Brahman is the origin. It is the Eternal and Infinite. It is immutable. It is never born, nor does it grow. It knows no end. This is the description we know. This is the description of Mind's Infinity. Infinity is the opposite of Finite. Mind always sees anything as two opposites, light and darkness; pain and pleasure. Mind does not know, or cannot know light without darkness. Darkness cannot exist without light as it depends on it. There will be no shadow if light is not there. Shadow needs light for its existence. Light does not need shade or darkness for its existence.

Sraddha is faith. The purest of faith is the child's faith in the mother. The child is innocent. Its psychic being is on the surface. In our minds, many temperaments and opinions find play. They warp our faith. We can never have a child's simple faith unless the psychic emerges in the mind. In the third standard there was a chess tournament. There was a boy who was a wizard. He was considered the best player in the school. This year a girl was playing against him in the finals. Her father had taught her chess and she used some CD for practicing the game. She learned a lot.

Man generally thinks of work to be done. If he prays, he prays in the time allotted to prayer. To think of God often or always is not a normal human behaviour. "God will save me" is a phrase commonly heard. It means man often faces problems and his faith in God will see him through. There are devout people. For them, God is not the idol in the temple but a reality to their feelings. To relate to God on the merest pretext is a way of life to them. It is a source of joy to them.

Goodness is one of the three aspects of Sat - Sat Purusha. Each aspect of Sachchidananda splits itself into some aspects. Sat becomes Unity, Truth and goodness. Chit becomes knowledge and will. Ananda resolves itself into Beauty, joy and Love. When Truth acquires knowledge, Goodness is born.  Some people are naturally good. Mother easily comes to them. They are pleasant, expansive, and ready to oblige, anticipating another person's needs. Generally good people are more interested in being good than in Mother, even when they are devotees.

For any yogic experience of value, the first possession is Silence. Vishnu Lele asked Sri Aurobindo to sit down, close his eyes and see thoughts entering the mind from outside. Lele asked him to throw out the thoughts. It is a yogic method of seeking Silence. To chant OM 1 1/2 crores of times is another method. Silence is of several levels. There are running thoughts in the mind. They have no relevance to us. Those thoughts are of random nature. They stop during meditation. If they do not stop, no meditation will set in.

We can go slow or we can hasten. Hasten slowly is a contradiction. Some people reason and others act on faith. Sri Aurobindo's yoga demands we reconcile reason and faith, power and love, silence and action. In all major occasions of life, the principle of hasten slowly arises. Mostly we miss them. Some boys were walking over a railway bridge. A train was coming behind. It was a small bridge. The boys were already near its end. The first two boys were unaware of the coming train and were gaily walking over the sleepers. The third boy knew.

We are rarely self-conscious. When we have to make a public appearance and that makes us uncomfortable, we are self-conscious while we are on the dais. We call it shyness. In our own house, we act naturally. In another house, we are conscious of everything we do. That is described as being self-conscious. Here I should like to use this phrase to explain a certain type of saturated selfishness that assumes that no one else knows about his selfishness and feels he could go scot-free as well as be the unquestioned boss.  It is not a rare sight, but also not commonly met with.

In order for a meeting of ten people to commence punctually, all ten of them should turn up on time. One man's presence does not depend upon another man.  No man can hold himself responsible for another man's punctuality. The heads of the departments, especially Ministers, hold themselves responsible for what their department does. It is called constitutional responsibility. When Lal Bahadur Sastri was Railway Minister, a train derailed and fell into a river. He took upon himself the responsibility and resigned.

Friendship is a rich human relationship. Sometimes one is able to confide in a friend what he cannot speak to a family member. When companionship matures into friendship, sensation ripens into emotion. Sensation is primary, is of the animal. Emotion is of the heart, is born only in the human being. Mother gives friendship Her Touch and makes it noble, magnanimous and divine. Friendship does not permit calculations, mercenary conditions, profit or loss. Friendship is friendship. It knows no other consideration.

A lady devoted to Lord Nataraja of Chidamabaram was a model of devotion. She worshipped at the temple more than once a day. Her whole life was centred around her devotion. She heard of The Mother. The richness and the rich fullness, the ever-increasing devotion she now felt was unknown to her before. She was gifted in many ways.  Now she became a gifted storywriter. Her stories have fully brought out the fullness, richness and sweetness she constantly felt. She has met many people in her life. Unassuming as she is, she never found evangelism her attitude.