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True Leadership
Selections from the Works of
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother
All
Life
Is
Yoga
„All life is Yoga.” – Sri Aurobindo
Contents
Imprint
Publisher‘s Note
The Real Leader Is Within Oneself
Always Better, Forward
Be an Example
Conditions for Being a True Leader
To forget oneself
To have a larger view of the One working in all
To cling to Truth
To be vigilant
To recognise one‘s weaknesses
To have a self-control
To be perfectly sincere
Ways to Solve a Problem
Step back
Concentrate
Put it before the Lord
What the Mother Wants to Bring About
Orchestration and Hierarchy
Outer and Inner Discipline and Organisation
Human Relations
Right Attitude
A Strong Being Is Always Quiet
Integral Faith and Patience
Fullness of the Fourfold Personality
The Individuals Who Will Most Help the Future of Humanity
References
Sri Aurobindo Digital Edition
Imprint
ALL LIFE IS YOGA
True Leadership
Selections from the Works of
Sri Aurobindo and The Mother
First edition 2018
ISBN 978-3-937701-99-8
© 2018 AURO MEDIA
Verlag und Fachbuchhandel Wilfried Schuh
Berchtesgaden, Germany
www.auro.media
verlag@auro.media
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry, India
***
Flower on the cover:
Hamelia patens. Orange
Spiritual significance and explanation given by the Mother:
Matter under the supramental guidance
The condition required for its transformation.
***
Publisher‘s Note
This is one in a series of some e-books published by Sri Aurobindo Digital Edition under the title ”ALL LIFE IS YOGA”. Our effort is to bring together, from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, simple passages with a practical orientation on specific subjects, so that everyone may feel free to choose a book according to his inner need. The topics cover the whole field of human activity, because true spirituality is not the rejection of life but the art of perfecting life.
While the passages from Sri Aurobindo are in the original English, most of the passages from the Mother (selections from her talks and writings) are translations from the original French. We must also bear in mind that the excerpts have been taken out of their original context and that a compilation, in its very nature, is likely to have a personal and subjective approach. A sincere attempt, however, has been made to be faithful to the vision of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
The excerpts from the writings of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother carry titles and captions chosen by the editor, highlighting the theme of the excerpts and, whenever possible, borrowing a phrase from the text itself. The sources of the excerpts are given at the end of each issue.
We hope these e-books will inspire the readers to go to the complete works and will help them to mould their lives and their environments towards an ever greater perfection.
***
I am charged by God to do his mighty work,
Uncaring I serve his will who sent me forth,
Reckless of peril and earthly consequence.
I reason not of virtue and of sin
But do the deed he has put into my heart.
– Sri Aurobindo
The Real Leader Is Within Oneself
Words of the Mother
Every human being carries hidden within him the possibility of a greater consciousness which goes beyond the bounds of his present life and enables him to share in a higher and a vaster life. Indeed, in all exceptional beings it is always this consciousness that governs their lives and organises both the circumstances of their existence and their individual reaction to these circumstances. What the human mental consciousness does not know and cannot do, this consciousness knows and does. It is like a light that shines at the centre of the being, radiating through the thick coverings of the external consciousness.
*
Words of Sri Aurobindo
The leader is within yourselves. If you can only find Him and listen to His voice, then you will not find that people will not listen to you, because there will be a voice within the people which will make itself heard. That voice and that strength is within you. If you feel it within yourselves, if you live in its presence, if it has become yourselves, then you will find that one word from you will awake an answering voice in others...
*
Words of Sri Aurobindo
It is the Godhead who manifests himself in the great thinker, the hero, the leader of men, the great teacher, sage, prophet, religious founder, saint, lover of man, the great poet, the great artist, the great scientist, the ascetic self-tamer, the tamer of things and events and forces. The work itself, the high poem, the perfect form of beauty, the deep love, the noble act, the divine achievement is a movement of godhead; it is the Divine in manifestation.
*
Words of Sri Aurobindo
Follow your soul and not your mind, your soul that answers to the Truth, not your mind that leaps at appearances; trust the Divine Power and she will free the godlike elements in you and shape all into an expression of Divine Nature.
