Does Nature revolt against machinery?

One of the pleasures of studying dual Gurus like Sri Aurobindo and the Mother is that sometimes one can find spontaneous and fascinating coincidences in their records.  It is as if they had independently experienced the same occult phenomenon. The Mother had once remarked after Sri Aurobindo had left his body: “Nirod (a disciple) is reading me his correspondence with Sri Aurobindo. Strangely enough, there are all sorts of things that I said much, much later, I had no idea he had written them! Exactly the same things.  I found that very interesting.[1]”  In this article, we will examine some striking parallels in the observations they made fifty years apart pertaining to Nature’s reaction to machinery.

Progress reports of Sri Aurobindo

The path of the Yogin demands dogged persistence because final perfection  depends on two qualitatively different factors: one’s own refractory psychological habits whose complete dissolution requires multiple rounds and a whimsical Divine power which intermittently showers its Grace but leaves you in the dark at other times.  These are a couple of progress reports that Sri Aurobindo had jotted down in his diary The Record of Yoga during his early years in Pondicherry.  They indicate the ceaseless struggle and the subsequent reversal of consciousness that he underwent in the quest for yogic perfection.

What exactly is a “crush” or “love at first sight”?

What exactly is this singular phenomenon called the “crush” or “love at first sight” during which the breath quickens, the cheeks become flushed, the voice quivers, and the heart continues pounding without respite?  People often assume that a “crush” is an instinct originating irrefutably from the soul/psychic but according to the Mother Mirra Alfassa, it is just another example of an irrational vital process.   The region from the throat to the heart tends to be buoyant and vulnerable to certain physical images giving rise to these fads we denote as a “crush“.

Handling Rejection by the Guru

Growing up in a social milieu, we develop into gregarious beings who are accustomed to being praised, respected or at least acknowledged for being an individual. Humiliation in any form comes as a sharp blow to the ego.  When our expectations are not met, we instinctively become resentful and hold grudges instead of handling the situation with dispassion.  What do you do if the Guru, the very person you expected to be an epitome of  boundless compassion, suddenly turns cold and hard?  It can be a particularly acute  test for the disciple as the two anecdotes here illustrate.

Gorakhnath’s enumeration of contemplation methods

Goraknath was a yogi-philosopher belonging the Nath Path (Brotherhood of the Supreme) who lived around the 9^th-10^th century.  His Guru Matysendranath was the progenitor of this influential brotherhood of ascetics.   Gorakhnath authored several works on Yoga including the Goraksha Samhita, the Goraksha Gita, the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, the Yoga Martanada, the Yoga Siddhanta Paddhati, the Yoga-Bija, and the Yoga Chintamani. You can read more about him on wikipedia.   This article briefly outlines the meditation methods that Gorakhnath first enumerated in his work Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati.   The material is condensed from A.K. Banerjea’s Philosophy of Gorakhnath[1].