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Sri Aurobindo and the Integral Yoga · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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Once again, welcome, Welcome to the Cultural Integration
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Fellowship and thank you for joining us this morning.
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We were founded in 1951 by Doctor Haridas and Veena
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Choudhury at the center of universal religion and spiritual
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practice. And in keeping with the spirit
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of unity and diversity, we honor the spiritual traditions of
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diverse cultures and religions. Today's talk is titled Sherbindo
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and the Integral Yoga and it is going to be presented by our own
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Santosh Krinsky. Santosh has been studying
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Shorebindo's writings since 1971 and has a daily blog at
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shorebindostudies.wordpress.com and podcast at Anchor dot FM
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slash Santosh Dash Krinsky. The details are there in the
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announcement, so you know, just look up these websites for the
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details. Santosh resided at Sharvinda
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Ashram from spring 1973 through winter 7/19/74.
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He's the author of 17 books and is the editor in chief at Lotus
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Press. He is the president of the
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Institute of Holistic Education, a nonprofit focused on
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integrating spirituality into daily life.
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He has spent more than 48 years building and developing
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infrastructure for publishing, distributing and educating about
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the spiritual path of Shivar Bindu, as well as developing and
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guiding companies at the forefront of publishing books
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and distributing books and products to support the natural
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market as well as the metaphysical market in North
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America. For more information on the
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writings of Shivar Bindal and the Mother, you can visit
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lotuspress.com, as well as visit the daily blog postings that
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I've already given details of and the web page at
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aurobindo.net. Before I hand over the screen to
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Santosh, I want to read a poem from Doctor Haidat Choudhury.
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It is titled Life and it is from this collection The Rhythm of
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Truth. Life is the self painting of the
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spirit on the canvas of time and space, gradual unveiling of the
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infinite in nature's sweet silent embrace on the limitless
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expanse of the ocean. Life is the rising, soaring
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undulation on the bosom of the absolute void.
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It is the outburst of joy unallied in the heart of
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all-encompassing darkness. It is the sure conquest of light
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in harness right in the myths of chaotic disorder.
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It is the principle of harmony and order.
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Life is the play of hide and seek between spirit and nature.
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Spirit hiding in a deep dark veil.
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Nature tries to discover. As nature moves forward in
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pursuit of Spirit's hidden treasure, life leaps forth into
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radiant glory in ever increasing measure.
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Let's meditate on those words for a couple of minutes.
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Welcome, Welcome back to the Culture Integration Fellowships
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and touch over to you. Namaste.
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I was asked to speak about Shrioro Bindo and his yoga.
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And I thought how can I presume to speak about Shrioro Bindo and
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his yoga? And so it occurred to me that
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maybe I should let Trioro Bindo speak for himself.
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And so today I propose to provide some insights that
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Trioro Bindo has himself given about his life and his yoga.
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And let Trioro Bindo say for himself what it is he's here to
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do, how it is he's here to do it, and what the significance of
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that is for the future, the world, the evolution, and for
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those of us who find meaning and significance in what trio
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Robindo has set before us. In 1971, I left college abruptly
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based on a call that I received and went to Europe.
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I didn't know why, I didn't know the purpose.
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And I went there and I waited, and I thought somehow it would
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be revealed to me. And I met a philosopher there
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who was studying Rudolf Steiner and Ostenski, and we had regular
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conversations. And then one day he came to me
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and said, I've got an American girlfriend who I bought this
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book for, and it's not her personal interest.
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I thought you might be interested.
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And he put in my hands. Trioro Bindos, the Life Divine
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and I randomly opened the book. It's 1000 pages or so.
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I randomly opened the book to the chapter The Aim of Life 4
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Theories of Existence, and at that moment, as I started
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reading, I realized that the call I had received, the search
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I was involved in, was being answered so clearly that it
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spoke to my deepest being. I didn't need to question it, I
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didn't need to involve the rational intellect.
