We often experience a thrill for various reasons. Spiritually, thrill is described as body sensing the action of Grace. A young man is selected in an interview. He is relieved of the tension he was so far in. A case is judged in one's favour. The client is pleased. A negotiation turns out to someone's expectation. He is satisfied. He understands how it concluded so. He sometimes knows the role his skill played. Relief is of the nerves, pleasure is a positive feeling of the nerves. Satisfaction is of the mind. Understanding is a mental process.

Wise men say the answer of any problem lies inside it. They quote events such as an African who rushed to South America lured by gold, unaware of the diamond mine in his own backyard which he had sold away. India is a rich country with poor people, is a familiar refrain. Spirituality says the Infinite is in the finite. One can understand such statements and accept them. It gives him mental satisfaction, not material results. The material potential is there. Properties are auctioned and rich people buy them for a song.

When we meet certain people, we suddenly brighten up and feel a surge of energy. They are dynamic and self-giving. Their overflowing energies come to us through their attitude of self-giving which energises us. Such people look bright and are cheerful. There are others in whose presence we feel depressed. Prolonged contact with them drains our energy, and a pain in the neck develops. A common saying describes them as a pain in the neck. They are narrow-minded selfish people, coarse in their tastes. They suck the energies of those whom they meet.

I often write about Spiritual Silence. Silence has other versions. The silence on the mountaintop or the desert is the silence of the physical plane. Spiritual Silence is in the plane of the Mind. Our talk is from the stomach, the solar plexus, called ‘vital' in the language of yoga. When a speaker is eloquent on the platform, it is the stomach that is pleased, not the Mind that thinks. Non-stop talkers are vital people. They are men of action, usually with a strong dose of falsehood. They can never be silent at all. Silence can come to them too.

In what India can lead the world is a question. She was a slave nation for a long time. How can she lead the world? Still, in winning freedom without armed uprising, she led 45 Asian and African nations. We know of the Satyagraha of Gandhiji, but the world was not aware that in 1910 India became free in the subtle world by Spiritual Power. Today the Government of India has before it as an active proposal a scheme for Guaranteed Employment. It is more than a revolutionary proposal. It is evolutionary in its significance.

The miracles of Lord Krishna were many. One of them was the revelation of His true Form. He rarely revealed Himself so. It is believed that he did so only to those whom he loved. It was Bernard Shaw who spoke of the harm the good man does. His mental genius was able to stand apart from human life and see the hidden truths. Sri Aurobindo says that Life works equally through good as well as Evil. To us, Evil is abhorrent, good is welcome, as we are limited human beings.

The UN is decried as a spent force. It is often described as a forum where member nations find an occasion to let off steam. The US withdrew from the UN for a period and in many of her initiatives ignored the existence of the UN. The issue of Kashmir referred to the UN fifty years ago still hangs fire. Surely the UN is not as effective as it was intended to be. Life has many surprises. One of them is the usefulness of the useless. The service that the various bodies of the UN have rendered is immense.

One would love to be blind if only Love lasts. Behind this idea of blindness lies a philosophical truth. Love is the pure celestial emotion for the Beloved. Sadhaks writing to Sri Aurobindo about love or divine love got a reply saying divine love is love for the Divine. Man extols the idea of his love for the woman and desires to raise it to the divine status. Sri Aurobindo quickly disenchanted the writer about his illusion. He even asked one correspondent if it was an application for marriage. The romantic youth idolises his beloved.

Between the Civil War in 1860 and the World War in 1914, the American economy was in a boom. No one outside America was aware of what was happening there, as no one knew of her existence then. Her exports were negligible, less than 5% of her national production. The home market consumed over 90% of the production and even 97% at times. America's prosperity today as the richest nation has its beginning there in the ever-expanding home market.

An electric fan was a luxury in the 1950s, a two-wheeler was a pride of possession in the 1960s, telephone was then a status symbol. This is no longer so. They are the essentials of existence NOW. Progress, civilisation, prosperity means the luxuries of yesterday must become the necessities of today. I am somewhat sure of general consensus about this.