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4 September 1957
Today I received a question about a phrase I used on the fourteenth of August, the eve of Sri Aurobindo’s birthday. And this question seemed interesting to me because it was about one of those rather cryptic phrases, that are almost ambiguous through simplification, and which was intended to be like that, so that each one might understand it according to his own plane of consciousness. I have already spoken to you several times of this possibility of understanding the same words on different planes; and these words were intentionally expressed with a simplification, a deliberate vagueness, precisely so that they would serve as a vehicle for the complexity of meaning they had to express. This meaning is a little different on the different planes, but it is complementary, and it is only really complete when one is able to understand it on all these planes at once. True understanding is a simultaneous understanding in which all the meanings are perceived, grasped, understood at the same time; but to express them, as we have a very poor language at our disposal, we are obliged to say them one after another, with many words and many explanations.… That’s what I am going to do now. The question is about the phrase in which I spoke of the birth of Sri Aurobindo – it was on the eve of his birthday – and I called it an “eternal birth”. I am asked what I meant by “eternal”. Of course, if the words are taken literally, an “eternal birth” doesn’t signify much. But I am going to explain to you how there can be – and in fact is – a physical explanation or understanding, a mental understanding, a psychic understanding and a spiritual understanding. Physically, it means that the consequences of this birth will last as long as the Earth. The consequences of Sri Aurobindo’s Page – 177 birth will be felt throughout the entire existence of the Earth. And so I called it “eternal”, a little poetically. Mentally, it is a birth the memory of which will last eternally. Through the ages Sri Aurobindo’s birth will be remembered, with all the consequences it has had. Psychically, it is a birth which will recur eternally, from age to age, in the history of the universe. This birth is a manifestation which takes place periodically, from age to age, in the history of the Earth. That is, the birth itself is renewed, repeated, reproduced, bringing every time perhaps something more – something more complete and more perfect – but it is the same movement of descent, of manifestation, of birth in an earthly body. And finally, from the purely spiritual point of view, it could be said that it is the birth of the Eternal on Earth. For each time the Avatar takes a physical form it is the birth of the Eternal himself on Earth. All that, contained in two words: “eternal birth”. So, to conclude, I advise you, in future, before telling yourself: “Why! What does this mean? I don’t understand it at all; perhaps it is not expressed properly,” you could say to yourself: “Perhaps I am not on the plane where I would be able to understand”, and try to find behind the words something more than mere words. There. I think this will be a good subject for our meditation. (Meditation) Page – 178
Sweet Mother, why does one feel attracted at first sight to some people and feel a repulsion for others?
Usually this is based on vital affinities, nothing else. There are vital vibrations which harmonise and vital vibrations which don’t. It is usually this, nothing else. It is vital chemistry. One would have to be in a much deeper and more clear-sighted consciousness for it to be otherwise. There is an inner perception based on a psychic consciousness, which makes you feel which people have the same aspiration, the same aim, and can be your companions on the way; and this perception also makes you clear-sighted about those who follow a very different way or carry in them forces which are hostile to you and may harm you in your development. But to attain such a perception one must oneself be exclusively occupied with one’s own spiritual progress and integral realisation. Now, that is not often the case. And usually too, when one has attained this inner clear-sightedness, it is not expressed by attraction and repulsion, but by a very “objective” knowledge, it might be said, and a kind of inner certainty which makes you act calmly and reasonably, and without attractions and repulsions. Therefore, it may be said in a general and almost absolute way that those who have very definite and impulsive likes and dislikes live in a vital consciousness. Mixed with this, there may be mental affinities; that is, some minds like to have relationships in common activities, but here too, these are people on a much higher level intellectually, and this is also expressed even more by a comparative ease in relationships and by something much more calm and detached. One takes pleasure in speaking with certain people, for others there is no attraction, one gains nothing from it. It is a little more distant and quiet; it belongs more to the field of reason. But likes and dislikes clearly belong Page – 179 to the vital world. Well, there is a vital chemistry just as there is physical chemistry: there are bodies which repel each other and others which attract; there are substances which combine and others which explode, and it is like that. There are some vital vibrations which harmonise, and harmonise to such an extent that ninety-nine times out of a hundred these sympathies are taken for