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Gaining Perspective On Our Desires and Focus Within the Grand Canvas of Time and Space · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  We spend most of our lives fixated on the external life we
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  are living, including our internal reactions to that life,
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  such as our feelings, desires, sense impressions, thoughts,
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  ideas, motivations, and physical comforts and discomforts, among
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  other things. We focus on earning our
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  livelihood, building relationships, raising families,
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  dealing with various crises that arise in our lives, and dealing
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  with the demands of the outer life.
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  Generally, from morning to evening we are occupied with
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  these things and then we carry them with us into our times of
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  rest, recreation and sleep. As a result, we tend to become
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  bound up in all the forces at work in our lives, and given the
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  proximity of these things to our minds and senses, we magnify
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  their importance and urgency. It is said that day for the
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  ordinary person is night for the yogic practitioner, and vice
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  versa. We can gain some insight from
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  this observation. During the day, the sunshine
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  circumscribes our view of the world within what is called the
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  vault of the sky. Whether clear or cloudy, our
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  vision stops us from viewing the Galaxy and the vast number of
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  stars that become visible at night when the Sun's force is
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  not keeping us fixated on the world around us.
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  The Yogi is able to move his consciousness outside the realm
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  of these daily activities and cares and commune with the
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  larger universal creation that becomes visible at night.
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  It is useful to note that most people, even during the night
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  time, do not occupy themselves with observing the stars and
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  space, and with the increase of cloud cover and light pollution,
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  many actually do not have that opportunity.
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  The lesson that the Yogi can provide is that we need to shift
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  our view from the finite to the infinite, from the circumscribed
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  elements of our daily lives to something wider, deeper, freer,
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  and not bound to our human limitations.
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  Some people do this through contemplation of the Galaxy,
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  some through viewing the vastness of the ocean, some
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  through viewing open remote areas that provide a sense of
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  wideness. With the advent of the Internet,
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  people can actually view the incredible photographs and photo
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  montages of the Galaxy or multiple galaxies created by the
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  James Webb Space Telescope and use this as a subject of
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  contemplation if they really have no other options for
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  experiencing the wideness. The contemplation of the
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  immensity of the universe helps us attain perspective about our
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  own concerns, desires, fears and actions.
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  The Rig Vedic seers understood this issue when they referred to
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  Satyam Rutam Rahat, The Truth, the right, the vast, the mother
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  observes quote. If at a particular moment there
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  is something which holds you, grips you like that, holds you
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  tight, close, pressed, and you absolutely want it to happen,
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  and you were fighting against a terrible obstacle, you see
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  something which is preventing it from happening.
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  If simply just at that moment you begin to feel, to realize
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  the myriads and myriads of years there were before this present
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  moment, and the myriads and myriads of years there will be
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  after this present moment, and what importance this little
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  event has in relation to all that, there is no need to enter
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  a spiritual consciousness or anything else.
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  Simply enter into relation with space and time, with all that is
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  before, all that is after, and all that is happening at the
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  same time. If one is not an idiot,
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  immediately he tells himself, Oh well, I am attaching importance
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  to something which doesn't have any necessarily.
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  So you see, it loses all importance immediately if you
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  can visualize, you know, simply the immensity of the creation.
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  I am not now Speaking of rising to spiritual heights, simply the
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  immensity of the creation in time and space and this little
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  event on which you are concentrated with an importance
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  as though it were something of some importance.
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  Immediately. It does this gesture and it
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  dissolves if you do it sincerely.
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  If naturally there is one part of yourself which tells you, but
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  for me it has an importance, then there you have only to
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  leave that part behind and keep your consciousness as it is.
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  But if you sincerely, you want to see the true value of things,
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  it is very easy. There are other methods you
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  know. There's a Chinese sage who
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  advises you to lie down upon events as one floats on one's
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  back upon the sea, imagining the immensity of the ocean and that
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  you let yourself go floating upon this, upon the waves you
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  see, like something contemplating the skies and
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  letting itself be carried away. In Chinese, they call this Wu
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  Wei. When you can do this, all your
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  troubles are gone. I knew an Irishman who used to
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  lie flat on his back and look outside as much as possible on
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  an evening when stars were in the sky.
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  He looked, contemplated the sky and imagined that he was
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  floating in that immensity of countless luminous points.
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  And immediately all troubles were calmed.
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  There are many ways, but sincerely, you have only to have
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  the sense of relativity between your little person and the
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  importance you give to the things which concern you and the
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  universal immensity. This is enough.
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  Naturally, there is another way. It is to free oneself from the
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  earth consciousness and rise into a higher consciousness
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  where these terrestrial things take their true place, which is
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  quite small, you see. End Quote Reference Sri
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  Aurobindo and the Mother Looking from Within, Chapter 4, Ordeals
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  and Difficulties, pages 99 to 100.