If a person is emotionally going through taxing times, financially not stable yet in career, why does everyone around me say that – once I am emotionally normal, according to them and financially set on my path, only then should I visit Pondicherry Ashram for the first time, as a lot of people are leaving behind their existing life to be a devotee and some people who are devotees, are regretting starting to follow Sri Aurobindo and the Mother early on in their life?
Isn’t this contrary to what the Integral Yoga is all about? I am being told I am too young for all this, that I am getting into things prematurely. But I do not feel that way. I am also being told I wouldn’t be able to absorb and understand the energy if I go right now and that I should wait. Is it supposed to be like that?
Since my parents don’t follow Mother and Sri Aurobindo, should I wait for myself to be financially completely independent and sort out my marital life before making my visit? Also, my understanding is not to abandon life but to be integrally recognized with Yoga in daily life and work, all sorts. Please help me understand. Thank you, Alok da.
People have these traditional ideas about pursuing the spiritual life, hence they obstruct those who feel so inclined with all kinds of ignorant ideas. Even otherwise, one should have the freedom to explore life and discover oneself in whatever way it comes naturally. The problem is that most human beings are built on the same standard pattern with similar goals of having a good job that pays well, marrying, having children, and finally settling down in a comfortable house to enjoy the old age. This kind of humanity abounds as Nature multiplies it. It is the average Bourgeois mindset. Few are ready for something higher and greater, but the average humanity tries to clip their wings and tie their feet. Due to the impulse towards the New Creation, now more and more such types who feel the call towards a greater adventure are increasing. But they meet the same resistance from the past ways of life. Otherwise, I see no problem or reason in someone visiting the Ashram at any age. Of course, to join the Ashram, it is better to be sure of the call for the Yoga and clarity about the goal. Stability and balance are also required for this Yoga. Meanwhile, it is best to come as a visitor from time to time and then, if the call is strong, then choose to live here where the workings of the Mother’s Force, as well as the cushion of Her Love, are both tremendous.
Here are some lines from Sri Aurobindo describing this beautifully in Savitri.
‘Heaven’s call is rare, rarer the heart that heeds;
The doors of light are sealed to common mind
And earth’s needs nail to earth the human mass,
Only in an uplifting hour of stress
Men answer to the touch of greater things:
Or, raised by some strong hand to breathe heaven-air,
They slide back to the mud from which they climbed;
In the mud of which they are made, whose law they know
They joy in safe return to a friendly base,
And, though something in them weeps for glory lost
And greatness murdered, they accept their fall.
To be the common man they think the best,
To live as others live is their delight.’
(Ref. https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/34/the-eternal-day-the-souls-choice-and-the-supreme-consummation#p144)
Affectionately,
Alok Da