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It simply spoke to me somewhere, somehow.
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And then I started reading through the book systematically,
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and I realized that Shrioro Bindo provided a complete
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understanding of our human condition.
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He starts with the human aspiration.
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What is it that we, we human beings, seek for?
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Why are we here? What are we alive for?
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What is it that motivates and moves us?
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And he said God, light, freedom, immortality, and if we reflect
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on what human beings do, our science, our philosophy, our
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religions, we're seeking for those things.
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And then he goes on and he describes One Direction, which
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he calls the materialist denial. And he says, basically, those
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individuals who follow that guidance believe that the
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reality is this material world within which we live, and we're
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here to fulfill ourselves and aggrandize our lives.
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And then he goes on to talk about the refusal of the
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ascetic, the person who says no, no, it's not this, it's not
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that. It's something other, it's
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something not this external material world.
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And he set forward the dilemma, the contradictions that we all
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face in humanity. Should we go for fulfilment of
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our external life, or should we follow some spiritual or
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religious impulse and abandoned the material life as an
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illusion, as meaningless? And he answers that question in
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the next chapter. Reality Omnipresent.
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He reconciles the two extremes and shows that each one has a
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real meaning and significance, and that we need to merge the
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aspiration of the West, the materialist denial, with the
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aspiration of the East, the refusal of the ascetic to create
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a new integral way of life on earth.
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And that made so much sense to me that I gave up all other
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forms of thought and seeking and said, how can I be true and live
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this aspiration? And in some 48 or 50 years since
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then, I still ask myself those same questions because every day
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we're confronted with these challenges.
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Now we see people and you know, it's, it's the 150th birth
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anniversary of Shrioro Bindo this year on August 15th.
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And we honor that. And we're, as do devotees, we
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respect and pay homage to that. And that's right and good.
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But it can't stop there, because Shrioro Bindo has clearly
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indicated it's not about being worshipped, it's not about
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having a religious fervor. It's about people taking up and
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living and integrating the spiritual seeking that Trior
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Bindo undertook. Not as some unique example, but
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as someone who was a forerunner on the path in 1935, Shrioro
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Bindo stated I had no urge towards spirituality in me.
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I developed spirituality. I was incapable of understanding
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metaphysics, but I developed into a philosopher.
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I had no eye for painting. I developed it through yoga.
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I transformed my nature from what it was to what it was not.
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I did it in a special manner, not by a miracle, and I did it
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to show what could be done and how it could be done.
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I did not do it out of any personal necessity of my own, or
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by a miracle without any process.
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I say that if it is not so, then my yoga is useless and my life
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was a mistake, a mere absurd freak of nature without meaning
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or consequence. You all seem to think it is a
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great compliment to me to say that what I have done has no
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meaning for anybody except myself.
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It is the most damaging criticism of my work that could
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be made. I also did not do it by myself.
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If you mean by myself as Orobindo did, he did it with the
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help of Krishna and the divine Shakti.
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I had help from embodied sources also.
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My sodden is not a freak or a monstrosity or a miracle done
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outside the laws of nature and the conditions of life and
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consciousness on earth. If I could do these things or if
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they could happen in my yoga, it means that they can be done and
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that therefore these developments and transformations
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are possible in the terrestrial consciousness.
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What an incredible statement. Sri Orobindo tells us.
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Don't just worship and forget. Don't go to the Church of
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Orobindo on Sunday and forget about it the rest of the week.
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Understand and take up the methods that I've developed and
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practiced and integrated into my life and become that which I am
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becoming. If you respect, if you honor, if
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you believe in what you see in me, that's rior obindo, then
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become that. Don't satisfy yourself with
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worshipping from afar. If that's all you can do, do it.
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That's fine, because it brings you closer.
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But the reality is that if we're going to transform human life on
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Earth, we need to become that. We need to begin to change human
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nature one person at a time, starting with ourselves.
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Trioro Bindo made it clear as he gave us another indication.
