For the first three sessions of
the month, we continued to study Sri Aurobindo's Bases of Yoga, focusing
on the chapter 'Desire - Food - Sex'.
Last month, we learnt about the origin of desire - how it is a wave and force
of Nature thrown upon us and not something we should view as 'our own'. It is
by attaining this clarity about the true nature of desire that we can more
easily detach ourselves from it. This month, we focused more on how we should
detach ourselves from the desire and greed for food. Sri Aurobindo does not
advise us to fast for prolonged periods to achieve this. Instead, we should
take food in moderation, offer it up to the Divine, see it as a mere physical
necessity to maintain the body and gradually lose all desire for it - becoming
increasingly calm and detached whether the food we eat is in line with our
preferences or not. Next, we also
studied Sri Aurobindo's advice to sadhaks about the need for complete mastery
and elimination of the sex impulse. This requires a reliance on the Mother's
force, coupled with detachment and rejection that must lead eventually to a
complete expunging of the sexual desire from mind, vital, body and the wider
subconscient. This is usually a long process, although it is necessary for the
safe progress of the sadhana and the secure descent of the higher consciousness
into one's being.
In the second session, after the
study of ‘Bases of Yoga’, we also carried out the OM choir activity. Each
member offered their best OM, and soon the room was full of a song chant of
truth and love - a sincere symphony aspiring for the music of the higher
spheres.
For the final sessions of both
May and June, we watched ‘Meditations on
Savitri’ on Book VI Canto II: “The
Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain” After that, we read the Canto several
times before having a discussion. This Canto sings of the sublime and
impossible mystery of pain in a world where all is Sat-Chit-Ananda,
Being-Consciousness-Bliss. In the session, we heard the chant of Narada, a song
of vast rhythmic grandeur full of the magnificent music of Sri Aurobindo. As we
contemplate the words through silence and sharing, we seek to grasp a little of
the Truth and Power of the Savitri mantra. The Word we heard illuminates the mystery of
suffering, inspiring a global and synthetic vision that helps us to see the
hidden Bliss in cosmic pain.
-
Jared
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