*
Words of Sri Aurobindo
You must put aside what you want and wish to know what God wants; distrust what your heart, your passions or your habitual opinions prefer to hold as right and necessary, and passing beyond them, like Arjuna in the Gita, seek only to know what God has set down as right and necessary. Be strong in the faith that whatever is right and necessary will inevitably happen as the result of your due fulfilment of the kartavyam karma, even if it is not the result that you preferred or expected. The power that governs the world is at least as wise as you and it is not absolutely necessary that you should be consulted or indulged in its management; God is seeing to it.
*
Words of Sri Aurobindo
Regard your life as given you only for the divine work and to help in the divine manifestation. Desire nothing but the purity, force, light, wideness, calm, Ananda of the divine consciousness and its insistence to transform and perfect your mind, life and body. Ask for nothing but the divine, spiritual and supramental Truth, its realisation on earth and in you and in all who are called and chosen and the conditions needed for its creation and its victory over all opposing forces.
***
Always Better. Forward
Words of the Mother
The first condition is not to have one’s own personal interest as a goal.
The first qualities needed are boldness, courage and perseverance.
And then to be conscious that one knows nothing compared to what one ought to know, that one can do nothing compared to what one ought to do, that one is nothing compared to what one ought to be.
One must have an invariable will to acquire what is lacking in one’s nature, to know what one does not yet know, to be able to do what one is not yet able to do.
One must constantly progress in the light and peace that come from the absence of personal desires.
One could take as a programme:
“Always better. Forward!”
And to have only one goal: to know the Divine in order to be able to manifest Him.
Persevere, and what you cannot do today you will be able to do tomorrow.
*
Words of Sri Aurobindo
His will immobile meets the mobile hour;
The world’s blows cannot bend that victor head;
Calm and sure are his steps in the growing Night;
The goal recedes, he hurries not his pace,
He turns not to high voices in the night;
He asks no aid from the inferior gods;
His eyes are fixed on his immutable aim.
***
Be an Example
Words of the Mother
Each one is responsible first for himself; and if you aspire to help others, it is by giving an example of what one should be that you can help them most effectively.
And the Divine Grace is always there, marvellously effective for all those who are sincere.
*
Words of the Mother
Living among others you should always be a divine example, an occasion offered to them to understand and to enter on the path of the life divine. Nothing more: you should not even have the desire to make them progress; for that too would be something arbitrary.
Until you are definitively one with the Divinity within, the best way, in your relations with the outside, is to act according to the unanimous advice given by those who have themselves had the experience of this unity.
To be in a state of constant benevolence, with this as your rule, not to be troubled by anything and not to be the cause of trouble to others, not to inflict suffering upon them so far as possible.
*
Words of the Mother
The leaders must always set the example, the leaders must always practise the virtues they demand from those who are in their care; they must be understanding, patient, enduring, full of sympathy and warm and friendly goodwill, not out of egoism to win friends for themselves, but out of generosity to be able to understand and help others.
To forget oneself, one’s own likings and preferences, is indispensable in order to be a true leader.
***
Conditions for Being a True Leader
To forget oneself
Words of the Mother
To forget oneself is one of the most essential conditions for being a true leader: to have no selfish interests, to want nothing for oneself, to consider only the good of the group, of the whole, the totality that depends on one; to act only with that aim in mind, without wanting any personal profit from one’s action.
A leader of a small group can thus become a perfect leader for a large group, for a nation, and prepare himself for a collective role. It is a training-ground of great importance, and that is truly what we have attempted and are continuing to try out here: to give to everyone as soon as possible a responsibility, big or small, so that he learns to become a true leader.
To be a true leader one must be completely disinterested and efface from oneself as much as possible all self-regard and all selfish movements. To be a leader one must master one’s ego...
*
To have a larger view of the One working in all
Words of Sri Aurobindo
Every man is knowingly or unknowingly the instrument of a universal Power and, apart from the inner Presence, there is no such essential difference between one action and another, one kind of instrumentation and another as would warrant the folly of an egoistic pride. The difference between knowledge and ignorance is a grace of the Spirit; the breath of divine Power blows where it lists and fills today one and tomorrow another with the word or the puissance. If the potter shapes one pot more perfectly than another, the merit lies not in the vessel but the maker. The attitude of our mind must not be “This is my strength” or “Behold God’s power in me”, but rather “A Divine Power works in this mind and body and it is the same that works in all men and in the animal, in the plant and in the metal, in conscious and living things and in things apparently inconscient and inanimate.” This large view of the One working in all and of the whole world as the equal instrument of a divine action and gradual self-expression, if it becomes our entire experience, will help to eliminate all rajasic egoism out of us and even the sattwic ego-sense will begin to pass away from our nature.