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The quote is it is not Trioro Bindo's object to develop anyone
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religion or to amalgamate the older religions or to found any
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new religion, for any of these things would lead away from his
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central purpose. The one aim of his yoga is an
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inner self development by which each one who follows it can in
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time discover the oneself in all and evolve a higher
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consciousness than the mental, a spiritual and super mental
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consciousness which will transform and divine eyes human
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life. So if we take Shriya Robindo at
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his word, if we believe what he says, if we honor his vision,
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then it's pretty clear that we need to turn our devotion into
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practice and begin to grapple with all of the issues, all of
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the contradictions, all of the struggles that the existing
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human nature that we all embody puts up as a conservative
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resistance to the evolutionary development and growth of
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consciousness. That resistance is not bad.
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It's not wrong. It's part of nature's process to
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ensure that there is a solid step forward, that we don't just
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leap into an abyss of confusion and conflicting ideas and vital
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impulses. And so it's good that we have
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some amount of resistance within ourselves that we can confront
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and challenge and say, is this the way forward?
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Does it provide an integral understanding?
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Does it provide a step towards the new consciousness and the
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new human being, or possibly beyond human being that's
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intended to evolve and carry that next evolutionary stage of
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consciousness forward? Sri Aurobindo was also very
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clear that he wasn't seeking large numbers of devotees and
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didn't want to advertise what he was doing.
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He'd rather have a smaller number of people who were
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dedicated to actually practicing this yoga, just as I guess Jesus
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chose his 12 disciples. Sri Robindo basically said it's
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not quantity of people who adopt this path, it's.
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The quality of the individuals who are willing to put their
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lives on the line, he states. I don't believe in advertisement
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except for books, etcetera, and in propaganda except for
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politics and patent medicines. But for serious work, it is a
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poison. It means either a stunt or a
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boom. And stunts and booms exhaust the
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thing they carry on their Crest and leave it lifeless and broken
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high and dry on the shores of nowhere.
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Or it means a movement. A movement, in the case of a
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work like mine, means the founding of a school or a sect,
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or some other damn nonsense. It means that hundreds or
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thousands of useless people join in and corrupt the work or
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reduce it to a pompous farce from which the truth that was
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coming down recedes into secrecy and silence.
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It is what has happened to the religions, and it is the reason
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of their failure. And, you know, I reflect on this
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virtually every day. I'm in the book publishing
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business. I published Riro Bindo's books
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in the United States. And I, yes, I advertise them,
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but I'm, I'm very conscious that I have to stay on this side of
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the line. I can advertise the books, but
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not work to start a movement or a religion or any other, as Riro
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Bindo puts it, damn nonsense. So it's something that really is
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real to me and I know a lot of devotees believe, honestly
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believe that getting more people involved and going out and
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expanding the teachings and bringing in lots of individuals
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is somehow a benefit. And maybe in the broadest sense
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of the term, the texturing of consciousness across the entire
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world Nuosphere. It's not a bad idea.
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And so I am always encouraged and I always support when the
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concepts, the ideas, the focus, the direction that Srioro Bindo
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points to is put forward in some way, shape or form.
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Whether or not they mentioned Srioro Bindo, I honor the energy
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of the force of the concept and don't worry about giving,
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whether those people give credit to Srioro Bindo because somehow,
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somewhere the idea has touched them at the universal level.
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They don't know where it comes from in many cases, but it's
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true because it's changing the mental understanding of
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humanity. We are different today at the
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mental level than we were 50 years ago.
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We understand the oneness of life more than we did 50 years
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ago. We understand the symbiotic
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nature of life. We're more concerned about
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achieving balance and harmony. Obviously not everybody adopts
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this, but humanity as a whole has made enormous progress from
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the days when a person's skin color or gender or orientation
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meant total suppression, slavery, beatings, death,
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poverty, to the to the time today where awakened individuals
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across the world recognize that things have to change if we as a
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species are going to survive and thrive on this planet and carry
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things forward. And that to me, is the best
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homage that we can pay to Srioro Bindo, that the concepts and
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ideas he developed, put forward, organized at such great length,
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are finding purchase in the world secretly, occultly, but
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beginning to change the texture and feeling of the consciousness
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of the planet. That's a mark, remarkable thing.
