Sri Aurobindo
Letters of Sri Aurobindo
Volume 4
I was very glad to read your letter. The clarification of the mind of which it is evidence is indeed welcome and likely to get rid of many persistent difficulties. What you express in the letter is the right way of thinking and seeing. The self-will of the mind wanting things in its own way and not in the Divine’s way was a great obstacle. With that gone, the way should become much less rough and hard to follow. I am very glad that you have got rid of the wrong ideas about the Mother in the pranam: for that was coming very much across any possibility of right reception.
I approve of the modifications you have made in your solitude programme, but I certainly would not like you to discontinue the solitude. It was becoming too absolute and certain features were coming in, like the shrinking from all contact with people, that were too exaggerated and might grow into something morbid. But the solitude itself I expected to be beneficial, and I was counting on it to prepare you for living within in the inner being more than in the outer consciousness. The outer can grow in faith, fidelity to the Divine, reverence, love, worship and adoration, great things in themselves – though in fact these things too come from within – but realisation can only take place when the inner being is awake with its vision and feeling of things unseen. Till then, one can feel the results of the divine help and, if one has faith, know that they are the work of the Divine; but it is only then that one can feel clearly the Force at work, the divine Presence, the direct communion.