CHAPTER 1

1

Pure Joy

Pure joy is the children's joy. They have thepower of using any and every trivial thing tocreate their world of interest, and the ugliest dollmade beautiful with their imagination and lives withtheir life. He who can retain this faculty of enjoymentafter he has grown up, is indeed true Idealist.

Glimpse of Bengal

2

Wife and Husband

A wife knows her husband better than a husbandknows his wife, certain husbands have natures sorefined they are not entirely perceptible even undera wife's microscope.

The Lost Jewels

3

Death and Disease

Death does not hurt us; but disease does, becausedisease constantly reminds us of health and yetwithholds it from us.

The Religion of Man

4

White Sands and Black Soil

The sands of the desert may be very whiteand shiny, but I would much rather sow myseeds in black soil, where I can expect a return.

We crown thee king

5

The Greed of Man's heart

When a man, has greed in his heart, he is alwayson the verge of being beaten. The greed itselfsupplies his enemies with position.Our merciful God, beats us with His own hand, anddrives away all the poison. He who endures God'sbeating to the end is saved.

The Devotee

6

Mind and Material

When a material breaks it may be put togetheragain. But when the two human beings aredivided, after a long separation, they neverre-unite at the same place, and to the same time;for the mind are a living thing, and the moment bymoment it grows and changes.

The Elder Sister

7

Woman's Gaze on Timid Person

Never act shy in front of women. It increasestheir arrogance. Like a disease, women are alwayslooking for weakness in a man. Whenever they find aweakness, they strike and raise his temperature in a rush.

Laboratory

8

Manifestation of Infinite

Nothing can be manifest unless it has limits. The infinitehas to resort to limits-how else it can reveal itself? That whichcannot be revealed has not yet achieved completeness. Just asthought is borne by speech, so is the formless made completely byform.

Gora

9

A Prayer

Give us strength to love, to love fully,our life in its joys and sorrows, in its gainsand losses, in its rise and fall. Let us have strengthfully to see and to see and hear thy universe andto work with full vigor therein.

Sadhana

10

Aloofness

Not only in poetry, but in all art, the mindof the artist must attain a certain degree ofAloofness-the creator within man must beallowed the sole control.

My Reminiscences

11

Good and Bad Aspects of Science

Let us know that the Machine is good whenit helps but not so when it exploits life; thatScience is great when it destroys evil, but notwhen the two enter into unholy alliance.

The Religion of Man

12

The Lies of Women

Oh! What lies we women have to tell! Whenwe are mothers, we tell lies to pacify ourchildren; when we are wives, we tell lies topacify the fathers of our children, we are neverfree from this necessity.

Vision

13

Happiness

There are few kinds of happiness in the worldmore filling than the happiness of creatingsomething in which the mind is totally immersedin its surroundings.

Letter to Indira Devi Chaudhurani Tagore, Sept 5, 1894

14

Human Faces

Most faces do not give away much ofthe personality, but the transparent face-the face in a thousand-clearly reveals themystery behind it and immediately impressesitself on the mind.

The Conclusion

15

Big and Small Things of Life

When the big things of life raise their powerfulheads, the small things also are not deterred fromspreading their hungry little network of roots andputting forward their claims in the affairs of the world.

Cloud and Sun

16

Mental Training to Know the Truth

We are not trained to recognize the inevitableas natural, and so cannot give up gracefully thatwhich has to go, but needs must wait till it is snatchedfrom us. The truth comes as conqueror only becausewe have lost the art of receiving it as guest.

The Religion of Man

17

Conscious of the soul

Man's poverty is abysmal; his wants are endlesstill he becomes truly conscious of his soul. Tillthen, the world to him is in a state of continualflux-a phantasm that is and is not.

Sadhana

18

Conscious of soul

All our egoistic impulses, our selfish desires,obscure our true vision of the soul, for themonly indicate our own narrow self. When weare conscious of our soul, we perceive the innerbeing that transcends our ego and has its deeperaffinity with the All.

Sadhana

19

The World's test of Man

As the money-changer tests the ring of eachcoin, so does the world test each man by theresponse he gives to shocks of loss and pain, theresistance he offers to craze for cheap salvation. Thosewho fail to ring true is cast aside as worthless.

Broken Ties

20

Suffering and Humiliation

Only by suffering and sorrow shall you be freedfrom your crushing load. I do not know in whatform it will come to you, but it is the only way. Onlyby suffering and terrible humiliation shall you be made whole.