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So what does this mean for us, those who appreciate support and
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want to take up the yoga that Trioro Bindo has shown us?
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And the Mother indicated Trioro Bindo came upon Earth to teach
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this truth to men. He told them that man is only a
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transitional being, living in a mental consciousness, but with
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the possibility of acquiring a new consciousness, the truth
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consciousness, and capable of living a life perfectly
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harmonious, good and beautiful, happy and fully conscious.
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During the whole of his life upon earth, Sri Aurobindo gave
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all his time to establish in himself this consciousness he
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called superimental and to help those gathered around him to
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realize it. Sriorobindo has come on earth
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not to bring a teaching or a creed in competition with
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previous creeds or teachings, but to show the way to overpass
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the past and to open concretely the route towards an imminent
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and inevitable future. And that means that those who
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are moved by Srioro Bindo's teaching, by Srioro Bindo's
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presence, who have love and devotion towards what Srioro
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Bindo represents in the world, we have that opportunity.
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It's our burden to take up that yogic practice and change human
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nature within ourselves, Sri Robindo stated.
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The yoga we practice is not for ourselves alone, but for the
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Divine. It's aim is to work out the will
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of the divine in the world, to effect a spiritual
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transformation and to bring down a divine nature and a divine
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life into the mental, vital and physical nature and life of
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humanity. Its object is not personal
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mukti, although mukti is a necessary condition of the Yoga,
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but the liberation and transformation of the human
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being. It is not personal Ananda, but
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the bringing down of the Divine Ananda, Christ's Kingdom of
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heaven, our Satya Yuga upon the earth trio.
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Robindo wrote most of his major writings between 1910 and 1920.
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Some of them he edited and refined, but one writing stands
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out by virtue of the fact that he worked on it until 1950, the
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year when he left his body. And that is Savitri, a legend
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and a symbol. And in Savitri he sets forth in
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radiant and inspiring terms his vision of what the world can do
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and be, and what we those who follow afterwards, and who are
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moved and inspired by the same force that moved and inspired
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tree or a window. And so I'd like to read a short
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passage from Savitri. I saw the omnipotent flaming
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pioneers over the heavenly verge which turns towards life, come
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crowding down the amber stairs of birth.
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Forerunners of a divine multitude.
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Out of the paths of the morning star they came into the little
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room of mortal life. I saw them cross the twilight of
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an age, the sun eyed children of a marvellous dawn.
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The great creators with wide brows of calm, the massive
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barrier Breakers of the world and wrestlers with destiny in
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her lists of will. The laborers in the quarries of
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the gods, the messengers of the incommunicable, the architects
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of immortality. Into the fallen human sphere
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they came. Faces that wore the immortals
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glory still. Voices that commune still with
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the thoughts of God. Bodies made beautiful by the
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spirit's light carrying the magic word, The Mystic fire
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carrying the Dionysian cup of joy approaching eyes of a
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diviner man, Lips chanting an unknown anthem of the soul.
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Feet echoing in the corridors of time.
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High priests of wisdom, sweetness, might and bliss,
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discoverers of beauty, sunlit waves and swimmers of Love's
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laughing, fiery floods and dancers within rapture's golden
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doors. Their tread one day shall change
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the suffering earth and justify the light on nature's face.
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The role of the devotee, the disciple, the follower of Srioro
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Bindo, is not simply to worship Trioro Bindo and create a new
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religion, but to put into practice the teachings, follow
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the path, and realize the truths that Trioro Bindo was able to
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reveal about the divine manifestation and the evolution
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of consciousness. Om Tut.
