An information by itself is of small value. One who has experience receiving an additional information has the capacity to give a greater value to that information. We often are sorry that the rich becomes richer. The rich are more organised and are capable of benefiting more from a fresh opportunity. For one who has an opinion already, an additional information becomes far more valuable. Music can be better appreciated by lovers of music than by laymen. Information, opinion, attitude, motive are graded instruments of Personality.

Human effort has human limits. Spiritual efforts have no such limits. Humans receiving spiritual gifts that call for spiritual effort are overwhelmed. Such occasions arise in the lives of rare souls. Spirit knows no failures. Human beings are daunted when faced with an occasion that needs spiritual efforts. Most give up. Some try. Success is rare in great projects. When great efforts of great souls in great projects are rewarded with great success, life will permit one flaw there. For that to be flawless one needs to be a realised soul.

If MAN is totally ignorant of anything, it is that he is selfish. Men are selfish and mean, says Sri Aurobindo. The only thing we can do about it is to cure it in ourselves. There is an index for being extremely selfish. That person will ceaselessly complain about every other person that they are selfish. There are affectionate families that are utterly selfless. In such families men and woman never mention what they own, or how useful they are to others. Property, jewels, money, things will be used by anyone without reference to the individual rights.

Resourceful employers who suspect a manager of pilfering will appoint him in charge of theft prevention. This is an age-old wisdom. Behind this lies a truth of the great Indian philosophy of ever-present dualities. The moment light is created, darkness arises. So also for high and low; ignorance and knowledge; pain and pleasure, etc. As the opposites are simultaneously created, the solution of the one lies in the other. Suppose one has failed in a venture, how can he use this philosophical knowledge to solve his problem?

Work is done by several people in several fashions. People working in a sluggish organisation visiting alert companies often find that there the work is done quicker. What they do in a month gets done here in a day or two. They are all appreciation. It stops there. No attempt is made to know how the work was done quickly. You may have seen uneducated people, or less educated persons trying to write down the monthly accounts. They take a whole day. While doing it, they perspire. It is a work of half an hour to an educated person.

What is the Spirit in Life?

Spirituality is related to other life or moksha, not to Prosperity. The idea that Spirit can play a role in life and bring in Prosperity is alien to our tradition, Indian or Hindu. People in domestic life are wary of yoga, Spirit, etc., as they smack of sannyasa. This is meticulously shunned and children are taught accordingly. They are right.

The hundred articles in this book have been previously published in the New Indian Express from 15th July 2003 to 10th November 2003. I would like to thank Mr. M.K. Sonthalia, Managing Editor of New Indian Express for granting me permission to reprint the articles in this collection.

CONTENTS

• Invocation of Spirit is powerful. Better still, if you call, "Mother" it is all inclusive.
• There are several methods to do so, though in essence all are the same.

1. In our personality there is a surface and a depth. As long as we are thinking of a problem we are on the surface. To go away from the surface we must agree to forget the problem or NOT to actively think of it. Now the problem moves to the depth where it causes a worry that does not explain itself. One can call Mother or the Spirit if he moves away from the depth.

Indians trying to adopt punctuality find it extremely powerful and useful. Some miserably fail to institute punctuality as a value in their company. They ask how to be punctual? It does not mean they do not know it. It only means they are unable to do so as the general atmosphere in the company is not conducive to punctuality. What then is the remedy? The usual answer is to go about it with a greater determination in which again many fail.