Conceive With Awareness

                         Sincerity, our first step on the path to anything. When we want to learn a new craft or a new skill, when we want to master a sport or study a topic in depth, our very first ammunition for the challenge is likely to be our sincerity; when we lack the knowledge, the experience or even the favourable eye of a teacher or guide, our companion and trust worthy friend, will be sincerity, if we can bring her along and convince her to walk the path with us. When we approach a task with sincerity then we assure our stakeholder that he can be rest assured of our best attempt at getting the work done as perfectly as our human capability would allow us; that we are willing to learn along the way if need be and the outcome need not be at the mercy of our current knowledge alone. That our claim to getting the work done well is our honest effort that will persist in the face of early failure and challen...

  “The education of a human being should begin at birth and continue throughout his life. Indeed, if we want this education to have its maximum result, it should begin even before birth; in this case it is the mother herself who proceeds with this education by means of a twofold action: first, upon herself for her own improvement, and secondly, upon the child whom she is forming physically.” — The Mother When we think about preparing for a child, we think about health, work, finances, a home and all the things that will have to change. These are necessary. But The Mother takes us to a preparation that begins much earlier and is much quieter. She asks the woman to look at herself. Not at the child who has not yet come. Not at what the child will study or become. But at the state in which the mother herself is living. It makes us stop and think. Before conception, before there is even a body to care for, there is already something that can be prepared. So, the question for this r...

“The soul takes birth each time, and each time a mind, life and body are formed out of the materials of universal Nature, according to the soul’s past evolution and its need for the future.” — Sri Aurobindo We usually think of birth as the beginning of a new life. The body has its beginning, and the outer personality will slowly develop. But Sri Aurobindo points to a soul that has already been on a journey. The soul comes into birth carrying what it has gathered through its experiences and its growth. Sri Aurobindo writes: “The soul gathers the essential elements of its experiences in life and makes that its basis of growth in the evolution; when it returns to birth it takes up with its mental, vital, physical sheaths so much of its Karma as is useful to it in the new life for further experience.” “The soul comes into birth for experience, for growth, for evolution till it can bring the Divine into matter. It is the central being that incarnates, not the outer personality — the person...

What is consciousness? Awareness? Intention? Focus? The highest instrument that an ordinary human being is aware of and can exercise some control on, is the mind. By mind we know it as the part in us that thinks, ponders, broods, reminisces, tries to recollect, plans through a series of thoughts and decides to act; also one who exercises the will to act and prods a part of the body to act; it is also the one that becomes sad when the body experiences pain or illness; it is the one that is tormented when we face deceit or hurt in a relationship and it is also the one that gathers the being after a heartbreak and urges him to move on. But sometimes no word of the mind lands on the emotional being, the vital has taken over by running the painful memories in repeat mode and yet there is someone who suffers silently, allowing the vital energies to dry out- it is not the mind that tries to interrupt a few times to take charge, but is unable to get through. Again, when we freeze in fear and...

" There are other parents who know that their children must be educated and who try to do what they can. But very few, even among those who are most serious and sincere, know that the first thing to do, in order to be able to educate a child, is to educate oneself, to become conscious and master of oneself so that one never sets a bad example to one’s child.” — The Mother When a baby is expected, we naturally begin to prepare. Lists are made. Appointments are scheduled.  Books on parenting are purchased. The tiny clothes are chosen with extraordinary care. The room is cleaned. A cradle is brought home. A thousand little things are thought of before the baby arrives. There is something beautiful about this preparation.  It is love taking practical form. We want everything to be ready. We want the child to be safe, comfortable, healthy and well cared for. But while we are preparing everything for the baby, what about preparing ourselves? What about the person who will be caring...

“The psychic being is the developing soul consciousness manifested for the created being as it evolves” — Sri Aurobindo    When a child is born, we ask, “Is it a boy or a girl?”  “Whom does the baby resemble?”   “What shall we name the child?”   “What will the child become one day?”   These questions are natural. They arise from love. Every family asks them. Every generation has asked them. But there is another question we may not ask very often.   Who is this child who has come to us? We do not ask this question very often because we naturally see what is visible. We see a tiny body, a smiling face, little fingers wrapped around our own. We see the beginning of a new life. And of course, something wonderful has happened. A child has entered the world. Sri Aurobindo and The Mother ask us to look a little deeper. They ask us to look beyond the body. Beyond the name. Beyond the family. Beyond everything that is immediately visible. They ask us to see...