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Sut. I don't want to break the
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silence, so I was just wondering if we could meditate, you know,
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for, for a few minutes actually, and then we'll come back to the
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group and have conversations. Thank you so very much for this
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wonderful presentation. It's still feeling the silence.
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Usually the mind begins chattering, you know, after
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talks. And I think the power of the
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words get lost. And that was the reason I
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thought that it would be good to have a meditation.
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And I personally felt that it was a beautiful overview of
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Shurbinda's integral yoga coming from Shurbinda himself.
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You know, what are the essential characteristics of the yoga?
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Thank you very much for reminding the salient aspects of
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the yoga. And you know, August is when we
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celebrate the birthday of Shurbinda.
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There will be more talks in this particular month specifically
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focused on Shorebindle, and once again, the idea is very simple.
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You know, it is about inner and outer transformation.
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And as Santosh pointed out, I too believe that, you know, that
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the fellowship stands for for concentrated work and very much
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in line with Shorebindle and our predecessors.
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I've never believed in the numbers.
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You know, it is about having a focus group which is, which is
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committed towards inner and outer transformation and
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bringing about transformation in as many ways as possible, in
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different ways as possible. You know, it's, it's, it's a
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diverse world, it's a plural world.
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And of course, all of us are going to interact with the yogic
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scheme in specific ways in in, in our unique ways.
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So thank you very much. Let's open the group for
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conversations, comments, questions.
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Please raise your hand, unmute yourself and come in.
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Yeah, Margaret. Santosh, I assumed that you were
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there was inner guidance in your choice to use Shrior Bindo's
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words rather than talk about Shrior Bindo.
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So I think it's helpful for you to know from those that
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experienced this talk today that it allowed the mantra power of
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Shriora Bindo's words containing that force to really have that
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powerful influx of force and light.
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So what Condon was saying and when we had the meditation, I'm
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sure all of us could experience, even though you channelled this
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this morning, that we received the full power and radiance of
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Sri Rabindo's words. Thank you so much.
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Well, you know, when Kundan asked me to speak today, I was a
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little shocked and thought, how can I be so presumptuous to
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describe Shriwa? And for a few days I just was in
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sort of a state of why me, why should I do this?
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And then it became clear that Shriya Robindo can and should
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and does speak for himself, We can't do that.
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And that that's how this happened today, that it just
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sort of grew on me as as the panic of trying to intervene in
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describing Shriya Robindo and his work overtook me at the
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request. Hi, Santosh, this is Mike Hebel
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here in San Francisco. Santosh, you indicated that the
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one work that Sure Bindo continued to work on through his
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whole life with Savitri, you also told us that I think that
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the major works that he had done were done in a 10 year period,
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30 or so years earlier. Do you have any inclination or
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did Sure Bindo say why Savitri was the work that required such
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continuous work and development? The intimation that I've
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received from studying these things and what Sri Aurobindo
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and the Mother both had to say about it, was that Savitri
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embodied a mantric force of realization.
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And that he continued as he gained new realizations, as he
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gained new powers of understanding, as the higher
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forces built themselves out and exposed levels of humanity that
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needed to be looked at. He was moved to continually
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incorporate that into Savitri so that it would provide and
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impetus and power of realization for anyone who picks it up and
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reads it with sincerity and without a chattering mind.
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You could say just quietly allowing the mantra to create
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its images, to build within oneself and and carry that
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force. And my own experience with
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Savitri was was interesting. I was living at Trior Bindu
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Ashram in 1973 and I thought, how can I even read Savitri?
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And so I started with the very first Cantor, the first chapter,
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and decided that I would understand it only if I could
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really understand the language. And so it was the hour before
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the gods awake, and I thought, I need to really look up the
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nuance of the words. Across the path of the divine
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event, the huge foreboding mind of night, alone in her unlit
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temple of eternity place stretched immobile upon silence.
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March. And I started reading that and I
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thought, OK, I better go to the dictionary and really reflect on
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the nuances of every word chosen.
