Om Anandamayi Chaitanyamayi Satyamayi Parame
O Savitri, thou art my spirit’s power,
The revealing voice of my immortal Word,
The face of Truth upon the roads of Time
Pointing to the souls of men the routes to God.
- Book 11, ‘Savitri’
The ‘Prayers and Meditations’ of the Mother is a “treasure of honey in the combs of God”. Just as ‘Savitri’ is a record of the sadhana of Sri Aurobindo, his experiences and realizations set in mantric, mystical lines of sublime poetry, the ‘Prayers and Meditations’ of the Mother is “a record of Mother’s experiences” set in the form of soul-stirring, mystical Prayers. A beautiful note in the beginning of the book says how this book can be used as a spiritual guide for different categories of seekers.
“This book comprises extracts from a diary written during years of intensive yogic discipline. It may serve as a spiritual guide to three principal categories of seekers: those who have undertaken self-mastery, those who want to find the road leading to the Divine, those who aspire to consecrate themselves more and more to the Divine Work.”
The Mother by her own example, by this “kind of prayer from the Divine to the Divine”, by her intensive yogic discipline and rich inner life has set the example for aspiring souls and given us this precious ‘spiritual guide’ to follow the sunlit path and to give everything, “soul, life, work, wealth” to the Divine. There can be no greater guide and inspiration for sadhaks than this wonderful book.
Sri Aurobindo notes, “I have said that the Divine does the sadhana just for the world and then gives what is brought down to others. There can be no sadhana without realizations and experiences. The Prayers are a record of the Mother’s experiences.”
The Prayers are Mothers’ outpourings from deep within, her intense feelings, thoughts, her moments of spiritual ecstasy and poverty, her hopes, aspirations, realizations, anguish and disappointments and her communion and dialogue with the Divine in various forms - as the Vedic Gods of Agni, Mitra, Indra, Buddha, the Divine Mother and the Supreme Lord…..many of them written after her intense communion and identification with Nature, and many others autobiographical and events of great importance in the terrestrial history of the earth.
Feelings that only eternity could share
Thoughts natural and native to gods
- ‘Savitri’
The Divine reveals and yields His secrets to the chosen ones, as the Mother observed
“O Consciousness, immobile and serene Thou watchest at the confines of the world like the sphinx of eternity, And yet to some Thou yieldest Thy secret.” (November 10, 1914)
However not every experience and realization could be expressed in words as the significance of it might be too mystical or veiled, sometimes so private that “even her own physical ears should not hear”. Here are some illustrations:
“I hail Thee, O Lord, and bow before Thee. But I shall not write, for Thou hast just told me, in reply to a question about the present meditation. We have had a private conversation which even thy own physical ears should not hear.” (December 14, 1916)
“But the sounds gather in the head as behind a veil and not a word flows from the pen today…”(December 6, 1916)
Prayers were written on different occasions. Some were written at dawn, as follows:
“In this calm concentration which comes before daybreak, more than at any other moment, my thought rises to Thee, O Lord of our being in an ardent prayer…”
Some were written in moments of great aspiration ,invoking the Divine, as in the following prayer:
“Like a flame that burns in silence, like a perfume that rises straight upward without wavering, my love goes to Thee; and like a child who does not reason and has no care, I trust myself to Thee that Thy Will be done, that Thy Light may manifest, Thy Peace radiate, Thy love cover the world.” (December 7, 1912)
“O Splendid Agni, Thou who art so living within me, I call Thee, I invoke Thee that Thou mayst be more living still, that Thy brazier may become more immense, Thy flames higher and more powerful, that the entire being may now be only an ardent burning, a purifying pyre.” (September 30, 1914)
Many of them are unmistakably autobiographical and symbolic like the one written on the eve of her momentous journey to the east to meet Sri Aurobindo:
“As the day of departure draws near, I enter into a kind of self-communion; I turn with a fond solemnity towards all those thousand little nothings around us which have silently, for so many years, played their role of faithful friends.“ (March 3, 1914)
“In an indrawn state I contemplate this turning page, vanishing into the dream of the past and look at the new page all full potentially of the dream of the future.” (March 4, 1914);
And the one after she first met Sri Aurobindo written the day after her first arrival in Pondicherry, on March 30, 1914:
“It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance, He whom we saw yesterday is on earth.” (March 30, 1914)
Some entries in ‘Prayers and Meditations’ speak of communion and identity with nature, the most beautiful one being the one written on April 7, 1917, after her deep concentration and identity with one single cherry blossom and “through it with all cherry-blossoms”. It is indeed a mystical experience as she enters the consciousness of the tree “deeper following a stream of bluish force” and becomes one with it.
