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Aspiration is a turning upward of the inner being with a call, yearning, prayer for the Divine, for the Truth, for the Consciousness, Peace, Ananda, Knowledge, descent of Divine Force or whatever else is the aim of one’s endeavour. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/aspiration#p12</ref>
 
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Aspiration is the dynamic push of your whole nature behind the resolution to reach the Divine. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/03/knowledge-by-unity-with-the-divine-the-divine-will-in-the-world#p3</ref>
 
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… an aspiration (not formulated in words, naturally), what is called in English “a yearning”, “a longing” for this contact with the divine Force, the Force of Harmony, the Force of Truth, the Force of Love. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/agenda/05/october-7-1964#p30</ref>
 
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There is no need of words in aspiration. It can be expressed or unexpressed in words. The aspiration need not be in the form of thought — it can be a feeling within that remains even when the mind is attending to the work. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/sabcl/23/basic-requisites-of-the-path-iii#p14,p15</ref>
 
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''Q: Should not one be born with a great aspiration?''
If we are to attempt an integral Yoga, it will be as well to start with an idea of the Divine that is itself integral. There should be an aspiration in the heart wide enough for a realisation without any narrow limits. Not only should we avoid a sectarian religious outlook, but also all one-sided philosophical conceptions which try to shut up the Ineffable in a restricting mental formula. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/4-january-1956#p1</ref>
 
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True aspiration is not a movement of the mind but of the psychic. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/aspiration#p63</ref>
 
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Yoga is not only an aspiration of the mind towards the Divine but also and chiefly a yearning of the heart. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/yoga#p5</ref>
Intense aspiration is always good, but let there also be calm and peace and joy in the mind and heart, and a confidence that all will be done in its due time. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/aspiration#p31</ref>
 
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There can be an intense but quiet aspiration which does not disturb the harmony of the inner being. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/aspiration#p32</ref>
Sincerity means more than mere honesty. It means that you mean what you say, feel what you profess, are earnest in your will. As the sadhak aspires to be an instrument of the Divine and one with the Divine, sincerity in him means that he is really in earnest in his aspiration and refuses all other will or impulse except the Divine’s. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/sincerity#p5</ref>
 
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Sincere is simply an adjective meaning that the will must be a true will. If you simply think “I aspire” and do things inconsistent with the aspiration, or follow your desires or open yourself to contrary influences, then it is not a sincere will. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/sincerity#p4</ref>
 
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[Sincerity:] To allow no part of the being to contradict the highest aspiration towards the Divine. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/sincerity#p6</ref>
An aspiration which is not mixed with any interested and egoistic calculation. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/aspiration#p2</ref>
 
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That [fiery aspiration] is all right, that is the psychic aspiration, the psychic fire. Where the vital comes in is in the impatience for result and dissatisfaction if the result is not immediate. That must cease. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/29/aspiration#p36</ref>
 
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In aspiration there is what I might call an unselfish flame which is not present in desire. Your aspiration is not a turning back upon self — desire is always a turning back upon oneself. From the purely psychological point of view, aspiration is a self-giving, always, while desire is always something which one draws to oneself; aspiration is something which gives itself, not necessarily in the form of thought but in the movement, in the vibration, in the vital impulse.
...The essential difference between love in aspiration and love in desire is that love in aspiration gives itself entirely and asks nothing in return—it does not claim anything; whereas love in desire gives itself as little as possible, asks as much as possible, it pulls things to itself and always makes demands. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/22-february-1951#p18,p19,p20,p21</ref>
 
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The first thing needed is to become conscious of the Divine Will, and in order to do that one must no longer have any desires or personal will.
You may have a physical aspiration also; that the body may feel the need to acquire a kind of equipoise in which all the parts of the being will be well balanced, and that you may have the power to hold off illness at a distance or overcome it fast when it enters trickily, and that the body may always function normally, harmoniously, in perfect health. That is a physical aspiration. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/7-october-1953#p11</ref>
 
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Unless one practises yoga in the physical being (outer being), it remains ignorant—even its aspiration is ignorant and so is its goodwill; all its movements are ignorant and so they distort and disfigure the Divine Presence. That is why the yoga of the body-cells is indispensable. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/25-february-1967#p3,p4</ref>
On the other hand, the more quiet and silent the mind is, the more can aspiration rise up from the depths of the heart in the fullness of its ardour.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/16/17-september-1959#p2,p3,p4,p5</ref>
 
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Every gleam of aspiration is always the expression of a psychic influence. Without the presence of the psychic, without the psychic influence, there would never be any sense of progress or any will for progress. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/1-march-1951#p27</ref>
 
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… constant, regular, organised, gentle and patient at the same time, resists all opposition, overcomes all difficulties. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/aspiration#p65</ref>
A spiritual aspiration means having an intense need to unite with the Divine, to give oneself totally to the Divine, not to live outside the divine Consciousness so that the Divine may be everything for you in your integral being, and you feel the need of a constant communion with Him, of the sense of his presence, of his guidance in all that you do, and of his harmonising all the movements of the being. That is a spiritual aspiration. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/05/7-october-1953#p12</ref>
 
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The spiritual aspiration is innate in man; for he is, unlike the animal, aware of imperfection and limitation and feels that there is something to be attained beyond what he now is: this urge towards self exceeding is not likely ever to die out totally in the race. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwsa/22/man-and-the-evolution#p20</ref>