried to get the better of them and met with varying degrees of...

Body is a Rock of Offence By Karmayogi In our tradition, the body is described as a repository of darkness. Psychologically, the body is the subconscious. Sri Aurobindo says several religious traditions believe that the Body is a Rock of Offence. To Him, the body is...

Consciousness of Matter Wednesday August 25 2004 10:32 IST By Karmayogi We enjoy receiving attention wherever it comes from. Plants and animals too equally enjoy attention. Inanimate matter smilingly responds to attention, defying the rules of material functioning....

Krishna's Headache Wednesday February 9 2005 07:31 IST By Karmayogi Lord Krishna's incurable headache was cured by a strange treatment is the tale. The lives of Avatars are a constant wonder and a source of inspiration. Each act of theirs is an instruction...

How Man Adores the Woman By Karmayogi In the film American President, the President falls in love with a lady at a committee meeting. After returning home, her former boyfriend Richard calls her. She abuses him and asks him not to call her anymore. He calls again and...

Good Will Thursday August 26 2004 09:48 IST By Karmayogi When you meet people of good will, there is a pleasing sensation in the nerves. Leaving them behind, you go to do some work. The work turns out to be smoother than you expected. One of the reasons for that...

The Expanding World Thursday February 10 2005 08:13 IST By Karmayogi Man goes where money grows. There is no stopping him from pursuing the lure of money. Money condenses the entire power of human beings, their work, and their capacities. Since Nixon opened up the...

Understanding Our Own Personality By Karmayogi Luck is the prized possession of human life, entirely not in our hands. This is our longstanding belief. As we choose an academic course, take a degree, pursue a profession and shine there, we can plan to acquire luck and...

Editorial of ‘Consecration' Friday August 27 2004 10:34 IST By Karmayogi The editor of ‘Consecration', a journal from Thrissur, is publishing an editorial in the next issue about the spiritual values of India. Quoting several sources and...

The Bulging Body Friday February 11 2005 09:01 IST By Karmayogi Man is unself-conscious. It is a euphemism for selfishly unconscious. A young man before marriage decides to dissipate unmindful of his victims. Guileless girls become his victims and he moves on to...

Acquiring Humility – verwerven van nederigheid (oprechte bescheidenheid) By Karmayogi ‘‘Humility is not acquired. One must be born with it,'' may be the first response to the above title. `Nederigheid wordt niet aangeleerd. Je moet er mee...

Social Skills Saturday August 28 2004 2004 09:24 IST By Karmayogi What we know as good manners, the social scientist will term social skills. Manners are the major part of these skills. In today's atmosphere of public life, these skills acquire a premium....

The Power of Imagination Saturday February 12 2005 10:15 IST By Karmayogi Wishes are not horses to make beggars kings. But wishes are often fulfilled. Churches and temples become famous as centres of wish fulfilment. The wish has a will in it. The power of that will...

Life of Organised Luck By Karmayogi Luck is elusive. How to organise it? Mexican immigrants enter USAillegally and feel they have entered heaven. To them, the new life is lucky. In the USA they belong to the poorest section of the population. Once they are there,...

Educational Awakening Tuesday August 31 2004 10:34 IST By Karmayogi The proliferation of nursery and primary schools began in the sixties and has almost saturated the nation. It was an initial symptom of educational awakening. We find parents are willing to pay high...

The Conspiring Stars Monday February 14 2005 07:42 IST By Karmayogi Man successfully deceives others. He is a cheat. People are cautious about him. What about one who deceives his own self? People believe him and at times of crisis, his true colours come out. Actions,...

Mental Nature By Karmayogi Those who take to Sri Aurobindo's yoga first meet with the word ‘vital' and ask what it is. In our vernacular conversation we use two words - 'buddhi' and ‘manas'. Buddhi is intelligence; manas is...

The Future of India Wednesday September 1 2004 08:34 IST By Karmayogi The future of the nation is in the hands of the youth and children. That future is determined by the education they get today. In the fifties, the prime educational problem was school buildings....

The God in Man Tuesday February 15 2005 08:49 IST By Karmayogi Every man born is equal is the basis of democracy. It utters a spiritual truth that in his depth, man is spiritual and all spirits are equal. Not only in man, but also in inanimate objects, there is God....

The Role of Management in Nation Building Karmayogi Half of the Rs 72,000 crores of uncollected bank advances could have been initially avoided had there been an insistence on Management Training for aspiring entrepreneurs. Every field needs experience. The thousands...

The French Revolution By Karmayogi Revolutions are landmarks in history. From the point of view of Spiritual evolution, revolutions are critical stages in the evolution of the earth. Mother says Sri Aurobindo was present on earth at every such critical stage. She too...

Understanding the Parent Thursday September 2 2004 08:20 IST By Karmayogi The teacher who understands the subject and teaches it well so that the interest of the class is awakened is the best of teachers. In the training colleges where psychology is taught, it is said...

Yudhisthira Wednesday February 16 2005 10:03 IST By Karmayogi Yudhisthira was the son of Lord Dharma. How could he indulge in a game of dice? How could he not know that he would lose? How dare he lose his brothers and wife? What kind of Dharmaraja was he? Those were...

The Music of Human Life Karmayogi High fever, acute pain, unbearable discomfort, pain in the back, etc. renders one unfit for work. An employee takes leave of absence from his work spot until he is relieved. In extreme youth when the energy of life is overflowing,...

Concentration and Distraction By Karmayogi Concentration is helped by distraction is a contradiction. There is power in concentration whether it is for reading or working. Spiritual concentration is uncompromising. There are several disciplines that demand...

Words and Concepts Tuesday August 31 2004 10:35 IST By Karmayogi We often use words like judgement, prejudice, opinion. We use them correctly. They may not be very precise in the context, serving as an appropriate word, but our usage is always correct. There is a...

Inheritance of Integrity Thursday February 17 2005 08:27 IST By Karmayogi Parents get concerned if there is no issue in the first year of marriage. A child is a visible, tangible extension of the bodies of parents. The arrival of a child is a fulfilment that stands no...

Luck is Psychological Management Karmayogi Luck is that power which manages affairs rightly, those affairs which manager's initiative mismanages. Those who are around lucky people know that the Master constantly takes the wrong foolish initiative which all others...

Mathematical Precision in Life By Karmayogi The science of Astrology has reduced all the secrets of life to communicable details. It has found numbers an excellent vehicle. Mathematics is called the Queen of Sciences. Mathematics has reduced the laws of Nature to...

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Friday September 3 2004 07:57 IST By Karmayogi On the 59th anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb, the Mayor of Hiroshima spoke about the danger of encouraging the development of smaller nuclear weapons. Historians studying the events of...

Phobia Saturday February 19 2005 08:48 IST By Karmayogi Fear is an emotion. No one likes it. When fear acquires a reality, i.e. a personality and rules the person, then we say he suffers from a phobia, though both words mean the same. Being in God is indefinable...

Spiritual Power of Truth in Ordinary Life Karmayogi When someone calls me on the phone and another person says I am not at home while I am there, it is a lie. To say I am there is a FACT that is true, but not TRUTH itself. Behind our small family is life outside, the...

Egoistic Assertion By Karmayogi Companies, organisations, and government administrations do not allow much scope for assertion. Man is resourceful enough to innovate ways of assertion in spite of a tight structure. The wrong side of life is more resourceful. It...

Gall Bladder Stone Monday September 6 2004 10:01 IST By Karmayogi Stone formation in the kidney or gall bladder is described as a very painful disease. Surgery was resorted to ever since chloroform came. It is surprising to know that there was surgery for a few...

The Courtesy of Great Men Monday February 21 2005 08:48 IST By Karmayogi Punctuality is called the manners of Princes. One is punctual because he values the time of others who wait for the work. Nehru came to Ooty to inaugurate a UNESCO conference. After the function...

Let Thy Will be Done; Not My Will This is an old formula. The latter part — ‘NOT my will' — is more important than the former. If one starts repeating it non-stop, the first thing he will discover is that in a few minutes he will stop it. It will stop by...

Every Truth has its Opposite Truth By Karmayogi This is a statement of Sri Aurobindo. Though it is a truth of life, it sounds somewhat strange to us. How this can be is a question that arises in the mind. Most rules have exceptions. Some are absolute rules. They have...

Subjectivity-Objectivity Saturday September 4 2004 09:11 By Karmayogi Subjectivity is to understand the world from our point of view. Detaching ourselves from our own understanding, looking at things as they are, is objectivity. These lofty concepts in philosophy are...

The Value of Information Tuesday February 22 2005 08:15 IST By Karmayogi Advertisement is a boon to the society. There are impervious corners even to the reach of advertisements. Someone who was searching for the heir of his dead partner advertised in his own country...

Suffering from Surplus Money is in surplus in the West. Deposits in banks get an interest of three p.c., in Japan no interest. House mortgages are four-and-half p.c for 30 years, at the end of which it is renewed, which means one need not return the capital but can...

Integrity By Karmayogi Integrity is an inner value unconditioned by outer circumstances. To be good to a person who is good to us is not difficult. To be good to a person who is evil to us is not easily possible. It may not be necessary for the outer life. However, it...

World Army Wednesday September 8 2004 08:22 IST By Karmayogi The world, world union, World Army, World Parliament have been ideas afoot for a long time. Many such ideas were described as moonshine at the time of their conception. A few later became a reality, such as...

Vivian Thomas Thursday February 24 2005 10:19 IST By Karmayogi It is talents that accomplish anywhere, but the rewards do not necessarily go to talents. They go to one in position. The older the culture, the harder for pure talents without status to thrive. America...

Spiritual Truth in Human Life BY Karmayogi For a hungry man, in the words of Gandhiji, a morsel of food is the most valuable TRUTH. The same truth will be a matter of shame for a self-respecting man, if he has to ask for it. The truth in life is the food must be...

Obesity is Poverty Consciousness By Karmayogi A rule in life is equilibrium. It is also the rule in Nature. Cyclone is Nature's restoring the equilibrium in atmospheric pressure. What we call health is an equilibrium of physical, vital and mental energies. Life...

Pride of a Nation Saturday September 11 2004 10:58 IST By Karmayogi It is a fact that in Asoka's India a woman could travel around safely, which shows the law and order of his rule. In the fifties, the Soviet government challenged its citizens to show four square...

Devaki, the Mother of Krishna Wednesday February 23 2005 07:56 IST By Karmayogi Devaki was the fortunate mother of Balarama and Krishna, the two avatars. The normal human expectation is that long before the birth of this God and long after that, the mother would have...

Truisms of Spirit in Life By Karmayogi * Should we long for luck to come to others, money will move to us.* To earn is difficult; to preserve it is more difficult. He who has earned money, should also earn common sense.* To know the Spirit is to be inwardly full....

‘I Cannot Accept What I Have Not Earned' By Karmayogi Man yearns for luck which is an undeserved reward. It never comes. When it sails towards him he is a foot off the ground. 'I cannot accept what I have not earned' is an oft-heard remark in the...

Political Wisdom Monday September 13 2004 08:13 IST By Karmayogi Wisdom is the ultimate goal for the mind. Political wisdom is its extension to the affairs of the nation. There once was a dream that philosophers would become kings. To be wise, one should cease to look...

Letter Writing Friday February 25 2005 07:54 IST By Karmayogi Writing letters is an important skill for people in important positions. One simple letter, short though it is, written thoughtfully with consummate resourcefulness, secured the Cadbury franchise for an...

U Thant U Thant was teaching in a school in the 1940's when his boyhood friend Aung San became the Prime Minister of his country, Burma. The Prime Minister drafted U Thant into his Cabinet and later sent him to the UN as the leader of the Burmese delegation. He...

Minor Injustices of Life Consciousness By Karmayogi Minor injustices of life are major incidences of grace is a statement that raises an outrage even in a saint. Man is normal when such indignities are not meted out to him. One is most pleased when life offers...