*
To cling to Truth
Words of the Mother
Be more eager for truth than for success.
*
Words of Sri Aurobindo
Truth is the rock on which the world is built. Satyena tishthate jagat. Falsehood can never be the true source of strength. When falsehood is at the root of a movement, that movement is doomed to failure. Diplomacy can only help a movement if the movement proceeds upon truth. To make diplomacy the root-principle is to contravene the laws of existence.
*
Words of the Mother
There is no greater courage than to be always truthful.
*
To be vigilant
Words of the Mother
Vigilance means to be awake, to be on one’s guard, to be sincere – never to be taken by surprise...
To be vigilant is not merely to resist what pulls you downward, but above all to be alert in order not to lose any opportunity to progress, any opportunity to overcome a weakness, to resist a temptation, any opportunity to learn something, to correct something, to master something. If you are vigilant, you can do in a few days what would otherwise take years. If you are vigilant, you change each circumstance of your life, each action, each movement into an occasion for coming nearer the goal.
*
To recognise one‘s weaknesses
Words of Sri Aurobindo
To recognise one’s weaknesses and false movements and draw back from them is the way towards liberation. Not to judge anyone but oneself until one can see things from a calm mind and a calm vital is an excellent rule. Also, do not allow your mind to form hasty impressions on the strength of some outward appearance, nor your vital to act upon them. There is a place in the inner being where one can always remain calm and from there look with poise and judgment on the perturbations of the surface consciousness and act upon it to change it. If you can learn to live in that calm of the inner being, you will have found your stable basis.
*
To have a self-control
Words of the Mother
1) To have complete control over oneself is the indispensable condition for controlling others.
2) To have no preferences, not to like one and to dislike the other – to be equal with everybody.
3) To be patient and enduring.
Also to speak only what is quite indispensable and nothing more.
*
Words of the Mother
Be very calm and very patient, never get angry; one must be master of oneself in order to be a master of others.
*
To be perfectly sincere
Words of the Mother
To be perfectly sincere it is indispensable not to have any preference, any desire, any attraction, any dislike, any sympathy or antipathy, any attachment, any repulsion. One must have a total, integral vision of things, in which everything is in its place and one has the same attitude towards all things: the attitude of true vision. This programme is obviously very difficult for a human being to realise. Unless he has decided to divinise himself, it seems almost impossible that he could be free from all these contraries within him. And yet, so long as one carries them in himself, one cannot be perfectly sincere. Automatically the mental, the vital and even the physical working is falsified. I am emphasising the physical, for even the working of the senses is warped: one does not see, hear, taste, feel things as they are in reality as long as one has a preference. So long as there are things which please you and others which don’t, so long as you are attracted by certain things, and repulsed by others, you cannot see things in their reality; you see them through your reaction, your preference or your repulsion. The senses are instruments which get out of order, in the same way as sensations, feelings and thoughts. Therefore, to be sure of what you see, what you feel, what you experience and think, you must have a complete detachment; and this is obviously not an easy task. But until then your perception cannot be wholly true...
***
Ways to Solve a Problem
Step back
Words of the Mother
Most of you live on the surface of your being, exposed to the touch of external influences. You live almost projected, as it were, outside your own body, and when you meet some unpleasant being similarly projected you get upset. The whole trouble arises out of your not being accustomed to stepping back. You must always step back into yourself – learn to go deep within – step back and you will be safe. Do not lend yourself to the superficial forces which move in the outside world. Even if you are in a hurry to do something, step back for a while and you will discover to your surprise how much sooner and with what greater success your work can be done. If someone is angry with you, do not be caught in his vibrations but simply step back and his anger, finding no support or response, will vanish. Always keep your peace, resist all temptation to lose it. Never decide anything without stepping back, never speak a word without stepping back, never throw yourself into action without stepping back. All that belongs to the ordinary world is impermanent and fugitive, so there is nothing in it worth getting upset about. What is lasting, eternal, immortal and infinite – that indeed is worth having, worth conquering, worth possessing. It is Divine Light, Divine Love, Divine Life – it is also Supreme Peace, Perfect Joy and All-Mastery upon earth with the Complete Manifestation as the crowning. When you get the sense of the relativity of things, then whatever happens you can step back and look; you can remain quiet and call on the Divine Force and wait for an answer. Then you will know exactly what to do. Remember, therefore, that you cannot receive the answer before you are very peaceful. Practise that inner peace, make at least a small beginning and go on in your practice until it becomes a habit with you.
