Earlier I said the reader can skip the chapter on yoga in view of its being theoretical, though it is the most important chapter of the book. This is a book on the Spirit, not confined to any religion. The Spirit is universal. Its action on life is yoga. Why then skip the chapter on it? I also said the reader can dwell on that chapter if he is inspired by the earlier ones. As far as possible, in that chapter, I have presented yoga in the language of daily life. Still yoga is abstruse and obscure for the lay mind. Sri Aurobindo calls upon us to look on life as yoga.

I thought of a friend with whom I had lost contact for a long time. I felt a craving to go and seek him at his place as a surprise. As I mustered courage and was about to leave for his place, I was told that someone, a stranger, was asking for me. I went out to see who it was. To my surprise it was the friend to whose house I was preparing to go. It was a pleasant surprise, a strange coincidence.

The world travelers explored life in other nations. Adventurous sailors discovered new sea routes. Others discovered the New World. The Rishis discovered the Spiritual continent inside. Sri Aurobindo's yoga is also known as the yoga of Spiritual evolution. To Him earth is Mother Earth. He discovered the Spirit of the earth as the involved status of the Brahman. His spiritual evolution commences from Matter and ends in Brahman via Life, Mind and Supermind. Earth has evolved Life and Man is the acme of that evolution.

Scientists dedicate their careers to scientific study and research. They have no career outside science. There was an English biologist called J.B.S. Haldane. He was an admirer of India. On India attaining independence, he came to India for permanent residence. He went one step ahead. He used to make some important experiments on his own body. He who takes to tapas often follows a guru. When he goes beyond the realisation of his guru, he entirely risks his life and body in the experiments he undertakes. Tapas or yoga is an adventure in the realm of the Spirit.

Sri Aurobindo says that from 1857 a phase of Indian life began when its native aristocracy began to die and a new bourgeois class that was enamoured of English culture was born. It was a move of the nation to get Anglicised. As a part of it Sri Aurobindo, then a child of less than seven years, was sent to an English school at Darjeeling. On entering that school, Sri Aurobindo says, a cloud of darkness entered him that remained with him till he returned to India.

Human helplessness

Glossary of Italicized terms:

Mother's name as word and sound is very powerful. Repetition of Her name is known to relieve devotees of their problems, answer their prayers, and even evoke a personal response from Her. Repetition can be verbal, mental or taken to the heart centre, each being more powerful than the previous one. When the repetition by the devotee turns into self-repetition by something inside, the power begins to spread all over the being. Sometimes it is felt spreading all over the nerves and the body.

The world regards men like Einstein as geniuses. Men like Socrates, Bernard Shaw and Newton have attained the peaks of knowledge. The human mind has reached its highest limits in them. Human thought matures and shines through these people, giving illumination to the world. Great men of philosophy also merit this distinction. Men who offer new ideas to the world belong to this category. In life, the human mind is able to achieve this level. Beyond this, there is no greater level to achieve in worldly life. However, there are still higher levels within the reach of the human mind.

About fifteen years ago I was seriously engaged in agriculture. Coconut and cashew were my chief crops. My coconut garden was near the seashore. The backwaters formed the borders of my garden on all sides, except to the West. People used to buy coconut husks in the backwaters and let them soak for four to five months. Then they would draw fibers out of them and make ropes. If such soaked-up husks are beaten with a stick, the non-fibrous parts  fall down as powder on the ground and make good manure. Such manure helps keep the moisture in the soil.