Some entries were made in sombre and dark, turbulent times, as in this one set in the back ground of the first Great War.
“Then the worlds darkened in a multiplicity, more and more chaotic, the Energy became violent and the material world obscure and sorrowful. And when in our infinite love we perceived in its entirety the hideous suffering of the world of misery and ignorance, where we saw our children locked in a somber struggle.”(September 1, 1914)
The Prayers as we see from this small cross-section is a record of the Mothers’ inner experiences, Her intimate conversations, and aspiration for the Divine. Every moment, every event became an occasion for identity and communion with the Divine and it flowed out in the form of beautiful words expressing the inexpressible. It is a precious spiritual guide to seekers. By her own immaculate example, She has shown us how “every day, every moment should be an occasion for a new and completer consecration”, and how to aspire, invoke and surrender to the Divine. We also have a wonderful glimpse of the richness and complexity of her inner life, her boundless compassion and tenderness towards humanity, humility and surrender to the Divine and her constant Prayer and love for “earth and men”:
Then all the woman yearningly replied:
Thy embrace which rends the living knot of pain,
Thy joy, O Lord, in which all creatures breathe,
Thy magic flowing waters of deep love,
Thy sweetness give to me for earth and men.
- Book 11, ‘Savitri’
“Grant that I may be nothing but Thy Divine Love and that in every being this Love may awake, powerful and victorious.
Let me be a vast mantle of love enveloping all the earth, entering all hearts, murmuring in every ear Thy divine message of hope and peace.”
- May 9, 1914, ‘Prayers and Meditations’, The Mother.
O Savitri, thou art my spirit’s power,
The revealing voice of my immortal Word,
The face of Truth upon the roads of Time
Pointing to the souls of men the routes to God.
- Book 11, ‘Savitri’
The ‘Prayers and Meditations’ of the Mother is a “treasure of honey in the combs of God”. Just as ‘Savitri’ is a record of the sadhana of Sri Aurobindo, his experiences and realizations set in mantric, mystical lines of sublime poetry, the ‘Prayers and Meditations’ of the Mother is “a record of Mother’s experiences” set in the form of soul-stirring, mystical Prayers. A beautiful note in the beginning of the book says how this book can be used as a spiritual guide for different categories of seekers.
“This book comprises extracts from a diary written during years of intensive yogic discipline. It may serve as a spiritual guide to three principal categories of seekers: those who have undertaken self-mastery, those who want to find the road leading to the Divine, those who aspire to consecrate themselves more and more to the Divine Work.”
The Mother by her own example, by this “kind of prayer from the Divine to the Divine”, by her intensive yogic discipline and rich inner life has set the example for aspiring souls and given us this precious ‘spiritual guide’ to follow the sunlit path and to give everything, “soul, life, work, wealth” to the Divine. There can be no greater guide and inspiration for sadhaks than this wonderful book.
Sri Aurobindo notes, “I have said that the Divine does the sadhana just for the world and then gives what is brought down to others. There can be no sadhana without realizations and experiences. The Prayers are a record of the Mother’s experiences.”
The Prayers are Mothers’ outpourings from deep within, her intense feelings, thoughts, her moments of spiritual ecstasy and poverty, her hopes, aspirations, realizations, anguish and disappointments and her communion and dialogue with the Divine in various forms - as the Vedic Gods of Agni, Mitra, Indra, Buddha, the Divine Mother and the Supreme Lord…..many of them written after her intense communion and identification with Nature, and many others autobiographical and events of great importance in the terrestrial history of the earth.
