Minor injustices of life are major incidences of grace is a statement that raises an outrage even in a saint. Man is normal when such indignities are not meted out to him. One is most pleased when life offers complete justice in minor matters. Spiritually it is at those points God is trying to enter our being. We put up a furious resistance and proclaim to the world, "This is an unjust world. People are bad. No one is reliable, not even the kith and kin. I am afraid I shall grow cynical and selfish.

Colonel Lawrence was an officer in the British Army who sympathized with the Arabs and fought to win Damascus for them. The British government did not honour his promise to the Arabs. It was a disappointment in his life. He died in a motorbike accident. There is an incident in his life which highlights human nature. Man has so many illusions. In the words of Adi Sankarachariar, Man lives in a web of illusions. He called it maya. He called upon man to shed maya and seek God.

Integrity is an inner value unconditioned by outer circumstances. To be good to a person who is good to us is not difficult. To be good to a person who is evil to us is not easily possible. It may not be necessary for the outer life. However, it is necessary for inner integrity. There is a film called Finding Forrester. A famous writer goes into seclusion for years. His first book had become famous, but he stopped writing. Near his apartment is a public basketball court where Black youth play.

A rule in life is equilibrium. It is also the rule in Nature. Cyclone is Nature's restoring the equilibrium in atmospheric pressure. What we call health is an equilibrium of physical, vital and mental energies. Life constantly disturbs the equilibrium of the bodily health. Body and mind constantly restore that equilibrium. Our problems of life and problems of health - disease - are the process of that equilibrium being disturbed and restored. Obesity is one such expression. Its expressions are many.

This is a statement of Sri Aurobindo. Though it is a truth of life, it sounds somewhat strange to us. How this can be is a question that arises in the mind. Most rules have exceptions. Some are absolute rules. They have no exception. We believe we must be good. It is true. But, there is a desire to extend it. We say next that if you are good, you will prosper. This is not always true. We see that people of bad character also prosper. Maybe they prosper more than good people.

Companies, organisations, and government administrations do not allow much scope to assert. Man is resourceful enough to innovate ways of assertion in spite of a tight structure.  The wrong side of life is more resourceful. It carries tales to the boss. Often the boss pulls up the asserting member. Often he does not for various reasons. A balance is arrived at between the asserting members and the effectivity of talebearers.

The science of Astrology has reduced all the secrets of life to communicable details. It has found numbers an excellent vehicle. Mathematics is called the Queen of Sciences. Mathematics has reduced the laws of Nature to formulas, often to Numbers. The universe revealed to Einstein as a formula. Formulation is understanding codified. Sri Aurobindo calls Napoleon a vibhuti. He ranks among Shankara and Shivaji. Historians often call Napoleon a mathematician.

Concentration helped by distraction is a contradiction. There is power in concentration whether it is for reading or working. Spiritual concentration is uncompromising. There are several disciplines that demand concentration must be unbroken. If broken, one has to start over again. No perfect work, especially spiritual work, can ever be done when there is a distraction from the central concentration. Then how can we say distraction helps concentration? There was a railway driver who could not clearly hear.

Revolutions are landmarks in history. From the point of view of Spiritual evolution, revolutions are critical stages in the evolution of the earth.  Mother says Sri Aurobindo was present on earth at every such critical stage. She too was with Him invariably. He says the French Revolution originated in the Himalayas. Anything fundamental anywhere in the world should originate in the Spirit, just as any new product of technology should originate in scientific research. Our science is called experimental science.

Those who take to Sri Aurobindo's yoga first meet with the word 'vital' and ask what it is. In our vernacular conversation we use two words -- 'buddhi' and 'manas'. Buddhi is intelligence; manas is feelings. In English 'mind' and 'heart' are equally clear concepts. In spite of such clarity that exists in the language, a good number of devotees raise the above question, "What is the vital?" To them, the distinction comes almost as a revelation. Vital simply represents the nervous centre whose subtle chakra resides in the stomach. It is known as the solar plexus.