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And as I did that, and I went through that first canto, I
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reached a point where I felt everything was utter darkness
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and despair. It was the mind of night, and it
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had just filled me with that darkness.
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And then something, there was a long lone line of hesitating
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Hugh. There was there was a line that
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just suddenly I felt in my heart that there was a a spark,
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Something broke through the darkness.
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And the next line in that canto was a hope stolen that hardly
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dared to be amid the night's forlorn indifference.
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And it awakened me to the power of Savitri because he could
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create within the receptive soul the very power and force of what
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he was seeing and experiencing. And he could then move you to a
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new framework, a new understanding, a new energy, a
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New Hope. And as I read other sections of
46:50
Savitri, the same thing happened in book 11, The eternal day he's
46:58
talking about. I mean, he's just giving us all
47:03
of these beautiful images and forces and music and sounds and
47:09
everything. And then he breaks the spell by
47:14
saying the measure of the subtle music ceased.
47:20
And at that moment I woke up and realized I'd been entranced in
47:25
this energy. And he was consciously making us
47:32
aware of that inner movement so that it wouldn't just be some
47:39
experience that was ephemeral and comes and goes, but actually
47:46
helps us to recognize the power that Savitri holds for the
47:52
transformation, not from an intellectual standpoint, but
47:57
from an inter transformational standpoint.
48:04
Thank you. Hi Santosh, I just thank you so
48:22
much. That was such a beautiful
48:24
presentation. I really, really loved it.
48:27
Thanks for sharing your experience and your wisdom.
48:29
And I loved hearing the passages from his writings.
48:32
It's just so beautiful. Makes me really want to read
48:34
Savi Tree. So I'll have to make that a
48:37
lifelong goal. But yeah, I've never read his
48:41
work before, so I really appreciate you sharing that with
48:43
us. It was beautiful.
48:45
And it's great to see everybody today.
48:47
Thank you for being here. Thank you.
48:53
Santosh, please. And me.
49:12
Cheers. Santosh I what you just said
49:19
about Sabatry is of course, what many of us feel from the
49:26
incredible mantra poetry and Sabatry and from his his other
49:32
poetry. But, but I, I would make a
49:36
strong pitch for the same kind of qualities, the same, the very
49:42
same qualities in his prose that we, we can find the same, the
49:51
same force, the same power in each word of his prose, his
49:59
paragraphs that go on for or his sentences that go on for a
50:04
paragraph or a page or two pages.
50:06
If we, we, we need to break them down.
50:11
We need to disassemble and let them reassemble themselves.
50:17
You know, I, I find that I can, I can swim in those words.
50:20
We swam in those words, the prose that you, you spoke to us
50:28
today in, in your, in your reading.
50:31
So I just wanted to, to make that pitch.
50:34
I I'd love Savitry, but but but the prose, if one gives
50:40
attention to it and it requires absolute attention.
50:44
This is not easy reading, as we all know, but but that same
50:51
quality is there in, in, in the prose.
50:54
Some of us are more taken to prose and some to poetry, but it
50:59
is it is all there. And so thank you for this.
51:04
Such a wonderful short summary, 1/2 an hour a tour, a Tour de
51:11
force of of Shriya Rabindo as we approach August 15th.
51:17
So thank you very much for that. Well, you know I I agree with
51:23
you about the pros. Back in 2009, I came to the
51:29
conclusion that I was reading Shriya Rabindo's writings too
51:34
fast for the entire time from 1971 until that point.
51:40
And I said I don't know that I can really absorb what he's
51:46
saying and what he's communicating, just sort of
51:50
devouring page after page, as was, you know, the way we read
51:55
books, OK. And so I started my daily blog,
52:00
not for anybody else, but for myself.
52:03
And I said I'm going to go 1 page a day and I'm going to
52:08
really reflect on it. I'm going to look at that
52:11
passage and I'm going to try and understand it and add my own
52:18
unique reaction, perspective, whatever to it so that it
52:24
becomes me rather than just something I read and let it go.
