This selection from Sri Aurobindo’s book ‘The Human Cycle’ explores why in human history religion has not been a sufficient guide for conducting individual and collective life. He also tells us that this need not be so if we understand the true nature of religion, which is its spiritual core.
Sri Aurobindo explains the commonalities and differences between popular religion and Yoga of Devotion. Fear of God, he says, has no place in true Bhakti.
We feature here a few selections from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother highlighting the important differences between a moral life, religious life and spiritual life.
A summary of some fundamentals of Sanatana Dharma as explained by Sri Aurobindo is presented here. The necessity for outer forms of religious practices is also briefly described.
When one enters yoga, one must leave all the bondage and clingings of the past life. For a yogin, Divine alone is one’s religion, country, family, everything.
The Mother explains that heaven and hell were invented by religions to control people and also to make them wise. She adds that the creative power of human thought gives an illusory existence of heaven and hell to people who believe in them but only the psychic world can be a true paradise.
Our ancestors added various regimens to maintain physical and mental discipline before and during the yatra to ensure the holistic well-being of the yatris.
With its focus on Indian Culture and Integral Yoga, RENAISSANCE features content in the light of Sri Aurobindo’s vision for India and her role in the future of humanity. It highlights that the eternal spirit and creative genius of India must express itself in new forms in all domains – spiritual, artistic, literary, philosophic, scientific, aesthetic, social-political and more.
All photographs, writings, audio or video recordings of Sri Aurobindo, the Mother and/or the Sri Aurobindo Ashram are copyright of Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust and have been reproduced with their kind permission.