*
Concentrate
Words of the Mother
...if your power of concentration is complete, then there is not a problem you cannot solve – I don’t mean arithmetic problems (laughter), I mean problems about leading one’s life, about decisions to be taken, psychological problems which need solving. There is not one that can resist this power of concentration.
And in fact it is very convenient to take a point: one looks steadily at the point, and so steadily that at a certain moment one becomes the point. One is no longer somebody looking at the point; one is the point. And then, if you continue with sufficient strength and quietness, without anything disturbing you, you may suddenly find yourself before a door which opens and you pass to the other side. And then you have the revelation.
*
Put it before the Lord
Words of the Mother
You are faced with a so-called problem: what should you say, what should you do, how should you act? There is nothing to do, nothing, you only have to say to the Lord, “There,You see, it is like that” – that’s all. And then you stay very quiet. And then quite spontaneously, without thinking about it, without reflection, without calculation, nothing, nothing, without the slightest effort – you do what has to be done. That is to say, the Lord does it, it is no longer you. He does it, He arranges the circumstances, He arranges the people, He puts the words into your mouth or your pen – He does everything, everything, everything, everything; you have nothing more to do but to allow yourself to live blissfully.
***
What the Mother Wants to Bring About
Words of the Mother
What I want to bring about in the material world, upon the earth.
1. Perfect Consciousness.
2. Integral Knowledge, omniscience.
3. Power invincible, irresistible, ineluctable; omnipotence.
4. Health, perfect, constant, unshakable; perpetually renewed energy.
5. Eternal youth, constant growth, uninterrupted progress.
6. Perfect beauty, complex and total harmony.
7. Inexhaustible unparalleled riches, control over all the wealth of this world.
8. The gift of healing and giving happiness.
9. Immunity from all accidents, invulnerability against all adverse attacks.
10. Perfect power of expression in all fields and all activities.
11. The gift of tongues, the power of making oneself understood perfectly by all.
12. And all else necessary for the accomplishment of Thy work.
*
Words of the Mother
I wish
(1) personally to be eternally the perfect expression of the Supreme Divine,
(2) that the supramental victory, manifestation and transformation should take place at once,
(3) that all suffering should disappear for ever from the worlds present and future.
***
Orchestration and Hierarchy
Words of Sri Aurobindo
The role of the leader, the captain, the power and skill of his leadership, his ability to command the confidence and ready obedience of his followers is of the utmost importance in all kinds of combined action or enterprise; but few can develop these things without having learned themselves to obey and to act as one mind or as one body with others. This strictness of training, this habit of discipline and obedience is not inconsistent with individual freedom; it is often the necessary condition for its right use, just as order is not inconsistent with liberty but rather the condition for the right use of liberty and even for its preservation and survival. In all kinds of concerted action this rule is indispensable: orchestration becomes necessary and there could be no success for an orchestra in which individual musicians played according to their own fancy and refused to follow the indications of the conductor.
*
Words of the Mother
Every group, if it is a real one – that is, one made up according to the ability of the individuals who compose it – must necessarily be hierarchical.
But there are considerable obstacles to the realisation of this hierarchy:
(1) First, when the group is incomplete – that is, when it does not have all the members necessary to constitute the hierarchy and certain functions or intermediaries are missing.
(2) The indiscipline of certain members refusing wholly or in part to occupy the place assigned to them. When order and harmony are established, the hierarchy is organised quite naturally and spontaneously.
*
Words of the Mother
Mother, to continue this question about the last sentence: “The Supreme has laid his luminous hand upon a chosen human vessel of his miraculous Light...”
Yes.
Can this be applied generally or is it for one in a million?
What do you mean by “generally”? Everyone on earth? Is that what you mean?