52:29
And now, you know, it's been what, 14 years and the blog is
52:36
still going on and it's gone through all of the prose works,
52:40
the major prose works, the life divine, the synthesis, the
52:44
essays on the Gita that I mean, just on and on.
52:49
And now we're looking at compilations of the one I'm
52:54
working on right now is called Our Many Selves, Practical Yogic
52:58
Psychology, which compiles writings of Shriya Rabindu and
53:02
the Mother. And again, it's, it's basically
53:04
one passage or page a day. And it slows me down so that I
53:12
can really grasp and grapple with what they're trying to
53:17
communicate. And I just share it on the blog
53:21
because others have said, as you said, well, it's hard.
53:25
There's so much material and we don't know how to really grasp
53:31
it all and deal with it. And I thought, well, I'm going
53:36
through that experience. I can share that experience sort
53:40
of collectively with everybody. And many times people have their
53:45
own comments and they add them and, and it's encouraged.
53:49
It's wonderful. Sometimes people have asked me,
53:54
you know, why aren't you just citing Shiro Bindo's paragraph?
53:57
And I say, well, because I want to actually internalize it.
54:03
I want to make it real to me, and you should make it real to
54:08
you. Not just be able to parrot back
54:12
the words, but to actually appreciate and understand what
54:17
they mean and what they do. To some degree, each time we
54:21
read this, we get a deeper layer of it, but it doesn't mean we
54:28
shouldn't take those steps. So thank you.
54:31
You're right. Yeah, I, I think it's very good
54:34
for us to share the ways that we read to increase sort of the
54:40
breadth of people's understanding about the way to
54:43
do this. Your your way was was more out
54:47
there with you with your blog. Mine was much more quiet and
54:52
private. I, I slowed down maybe even more
54:57
than you did, even less than the page a day times.
55:01
And my my my way was to literally touch the words.
55:08
I've used a a PDF reader, good reader and for for all the
55:13
volumes and and I I move. I, I actually literally touched
55:21
the words in electronically on the PDF reader by highlighting
55:29
them, maybe even lifting important sentences out and
55:33
putting them in another place to, to really, really and, and
55:38
having a dictionary right there readily available for so many of
55:45
the words to understand the nuances.
55:48
So I, I think this is an important exchange about how we
55:53
read Shriya or Bendo and the difference between the prose and
55:57
the poetry. And we each have our own ways.
56:01
So enough said. But I, I appreciate this, this
56:06
exchange. Thank.
56:09
You, if I may add just a bit, you know, to this ongoing
56:13
conversation, the mother would say that one of the best ways to
56:17
read Shurvinder's writings is to silence the mind and invoke the
56:22
grace. I have found that, you know, the
56:30
writings begin to make complete sense and and even prose, you
56:35
know, appear poetry to me and you know, it's my experience is
56:41
very similar to what Earl was talking about.
56:45
Baman, please come in. Thank you, Santosh.
56:52
I just wanted to again like let everyone else thank you for the
56:56
way you did this presentation. I think for some of us who have
57:02
been in a teaching role in some sense, or it's, it's been a
57:10
dilemma, I think it is a dilemma how to teach her a window or
57:15
even to teach her a window. And I think you put it very
57:18
nicely and, you know, in that way.
57:21
Second thing that caught my attention was your emphasis,
57:24
because there's so much else you could have also brought in, but
57:27
your emphasis on the part that should have been a talks about
57:31
that I didn't do this by myself. You know, in some sense he takes
57:35
himself outside out, you know, and, and I, I find that very
57:42
difficult and very promising at the same time.
57:45
It's, it's really hard to overcome the ego because the ego
57:50
is not just some characteristic that's not good.
57:53
The ego is just very basic way that we are.
