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WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

Religion

Why do men cling to a religion?

Religions are based on creeds which are spiritual experiences brought down to a level where they become more easy to grasp, but at the cost of their integral purity and truth.

The time of religions is over.

We have entered the age of universal spirituality, of spiritual experience in its initial purity.

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(About an article entitled "Religion in the New Age")

I have read the article--it is all right. I have made only one change--in the last page, where you write "since it will be the age of God" (God is still too religious) I have put "of the ONE"--because it will truly be the age of Unity.

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I approve of your continuing this practice in the Arya Home provided those who live there are absolutely free to attend or not according to their own conviction. Practices of this kind have no spiritual value if they become a habit or a compulsion, [old p. 33]even if it is only a mental compulsion. I mean to say that no propaganda spirit must be used.

With blessings.

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Religious thought cannot be used unless it is liberated from the influence of religions.

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The notion of religion is most often linked with the search for God. Should religion be understood in this context only? As a matter of fact, these days, are there not other forms of religion?

We call "religion" any concept of the world or the universe which is presented as the exclusive Truth in which one must have absolute faith, generally because this Truth is declared to be the result of a revelation.

Most of the religions affirm the existence of a God and the rules to follow to obey Him, but there are some Godless religions, such as the socio-political organisations which, in the name of an Ideal or the State, claim the same right to be obeyed.

Man's right is to pursue the Truth freely and to approach it freely in his own way. But each one ought to know that his discovery is good for him alone and is not to be imposed upon others.

13 May 1970

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You must not confuse a religious teaching with a spiritual one.

Religious teaching belongs to the past and halts progress. [old p. 34]

Spiritual teaching is the teaching of the future--it illumines the consciousness and prepares it for future realisation.

Spiritual teaching is above religions and strives towards a global Truth.

It teaches us to enter into direct relation with the Divine.

15 July 1972

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Collected Works of The Mother, First Edition, Volume 15, pp. 32-34