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Read Summary of '''[[Aspiration Summary|Aspiration]]'''
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<center>Even in all that life and man have marred,
A whisper of divinity still is heard,
A breath is felt from the eternal spheres.
Allowed by Heaven and wonderful to man
A sweet fire-rhythm of passion chants to love.
<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/34/the-gospel-of-death-and-vanity-of-the-ideal#p53,p54</ref></center>
=What is Aspiration?=
<center>~</center>
A beam of the Eternal smites his heart,
His thought stretches into infinitude;
All in him turns to spirit vastnesses. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/33/the-yoga-of-the-king-the-yoga-of-the-souls-release#p21</ref>
<center>~</center>
… 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>
<center>~</center>
A sacred yearning lingered in its trace,
The worship of a Presence and a Power
Too perfect to be held by death-bound hearts,
The prescience of a marvellous birth to come. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/33/the-symbol-dawn#p39</ref>
<center>~</center>
Now other claims had hushed in him their cry:
Only he longed to draw her presence and power
Into his heart and mind and breathing frame;
Only he yearned to call for ever down
Her healing touch of love and truth and joy
Into the darkness of the suffering world.<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/33/the-adoration-of-the-divine-mother#p63</ref>
<center>~</center>
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>
A: No, aspiration is a thing to be developed, educated, like all activities of the being. One may be born with a very slight aspiration and develop it so much that it becomes very great. One may be born with a very small will and develop it and make it strong. It is a ridiculous idea to believe that things come to you like that, through a sort of grace, that if you are not given aspiration, you don’t have it—this is not true.
….It is you who must want to do it. When it is done, all goes well, when you have the Knowledge also, all goes well, and when you are identified with the Divine, all goes even better, but till then you must will, choose and decide. Don’t go to sleep lazily, saying, “Oh! The work will be done for me, I have nothing to do but let myself glide along with the stream.” Besides, it is not true, the work is not done by itself, because if the least little thing thwarts your little will, it says, “No, not that!...” <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/04/21-april-1951#p12</ref>
'''Earth's Aspiration
'''
Alarmed by the sorrow dragging at her feet
And conscious of the high things not yet won,
Ever she nurses in her sleepless breast
An inward urge that takes from her rest and peace.<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/33/the-secret-knowledge#p40</ref>
<center>~</center>
Ignorant and weary and invincible,
She seeks through the soul's war and quivering pain
The pure perfection her marred nature needs,
A breath of Godhead on her stone and mire. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/33/the-secret-knowledge#p41</ref>
<center>~</center>
A faith she craves that can survive defeat,
The sweetness of a love that knows not death,
The radiance of a truth for ever sure.<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/33/the-secret-knowledge#p42</ref>
==What is Aspiration in Relation to Other Qualities?==
It is the Divine in the inconscient who aspires for the Divine in the consciousness. That is to say, without the Divine there would be no aspiration; without the consciousness hidden in the inconscient, there would be no possibility of changing the inconscience to consciousness. But because at the very heart of the inconscient there is the divine Consciousness, you aspire, and necessarily—this is what he says—automatically, mechanically, the sacrifice is made. And this is why when one says, “It is not you who aspire, it is the Divine, it is not you who make progress, it is the Divine, it is not you who are conscious, it is the Divine”—these are not mere words, it is a fact. And it is simply your ignorance and your unconsciousness which prevent you from realising it. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/29-february-1956#p46,p47</ref>�
=What is Aspiration in Integral Yoga?=
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>
<center>~</center>
True aspiration is not a movement of the mind but of the psychic. <ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/14/aspiration#p63</ref>
<center>~</center>
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>
=Why is Aspiration Important?=
When that is not there, the aspiration may come from different parts of the being; it may come mainly from the mind or mainly from the vital or even from the physical, or it may come from all the three together — it may come from all kinds of combinations. But in general, for the intensity to be there, the vital must be present. It is the vital which gives the intensity; and as the vital is at the same time the seat of most of the difficulties, obstacles, contradictions, it is the friction between the intensity of the aspiration and the intensity of the difficulty which creates this anguish. This is no reason to stop one’s aspiration.You must know, you must understand the reason for this anguish. And then, if you can introduce just one more element in your aspiration, that is, your trust in the divine Grace, trust in the divine Response, it counterbalances all possible anguish and you can aspire without any disturbance or fear.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/08/1-august-1956#p43,p44,p45,p46,p47</ref>
==Difficulties in Aspiration==
When you have an aspiration, a very active aspiration, your aspiration is going to do its work. It is going to call down the answer to what you aspire for. But if, later, you begin to think of something else or are not attentive or receptive, you do not even notice that your aspiration has received an answer. This happens very frequently. So people tell you: “I aspire and I don’t receive anything, I get no answer!” Yes, you do have an answer but you are not aware of it, because you continue to be active in this way, like a mill turning all the time.
<ref>http://incarnateword.in/cwm/06/28-april-1954#p7</ref>
<center>A lonely soul passions for the Alone,
The heart that loved man thrills to the love of God,
A body is his chamber and his shrine.
<ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/34/the-debate-of-love-and-death#p101</ref> </center>
<center>~</center>
<center>In its deep lotus home her being sat
As if on concentration's marble seat,
Calling the mighty Mother of the worlds
To make this earthly tenement her house. <ref>https://incarnateword.in/cwsa/34/the-finding-of-the-soul#p52</ref></center>
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