The Efficacy of Planning Tuesday September 14 2004 08:21 IST By Karmayogi Planning is the mind conceiving of work activities in sequence and in relation to one another. From its beginning, such planning was reduced to writing. Writing a plan down on paper is to give...

Real-Idea Saturday February 26 2005 08:11 IST By Karmayogi Real-Idea is the original phrase of Sri Aurobindo who attributes it to being the faculty of the Supermind. He calls it a self-effectuating Idea, an idea that has the inherent power to fulfil itself. Our mind...

Lending Money to a Friend Karmayogi Money lent to a friend is lost. It is also helps you to lose the friend is the wisdom of the world. Many rediscover this truth in their own experience. There is another side to this phenomenon, which is perceived by wise people....

‘I am Lost in the Work' By Karmayogi He is blessed who is lost in the work. Such people are efficient as their concentration is total. Whatever they are or not, their efficiency is par excellence. Such people are a matter for envy. ‘‘He...

Jatropa Wednesday September 15 2004 08:14 IST By Karmayogi The 1973 oil crisis pushed people to seek other sources of oil than the Arab countries. The quest eased the situation a little. Research for alternate sources too has yielded some results. Jatropa and ethanol...

A Letter from a Reader Tuesday March 1 2005 08:57 IST By Karmayogi Readers write to me. Mostly their letters come by email. Their letters are of various descriptions. Most are prayers to Mother, others are thanksgiving for their prayers answered. Some evince interest...

Romance is the Adventure of Consciousness Romance is the Eternal emerging in the ephemeral.* The adventure of seeking the unattainable is Romance.* Romance never dies. It cannot die. It has never died in the history of man.* The seeking is the adventure. Attaining is...

What is Life? By Karmayogi I know I have a life. Each man has a life. We say social life, human life. What is it? The lives of all people in the society together is social life. But there is more. I breathe, everyone breathes. Air is inhaled and exhaled. The...

All or Nothing Thursday September 16 2004 09:16 IST By Karmayogi All the time we live the truths or secrets of life, but we never learn them. One such truth or truism is until you cross a certain borderline, you can lose all that you have painstakingly earned. Once...

  The Period of Transition Monday February 28 2005 08:53 IST By Karmayogi The French Revolution brought a Corsican soldier to the throne as the Emperor of France. In normal times, this would be unimaginable. Transition is a period when talents rise from the very...

Science of Life Karmayogi A man of foresight ensures the outcome before the doing of it. He demands an assurance of his party or the alliance he is in that he would be made the Chief Minister before the elections commence. He fails to get elected as an MLA. Another in...

Undeserved Luck By Karmayogi A reader writes that she was the recipient of undeserved Luck. She has not said whether it is because of the Spirit she invoked or by what circumstances. Those who feel they deserve luck do not get it. Luck seeks those who feel that they...

No Cycle Please Friday September 17 2004 09:09 IST By Karmayogi Waiting patiently for things far out of one's reach is aspiration. It takes time for them to be fulfilled, but they will surely be accomplished. Aiming at things one does not deserve on any showing...

Radha and Arjuna Wednesday March 2 2005 08:26 IST By Karmayogi Good leading to good, bad leading to bad is a general rule with strange exceptions. There was someone who rose from being a shop assistant in his little town to a VIP in the city. Everyone in his town went...

‘The Last Englishman to Rule India' Nehru once described himself thus. He combined in himself the very best of both the traditions. Writing on the Future of Freedom, Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, reviews the practice of democracy...

Spirituality is Equality By Karmayogi Religion has a gradation. The ONE is the illumined one whom all look up to, which is right. Mother says the days of religion are over, the future is for Spirituality. The Spirit is Brahman. It creates the solar system and an...

Emulating Faith Saturday September 18 2004 07:58 IST By Karmayogi The Mother says that one cannot pretend to have the Supramental consciousness as one can practise deceit in other fields. Even Silence can be pretended, not the Supramental Consciousness. We hear that...

Radha and Arjuna Wednesday March 2 2005 08:26 IST By Karmayogi Good leading to good, bad leading to bad is a general rule with strange exceptions. There was someone who rose from being a shop assistant in his little town to a VIP in the city. Everyone in his town went...

Darshan in the Subtle Plane By Karmayogi The guru appearing in the dream and initiating the sishya has happened many a time. An old freedom fighter who had heard of Bhagavan Sri Aurobindo had a very vivid dream of Him one day. The next morning the radio announced the...

The Rewards of Life By Karmayogi That a good man must be rewarded with success of all descriptions is an ingrained ideal in us. Looking at several successful people, we discover little goodness is there. Whatever goodness is there is by chance or mistake, not by the...

War Against the Banks Monday September 20 2004 10:51 IST By Karmayogi The world is not receptive to new ideas, particularly new boons. If one goes on the Internet and learns how the major discoveries were received by the world, one will be appalled at the treatment...

Building a House Thursday March 3 2005 08:27 IST By Karmayogi Why dont you build a house near the centre? asked the lady-in-charge of the centre to an office manager. Well, I have not given serious thought to the idea, but when you ask, I feel I must take it...

Prosperity not Austerity By Karmayogi A widow with two sons was pious. A relative of hers came forward to take her and her younger son into her household. Her piety did not save her husband's life but secured her this asylum. The elderAon remained with the...

Water Supply By Karmayogi All-out efforts are made to meet the water scarcity in the coming summer months. It is commendable that forethought is evinced instead of waking up late in the day. It is likely that these serious efforts are rewarded by the skies in a...

The Future of the Blacks Wednesday September 22 2004 09:12 IST By Karmayogi Phraseology changes with time. Backward nations have become underdeveloped nations. Later they are upgraded into developing countries or the Third World. So, Blacks have come to stay. After...

Rewards of Work Friday March 4 2005 08:33 IST By Karmayogi Rewards of work coming to us is luck. Greater rewards than the work deserves coming to us is Grace. There is a further stage called Supergrace. Hardworking men drudge all their lives for a pittance. At the end...

A Further List of Spiritual Truths in Life By Karmayogi * Desire for survival opens a door in life making it possible.* Truant children can be mended, but surely not according to your pet ideas.* Greatness of faith is seen as light in the feet.8 There is no greater...

Best School By Karmayogi A school is rated by the results it produces. The best results come more out of a paying school than a free school. Exceptions are always there. It was a great moment in the educational history of Tamilnadu when Kamaraj made education free...

Technology Thursday September 23 2004 08:05 IST By Karmayogi Revolutions have changed the face of nations beyond recognition. Revolutions belong to the realm of politics. They arise even in the field of religion. Technology too is capable of bringing about...

  The Powerful Tongue Monday March 7 2005 09:34 IST By Karmayogi Ideas are afloat in the atmosphere. They enter conducive minds. We mistake such outside ideas as our own ideas. There is nothing our own. What is our own is our receptive mentality. If those ideas are...

"The Hound of Heaven" Sri Aurobindo speaks of this as a great poem. It is by Francis Thompson. When Mahatma Gandhiji was in jail, he read this poem and Rajaji sent him some notes on it. Later when Rajaji met his leader, Gandhiji, in jail they discussed this poem...

Yoga of Self-Giving By Karmayogi Sri Aurobindo discarded the usual methods of yoga and advocated Surrender as the only desirable method. Surrender is all-inclusive. The main strand of surrender is Self-giving. It is interesting to know the ways of Self-giving. Its...

Resourcefulness Friday September 24 2004 08:38 IST By Karmayogi If one can go to a source several times, it becomes a resource. One can do so for the same purpose or different purposes. That source which lends itself to be of use again and again for different purposes...

Royal Reception Saturday March 5 2005 07:30 IST By Karmayogi Royal reception is for royalty. The royal reception I talk of is not for royalty or for those who are close the seats of power or for those menials in the royal palace, but for one who is far removed from...

Knowledge is Power In the realm of Spirit - the Divine Mother - whatever you KNOW well, as a well-formulated idea, is Power. That is why when you DECIDE to do a thing you know very well, it happens immediately. An American devotee used to smile unbelievingly when this...

What is Education? By Karmayogi Some twenty children in the third standard were asked this question. There were twenty different answers. ‘In education we learn a lot', ‘I can become a doctor by education', ‘We get information',...

Sabda Brahman Saturday September 25 2004 08:46 IST By Karmayogi Education in Athens during her heydays was confined to poetry and philosophy. Now it has branched into dozens of subjects. Demography and statistics came of age as subjects in the pre-war days. When...

'Shall I help him?' Tuesday March 8 2005 08:20 IST By Karmayogi Good souls discovering a new capacity in themselves will be eager to help others. It is a good attitude socially, but not in yoga. In life, to be helpful to another is to play the Good Samaritan, not so...

What Do We Mean by Taking to the Spirit? By Karmayogi A governor is governed by protocol. He is not a free individual. A Zen Master said to his disciple “When I eat, I eat; when I write, I write; whereas when you eat, you think about writing; when you write, you...

Levels of Faith By Karmayogi Faith is considered blind and is called blind faith. We see the evidence of such faith everywhere, especially when the masses place their faith in politicians. This is a fertile ground of superstition, but, for the faithful it pays rich...

The Rationale of the Emotions Monday September 27 2004 13:09 IST By Karmayogi Emotions are rich. Their reason is flawless, unerring. Some people speak of their emotional intuition which never fails. Still, Mind is superior to the emotions, but has no unfailing...

Butter is Knowledge Wednesday March 9 2005 12:48 IST By Karmayogi There was a period when Mother was giving flowers spiritual names. She once smelt tulasi and said it was devotion. Later She was told that in our tradition tulasi symbolises devotion. Her knowledge was...

Self-Giving Selfishness is universal. It often goes with meanness. We witness Selflessness often in action. It leaves its expansive touch on the onlooker. To be selfless is good, but to practise self-giving is to be SPIRITUAL. It is said that after creation, LOVE was...

Sarva arambha Parithyagi By Karmayogi Man thinks and acts, sometimes acts on impulse. In either case, he initiates an act. To allow the Spirit to act through him, he has to sacrifice his capacity for initiation - arambha. One who sacrifices - thyagi - all his...

The Eternal Seeking Tuesday September 28 2004 08:08 IST By Karmayogi Robert McNamara was President of the World Bank twice. Prior to that, he was the Defence Secretary in Kennedy's Cabinet. He was drafted into these posts as he was highly efficient. When he...

Love at First Sight - I Thursday March 10 2005 08:36 IST By Karmayogi This phenomenon was immortalised by Shakespeare in his line, whoever loved that loved not at first sight. Lovers are fond of telling each other how that love appeared on seeing the other person. The...

The Upanishads God is the ONE, creation is the Many. The Rishis know the One and all of us know the Many. How did the One become the Many or how did the One create the Many is a question that is not answered. The Upanishads ask us, 'Who can ask the One that...

Revolution of Rising Expectations By Karmayogi Harlan Cleveland is a well-known American writer. While he was in government service in Taiwan, he noticed among the population their growing expectation from life. Its revolutionary potential made him coin the phrase...

Daydreaming Wednesday September 29 2004 08:19 IST By Karmayogi A French professor writing about America in 1927 says there is no holding back an American from unceasing hard toil when he knows the reward is great. The Americans want to earn more by working longer...

Love at First Sight II Friday March 11 2005 13:59 IST By Karmayogi The love of Romeo and Juliet was consummated in death, but as far as their souls were concerned, each had its fill. In the wider scheme of life, it is possible that someone whose flame arises from such...

Failure Leads to Greater Success Failure and success are one of the many twins or dualities in life. No one can claim that he would never fail. Nor can a man report that he has always faced only failure. The proportion of failure and success varies, but it is a law of...

Consecration in the Subtle Plane By Karmayogi Consecration means to transfer the work to the Divine. Instead of doing a work for ourselves, we do it for the Divine. In a work so consecrated, we can see it takes place more smoothly than usual. It will come to a...

The Valuable Significance of News Thursday September 30 2004 08:33 IST By Karmayogi A young boy wondered how Gandhiji was known all over India in those days when there was no TV or radio. Even the newspapers reached only a small portion of people in the town. How...

