Artist: Priti Ghosh@Aurobindo Ashram. Click on image for artist homepage
This technique is only for those who have accepted Sri Aurobindo & The Mother as their Gurus. If you need a Guru, find one first !
Sri Aurobindo’s advice to a disciple
“You can do also this – shutting your eyes you can imagine that the Mother is in front of you or you can sketch a picture of her in your mind and offer her your pranam, that obeisance will reach her. When you have time, you can meditate on her with the thinking attitude that she is with you, she is sitting in front of you. Doing these things people at last get to see her.”
[TODO Find the reference for this technique]
The photograph as a vehicle
The photograph is a vehicle only – but if you have the right consciousness, then you can bring something of the living being into it or become aware of the being for which it stands and can make it a means of contact. It is like the prāņapratişthā (i.e. infusing life) of the image in the temple.
[Letters on Yoga, Sadhana through Love and Devotion, Page 777]
Mother (Mirra Alfassa)
Mother (Mirra Alfassa)
Different photographs bring different experiences
Sweet Mother, Why does meditation in front of different photos of you give different experiences?
It is because each photo represents a different aspect, sometimes even a different personality of my being; and by concentrating on the photo, one enters into relation with that special aspect or different personality which the photo has captured and whose image it conveys.
The photo is a real and concrete presence, but fragmentary and limited.
[Works of the Mother, vol 16, series 8, 4 November 1959]
SEE ALSO: Related blog post The purpose of idolatry and its limitations
Dear Sir,
Wrt your suggestion on first accepting Sri Aurobindo and Mother as one’s guru before commencing meditation on the Mother’s photograph, I would like to state that it is not upto us to accept her as our guru but rather it is upto Her to accept us into the folds of Her loving arms. We come to Sri Aurobindo and The Mother only when we recieve ‘ the call from the other shore’ , ie the call from them.
This acceptance by The Mother is the first step of the unbounded grace. So if someone meditates on The Mother’s photograph then it means She has willed it to be so. Of course the steps like aspiration , rejection and surrender imply the sadhka’s effort, but it is She who does the yoga for us.
Thanking you
Yours Sincerely
Anjan kumar sen
Anjan
My prefatory statement was intended for people who may belong to other paths. I didn’t want to compel anyone to use this technique. The other techniques on this blog are more general-purpose and can be used regardless of what path you are on.
regards,
-Sandeep