Abundance, plenty, and opulence have many votaries. It is welfare. Others are interested in well-being more than welfare. To them, life is inward and psychological.  The rules of welfare and well-being are the same. One is outward and the other is in the inner domain. The same experiment can be recast to suit them. One prerequisite for that is aspiration, a true desire for inner well-being. Such an experiment cannot be started in its absence. Those who have that aspiration can straightaway start it. Others must aspire for aspiration.

Some people when reading about the Spirit become enthused about availing of it. Knowing that the Spirit is of Himalayan proportions meant only for great souls, one feels intimidated. It is true that it is meant for the great of soul. It is also true that such a wonder has come down to the many now.  We see technology giving a similar boon to the common man. Democracy also does it. We may understand this is spiritual technology.

Idealist leaders of student days often meet with comments when they enter life, "You used to have some FIRE then, now it is not there." Age and experience give a quiet which is mistaken for the loss of FIRE. Marriage helps the fire to die down.  Maturity is mistaken for loss of warmth in the personality.  The human mind is so constructed that his surface is exactly the reverse of his wider, deeper, truer Mind, called the subliminal. It is said he is compelled by his own subliminal to seek what his surface hates or is disgusted with.

On November 24, 1967 when Mother appeared on the terrace to give darsan to Her devotees, She said She saw a benevolent Being smiling on Her from Eternity. Smile is the call of the Infinite to the finite to emerge out of its captivity. The size of the skull reveals the size of the brain it houses. The forehead expresses one's intelligence. The face is the index of the heart. The mouth denotes the hunger of the stomach. Emotions are seen just below the eyes. The eyes are the windows of one's soul. The smile can express the call of one soul to another.

Teaching is external; learning is a process of self-motivation. Teaching was a service and a great service at that when ignorance was widespread. It was a time when man needed an intermediary between himself and God. The priest will be an anachronism in the coming century. Martin Luther raised his banner of revolt several centuries ago. Examination was the instrument to measure one's knowledge, just as teaching was the method. Those were days when rote memorisation ruled the roost. Great orators like Winston Churchill committed their entire speech to memory.

The Future is for fairness, not for tyranny. Man was physical at the dawn of civilisation. The physically strong man became the ruler. He was not elected or selected. He foisted himself on those who were weak. People worshipped his strength. The original meaning of the word tyrant was leader. That was so in Greece, where democracy was born. Today man is not so physical or even vital. Mind has emerged in action, if not in mastery. Cruelty is frowned upon. In the days when strength ruled, cruelty was discipline.

Over a period of a hundred years, the world looked up to London as its capital. The Britisher had conquered several nations and established an empire where, it was said, the sun never set. It was political power. To be precise, it was military power. By age-old wisdom, Britain was qualified to rule the world as she was conquered by the Romans, the Vikings, the Germans and even the French. Today the USA plays that role. This is because she is an economic power. Of course, behind it lies the political and military power. USA is a nation of immigrants.

Sri Aurobindo has said that when the Indian Mind takes up a subject it goes to the very end. Philosophers call this analysis understanding an issue from the first principles. We function from the human mind. Above it is the mind of silence of the Muni; it is followed by the mind of illumination of the Rishi. The yogi is the next level. He is of intuition. Beyond that is the world of the Gods, called by Sri Aurobindo the Overmind. Lord Krishna is an avatar from this plane.

Potentialities do not become actualities unless they are organised. What converts the one into the other is the mysterious element called Personality. The sheet anchor of that personality is spiritual values in the body where they have become physical sensitivities. Knowledge raises the mental horizon and widens its scope. Knowledge becomes practical when it turns into an Ideal. The Ideal inspires one to action when the devotion to the Ideal becomes a mental sensitivity.

Life is a field of endless problems. One can face them and surmount them according to his capacity. There is no question of life being free of problems. It is an inherent contradiction. When the Spirit comes to the surface, its essential duty is to resolve contradictions into complements. Theoretically, if there is someone who lives by the Spirit, he can have a problem-free Life. It is an exalted aim. I wish to have a householder's version of it, manageable by the ordinary man.