Love at first sight - IV Monday March 14 2005 08:13 IST By Karmayogi It will be very interesting to discuss the Romance or love affair between people of different levels. It will offer us an occasion to spotlight the various expressions LOVE takes in the context of...

Greater Mastery of Human Life Karmayogi When the ancient authority of the Upanishads had refused us the right to question the ONE, which Sri Aurobindo endorses, a question arises in our minds about how He answers that question. The highest instrument of Man is mind,...

The Westernised Indian By Karmayogi The more prosperous people are, the less they believe in God. It is true with education too. Prof. S. Chandrasekaran, who won the Nobel Prize in physics, could not see any reality in the concept of God. His education weaned his mind...

The Medium for the Power of Mantra Friday October 1 2004 08:07 IST By Karmayogi The MANTRA is a formulated realisation in words of a Rishi's spiritual eminence. What is spiritually mature in our inner being, finding verbal expression is a mantra. A mantra will...

Love at First Sight - V Tuesday March 15 2005 07:59 IST By Karmayogi The commonest question of serious people when they have to complete a work is, ёWhat should I do?Ғ It is a valid question. For the greatest effect, one needs to know his personality strength and...

The Life Divine A retired I.A.S. officer in Andhra was struck by paralysis. He was an ardent devotee of Sri Aurobindo and he knew the mantric power of His writings. He asked his son to read out from The Life Divine for an hour every day. On the 20th day, he was cured...

The GOOD Man By Karmayogi A good person is born good. It is his swabhava. By a good upbringing many people remain good. When people suddenly come into wealth, the good in them often comes to the surface. Success, wealth, education, etc. have been known to bring out...

Fundamentalism Saturday October 2 2004 07:55 IST By Karmayogi Where POWER acts in freedom, man is uncompromising. The employer will be merciless if there is no law restraining him and if the workers are timid and unorganised. The workers will not be reasonable if the...

Love at First Sight III Saturday March 12 2005 09:00 IST By Karmayogi I spoke of four levels, two on the surface and two in the depth. They can be called levels 1, 2, 3 and 4 for convenience. Those persons in level 1 are in the surface of the surface mind, those in 2...

Demand for Proof In our ardent fervour to be rational, we refuse to accept things without sufficient proof. It is a welcome attitude that outgrows the superstition that readily swallows any statement.There was a belief among the sailors of Europe that the world ended...

The Words that Ring True By Karmayogi Life is submerged in an ocean of words. Words emanate from us endlessly and impinge on us forever. They all dissolve and disappear. Of course, several words remain in our memory ever fresh. But we also know the phenomenon of some...

The First Yogic Realisation Monday October 4 2004 08:43 IST By Karmayogi Writers, artists, musicians and poets are unique expressions of human Personality. If they are proud of anything, it is their creativity. One becomes creative when he is unique. The world has not...

The Key and the Lock Thursday March 17 2005 07:46 IST By Karmayogi We are locked into a problem. Our knowledge of its solution is the key to that lock, which when turned in it, dissolves the problem. The Rishis of the past knew everything in the universe to be known,...

Incommunicable JOY Often we feel a new emotion which we are unable to express. We try our best and fail saying, “Well, one has to experience it for oneself. It is inexpressible.” How can you explain the taste of an Indian sweet to a foreigner? Those who...

Moral Attitude to Work By Karmayogi The ordinary man is often an adored member of the society. He is hailed as a model man. Such a man will follow all the social rules, and never transgress the social boundaries. He will conform to the norms of the society, honour his...

Upward Social Mobility Tuesday October 5 2004 08:23 IST By Karmayogi An expert in international security said fifteen years ago that there were 26 intra-state and inter-state conflicts in the world. The demise of the Cold War was received with a sigh of relief by the...

The Spiritual Atmosphere Friday March 18 2005 08:39 IST By Karmayogi People in distress visit their kula deivam in the hope of praying for redress. It is piety that takes them there. They are urged by faith to go there. The reality of life is so great that one cannot...

Invisible Profits Karmayogi When a company is at a loss, it will have two halves — one avoidable loss, another unavoidable loss. Avoidable loss must be avoided. By doing that, the company will NOT be a losing concern anymore. Coming to the other, it is common...

The Power of Co-ordination By Karmayogi Co-operation is to offer direct help in a work. Co-ordination is to alter our work in such a way that another person's work will be facilitated. The sugar mill's scheduling its crushing operation in time with the...

Wearisome Unproductive Work Wednesday October 6 2004 07:52 IST By Karmayogi Any work profits someone. Man is interested only in the work that profits himself. He likes work that gives satisfaction, in which he is directly interested. Beyond this known phenomenon lies...

Subtle Worship Saturday March 19 2005 08:48 IST By Karmayogi Mans relationship with God takes the form of worship. Usually it is an idol that he stands before and worships. Sometimes it is a picture. At other moments it is in the shape of a sloka recited. Bhajans meet...

Profits in a Small Business Karmayogi Someone had earned a good reputation in making pickles. His outlook was service. He initiated several people into the same business. He had fostered competition instead of fighting it. A few decades ago, he was making a handsome...

How Consecration Accomplishes Itself By Karmayogi Consecration accomplishes. To consecrate means to make sacred. Doing a work for ourselves is human. To do it for the Divine is consecration. When you protect the weak from the cruelty of the strong, you protect that...

The Milk of Human Kindness Friday October 8 2004 07:51 IST By Karmayogi Shakespeare's words have become household idioms, of which the Milk of Human Kindness is one. A lady who was enticed by an intellectual phase in her life took to acquiring higher knowledge of...

Organisational Inconsistencies Tuesday March 22 2005 08:48 IST By Karmayogi India is a poor country and there are over a hundred reasons for it. The productivity of the US worker has increased 400 percent - 4 times - since 1950. Naturally they are affluent. Today we...

Pieces of Good Fortune Come Together Karmayogi It is a common experience of those who are in luck to see the phenomenon of several GOOD things happening one after the other. At such times people say, " These things are happening in quick succession, each one of them...

Flourishing Evil in the Country By Karmayogi After an intense wave of atheism immediately following the war, we now witness a surge of religious worship in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps it is an All-India phenomenon. Hundreds of temples have been consecrated and renovated....

The Inner Voice Thursday October 7 2004 08:01 IST By Karmayogi The inner voice is also known as asariri, vani. It is that inner voice which brought Sri Aurobindo to Pondicherry. Mahatma Gandhiji relied on the inner voice which is the reason stalwart leaders submitted...

The stark reality Wednesday March 23 2005 08:54 IST By Karmayogi They say power corrupts. Power changes the view or vision. One who has been vehemently speaking against corruption, begins to be corrupt when he comes into that power. At that time, he feels it is right...

Why good people suffer By Karmayogi We do not ask why tall boys fail or handsome persons are sometimes foolish. We know tallness is unrelated to good performance in exams and pretty faces have nothing to do with mental brilliance. But we often expect that good people...

Insight and Intuition By Karmayogi Sherlock Holmes has captured the imagination of the world. When a crime is committed, we find ourselves taking almost the same view as the police. Several others in the story also take that view. It is a view taken by us dictated by...

Intuition and Grace Saturday October 9 2004 08:14 IST By Karmayogi We know of intelligence and are happy if we are possessed of it. In a wide world of ignorance, intelligence is of value, of great personal and social value. A bright child becomes a favourite of all...

Human Cruelty Monday March 21 2005 08:17 IST By Karmayogi The world is in love with Love, but shuns cruelty. There is no use saying that philosophically love is the reverse form of cruelty. We are not living philosophically, but leading practical lives. As years pass...

The Children of The Mother Karmayogi The future belongs to Spirituality, not religion, says The Mother. The time of religion is over according to Her. Religion is many following the inspiration of one enlightened person. Spirituality is each one seeking his own...

The Wisdom of Superstition By Karmayogi When patients or clients have to choose a doctor or lawyer, they look for the most qualified and popular. The perceptive population will raise the question, is the man known for RASI? It is actually known as kairasi. What the...

Sri Subramania Bharathiyar Monday October 11 2004 08:14 IST By Karmayogi Bharathi was a personality that exuded fire. He was in Pondicherry for about ten years which were years of inspiration. He used to visit Sri Aurobindo who recognised his passion for freedom. They...

Spiritual Family Thursday March 24 2005 08:09 IST By Karmayogi The ancients who sought the Spirit in moksha did not fully abandon the family life from their concerns. To bring the Spirit or at least spiritual values to family life was their concern. Adherence to...

Proverbs of Tamil Nadu Proverbs are repositories of wisdom. Those who want to study a foreign culture often study their proverbs. A work like Thirukural is famous all over the world. Its great wisdom is found in the proverbs of the land. The joke about the proverbs...

Flawless Perfection By Karmayogi Work is done well or not. Its result is in proportion to the efficiency. When it is not done well, there will be no result. Whatever the work, it requires an energy, interest, skill, attention, concentration, experience and perfection....

Landmarks of Civilisation Tuesday October 12 2004 08:08 IST By Karmayogi We do believe that man is becoming more and more civilised with the passage of time. The nomad settled down in one place. He began to grow his own food, learned to build a shelter for himself,...

College Pupil Leader Tuesday March 29 2005 08:46 IST By Karmayogi Every man has the higher impulse. It springs from the deeply hidden Spirit. He gives expression to it in rare moments of tranquillity or serenity.His life is one of lower impulses. He lives that way. He...

Letters of Love Harold J. Laski, the famous socialist professor of The London School of Economics, wrote to his wife soon after his wedding twice a day. Love has an irresistible urge. It finds expression in writing. Passionate natures pour themselves into passionate...

Good Will vs Ill Will By Karmayogi People are self-centred. Some have extraordinary Good Will. Those who act on good will witness what they do expand in the lives of the recipient. Mother says every will in Man is ill will. Good will is rare. A man with a 5th class...

Good Emerges Out of Evil Thursday October 14 2004 08:11 IST By Karmayogi Common sense is understood as rationality. It expects good results for good acts, evil results for evil acts. Very often this is correct. Sometimes it goes wrong. One who was unemployed for ten...

Self-Awareness Friday March 25 2005 09:50 IST By Karmayogi One who is aware of his Self is at a moment of spiritual awakening. By tapas, he realises the Self he is now aware of. Realising his own Self, one becomes a Jivamukta. Leaving his own body, his Self merges...

Human Potentialities and Actualities Potentialities do not become actualities unless they are organised. What converts the one into the other is the mysterious element called Personality. The sheet anchor of that personality is spiritual values in the body where they...

Innate Goodness and its Limits By Karmayogi A German husband was mean and perverse. Also he was tyrannical. He fell ill and no cure was in sight. The wife was a devotee and was fully devoted to him in spite of what he was to her. Man or woman is social. Better men are...

Decision-making Friday October 15 2004 08:22 IST By Karmayogi We make decisions all the time, small and significant. Decisions lead to results. Right decisions bring right results that are vast. The rightness of a decision has several grades. The minimum right ensures...

Draupadis Curse Wednesday March 30 2005 09:35 IST By Karmayogi Draupadis position in The Mahabharata is unique in more than one sense. She is accorded the honoured position in the galaxy of panchakannihai, in spite of the fact that she was the symbol of polyandry....

The Indian Mind Sri Aurobindo has said that when the Indian Mind takes up a subject it goes to the very end. Philosophers call this analysis understanding an issue from the first principles. We function from the human mind. Above it is the mind of silence of the Muni;...

Duty is More Powerful than Grace By Karmayogi Grace is God choosing to act on his own, for his own reasons, unknowable by human reason. Man too is God in his depths. Sri Aurobindo says that Jivatma is Paramatma, against the traditional belief that Jivatma has no...

The Essence of Essences Wednesday October 13 2004 08:51 IST By Karmayogi The essence of essences is called quintessence. Successful societies know the secret of production, production of the primary needs of food, shelter and clothing. Expansive societies know of the...