Modern Review 1917

21

Love

In love, loss and gain are harmonized. In its balancesheet, credit and debit accounts are in the samecolumn, and gifts are added to gains. Indeed, love whatbrings together and inseparably connects both the act ofabandoning and that of receiving.

Sadhana

22

Straight and simple life

Let your way of living be simple and straight,so that you feel no embarrassment to accept anyinvitation, whether from the rich in his palace orpoor man in his hut. Poor outside and rich within—thisis the ideal of India and you should strive to embrace it.

Letter to Rathindranath Tagore, May 17, 1903

23

Submission to Injustice

Because he who submits to injustice is alsoguilty-he causes wrong-doing to grow. You maynot understand but take it from me, being meek andtolerant is no dharma. It only encourages the wrong doer.

Gora

24

A Boy of Fourteen Years

In the world of human affairs there is no worsenuisance than a boy at the age of fourteen. Heis neither ornamental, nor useful. It is impossibleto shower affection as on a little boy; he is alwaysgetting in the way. If he talks with a childish lisp heis called a baby and if he answers in a grown-up way heis called impertinent. In fact any talk at all from him isresented.

The Home-Coming

25

Life, Death and Attachments

Death is the bearer of life, life flows forward in death'scurrent: once this idea is properly grasped, our mindbecomes free to see truth-within which there is no conflict.But as long as we persist in seeing life and death as fundamentallyopposed, we feel attachment to the world. And attachment bindsus, and makes us shed tears. All sins, fears and grief spring fromthis.

Letter to Pratima Tagore, August, 1911

26

Gravitation of the Universal Joy

Like universal gravitation, this governs largeand small alike in the world of matter, this universaljoy exerts its attraction throughout our inner worldand baffles our understanding when we see it in apartial view.

Glimpse of Bengal

27

Broaden Our Consciousness

All our poetry, philosophy, science, art andreligion are serving to extend the scope of ourconsciousness toward higher and larger spheres.

Sadhana

28

The Origin of True LoveNothing is more beautiful than the human soul. Whereverone gets close to it, wherever one confronts it face to face,there is to be found the fundamental origin of true love.

Letter to Mrinalini Tagore, June 1898

29

Forbearance against Rudeness

If you have a speck of dust in your eye,it is best not to rub it. And when words aresmart, it is best to leave them unanswered.

Broken Ties

30

Fault Finder's Tongues

Food is scarce with fault finders andthat is why their tongues have gainedsharpness.

The Parrot's Training

31

Beginning of the Degradationof Religion

When a religion develops the ambition ofimposing its doctrine on all mankind, itdegrades itself into a tyranny and becomes a formof imperialism

Amrita Bazar Patrika, March 4, 1937

32

Men and Women

The Almighty is not be blamed forcreating men and women separate butthe fact is that civilization is obliteratingthe distinction: now women are becomingmanly and men are becoming effeminate andthe home is perforce bidding farewell to peaceand stability.

The Lost Jewels

33

Night of Intense Loneliness

Misery has the effect of creating a sort of night ofintense loneliness through which shine all the true lightswhich have been gathered in the depths of one's life? Oneshould have occasions to know them.

Letter to Sir William Rothenstein,October 27, 1912

34

Abundance of Materials

When the material is in profusion, the mind gets lazyand leaves everything to it, forgetting that for a successfulfeast of joy its internal equipment counts more than external.The world of play is spoilt for the unfortunate youngster who isburdened with an unlimited quantity of playthings.

My Reminiscences

35

Religion and Partition of Society

Our religion divides the society into so manygraded groups, and those at the bottom are notonly denied bare social justice but are constantly madeto feel themselves as less than human.

Letter to Mahadev Desai, January, 4, 1937

36

Puppet in the Hand of Fate

We are all tragically helpless before Fatesince we cannot protect the happiness ofthose we care for. We can only sympathies.You have to bear the weight of your sorrowtill your own strength and the mercy of timeof time help you to rise over it.

Letter to Kamala Chowdhury, July 10, 1941

37

Sacrifice for Valuable Things

It is the hard coin which must be paidfor everything valuable in this life, for ourpower, our wisdom, our love that in pain issymbolized the infinite possibility of perfection,the eternal unfolding of joy, and the man wholoses all pleasures in accepting pain sinks downand down to the lowest depth of penury and degradation.

Sadhana.

38

Nothing is Eternal

None lives forever, brother, and nothing lasts forlong. Keep that in mind and rejoice. Beauty issweet to us, because she dances to the same fleetingtune with our lives. Knowledge is precious to us,because we shall never have time to complete it.