what men call love, and suddenly people feel, “Oh! he is the one I was waiting for”, “Oh! she is the one I was seeking!” (laughing), and they rush towards each other, till they find out that it was something very superficial and that these things can’t last. There. So the first advice given to those who want to do yoga: “Rise above likes and dislikes.” This is something without any deeper reality and it can at the very least lead you into difficulties which are at times quite hard to overcome. You can ruin your life with these things. And the best thing is not to take any notice of them – to draw back a little into yourself and ask yourself why – it’s nothing very mysterious – you like to meet this person, don’t like to meet that one. But, as I say, there comes a moment when one is exclusively occupied with one’s sadhana, when one can feel – but both more subtly and much more quietly – that a particular contact is favourable to sadhana and another harmful. But that always takes a much more “detached” form, so to say, and often it even contradicts the so-called attractions and repulsions of the vital; very often it has nothing to do with them. So, the best thing is to look at all that from a little distance and to lecture yourself a little on the futility of these things. Obviously there are some natures which are almost fundamentally bad, beings who are born wicked and love to do harm; and logically, if one is quite natural, not perverted, natural as animals are – for from this point of view they are far superior to men; perversion begins with humanity – then one keeps out of the way, as one would stand aside from something fundamentally harmful. But happily these cases are not very frequent; what one meets in life are usually very mixed natures where Page – 180 there is a kind of balance, so to say, between the good and the bad, and one may expect to have both good and bad relations. There is no reason to feel any deep dislike, for, as one is quite mixed oneself (laughing), like meets like! It is also said that some people are like vampires, and when they come near a person they spontaneously suck up his vitality and energy, and that one should beware of them as of a very serious danger. But that also…Not that it doesn’t exist, but it is not very frequent, and certainly not so total that one need run away when one meets such a person. So, essentially, if one wants to develop spiritually, the first thing to do is to overcome one’s dislikes…and one’s likes. Look at all that with a smile.
(Silence)
“A new humanity would then be a race of mental beings on the earth and in the earthly body but delivered from its present conditions in the reign of the cosmic Ignorance so far as to be possessed of a perfected mind, a mind of light which could even be a subordinate action of the supermind or Truth-Consciousness and in any case capable of the full possibilities of mind acting as a recipient of that truth and at least a secondary action of it in thought and life. could even be a part of what could be described as a divine life upon earth and at least the beginnings of an evolution in the Knowledge and no longer entirely or predominantly in the Ignorance. How far this would go, whether it would eventually embrace the whole of humanity or only an advanced portion of it, would depend upon the intention in the evolution itself, on the intention in whatever cosmic or transcendent Will is guiding the movements of the universe.” The Supramental Manifestation, p. 60 Page – 181 Is this intention unknown?
Do you know it? Do you?
It is self-evident that evolution has a goal and therefore cannot stop short now.
You know this because you have read Sri Aurobindo’s books! But take any man in the street and ask him what the intention of the universe and the evolution is; you will see what reply he gives you! That he knows nothing about it. Naturally, those who have read and studied Sri Aurobindo’s books at least think they know something about it. When Sri Aurobindo wrote this, he wrote it quite obviously for people who were not interested in yoga and had not read his books. He wrote it for people who were concerned with physical education, so he put himself in their place, expressed their ideas and tried to lead them a little farther. He took the standpoint of those who had never read his books. But you said “it is self-evident.” There are many people here – several hundred – if you ask them individually, not to repeat to you what they have read, but what they themselves feel and think about the intention of universal evolution and whether there is any intention in the universal evolution…I don’t think there would be many who could tell you in all sincerity: “It is like this, it is like that, it is this.…It is obviously that.” Some of them could quote passages from Sri Aurobindo, but otherwise… If you yourself stop thinking, if you stop thinking with the help of what you have read, and try to express your personal experience, have you any certainty? I am not speaking, you see, of the result of what you have read or learnt or all that; I am speaking of the result of your personal experience, your own, something that’s evident to you because it is your own life, it is your own experience – are you capable of describing it? Page – 182 Yes.
Yes! Well, I congratulate you.
In spite of myself, it does happen.
Well, very good. I hope there are many more like you, that’s all.
There are many conflicting elements in me, but all the same there is something…
Yes, that’s good, that’s good – is very good.