Word of Honour Thursday March 31 2005 09:44 IST By Karmayogi Honour is the highest spiritual virtue of the physical bodys moved emotion. It contains an essential element of the Truth that is Spiritual Strength.At all times, in all climes it gets the better of others,...

Birthday Karmayogi Traditionally, Indians do not celebrate birthdays. Pious people go to the temple and conduct a special archana on their birthdays, not according to the English calendar, but according to the star of their birth. Celebration of birthdays has now...

Simplicity, Austerity and Luxury By Karmayogi Simplicity is the unostentatious quiet strength of inner poise that is indifferent to outer appearance. Luxury is focused attention on the external appearance of splendour in utter disregard of inner content. That which...

A Convict's Conviction Saturday October 16 2004 08:14 IST By Karmayogi Conviction in the context of a convict is punishment or jail sentence. Conviction in the sense of mental belief does not arise with a convict. If it does, it is a conviction that one can...

The Hour of the Spirit Friday April 1 2005 09:19 IST By Karmayogi We rarely ask ourselves the question, What is Spirituality? because it is our understanding that we know it, an obvious fact. What we know as spirituality is worship, a religious ritual.Those who are in...

The Leaders of the World Over a period of a hundred years, the world looked up to London as its capital. The Britisher had conquered several nations and established an empire on which, it was said, the sun never set. It was political power. To be precise, it was...

'Count Your Chickens' By Karmayogi A management consultant is speaking this idea and has published a book with this title. It is directly counter to our traditional wisdom. I agree with the wisdom of the ages and with what this title says. Let me explain how both are...

The Brilliant Future Tuesday October 19 2004 09:11 IST By Karmayogi In the early thirties, there was severe unemployment, which included three MAs who were the only postgraduates in this whole district then. Suppose someone at that time had the vision of hundreds of...

Little extra effort Saturday April 2 2005 08:36 IST By Karmayogi Affluent families sometimes find that a less affluent family has settled its sons and daughters far better than they could. At such moments, it dawns on them that the less affluent family has been...

SMILE By Karmayogi On November 24, 1967 when Mother appeared on the terrace to give darsan to Her devotees, She said She saw a benevolent Being smiling on Her from Eternity. Smile is the call of the Infinite to the finite to emerge out of its captivity. The size of...

The Power of Will By Karmayogi I was attending a student meeting conducted outside a god-forsaken house, as those were dangerous days to talk of freedom. At the age of 18 or 19 the heart longs for intense affection. Someone of my age standing close to me came near and...

Means and Ends Monday October 18 2004 08:37 IST By Karmayogi Means are sacred, spiritual. They are the urges of pure motives, impulses of the inner ideal. Ends are need-based, urges of material desires, part of a physical material existence. Relentless pursuit of...

The Knowledge Commission Monday April 4 2005 11:02 IST By Karmayogi Socrates was born two thousand years ago. The world has not yet followed the knowledge he gave us or the love Jesus brought. Just because knowledge is there, people will not benefit by it. But we see...

Surface Mind and the Subliminal Depth By Karmayogi Idealist leaders of student days often meet with comments when they enter life, "You used to have some FIRE then, now it is not there." Age and experience give a quiet which is mistaken for the loss of FIRE. Marriage...

800 Years of Slavery By Karmayogi Man is moral. To him the good man must be rewarded, the evil man must be destroyed. Life is wider than morality. It is amoral. Man's view is mystic. Life's vision spreads over the universe. Very often Life wantonly does...

Indian Spiritual Wisdom Wednesday October 20 2004 08:32 IST By Karmayogi The Spirit is Infinite and Eternal. Indian spiritual wisdom knows how the entire infinite universe is compressed into the infinitesimal and how one can release that infinite from the...

Social symbols Tuesday April 5 2005 09:15 IST By Karmayogi Kamaraj travelling on the road saw a new car with MDX number plates and shouted in joy. Friends by his side were unable to know what had brought him so much delight. To him, the car numbers were a sign of the...

Teaching and Learning By Karmayogi Teaching is external; learning is a process of self-motivation. Teaching was a service and a great service at that when ignorance was widespread. It was a time when man needed an intermediary between himself and God. The priest will...

The Role of Education in Personality-building By Karmayogi What is generally considered in general knowledge is Information. Information depends upon memory. Ideas are superior to information. It is said children will understand ideas only after the age of 14. Mother...

Contract Farming Thursday October 21 2004 08:45 IST By Karmayogi EID Parry and Co. has a sugar factory at Nellikuppam, near Cuddalore. It is more than 150 years old. Before the World War, fertile lands were yielding a total return of less than Rs. 100 per acre, while...

Viswarupa Darsan Wednesday April 6 2005 14:53 IST By Karmayogi Some people are reasonable, many are unreasonable, especially when their own interest is touched. Irrationality is common. It is not new.Occasionally irrationality insists beyond limits. Irrationality has...

Token Practice By Karmayogi Some people when reading about the Spirit become enthused about availing of it. Knowing that the Spirit is of Himalayan proportions meant only for great souls, one feels intimidated. It is true that it is meant for the great of soul. It is...

Perfection of Magnificent Idealism By Karmayogi It was a privately funded university, founded by an uneducated wealthy man on financially sound lines. The founder was not making a profit out of it. It was not like a centre of academic learning but a huge collection of...

Health Insurance Friday October 22 2004 08:01 IST By Karmayogi If universal education is the foundation of universal Prosperity, Insurance is the social shield from the cruelties of Life. Life is not merely cruel; it is capable of being a tyrant. It has the power to...

My way Thursday April 7 2005 09:21 IST By Karmayogi Before the war, status alone was respected. People obeyed men who occupied the post. The respect was for the post, who occupied the place was immaterial. And that social milieu puffed up the heads of men who occupied...

Token Act - Psychological By Karmayogi Abundance, plenty, and opulence have many votaries. It is welfare. Others are interested in well-being more than welfare. To them, life is inward and psychological. The rules of welfare and well-being are the same. One is outward...

The Power of the Word By Karmayogi A lady moved to Pondicherry from Kerala and rented a house. Close to her office, an apartment complex arose. She had no idea of shifting in view of various problems. A young man was constantly speaking, ‘‘This complex...

Selfishness and Self-Giving Monday October 25 2004 09:30 IST By Karmayogi The opposite of selfishness is unselfishness or selflessness. Self-giving is of a higher order. Life exists in the grades of survival, growth, development and evolution. An agriculture society...

The real value of man Friday April 8 2005 09:34 IST By Karmayogi People in their seventies or sixties may remember that before 1960 buyers of cars had to deposit the full cost of the car with the dealer and wait for months for delivery, sometimes even a full year....

The English are Wedded to Democracy By Karmayogi There is no valid Theory of Creation except what Sri Aurobindo has given to the world. Applying that theory to society, politics, culture, yoga and poetry, He wrote The Human Cycle, The Ideal of Human Unity, The...

Personality of an Act By Karmayogi There was a dull boy in a rich house. He was enamoured of an employment. In a local school he was employed as an attendant in the laboratory. Being a wealthy boy, he had access to every big officer and every VIP of the town. He was...

Liberty and Freedom Tuesday October 26 2004 08:58 IST By Karmayogi Liberty and Freedom are synonymous, but have a clear distinction in the enjoyment of it. English grammar is unable to fix the phrase 'Love of the child' to a precise meaning by its rules. It...

Fair Weather Saturday April 9 2005 08:46 IST By Karmayogi People fall into two categories. One is endowed with foresight. The other is used to crisis management. Those with foresight continuously receive Grace. The others create crises by their casual attitudes and...

Coconut Never Falls on a Man By Karmayogi Men injuring themselves in a workshop or workspot is common. It is inevitable. There are some workshops where a newcomer hurts himself; others will say, "No one gets hurt or injured here." To a skilled workman, his tools are...

Native Efficiency By Karmayogi It is an acknowledged fact that in matters of efficiency the USAand India are poles apart. It is an unseen truth that the native Indian efficiency is far superior to any other. It is a truism of life that, if such a fact is true,...

The Power of an Idea Wednesday October 27 2004 08:41 IST By Karmayogi The Chairman of the International Commission on Peace and Food (ICPF) desired us to review the relevance of the Commission's recommendations since it is now ten years after the release of its...

Men of Great Capacity Monday April 11 2005 09:35 IST By Karmayogi If we divide men into two categories of capacity and incapacity, capable men succeed and the incapable fail. Mother makes the incapable capable. This is a perennial theme with the devotees. Capable men...

Proposal By Karmayogi God is difficult to reach. It is years of tapas that get one a glimpse of God who gives the tapasvi the boon of moksha. This is only one aspect of God. There is another aspect of God that longs for Man's coming to Him. That aspect is God goes to...

Levels of Management By Karmayogi Management means the capacity to produce profits in a productive venture. In 1985 it was said that each year the USA alone produced 450 books on management. In 1945 in an international conference, Peter Drucker was laughed at when he...

The Roots of Terrorism Friday October 29 2004 08:09 IST By Karmayogi Terrorism is the topic of the hour. It is a heinous crime to kill innocent people for an ideology one has in his own mind. He who indulges in it often risks his life, feeling he is a noble martyr. On...

The Role of a Sister Tuesday April 12 2005 08:57 IST By Karmayogi A Jewish proverb says that because God cannot be everywhere, He has created motherhood. A mother is the entire family and sometimes more than a family. A sister, especially, an elder sister, becomes the...

Efficiency By Karmayogi Lumumba was the Prime Minister of the Congo. One of his main qualifications was that he was a graduate. At that time there were 13 graduates in that country. When Indian Freedom was negotiated, it was noted that the five leaders on the Indian...

Indian Buses on the Roads of USA By Karmayogi An elderly American reading what a young American had written was surprised. He asked where he had learnt to write so well. The answer surprised him even more. ‘‘I learnt it in India.'' One may...

The Power of Promise Saturday October 30 2004 08:23 IST By Karmayogi The Westerner has realised Brahman in Matter, is what Sri Aurobindo said. Brahman is many things and all things. Pre-eminently, Brahman is TRUTH. Truth is powerful because it is the first expression...

Ekalavya Wednesday April 13 2005 07:56 IST By Karmayogi Knowledge passes on from one to another by itself. Ekalavya was a hunter who desired to learn archery from Drona. As his direct instruction to a low caste hunter was not possible, Ekalavya made a statue of the...

Spirit in Action By Karmayogi It is a truism in life and much more so in Spirit that when we give up our due, the rightful right, what the Spirit considers our desert, will come. I can tell myself I should give up my wrong desire, but it will not work. To give up my...

Technology By Karmayogi When something is rare, it is the general tendency to consider it divine or meant for the rare gifted. There was a time when a car was so considered. Every new invention enjoys that rare status in the beginning for some years or even some...

What Makes an Idea Powerful Thursday October 28 2004 08:03 IST By Karmayogi A famous French writer said that an Idea whose TIME has come is irresistible. The French Revolution was thought to be such an Idea when the time for liberty came. The whole of Europe briefly...

  Insupportable Thursday April 14 2005 10:06 IST By Karmayogi At the age of fifteen, a Western youth read a book of Eastern religion. It was about Vedanta that speaks of the Spirit. The Transcendent Spirit was a complete reality to the young mind. It was a concrete...

Chronic Illness By Karmayogi In our tradition, illness is understood to be the result of past karma. A lady was suffering from asthma for over a decade. In an affectionate family, illness is an occasion for attention. People overcome their resistances and offer...

Invocation of Spirit By Karmayogi For over a year I have been writing in this column about invoking the Spirit. But every letter I receive asks how to invoke the Spirit. I wrote a long article on it and sent it to the questioners. Many caught the idea. Many more are...

Ireland Monday November 1 2004 07:27 IST By Karmayogi After the demise of the Cold War, several minor conflicts survive, such as Kashmir, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Sri Lanka, and Ireland. The Sri Lankan conflict is of recent origin. Kashmir is sixty years old. The...

