Page 4 - An Introduction to Spirituality

demands. If an individual is not at peace with himself he
cannot have a harmonious relationship with others. This
is the crux of the problem. It is also clear that it is not pos-
sible for the mind, the heart and the body to come to a
peaceful arrangement. It seems that they are like fighting
children who cannot get along. The only way is that they
come under the control of the Spirit within. As the Spirit
comes forward and begins to influence more and more it
unifies the mind, heart and the body. As the three levels of
consciousness come under the light of the Spirit we will
find that there is harmony within us leading to a progres-
sive harmony outside.

How to go about this? Let us first start with the mind.
Don't get confused between the mind and the brain. Mind
is a consciousness and brain is the physical part just like
the heart is the physical part of the emotional conscious-
ness and the body of the physical consciousness. We are
at present talking of the mind. The habit of the mind is to
produce thoughts. It cannot sit quiet. Moreover, the mind
does not have the capacity to look at things in totality. It is
like looking through a keyhole which shows us a very small
part of the picture and we think it is the full picture. Each
one of us looks through his own keyhole and that leads
to friction because each one of us sees a different 'total-
ity'. Mind, therefore, has to be quietened, expanded and
finally elevated. A question was put to Sri Aurobindo by
a sadhak that if one's mind is not still then how does one
meditate and follow the spiritual life which requires steadi-
ness and equilibrium. Sri Aurobindo said that in the initial

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