The Gardner

39

Love

Love is the foundation of all religion. Let menot bring sorrow into this world, let me spreadhappiness. Let me sympathies with happiness, sorrowand pain of all creatures so that I hurt none-this is truereligion and we should try to live up to this holy ideal.Letter to Indira Devi Choudhurani (Tagore),

22 March, 1894

40

Surrender to God

Over and over I pray to God that I maysurrender my load to Him and make myburden light. If He snatches away my fame andI am scornfully rebuked, even by my friends,that will benefit me-for I have yet to break my inbornhabit of depending upon others.

Letter to Aurobindo Mohan Bose,November 19, 1908

41

Power of Love

In love all the contradictions of existencemerge them and are lost. Only inlove is unity and duality not at variance.Love must be one and two at the same time.

Sadhana

42

Reasons for Want of joy

We do not know what is within us,we cannot express what is concealed,we cannot expend what we have accumulated.That is why there is such want of joy all around.

Gora

43

Performance of Life's Daily Duties

The more one lives alone on the river or inopen country, the clearer it becomes thatnothing is more beautiful or great thanto perform the ordinary duties of one'sdaily life simply and naturally.

Glimpse of Bengal

44

Demand from The Worthy

The worthy are permitted no loophole ofescape from duty-only withered leavesare allowed to fall off the tree.

Broken Ties

45

Religion

Stick to religion, let religions go. Happiness isfor those who realize this oneness and wholenessof spirit. It to for those who respond to the call ofthe divine in them. To realise, this goal it is not necessarythat the traditional paths should be followed; forthe path of devotion is trackless.

Fruit-gathering

46

Peace in Nature

The Mind of man has become turbid throughworries and anxieties. Therefore, to see life in itspristine purity, he has to turn to this grass, to yondertree.

Life and Mind

47

Fame

Blessed is he whose fame does not outshinehis truth.

Stray-Birds

48

Science and Beauty

The kind of beauty that can be experiencedin science is the beauty that is inseparablefrom truth, while the truth that is experiencedin poetry is the truth that is inseparable from beauty.

Letter to Indira Devi Choudhurani (Tagore)24 June, 1894

49

Concentrated Thoughts

When reason joins force with habit, custom isformed. Thought when it is sufficiently concentrated,is purifying. Man, with eyes focused, achieves,but with eyes wide-open, vacillates.

Purification

50

Union of the East and West

Believe me, nothing would give me betterhappiness than to see the people of the Westand the East march in a common crusadeagainst all the robs the human spirit of itssignificance.

Letter to Rt. Revd Foss Westcott,June 16, 1941

51

Knowledge and Heart

For men, your true possession is knowledge-at itshighest such knowledge is impersonal. Whereas forwomen the true possessions are of the heart. Even theylose all-all that can be seen, touched, indulged in-theideal of love remains. And that is unutterable, perceptibleonly to the mind. In other words, impersonal.

Three Companions

52

Loss and Gain

The stem of ripening fruit loose,its pulp soft and but its seed hardenswith provision for the next life. Ouroutward looses, due to age, have correspondinginward gains.

The Religion of Man

53

Language of the Eyes

They who from birth have had no otherspeech than the trembling of their lips learna language of the eyes, endless in expression,deep as the sea, clear as heavens, wherein playdawn and sunset, light and shadow.

Subha

54

Within the Heart of Man

The fish in the water is silent,the animal on earth is noisy, thebird in the air is singing.But Man has in him the silence of thesea, the noise of the earth and the music of theair.

Stray Birds

55

Poetry and The March ofCivilization

Poetry strives vainly to free us from thebondage of thousand practical demands.Umbrellas, shoes and shirts will forever beneeded: it is poetry that the people say willbecome obsolete with the march of civilization,while patent after patent will be taken out ondesigns of shoe and umbrella.

Letter of Indira Devi-Choudhurini,May24, 1892

56

God's Hand

God's right hand is gentle, butterrible is his left hand.

Stray Birds

57

Man and Animal

The pain of desire for the near belongsto the animal, the sorrow of aspiration forthe far belongs to man.

Red Oleanders

58

Manifestation of Power

All power has two aspects-one is manifest,the other unexpressed; one makes the effort,the other rests; one manipulates, the other restrains.If you disturb this balance in which power operates,it gets agitated and such agitation need not bebenevolent.

Gora