Boston Brahmin Friday April 15 2005 09:50 IST By Karmayogi A Brahmin is one who worships the Brahman. The Brahman is called the Absolute in Europe. No attribute can be given to it, as it is featureless. Still, it is customary to call it Infinity and Eternity. Or...

Accomplishment of Indians Abroad By Karmayogi Indira Gandhi was asked in the Indian Parliament, ''Why is it that Indians who flourish in any country do not do so in India?'' The Jews, the Chinese and the Indians are known to prosper wherever they are outside their...

Politeness in Matters Spiritual By Karmayogi When people are introduced to Mother, in the first few weeks they declare, ‘‘I have worked for twenty years to buy a small piece of land. Now in the last forty days, ever since I came to know HER, two big...

Periods of Transition Monday November 8 2004 08:57 IST By Karmayogi Periods of transition are full of stress. There are transitions for the better. Other transitions are for the worse. A war effort is one such. The whole population must sacrifice several conveniences...

A Positive Product Saturday April 16 2005 14:34 IST By Karmayogi Every new scientific discovery begins as theory and ends as a PRODUCT. The Jnana of the Rishi comes to the population as values of life. The knowledge of science comes to the same population as usable...

The First Waking Thought By Karmayogi People who get up before 6 am will be active throughout the day. They are not unconscious people. When you get up in the morning, if you are tired, it means your sleep was unconscious. If you have been having a big idea as the...

Who Will Pay the Two Rupees? By Karmayogi There are great occasions in life when vast opportunities knock on one's doors. Life is strange for those who do not know it. Those who know Life, know it is not strange, but its strange ways are its very characteristics....

Walking Wednesday November 3 2004 09:02 IST By Karmayogi Walking is an essential activity. Incidentally, it is an excellent exercise as it strains most of the muscles in the body to some extent. People in the village walking ten miles was common in those days. Even...

The Golden Age Monday April 18 2005 09:09 IST By Karmayogi Old is gold is a universal phenomenon. It is essentially true, but not entirely true. No drop of the essence of the past is to be given up. It is gold. Any idea, however great, is given to the people in the...

Worry is Absence of Faith By Karmayogi Man seeks intensity. Whatever offers intensity is popular. The reason why functions such as weddings are popular is because a wedding is the most intense occasion in the life of a family. Occasionally we hear a comment in a...

Realities of Life By Karmayogi Life Response is a concept created based on the Realities of Life. Man grows wise learning of those realities. Their laws are inexorable. No one can overcome them. The Gods can modify their malignancy, but cannot cancel them. The theory...

Time is on Our Side Tuesday November 9 2004 09:08 IST By Karmayogi The youth in India are breathing the fresh air of Freedom. The contrast in attitudes towards life between the youth and the aged is marked. The youth are optimistic, hopeful, forward-looking, and feel...

  Spiritual experiencesTuesday April 19 2005 09:22 IST By Karmayogi The guru initiates the disciple into the discipline. The disciple by his own spiritual endeavour acquires the spiritual experience his guru has already realised. The guru gives him the mantra for that...

Falsehood Prospers By Karmayogi There are people who exclaim, "God is great. He has never left me unprotected. I cannot survive without such divine protection. At the time of inspection, 70 p.c. of my work was unfinished. I would have been undone if the inspecting...

Scepticism By Karmayogi Experiences of devotees are unbelievable for those who have not had similar experiences. Though most people readily believe, some express disbelief or exhibit indifference. One reader chose to declare that all that I write might be true, but...

Reliability Wednesday November 10 2004 13:14 IST By Karmayogi Matters of money, property, contracts, etc., are reduced to writing and often registered. All these are essential, inevitable and even inescapable. But the smooth enjoyment of that property and functioning...

  KarnaWednesday April 20 2005 11:49 IST By Karmayogi Karna was the eldest of the Pandavas. He never knew it until Krishna told him the fact. On hearing it, he said that if Yudhisthira had known this fact, he would never sit on the throne. He was Suryaputra, born to...

Choice helps to invoke the spirit By Karmayogi The Spirit that I want people to evoke is not the Soul, the witness Purusha, aimed at by the yoga of knowledge. Sri Aurobindo calls it the Psychic Being, the evolving soul. Tradition conceived of the Spirit as immutable,...

Prayer is Superfluous By Karmayogi A very intelligent person, often, does not think of himself as intelligent. He who often thinks he is intelligent or sometimes proclaims that he is, is one who is not really intelligent but tries to be so. It is true with wealth....

The place of aid in development Thursday November 11 2004 09:13 IST By Karmayogi International AID has come to stay. Its role is considerable. The World Bank is an organisation of 60 years. Its prestige is so great that men like Clausen, the President of Bank of...

Spiritual Experiences II Monday April 25 2005 08:26 IST By Karmayogi Summary of The Life Divine It is 85 years since the book The Life Divine was completed as a serial in the monthly Arya. It is taught in the Ashram school as a text optionally. For someone who has...

The Power Of The Press By Karmayogi Martin Luther's revolt against the Church and the priest was shaped into social power by the printing press. The Church until then prevented the laity from reading the Bible. The newly emerging printing technology put hundreds of...

Spiritual Value of WORK By Karmayogi It is a job for the mother to compel her child to sit down and do its homework. It is equivalent to punishment. There are schools which give no homework. They help children to learn reading at the age of 4 or even 3. Such a child,...

The Power of Cleanliness Monday November 15 2004 08:06 IST By Karmayogi The Supramental Force needs cleanliness to descend on objects. It is the external form of cleanliness. Inner cleanliness is purity. Sincerity to the Divine is that purity. Our tradition has two...

Magnificent Sari Thursday April 21 2005 09:32 IST By Karmayogi Getting down from the plane and walking into the airport, someone found a sea of smiles greeting her and discovered her life magnificent. In the hundred previous trips she had passed through Frankfurt...

Spiritual Transformation By Karmayogi Spiritual Transformation is a new concept in the field of spirituality, Eastern or Western. The Spirit is to detach itself from life and seek its origin which is moksha. The Upanishads had laid down that all in creation is Spirit...

The Spiritual Status of Help By Karmayogi The impulse of help makes one human. The phrase Good Samaritan is age-old. One offers to help another because the impulse of Selflessness is active. Society exists because of such help, which is often mutual help. Before the...

Decision and Determination Tuesday November 16 2004 11:38 IST By Karmayogi Work becomes more effective when the consent to it becomes a decision. Our knowing all about a work is knowledge. Our will, the executor in us, knowing all about a work is decision. Decision is...

God's Grace Friday April 22 2005 09:16 IST By Karmayogi Gods grace comes as moksha to the yogi. The pious householder finds it in his earthly endowments. Gods ways are mysterious. He is munificent, but does not always express it as the bhakta desires it. Sri Aurobindo...

Problem Solving by the Spirit By Karmayogi Problems arise and many are solved. Some are not. They are solved by skill, experience, another's help, thoughtfulness, resourcefulness, money, diligence, status, power, prayer and a host of other methods known to the society...

Evoking a Serious Response from the Divine By Karmayogi There are serious occasions in life. When a man's debts rise to double the level of his worth, or a poor girl at the age of 36 wishes for marriage, or many other such things coming under that category...

The Impersonal and the Personal Wednesday November 17 2004 08:07 IST By Karmayogi Individual relations are personal. Laws are impersonal. When you are applying for a job, if you are qualified according to their rules, you are selected impersonally. If the CEO is...

Ambition Saturday April 23 2005 08:58 IST By Karmayogi To be called ambitious is a curse. Man is to do his work and not ask for the results. To look for the results of his own work is not spiritually permissible. In the first half of the 20th century, a man would be...

The Greatness of the Birthday for the Great By Karmayogi Birth is the great mystery of life, said Sri Aurobindo. Having said that, He explained the process of birth that leads to death spiritually in three chapters in The Life Divine. The chosen few gravitate to the...

Initial Response of the Divine By Karmayogi Religious worship is for all. Spirituality is for those who have the call. There was a time when bicycle was for all and car was meant for the wealthy elite.This is not longer so. At least in America, everyone owns a car,...

Veerampattinam Kali Thursday November 18 2004 08:05 IST By Karmayogi A few miles away from Pondicherry is a hamlet called Veerampattinam. It is called pattinam as places on the coast are called thus in ancient Tamilnadu, such as Nagapattinam, Kaveripoompattinam,...

The Grace of Refusal Friday April 29 2005 12:04 IST By Karmayogi Man appreciates the Grace that gives; he does not like the grace that refuses. To him, it is not grace that refuses to give. There is a philosophic truth behind it. Still further, there is a yogic...

Positive and Negative By Karmayogi Positive events are welcome; negative developments are unwelcome. The definition of positive or negative can vary according to one's level of inner as well as outer development. To secure a seat by recommendation may be welcome to...

Significant Response — Opportunity By Karmayogi Life was negative with a vengeance until 1900, maybe until the end of World War II. It made survival difficult. Most people struggled to hold on to what they had. The question of opportunity was unheard of. When Benjamin...

Eminence of a Nation Friday November 19 2004 08:43 IST By Karmayogi Motilal Nehru had his clothes made in London by the King's tailor Poole. Some zamindars sent their pregnant wives to England so that the newborn children would be British citizens. Because...

The Touch of Friendship Friday May 6 2005 08:44 IST By Karmayogi Meeting Pranab Mukherjee after ten years, an American introduced himself. To his surprise, Pranab remembered him and even the topics discussed at their first meeting, though it was the only time he had...

Building up India By Karmayogi Every country built up its industries in the 19th and 20th centuries. India was a subject nation suffering from cancer. Now, fifty years after Independence, the problem still remains. Why, are Indians incapable? Is it an impossible task?...

A Wider Response from the Divine By Karmayogi Man, with his developed faculties of Mind, is hopelessly groping in spite of his spectacular achievements. This is very well seen if you review the efforts of great Minds a hundred or two hundred years ago. Man was not...

The Divine Mother's Protection Saturday November 20 2004 07:56 IST By Karmayogi A moment's reflection will reveal how the divine protection is ever-present, even as breathing is constant. Because that is taken for granted, we are in the presence of such...

Quest of Young Adults Saturday May 7 2005 09:34 IST By Karmayogi A hundred thousand freshmen who started college last year answered a survey. Four in five reported interest in spirituality. This survey was conducted in America. Three out of four said they were...

The Politician and the Administrator By Karmayogi Expert knowledge is exceedingly admirable. One can look at a cycle and say that in that company in the chain section there is no discipline, they are not buying the best quality aluminium. When an expert in the field...

Deep Response from the Divine By Karmayogi The Divine wishes to give us the Deepest Response. Only that we ask of Him trivial things. To rely on the Divine in the worst of circumstances is the only condition for deserving such a response. Human love is celebrated over...

Peaceful Life Monday November 22 2004 09:16 IST By Karmayogi Life has endless shades and is found in an enormous variety. Some of them are good life, bad life, successful life, active life, dynamic life, idealistic life, peaceful life, dull life, problem-free life,...

Fifteen Rupees Thursday May 12 2005 08:21 IST By Karmayogi All those who were students of the Transfer of Power of 1947 are familiar with one of its architects, V.P. Menon, known as a fourth form graduate (9th standard). His book on Transfer of Power remains an...

Good Will Towards the Spirit By Karmayogi Man acts from his feelings - the vital. He can act from the Mind, but except when he has to think on purely mental ideas like geometry, he acts from the feelings of the Mind itself. Mother says Perfection and imperfection are...

Yogic Response from the Divine By Karmayogi There are people whose souls are ripe below the surface. They live an ordinary life on the surface, as the soul is not expressing itself. When they come to Mother, they are filled with a SILENCE one gets after twenty years...

Variations of human nature Tuesday November 23 2004 08:18 IST By Karmayogi Westerners refer to us as mild Hindus. Others call us docile Indians. The Americans advertise for gate-crashing young men. About three or four generations ago, people valued walking slowly,...

