Page 30 - NAMAH-Oct-2017

Namah Vol. 25, Issue 3, 15th October 2017

the knot unravels and normalcy returns. reflects back to our psychic being, all will
Sometimes a question needs to be asked, be well and good.
knowledge comes and needs to be verbalised
back. I look at ‘normalcy’ as being a state of This in a nutshell is how I have endeavoured
divine felicity. It is a human birthright and to take charge of my life. It is only work
the practice simply returns me to my source, in progress and I have far from reached
which is forever divine: it is not ‘me’. I find the summit. There is still a balancing act
that the work always leaves an imprint of between soul and ego. Ultimately though,
immutable and dynamic peace. the saadhanaa is out of my hands and I find this
deeply humbling and gratifying. Sincerity
Round-the-clock practice will be the key to the next step because once
the peak has been conquered, it will only
So the work is based on concentrated practice remain for me to give it all back, prostrate
but needs to overspill into everyday life. myself, to fly away on the Mother’s wings.
Consciousness never rests and it is up to
us to keep it as attuned and as aligned as References
possible at all times.The body gets so many
mixed messages in everyday life. As yet I 1. The Mother. Collected Works of the Mother,
find it impossible to get the same degree Volume 7. 2nd ed. Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo
of clarity that I get in detailed sittings. Ashram Trust; 2003, p. 278.
Those two bedfellows, the mind and the
vital, are rarely quiescent. But to be alert 2. Ibid., p. 278.
and attentive must be the biggest gift we
can give ourselves.“To be in this state of 3. Ibid., p. 279.
attentive observation, you must have, so
to say, antennae everywhere which are in 4. The Mother. Collected Works, Volume 4.
constant contact with your true centre of Pondicherry: 2003, p. 34.
consciousness (10).”
5. The Mother. Collected Works, Volume 7, p. 250.
This necessity compels me also to stay
grounded, which is something not so 6. Ibid., p. 251.
natural to me, because really, the work has
to be undertaken with a round-the-clock 7. Ibid., p. 250.
consciousness. It is not really something
that one can switch on or off.Whenever 8. Ibid., p. 195.
an anomaly rises in the surface nature it
can be immediately effaced by holding a 9. Ibid., p. 196.
mirror up against ourselves. Ideally, it must
always be held up and when the mirror 10. The Mother. Collected Works, Volume 4, p. 35.

James Anderson is a member of SAIIIHR and coordinating editor of NAMAH.

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