Books

To understand Scripture, it is not enough to be a scholar; one must be a soul.

(Sri Aurobindo, SABCL vol 3, Harmony of Virtue, p 118)

This sanātana dharma (eternal religion) has many scriptures Veda, Vedanta, Gita, Upanishad, Darshana, Purana, Tantra, nor could it reject the Bible or the Koran; but its real, most authoritative scripture is in the heart in which the Eternal has His dwelling. It is in our inner spiritual experiences that we shall find the proof and source of the world’s Scriptures, the law of knowledge, love and conduct, the basis and inspiration of Karmayoga.

(Sri Aurobindo, SABCL vol 2, Karmayogin of Virtue, p 19)

For the Sadhaka(seeker) of the Integral Yoga it is necessary to remember that no written Shastra(Scripture), however great its authority or however large its spirit, can be more than a partial expression of the eternal Knowledge. He will use, but never bind himself even by the greatest Scripture. Where the Scripture is profound, wide, catholic, it may exercise upon him an influence for the highest good and of incalculable importance….For he is not the Sadhaka(seeker) of a book or of many books; he is a Sadhaka(seeker) of the Infinite.

(Sri Aurobindo, SABCL vol 20, Synthesis of Yoga, p 49)

It is not by books that Sri Aurobindo ought to be studied but by subjects – what he has said on the Divine, on Unity, on religion, on evolution, on education, on self-perfection, on supermind, etc, etc.

(Mother Mirra Alfassa, Collected Works, Vol 12, p 208)

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In addition to most of the Indian vernacular languagues, books of Sri Aurobindo & The Mother are also available in French, German, Italian, Slovak, Spanish, Russian.  See the SABDA catalog and newsletters announcing new books.

11 thoughts on “Books”

  2. Sandeep Post author

    I came across a couplet by Kabir on books

    Pothi Padh Padh Kar Jag Mua, Pandit Bhayo Na Koye
    Dhai Aakhar Prem Ke, Jo Padhe so Pandit Hoye

    Translation: Reading books everyone died, none became any wise; One who reads the words of Love, only becomes wise.

    Reply ↓
  3. ipi

    Question: How is it that one person reads sacred books, yet is very far from the Divine, while another reads the most stupid so-called literary productions and remains in contact with the Divine?
    Sri Aurobindo: It is not reading that brings the contact, it is the will and aspiration in the being that bring it.

    (Sri Aurobindo, CWSA vol. 27, Letters on Poetry and Art, p 731, 11 August 1933)

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  5. ipi

    BASIC APPROACH TO THEIR WORKS
    “It is no use reading books of guidance if one is not determined to live what they teach” – the Mother.

    The real purpose of coming in contact with the words of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo is to become conscious, to acquire consciousness, to be more and more conscious, increase more and more the consciousness.

    The easier, the more right way would be to enter into the atmosphere of the world that they have created with their words, to feel the vibration that the words emanate. For the words that they have uttered are not mere words taken or found in the dictionaries, they are not mere sounds, dead syllables, they are living entities, symbols of consciousness, the consciousness of which I have just spoken.

    These symbols, being symbols of consciousness are luminous, they shed light all along, they are full of power and extend power all along, they have life and they are full of delight. It is this inner world that is behind the outer world of words that one has to be in touch with, be aware of, in the first instance, before one can have a mental understanding; in other words you must cultivate the right attitude, a turn of your consciousness in tune with the consciousness that has worked out the words of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

    You have to take a plunge, as it were, dip into the waters, and be soaked in the caress of that element, to come in the living touch of the substance of words, go behind the meaning, if necessary, avoiding it even. You must contact the living sap, the rasa, that has poured itself out in the creation. If you have tasted of that, then -it has its own light -that will suffuse you automatically with its radiance; the delight of bathing in the living spring will formulate itself in rhythms of knowledge and true understanding.

    Indeed, there have been instances where great intellectuals, famed savants found themselves bewildered before the simplest magic phrases of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. On the other hand, simpler minds with no burden of learning, nor pride of pedantry, with their pure streak of light in the depth of their consciousness were able to seize and unveil the secret sense.

    In another way, to understand the Truth – the Truth that the words of the Mother or Sri Aurobindo express – you must start by living it, approaching it not merely through your mind, in fact not even through your heart, but possessing it in the versy body. The Mother says, real understanding comes by the body-understanding. Indeed, the true aim of knowledge is not merely to know but to be.

    Nolini Kanta Gupta

    source:
    http://www.sriaurobindosociety.org.in/sadhana.htm

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  6. Pingback: The Transmutation of Sexual Energy « Tribulations of A Fledgling Mind

      1. mike

        Thanks Manofflowerzz. My favorite books of SA. The ‘Letters’ are what brought me to the lntegral Yoga. l don’t think l would have bothered if l hadn’t read these first.

  8. mike

    Thanks for the links, mark.
    l’m just curious about these volumes at Sabda and the free one’s at

    http://www.aurobindo.ru/workings/sa/index_e.htm

    The front covers are different, but the pages in both volumes are exactly the same on both sites.. According to Sabda, the new volumes have one third more letters, so l thought there would obviously be more pages. Looks like aurobindo.ru might have them free – of course Sabda is selling the actual books (there not ebooks), l think. l might be missing something here, lol. Sorry if l am 🙂

    Reply ↓

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