Selfishness, Selflessness, Self-Giving Friday May 13 2005 10:02 IST By Karmayogi To be selfish is essential for survival is the conclusion of selfish people. They are right from their point of view. Recollect every selfish person you know. If they are also capable,...

Tenfold Expansion in Ten Years By Karmayogi The Spirit is GREAT. But the spirit in life is invisible. It is also invincible. India is a land of spirituality. The SPIRIT is there everywhere, pervading all aspects of life. We do not see it with our naked eyes. A link, a...

Uniqueness is a Type By Karmayogi In the history of the world, we have witnessed power struggle of all descriptions. One who has all the power in his own hands giving it away to others is not heard of in the history of the world. Mahatma Gandhiji did so. Therefore, he...

Meteoric rise Wednesday November 24 2004 08:24 IST By Karmayogi Times of transition, historians say, offer matchless opportunities for penniless men with powerful brains and imagination. They are astonished how quickly these penniless men come to the fore. Stephenson...

The Nether Side of Social Power Saturday May 14 2005 09:37 IST By Karmayogi Anger is frowned upon by all schools of thought-spiritual, ethical, moral, social, etc. On no showing is anger justifiable for one who is aspiring for inner psychological growth, which is an...

What is Left Unsaid By Karmayogi Children do not do what we say. They do what we do. If we are negotiating to buy a house and the seller, disagreeing on price and terms, categorically says, ''Then let us drop the bargain'', we do not accept his words. We study his...

The Newspaper By Karmayogi The purpose of a newspaper is to give news objectively. Presently news means news of politics. Some newspapers resort to sensationalism. Others, wishing to set standards of factual news, develop OPINIONS, which in time become sacred to them....

The Problem of Population Thursday November 25 2004 08:02 IST By Karmayogi If you are doing research to know how well the world has received new inventions, new ideas, or anything new which is most widely used today, the list you get will be miles long. Some of the...

Work and Reward Saturday May 21 2005 13:30 IST By Karmayogi Frustration increases with increasing urbanisation and modernisation. Frustration is the direct result when the work does not yield results. A further frustration arises when our success is not appreciated by...

Product of Prosperity By Karmayogi Men fall into two groups. One leads and the other follows. Those who lead are a handful, others are the large majority. The former discover new ways of life and set the standard. The latter follow. The leaders understand ideas,...

Value of a Promise By Karmayogi A promise is given to another. A vow is taken for oneself. A good part of the population has financial difficulties of all descriptions, at all levels. I can offer one suggestion to them for immediate temporary relief. Such suggestions...

Abolition of War Friday November 26 2004 08:06 IST By Karmayogi Major wars are abolished. Their very possibility disappeared when the USSR came forward to dissolve her totalitarian structure on her own initiative. That evolutionary initiative of Gorbachev was without...

Rajiv Gandhi Thursday April 28 2005 13:23 IST By Karmayogi When the Prime Ministership was gratefully waiting for him, Rajiv preferred to be a pilot. That is history. The argument needs no arguing. Suppose he was not the son of Indira and he still had this endowment,...

Marriage is Essential By Karmayogi Biologically, almost everyone needs marriage. For the woman, the birth of a child is more important than wedding or marriage or even the husband. Man is fulfilled in his children, but he seeks his fulfillment in the wife. Man longs...

The Value of Choice By Karmayogi We are not aware that we are exercising our choice every minute. We take it as a way of life. There are literally thousands of occasions where one can witness two families - or individuals - of comparable circumstances at the end of...

Japan's insularity Saturday November 27 2004 08:36 IST By Karmayogi Those who live on an island are not easily attacked by their enemies, as the ocean on all sides is a barrier. That barrier is a protection. That self-same protection makes the population of the island...

Unsuspecting Nature Monday May 30 2005 10:08 IST By Karmayogi Edmund Dantes was a shipmate. He was 19. His captain, who was ill, gave Dantes a letter to deliver to Napoleon on Elba and then died. To a shipmate, the captains word is an order, especially when it is a...

Wealth Lies in Self-Employment By Karmayogi It was the sannyasi who discovered God, not the householder. The three stages of domestic life prepared one for sannyasa. One who gives up the family life discovers the riches of the Spirit, not one who enjoys the security...

Conceptualisation is Mental Consciousness By Karmayogi We are unconscious in many ways. When we travel a short distance in the train, it never occurs to us how the train arrived and departed in time. There is an organisation - a vast huge organisation - behind a train...

The machine age Monday November 29 2004 09:11 IST By Karmayogi Discussing the character of people in various parts of the earth from many angles, a famous European author came to the topic of Asians handling machines entrusted to them. For over a hundred years, the...

Tabula Rasa Friday June 3 2005 09:43 IST By Karmayogi A computer expert found a breakdown in his software. He is not a trained professional expert. He is an amateur, but quite an expert at that. He could not restore the working of the software. He is a devotee too. He...

Incentives to National Prosperity By Karmayogi Housing, high cost of education, and consumer durables available through hire-purchase add a great weight or pressure on the middle class population to earn more. But their salaried jobs offer little scope to expand their...

Human Conception of God By Karmayogi Man knows God is all powerful and therefore expects HIM to fulfil all his wishes. He never thinks there is another side to it. Midas asked of God a boon that whatever he touches should turn into gold. It resulted in his daughter...

Index of Culture Tuesday November 30 2004 08:36 IST By Karmayogi Hospitality to strangers is seen as an index of culture of a community. Friendliness of a population is always valued by tourists from other countries. Landing in a foreign land, one is struck by the...

Left-handedness Saturday June 4 2005 10:40 IST By Karmayogi Westerners coming to India for any organised work among the general public are trained in Indian customs, taught an Indian language, and sometimes asked to put on Indian dress. One important instruction to...

Education is an Instrument of Prosperity By Karmayogi When India became free, Nehru was looking for a programme that would usher India into prosperity. Lenin devised soviets at the rural level and said electricity and soviets would together bring communism to Russia....

Person Beyond Personality By Karmayogi The word ‘personality' is used in many senses sanctioned by the language. It is most commonly used in a sense language does not grant it. A tall, handsome, well-built person is often described as a good personality....

Indian Political Leadership Wednesday December 1 2004 08:50 IST By Karmayogi The World Academy of Arts and Science was founded in the sixties by the leading scientists of the day so that it could pronounce on matters of vital importance to the world. Among its 500...

Subtle Infection Monday June 6 2005 09:48 IST By Karmayogi Speaking on the birthday of Nehru in 1947, an eminent orator said Nehrus enthusiasm for socialism was infectious. Infectious enthusiasm is an original coinage of the speaker. We know of contagious diseases....

Levels of the Spirit Emerging in Man By Karmayogi Saints, sages, realised souls, vibhutis, and even Avatars are not recognised in their immediate environment. Usually they are recognised after their lives. Persecution is the rule, recognition is the exception. Most of...

Inner Joy By Karmayogi Success makes for happiness; failure gives us sorrow. Sri Aurobindo says success and happiness are sought after by lower human emotions. Pious people do their duty regardless of success or failure. They are invariably happy, rather filled with a...

Faith Works in the Body Thursday December 2 2004 08:26 IST By Karmayogi Orthodoxy is part of our life in India. Women are the bulwark of it at home. It is the fervent belief of every orthodox woman that her family runs today because of the various austerities she...

Mercedes Friday June 10 2005 08:28 IST By Karmayogi Mercedes was the fianc of Edmund Dantes, the hero of The Count of Monte Cristo. She was an orphaned Catalan girl of Marseilles. Dantes was falsely imprisoned. Fernand, Mercedes cousin, persisted in courting her who...

The Many Ways in which the Spirit Comes to Us By Karmayogi When a jewel is lost, one goes to a clairvoyant who takes a betel leaf and smears a black paste on it. On that he sees the thief and describes him. He can say whether the jewel will be restored or not. This is...

Effective Microorganisms By Karmayogi The small is significant. We realise it only when things go wrong. The value of things is seen only in their absence. We have heard of micronutrients in agriculture. When the value of vitamins was first discovered, medical science...

Betrayal of the Beloved Friday December 3 2004 09:08 IST By Karmayogi Personal Agenda is a phrase of the present time. Vested interests, wheels within wheels, axe to grind are earlier versions of the same idea. Language changes for the better, becomes picturesque,...

Upward Social Movement Tuesday June 14 2005 10:58 IST By Karmayogi Sivakasi has become All-India famous because of crackers, printing presses and general entrepreneurship. He who was an errand boy last year becomes the owner of a small establishment this year. In a...

The Reward of Loyalty By Karmayogi In the sixties a worker joined a team of people collecting manure. He was paid one rupee a day. He was young, full of energy, resourceful in work. Soon he became the leader of the group. Agriculture work offers no scope for labourers...

Mother Never Punishes By Karmayogi We often hear that, if we are not right, God will punish us. The truth there is very little. Gods belong to the Overmind. They too have guna and swabhava like us, but they may be in traces. They are not free from ego. What is true is...

Customs and Culture Saturday December 4 2004 09:16 IST By Karmayogi Customs vary with culture. We evaluate a man by his customs and culture. We think high of an institution where people are polite and low where people are impolite and rude. We value a foreign nation...

ESources of Income Tuesday June 14 2005 10:52 IST By Karmayogi Man is becoming socially conscious. He has discovered the value of education. Last year, the number one source of advertisement income for newspapers in India was educational institutions. There are over...

The Different Aspects of Spiritual Power By Karmayogi Spirit is Power. It has more power than Mind or Body. We call the power of Spirit miraculous. As long as we are not in the plane of the Spirit, its power looks like a miracle to us. In its own plane, the character...

Chandrasekaran By Karmayogi For several decades I have been dreaming of writing a story or making a film to convey the message that India is potentially richer than any rich nation on earth. My contacts with writers held in repute by my people led me nowhere. Some...

A Spiritual Magazine Tuesday December 7 2004 11:47 IST By Karmayogi The Reserve Bank was founded in 1935. It was a landmark in Indias financial administration. The UGC was created as the apex body for all the Indian universities when India attained freedom. It...

Karna and Bhishma Wednesday June 15 2005 09:36 IST By Karmayogi Karna was Suryaputra. Bhishma was Gangaputra. Surya is the source of light that is knowledge. Karna used to see a Sun when he closed his eyes. He was given at birth an armour that would always protect...

The Causal Plane By Karmayogi The supramental plane is the causal plane where the law of cause and effect finds a play. It is the plane where Brahman dwells. It is the plane of pure spirit. The causal inversion is far more drastic than the subtle inversion. It comes...

Resistance to New Invention By Karmayogi Orthodoxy, conservation, tradition are the old ways of life summarised by the modern term ‘Establishment'. That the old strongly resists the new is the order of the day. The old ways of life are so strong, that they...

Patriotism Wednesday December 8 2004 08:03 IST By Karmayogi Man loves himself, only himself. His love of the family, though selfless to that extent, is also basically love of his own self. It further extends to his community, and his country. His love of his country...

V V Giri Thursday June 16 2005 12:48 IST By Karmayogi When India was invaded time and again before the British took over in 1857, Punjab was the Gateway to India. As Delhi was the capital, all the invaders marched towards Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. It was given to the...

God Proposes; Man Disposes By Karmayogi The title is an inversion of the English proverb. Since 1956 when the Force descended on earth, God seeking Man more than Man seeking God has become a greater reality. We see no God, we see only how prosperous we are. Prosperity...

The Snob and the Spirit By Karmayogi ‘‘I have worked hard and sincerely all my life but am still at the bottom.'' ‘‘I am always successful, but the results go to another.'' ‘‘Everyone cheats me, who am...

The Irrational Politician Thursday December 9 2004 09:18 IST By Karmayogi A nation is led by its politicians, not by its scientists or professors. Not even the sages of a nation can rule a nation. It is common sense that the wisest should rule a nation. In reality, it...

Strength of Efficiency Friday June 17 2005 08:21 IST By Karmayogi Efficiency is sought after in execution. To achieve more with less is efficiency. Participating in a wedding for the conduct of which three lakhs of rupees was spent by someone who wanted to be known as...