Feelings that only eternity could share
Thoughts natural and native to gods
- ‘Savitri’
The Divine reveals and yields His secrets to the chosen ones, as the Mother observed
“O Consciousness, immobile and serene Thou watchest at the confines of the world like the sphinx of eternity, And yet to some Thou yieldest Thy secret.” (November 10, 1914)
However not every experience and realization could be expressed in words as the significance of it might be too mystical or veiled, sometimes so private that “even her own physical ears should not hear”. Here are some illustrations:
“I hail Thee, O Lord, and bow before Thee. But I shall not write, for Thou hast just told me, in reply to a question about the present meditation. We have had a private conversation which even thy own physical ears should not hear.” (December 14, 1916)
“But the sounds gather in the head as behind a veil and not a word flows from the pen today…”(December 6, 1916)
Prayers were written on different occasions. Some were written at dawn, as follows:
“In this calm concentration which comes before daybreak, more than at any other moment, my thought rises to Thee, O Lord of our being in an ardent prayer…”
Some were written in moments of great aspiration ,invoking the Divine, as in the following prayer:
“Like a flame that burns in silence, like a perfume that rises straight upward without wavering, my love goes to Thee; and like a child who does not reason and has no care, I trust myself to Thee that Thy Will be done, that Thy Light may manifest, Thy Peace radiate, Thy love cover the world.” (December 7, 1912)
“O Splendid Agni, Thou who art so living within me, I call Thee, I invoke Thee that Thou mayst be more living still, that Thy brazier may become more immense, Thy flames higher and more powerful, that the entire being may now be only an ardent burning, a purifying pyre.” (September 30, 1914)
Many of them are unmistakably autobiographical and symbolic like the one written on the eve of her momentous journey to the east to meet Sri Aurobindo:
“As the day of departure draws near, I enter into a kind of self-communion; I turn with a fond solemnity towards all those thousand little nothings around us which have silently, for so many years, played their role of faithful friends.“ (March 3, 1914)
“In an indrawn state I contemplate this turning page, vanishing into the dream of the past and look at the new page all full potentially of the dream of the future.” (March 4, 1914);
And the one after she first met Sri Aurobindo written the day after her first arrival in Pondicherry, on March 30, 1914:
“It matters little that there are thousands of beings plunged in the densest ignorance, He whom we saw yesterday is on earth.” (March 30, 1914)
Some entries in ‘Prayers and Meditations’ speak of communion and identity with nature, the most beautiful one being the one written on April 7, 1917, after her deep concentration and identity with one single cherry blossom and “through it with all cherry-blossoms”. It is indeed a mystical experience as she enters the consciousness of the tree “deeper following a stream of bluish force” and becomes one with it.
Some entries were made in sombre and dark, turbulent times, as in this one set in the back ground of the first Great War.
“Then the worlds darkened in a multiplicity, more and more chaotic, the Energy became violent and the material world obscure and sorrowful. And when in our infinite love we perceived in its entirety the hideous suffering of the world of misery and ignorance, where we saw our children locked in a somber struggle.”(September 1, 1914)
The Prayers as we see from this small cross-section is a record of the Mothers’ inner experiences, Her intimate conversations, and aspiration for the Divine. Every moment, every event became an occasion for identity and communion with the Divine and it flowed out in the form of beautiful words expressing the inexpressible. It is a precious spiritual guide to seekers. By her own immaculate example, She has shown us how “every day, every moment should be an occasion for a new and completer consecration”, and how to aspire, invoke and surrender to the Divine. We also have a wonderful glimpse of the richness and complexity of her inner life, her boundless compassion and tenderness towards humanity, humility and surrender to the Divine and her constant Prayer and love for “earth and men”:
Then all the woman yearningly replied:
Thy embrace which rends the living knot of pain,
Thy joy, O Lord, in which all creatures breathe,
Thy magic flowing waters of deep love,
Thy sweetness give to me for earth and men.
- Book 11, ‘Savitri’
“Grant that I may be nothing but Thy Divine Love and that in every being this Love may awake, powerful and victorious.
Let me be a vast mantle of love enveloping all the earth, entering all hearts, murmuring in every ear Thy divine message of hope and peace.”
- May 9, 1914, ‘Prayers and Meditations’, The Mother.
Sudha