57:56
And to be able to really utilize it in the way that he he calls
58:01
for it is, is not easy. But but one thing that has made
58:05
it easier for me a little bit is that even though Share Windows
58:11
works and his capabilities are immense compared to many human
58:15
beings or other beings, perhaps, I don't know if it's necessary
58:22
for us to compare ourselves in any sense to, to to him.
58:27
Like to think that I should know so much poetry should be able to
58:30
write a poem like his or to write an article like, you know,
58:34
or to, because it's just a different story.
58:37
And I think you all started to point to this direction in the
58:40
past few conversations that I, I think what it, what's more
58:46
necessary is to just light a candle within us to really want
58:51
spiritual development. And, and his words are so great
58:56
and so full that each of us will find something in it where we
58:59
can find a thread for ourselves and kind of go at our own pace.
59:04
But somehow I think there's a lot of progress that can be made
59:07
if we're not intimidated by the immensity of his philosophy and
59:12
his intelligence. And in some sense, I think the
59:16
mother's work is very helpful because it contains a lot of, I
59:21
don't know what some people call spiritual intelligence, you
59:24
know, something that is about how to conduct a spiritual life
59:29
rather than so many other things about spirituality.
59:33
So I think, you know, I really appreciate this initiation that
59:37
I believe you have done to inspire us to kind of bring in
59:42
these new ways of they're really capitalizing on these teachings
59:46
for ourselves. Thank.
59:54
You Bahman for your comments. I see Linda's hand up.
1:00:00
I want to thank both you, Santosh and Kundan, because
1:00:04
after Santosh's last talk, I was on Kundan.
1:00:09
You know, it's such a shame that we don't have these recorded so
1:00:12
that we could go back and listen to them.
1:00:14
And Kundan promised me that he would have you back and others
1:00:18
back many times. So don't be surprised if you're
1:00:22
asked to come back again. And he was Kundan was saying, I
1:00:27
I kind of like the intimacy of having a smaller group.
1:00:32
And it it's really, it's so true.
1:00:35
It really I was, I was kind of just feeling things wash away.
1:00:43
And I'm a very out there extroverted person.
1:00:47
And to be able to come back from the farmers market to this is
1:00:51
quite precious. So thank you both for it.
1:00:54
Thank. You, Linda.
1:01:05
You know, this focus for the last few minutes on how to read,
1:01:09
how to absorb, how to connect with with something like this.
1:01:13
It, it, it, it's such a fun trip because it's like we were
1:01:18
talking about Srior Bindo and the philosophy, and then we went
1:01:22
into a thing of how to read. And that was a very deep
1:01:25
teaching that happened spontaneously.
1:01:28
That wasn't part of the agenda. So isn't it great how those
1:01:33
things can happen spontaneously? And it's so easy for me to read
1:01:39
something that's a lot and feel intimidated by it and not
1:01:45
intellectually or theologically prepared for it or at at a point
1:01:50
where I can really grasp it. And just, you know, I'll come
1:01:55
back to that some other day or some other year.
1:01:58
But there's another way to approach it.
1:02:01
So I appreciated this presentation on multiple levels.
1:02:06
Thank you. Thank you.
1:02:12
Thank you, Roger. There's this car horn which was
1:02:22
disturbing the peace. I'm glad it stopped.
1:02:29
More comments, questions for some thoughts.
1:02:42
Thank you everyone for joining. Kundan, I would add one thing
1:02:46
and that is that during our meditation, one of Sri
1:02:52
Aurobindo's mantras was occurring to me and I thought I
1:02:58
would share it to close us out here.
1:03:00
So ohm tatsavitur varam rupam jyotihi parasya dhimahi yanaha
1:03:13
satyena D payet ohm. Let us meditate on the most
1:03:20
auspicious form of Savitri, on the light of the Supreme, which
1:03:25
shall illumin us with truth. Thank you very much, Santosh.
1:03:52
Namaste. Thank you all.
1:03:56
Thanks everyone. Thank you, Santosh.