The Great Indian Dream By Karmayogi Mr. Arindam Chaudhuri and Mr. Malay Chandhuri have published a book entitled The Great Indian Dream. In it they voice their inspired vision of India in the near future.These are patriotic young men passionately voicing their vision...

Eternal Romance By Karmayogi God has created the world for eternal delight. It is sought through eternal Romance. Sri Aurobindo speaks of four major events in the history of earth, in which he includes Krishna 's life in Brindavan. In His view it is the most...

Business Competition Friday December 10 2004 09:16 IST By Karmayogi The free market is the surest mechanism to ensure economic democracy. USSR tried command economy administered by the State.It only stifled growth. The rules of the market are a powerful antidote to...

Sri Aurobindos Gayatri Monday June 20 2005 08:43 IST By Karmayogi Orthodox people repeat mantras, of which Gayatri is outstanding and universal. The Vedas are recited on important occasions. Stotras are mostly for ladies. Those who are in touch with spiritual...

Psychic Sadness By Karmayogi In a respectable family sometimes children take to the ways of loafers. Parents are sad. They are sad that the children are unable to appreciate the status, reputation, culture, and value of the family. It all can be lost by one act of...

Guaranteed Employment By Karmayogi When there is a food shortage in the country, there are no two opinions. Buy, import, grow - food must be made available to all. There is no point in saying, ‘‘Well, we have to learn to live with the famine''....

Strength of the National Currency Saturday December 11 2004 09:36 IST By Karmayogi Computer is the newest addition to modern office life. It works wonders. We welcome it, use it well, but never stop to think how it is made or how it was discovered, because it is not...

Egyptian Mummies Saturday June 18 2005 10:10 IST By Karmayogi The Egyptians had discovered a method of embalming dead bodies which could preserve them for ages. Mother says the material mind preserves the bodies. Our Mind is seated in the brain. Brain is the body of...

''Count Your Chickens Before They are Hatched'' By Karmayogi The above caption is a quotation from the book I referred to two days ago, The Great Indian Dream. It is there as a chapter heading. The efficacy of planning is emphasised in this fashion. Prof. Arindam has...

The value of the Mother tongue By Karmayogi The 1950s and 60s were the heydays of Tamil. In 1956 when a college celebrated its centenary, the Education Minister was the chief guest. The Principal spoke in English welcoming the Minister. The Minister stood up and...

Right to break a contract Monday December 13 2004 08:41 IST By Karmayogi A contract is legally binding on the parties. To break a contract is to break the law. The British courts had granted the right to labour to break any contract! If this was 200 years ago, when...

Danglars Wednesday June 22 2005 09:40 IST By Karmayogi I have been repeatedly writing about Edmond Dantes and The Count of Monte Cristo. One becomes a great writer and his works come to stay because he has life knowledge. Man likes to think that life is moral,...

December 28, 1928 By Karmayogi Prayers and Meditations is a book in which Mother's prayers — mostly written when She was in Japan — are published. A devotee once said that of all the hundreds of publications of the Ashram, two books stood out. They are The Mother...

Political leadership By Karmayogi After the World War, the world has not thrown up a leader of world stature. After the procession of intellectuals who wanted to shape the world according to their ideas - Rousseau, Voltaire, Marx, Russell, Sartre - in the last...

The Past Initiated Act Tuesday December 14 2004 08:49 IST By Karmayogi Satyavathi is a central character in the Mahabharatha. She was a fisherwoman soaked in a fishy odour, rather stench. Sage Parasara relieved her of her stench and gave her Vyasa as son. Shantanus...

Salaried Employment Thursday June 23 2005 09:26 IST By Karmayogi People take note of a rising star when his coffers are receiving cascades of fortune. Common prudence sees that the continuous RISKS he takes make him a notable. A man risks his all - maybe a small...

Out of Dust By Karmayogi D.F. Karaka wrote a book called Out of Dust long ago. He was an ICS officer who came under the spell of the Mahatma. The theme of the book was that the Mahatma made us into men picking us up from out of the dust. That is what Mahatmas do. Only...

Perfect Form By Karmayogi Beauty in one generates love in another, as beauty expresses the form of perfection. Those who have described creation as lila saw it as an expression of ananda. Sri Aurobindo explains that God seeks to create the perfect FORM in the world so...

Emotion of Falsehood Wednesday December 15 2004 09:32 IST By Karmayogi Life is not two clearly divided camps of Truth and Falsehood for man to choose. They are always mixed in a variety of ways. One is at a loss to know what to choose at critical moments. Every...

Life of a Journal Friday June 24 2005 10:41 IST By Karmayogi Journals, magazines and newspapers are successful because of a dynamic management or a long tradition of high standards. A newspaper is an organisation, as any other business organisation, but it becomes...

Ambition Versus Achievement By Karmayogi ‘‘I wish to become the No. 1 cardiac surgeon in India. Is it a permissible idealism?'' is a question in the mind of a precocious young aspirant. It looks like a great aim. At the same time, in a society...

Inner Richness that is Spiritual Fullness By Karmayogi Those who have worked at the Matrimandir in Auroville know that when they go out for more than two or three days, an inner longing develops to return to it. Having experienced the touch of the Sprit in their own...

Jane Austen Thursday December 16 2004 09:01 IST By Karmayogi At the age of 19, Jane Austen wrote Pride and Prejudice, a novel where the Pride of a wealthy aristocrat clashes with the Prejudice of young Elizabeth, whose fine eyes he was unable to resist. The original...

Colours of Spiritual Light Saturday June 25 2005 09:24 IST By Karmayogi Spiritually awakened people, when they meditate, see a light between their brows or in their heart. Vivekananda saw it. When Mother gave Darsan to the sadhaks or devotees, She sometimes used to...

Where the Spirit is Helpless! By Karmayogi Many people have successfully invoked the Spirit and have seen it in action. The government is too formidable for an ordinary citizen to face as an opposite party in the court. When the government chooses to acquire the only...

Work that Energises By Karmayogi Work needs energy. When a work is completed, we feel tired. Mother says that at the end of a work, one should not feel tired if we have the right attitude to work. As usual Mother is different here also. Concentration means dwelling on...

The Subconscious Friday December 17 2004 08:39 IST By Karmayogi What the world calls unconscious, Sri Aurobindo calls subconscious, because to Him, the entire world is always conscious. The Upanishads call Him the One who is awake in those that are asleep. Most...

Shut up Monday June 27 2005 09:00 IST By Karmayogi Mother calls our body the noblest of instruments. At the same time, it is stupid, She says. Body is docile. It wants to obey. Its faith and humility are touching. That is what Mother says of Her body. Its obedience is...

Spiritual Courage By Karmayogi Of the eight attributes of Lakshmi, courage stands out. Indian mythological stories are SUBTLE in their instruction. They reveal the TRUTH by hiding it.. This subtle knowledge is spiritual. It is there in all walks of life as the Power...

There is no evil By Karmayogi All the philosophies of the world have failed to explain the existence of Evil. The Vedas and Upanishads too failed there. The Upanishads said All is Brahman. Having said so, it amounts to saying that Evil too is Brahman. Sri Aurobindo...

Radha and Krishna Saturday December 18 2004 08:42 IST By Karmayogi Of the four important landmarks of history, Brindavan is one, perhaps the most delightful. To those who consider it the poet's fancy, Sri Aurobindo says He is thankful for that fancifulness. Radha...

Om Namo Bhagavathe Tuesday June 28 2005 12:46 IST By Karmayogi The Mother says in the most hopeless situation, however daunting it is, this mantra, Om Namo Bhagavathe, will calm down ones nerves and restore an atmosphere of Peace. Man has minor and major problems....

Mathematical Formula of Life By Karmayogi Mathematics is abstract; life is materially concrete. To capture the concrete in terms of the abstract is to be spiritually creative. It is done by intuition. Einstein discovered the formula of Energy that is Matter. For long...

Wisdom After the Event By Karmayogi When a puzzling problem harasses one, everyone tries to help him with an idea, but in vain. At last when somehow the problem is solved, its solution looks simple and obvious. To know what is obvious after the event beforehand is...

Luxuries vs Necessities Monday December 20 2004 08:48 IST By Karmayogi An electric fan was a luxury in the 1950s, a two-wheeler was a pride of possession in the 1960s, telephone was then a status symbol. This is no longer so. They are the essentials of existence now....

Progress Thursday June 30 2005 11:43 IST By Karmayogi Resourceful men in an Indian metropolis speak of great opportunities in life. They are advantages that never existed 25 years ago. One cannot sufficiently estimate their value. For bright, dynamic, wide-eyed young...

‘After all, I am a Useless Person' By Karmayogi It is true that some people are talented and others are not. There are boys who strive very hard year after year to reach the first rank in vain. Sometimes they come close to their goal and miss it....

Eternal Romance By Karmayogi God has created the world for eternal delight. It is sought through eternal Romance. Sri Aurobindo speaks of four major events in the history of earth, in which he includes Krishna's life in Brindavan. In His view it is the most...

The Boon Internet Is Tuesday December 21 2004 08:46 IST By Karmayogi Between the Civil War in 1860 and the World War in 1914, the American economy was in a boom. No one outside America was aware of what was happening there, as no one knew of her existence then. Her...

Light in Life Friday July 1 2005 10:08 IST By Karmayogi Spirituality is for the sannyasi, says the tradition. Prosperity is for the householder. Spirituality in daily life is perennial prosperity is one sidelight of Mothers writings. She never spoke of prosperity. I...

The Value of OIL By Karmayogi Oil that is petroleum has made life modern and made several countries rich. The phrase 'He has struck oil' is an equivalent to 'he is lucky' in the USA. India is not an oil surplus nation. My theme is the neglected potentials. By oil...

Flawless Scholarship By Karmayogi Whatever is flawless is adorable. At that point, it becomes Perfect. Indian scholarship enjoyed that eminence. Western scholarship always aimed at it. While scholarship in the West is out of physical labour, Indian scholarship was, in...

Concentration Wednesday December 22 2004 08:59 IST By Karmayogi When someone is doing a work like writing, we find he does not notice our coming and standing by his side for some time. He may not respond to a few words of ours calling his attention. Later we are...

Punya Bhoomi Saturday July 2 2005 10:33 IST By Karmayogi Pilgrimage is the pious privilege of a heart that adores the sacred soil of a Saint. Man, when he is favoured with fairly good luck in life, finds himself condemned to comfortable middle class. Those who have a...

The Various Strengths of Human Nature By Karmayogi Science is making great strides. In biology they now know the origin of the hair colour, the length of the fingers or strength of any part of our body. In various degrees they are working to achieve mastery in those...

Maximum Becomes the Minimum By Karmayogi In the field of spirituality, the phrase ‘the Infinite emerges out of the finite' occurs constantly. In human life, such a phenomenon is understood as a miracle. Sri Aurobindo says miracles can become commonplace....

Raja Yoga Friday December 24 2004 08:37 By Karmayogi Life exists in several grades. There are endless varieties in each grade. It is true of food, dress, town, instruments, people, culture and everything. So also, yoga differs vastly. Its goal of moksha too differs...

Captivating Charm Monday July 4 2005 09:36 IST By Karmayogi As part of his duties, a junior engineer took up a minor irrigation work in a hamlet in his jurisdiction called Mulasoor. The work would widen the catchment area and improve the irrigation facilities of the...

A Bi-Monthly Magazine for Spirituality By Karmayogi Suresh Menon, a journalist from Thrissur who had a spiritual vision, has started a magazine called Spirituality and Prosperity. As it was a long felt desire of mine, I have endorsed his effort in all possible ways....

The Westernised Mind By Karmayogi In Western life when a Man is confronted with a life or death situation, he tries his best to overcome it by his own ingenuity. When he fails, he gives up. He rarely, if ever, turns to God for relief through a prayer. It is that Mind...

Hatha Yoga Saturday December 25 2004 08:54 By Karmayogi Life, in its existence, is many-sided in the sense that a goal can be accomplished in more than one way. Absence of rigidity makes for creativity. Moksha is the goal of Indian spirituality. There is no one fixed...

The Unregenerate Vital Tuesday July 5 2005 09:16 IST By Karmayogi An idea of Sri Aurobindo in an article of mine made a vastly informed reader of eminence write to me asking for a reference to the original. The original in effect says the unregenerate vital is...

The Prince and The Pauper By Karmayogi Man who is born a Prince lives as a Pauper. This is an exact spiritual description of Man as we find him on earth. Great men have said that Man is born free but he is found everywhere in fetters. The sages and saints have said...

Filial Piety and the Rigour of Life By Karmayogi Our ideas of affection sometimes touch the Ideal. A young woman who was deserted by her womanising husband drifted to political patronage which assigned her to their woman's wing. That asylum saw her through her...

The Triple Path Monday December 27 2004 08:30 IST By Karmayogi We live a social life. There is a soul-life of which we have no knowledge. The soul life has three versions, one of which is the mental soul-life of the human being. Reason is a tool of knowledge. Mind has...

Shakespeare Thursday July 7 2005 09:51 IST By Karmayogi A young student asked his learned professor why Shakespeare was called a great poet. The professor was impressed by the curiosity of a questioning mind, but in spite of his vast erudition, he had no answer to...

The Essence of Enduring Success By Karmayogi Success is rare. Failure is common. Enduring success is very rare. The efficiency of the whole makes for everlasting success. There was a time when law or medicine was practised by those who had innate aptitude for it....

The Sparkling Crystal of Individuality By Karmayogi The Vedantic Rishis discovered the Self and tried to understand the world through Self. For us, the ego is the self. For the Rishi, the inner Divine, the Brahman is the Self. Tapas or yoga shifts Man from the...

Tantra Yoga Tuesday December 28 2004 10:28 IST By Karmayogi Among the many yogas, hatha yoga and tantra are popular. Hathayoga is popular for the asanas. Tantra is popular for its power. It is more popular in North India. Tibet is said to be its home. Sri Aurobindo...

God and Life Wednesday July 6 2005 11:38 IST By Karmayogi Life has a character of its own which simple-minded folk ignore. Meeting with misfortune, we exclaim, I have not done any wrong, why the punishment? To succeed in life, it is not enough one has not done any...

Authority of Love By Karmayogi A professor of Oxford was taking his evening walk. He sensed someone was following him. He walked on, ignoring the other man. Soon he was sure that he was being followed. He stopped and when the other man came closer, he asked him what...

Pettiness of the Small Mind By Karmayogi The average citizen who has earned the title of a ‘good man' universally is one who attends to his affairs assiduously. He is not one who interferes in others' affairs. He does not interest himself in anyone...

Love is Blind Wednesday December 29 2004 09:55 IST By Karmayogi One would love to be blind if only Love lasts. Behind this idea of blindness lies a philosophical truth. Love is the pure celestial emotion for the Beloved. Sadhaks writing to Sri Aurobindo about love or...

Preface Friday July 8 2005 10:55 IST By Karmayogi A Russian writer said that an author is made in the crucible of life. An age lives its experience in the writings of a perceptive author. A whole population undergoes an intense experience of love for centuries, which,...

Validity of a Contract By Karmayogi A contract is valid when each party binds himself to a performance. Obviously the performance must be proportionate, not a mere token. Usage often neutralises the protection of the law. The private limited company was conceived more...

Spiritual Dimension of Food By Karmayogi Every act has its spiritual dimension. Each act has a physical aspect, vital expression, mental component and spiritual dimension. What we cook at home is food. It is physical. What is given to us at the temple is prasad....

Food Security Thursday December 30 2004 08:15 IST By Karmayogi The UN is decried as a spent force. It is often described as a forum where member nations find an occasion to let off steam. The US withdrew from the UN for a period and in many of her initiatives ignored...

Payment Saturday July 9 2005 11:58 IST By Karmayogi Love gives. It cannot take. It can only give. Maybe, Man takes, he can only take and he cannot give is an uncharitable statement to make about mankind. At least in our own personal experience, we would have seen one...

This Once By Karmayogi Will Power achieves. Steady will achieves steadily. Vacillating will vacillates, never achieves. When a man of weak will decides or desires to acquire a strong will, he finds himself in a position of having to part with several undesirable...

Subtle Knowledge of Professionals By Karmayogi Knowledge is mental. Knowledge of work, such as running a machine, is physical knowledge. Knowledge of how to handle people is vital knowledge. All this has its subtle dimensions. A knowledge devoid of this subtle...

Viswarupa Darshan of the Lord Friday December 31 2004 08:08 IST By Karmayogi The miracles of Lord Krishna were many. One of them was the revelation of His true Form. He rarely revealed Himself so. It is believed that he did so only to those whom he loved. It was...

The God of the 20th Century Tuesday July 12 2005 09:42 IST By Karmayogi Religion, race, and language often become a bone of contention. The Crusades were fought over a sacred religious spot. There is a lot of truth in those forces. But there is always an overriding...

Indira Gandhis Question By Karmayogi Fritjof Capra is a professor of physics who has written extensively on the new approach called for in science. Indira Gandhi met him for fifty minutes, gave a patient hearing and asked him if he had any ideas for her to introduce...

Four Feathers By Karmayogi Someone asked J. Krishnamurthy, the world teacher, what he could do to get rid of his stupidity. Krishnamurthy answered him saying he could remain stupid. Life has its stamp on many fundamental traits and they are not to be changed so...

India as Leader of the World Saturday January 1 2005 07:18 IST By Karmayogi In what can India lead the world is a question. She was a slave nation for a long time. How can she lead the world? Still, in winning freedom without armed uprising, she led 45 Asian and...

The Thirties of the 20th Century Monday July 11 2005 13:35 IST By Karmayogi Historians patiently go after the facts, the true facts, the hard, concrete facts. Their quest has burst many historical myths. As a result, historians are fond of saying that in most of the...

Spiritual Equality By Karmayogi There is an age-old belief that there is no man without some innate talent. In the work spot if someone is found useless for the job, he is relieved. The same thing cannot be done in a family. The family tries its best to put him on his...

Effective Communication By Karmayogi Communication is complex. Speakers, teachers, writers, employers who give instructions, and lawyers who plead their cases try to communicate their viewpoints. When they fail in their endeavour, they blame it on the lack of...

Pain in the Neck Tuesday January 4 2005 08:52 IST By Karmayogi When we meet certain people, we suddenly brighten up and feel a surge of energy. They are dynamic and self-giving. Their overflowing energies come to us through their attitude of self-giving which...

Ireland Wednesday July 13 2005 10:05 IST By Karmayogi Ireland was known as the sick man of Europe. All these centuries she was poorer than the poorest European country. Her mainstay was agriculture and the main crop was potato. The potato famine decimated the...

Oblivious Selfishness By Karmayogi If MAN is totally ignorant of anything, it is that he is selfish. Men are selfish and mean, says Sri Aurobindo. The only thing we can do about it is to cure it in ourselves. There is an index for being extremely selfish. That person...

The Inner Voice By Karmayogi It is in obedience to His inner voice that Sri Aurobindo had arrived at Pondicherry. Not all are endowed with that faculty. It is called vani, asariri. There was a university teacher who had that voice speaking from inside. For some...

Silence Monday January 3 2005 08:52 IST By Karmayogi I often write about Spiritual Silence. Silence has other versions. The silence on the mountaintop or the desert is the silence of the physical plane. Spiritual Silence is in the plane of the Mind. Our talk is from...

Silence and Activity Thursday July 14 2005 11:29 IST By Karmayogi One is opposed to the other. Where there is activity, there is no Silence; where there is Silence, there is no activity. Sri Aurobindo says Silence sustains activity. Further, He says all those who have...

The Successive Coils of Personality By Karmayogi CHENNAI: An information by itself is of small value. One who has experience receiving an additional information has the capacity to give a greater value to that information. We often are sorry that the rich becomes...

A Culture of Honour By Karmayogi The Kshatriya lives for honour and dies for it. One such kshatriya maistry worked under a manager in an estate owned by a rich man. The manager and the owner differed. Contrary to previous agreement, the owner wanted to take over the...

Unmarked Chest Wednesday January 5 2005 08:33 IST By Karmayogi Wise men say the answer for any problem lies inside it. They quote events such as an African who rushed to South America lured by gold, unaware of the diamond mine in his own backyard, which he had sold...

The Emotion of Love Friday July 15 2005 13:58 IST By Karmayogi Boys and girls fall in love. Often the parents disapprove of it justifiably. One who has once fallen in love himself will have no heart to dissuade his child from such a course. Worldly wisdom raises the...

A More than Human Effort By Karmayogi Human effort has human limits. Spiritual efforts have no such limits. Humans receiving spiritual gifts that call for spiritual effort are overwhelmed. Such occasion arise in the lives of rare souls. Spirit knows no failures. Human...

Opening of the Being to its Depths By Karmayogi A devotee visited Balcony Darshan of The Mother at 6:15 am. At 8 am, he again had Her darshan, coming in a queue before Her with the sadhaks and visitors. At 5:30 pm the same day She was at the playground where again,...

Gratitude to Grace Thursday January 6 2005 08:15 IST By Karmayogi We often experience a thrill for various reasons. Spiritually, thrill is described as body sensing the action of Grace. A young man is selected in an interview. He is relieved of the tension he was so...

The Value of Man Monday July 18 2005 10:38 IST By Karmayogi Man values himself out of all proportions unrealistically. Graphically, it is represented by the proverb about the doll on the temple tower which prides on its supporting the tower. Man is an adept in giving...

A Movement for India By Karmayogi The divine Mother has said that this is the hour when man will be vastly rewarded for a tiny effort, as this is the Hour of God. She also said that a small error equally brings a great loss. The atmosphere of the earth is no longer...

Reversal of Consciousness By Karmayogi It was an axiom among cultured people that when someone comes by wealth or power, they give him a certain humility which he is not otherwise endowed with. Nowadays, we often see the exhibition of the opposite. The cultural...

An Independent Administration Friday January 7 2005 09:57 IST By Karmayogi In a democratic country, the legislature is the supreme institution. Still, it is placed under the ever-vigilant scrutiny of the judiciary. The Parliament is the legislature. It can only...

The Economic Crash of 1929 Tuesday July 19 2005 12:13 IST By Karmayogi Seventy-six years ago, the New York Stock Exchange crashed. Its influence spread all over the world. Thousands of businesses and families were ruined worldwide. Unemployment that should not cross...

The Touch of Low Consciousness By Karmayogi The high mental concentration needed to grasp abstruse mathematical theorems or intricate points of any scientific idea is not developed by a few hours of study or a few days of practice. It does not come to all. When it...

Self-justification Fortifies the Present By Karmayogi Fortifying the present is preventing growth of Prosperity in the future. We go back to our village after twenty or twenty-five years and meet our neighbours who remain exactly as they were before. Some of them will...

The Godhead I Love and Adore By Karmayogi The African tribals are great worshippers. Their prayers are invariably answered, as they are an invocation of their own powers, perhaps the power of their collective community. There are occasions when their prayers fail....

Pilgrimage to Prosperity By Karmayogi For fifty years, India is aspiring to abolish poverty and to usher in Prosperity. At the same time we hear as a chorus, ‘Money must not be a goal. It makes man mercenary. It rekindles our greed.' That cry finds an echo...

Spirit is Infectious By Karmayogi One strong mark of Spirit is GOOD WILL. One can say that Good will is synonymous with Spirit. It is an age-old observation that when a great soul is born, life around suddenly becomes mere prosperous. If one successfully invokes...

Know Thyself, Know Your Strengths By Karmayogi The one thing man cannot know is that he is at fault, that the error is not of anyone else, but only his. What is hilariously strange is, it will be blatant to every other person. The accusing finger arises from all sides...