So I can tell you that you have not wasted your time since you have been here! (Laughter)
Well, we are going to look at this within ourselves.
(Meditation)
Page – 183
Mother, what place will occultism have in the supramental life?
Why particularly occultism?
Because everything will be known, won’t it?
Why occultism? There is a place for everything in the supramental life. Does this interest you specially?
According to what we know about occultism, it is the science which shows us things that are invisible to us, the invisible world, the invisible forces.…But in the supramental world all this will be known.
What do you understand by occultism?
The knowledge of the invisible world and invisible forces.
And so – I don’t quite understand. In the supermind one will no longer have any knowledge, or what?
One will have the knowledge already, so…
Already.…But then it will be an occult knowledge! I don’t quite understand. Occultism is a special way of dealing with things. In The Life Divine Sri Aurobindo has explained this in great detail. It is a special approach to knowledge and action, and there is no reason why it should disappear or why.… Page – 184 It will become the natural consciousness. Then perhaps one won’t need to learn this occult knowledge.
Oh, you think one learns occultism as one learns to play the piano! (Laughter) But it is not quite like that, anyway, that things happen. In fact, those who have no special aptitude could read all the books on occultism in the world and never know how to practise it. It needs a special capacity. It is true that you may also read all the books in the world on how to play the piano – if you do not play, you will never know how to play. But there are born musicians, born artists, and there are people who may work at it all their lives and never come to anything at all. It is the same thing with occultism. If you mean that when one becomes a supramental being, one will have the gift of doing everything, very well, but that doesn’t imply that the gift is spontaneous. It is possible that you might have to concentrate on the subject and then learn your work. And it is also possible that one may be potentially capable of doing everything but it is not necessary that one has to do everything! There will be differences and classifications all the same, and special functions according to people and their individual tastes. I don’t see why you should deprive the supramental world particularly of occult activity more than of any other. How do you conceive of the supramental life? As a paradise in which everyone will do the same thing in the same way?…The old conception of paradise where everybody became an angel playing the harp? It is not quite like that! All the differences will be there, all differentiations and different activities, but instead of acting in the ordinary human ignorance, one will act with knowledge, that’s all; that is what will make the difference.
And the capacities will also increase, won’t they?
Capacities?…You take occultism in the sense of the power to act on life and things, as a process; but that is not occultism, that is magic. Page – 185 Occultism is a special use of the consciousness, that’s all. That is, at the moment, as it is practised by human beings, it is a direct and conscious perception of the forces behind appearances and the play of these forces, and because one has the direct perception of them, one has the power to act on them, and one makes some higher will intervene in the play of these forces in order to obtain a required re
In the supramental world one will have these powers spontaneously.
Spontaneously!…But everybody practises occultism without knowing that he does. Everybody has this power spontaneously but doesn’t know he has it. It may be a very slight one, like a pin-head; it may be as vast as the Earth or even the universe. But you cannot live without practising occultism, only you don’t know it. So the only difference you can make is that when one has the supramental consciousness one will know it. That is all. So, your question automatically vanishes. When you think – I have explained this to you I don’t know how many times – when you think, you are practising occultism. Only, you don’t know it. When you are thinking of someone, some part of you is automatically in contact with this person, and if to your thought is added a will that this person may be like this or like that or do this or that or understand this or that – whatever it may be – well, you are practising occultism, only you don’t know it.…There are people who do this with power, and when they have a strong thought it manifests and is realised. There are people in whom it is very feeble and they do not obtain many results. It depends on the power of your thought and also on your power of concentration. But this kind of occultism everybody practises without even knowing it. So the difference from someone who really practises occult- Page - 186 ism is that he knows he is doing it and perhaps how he does it.
But as you have spoken to us so often of Mr. X who was a great occultist, I thought that in the supramental world it would be something natural. All would be as capable as he.
But why this in particular? That is what I don’t understand! Why particularly occultism?
Because I thought that all knowledge of the invisible world entered the sphere of occultism.
Yes.
So, now, in ordinary life man is unconscious, half conscious; but in the full consciousness he would also have the full consciousness of occultism.
No, this is all very well, but do you believe that in the supramental life there will no longer be any classification of activities, or what? That everything will be mixed up in a general spontaneous capacity?
No, there will also be a hierarchy.
There will always be different ways of dealing with things. Perhaps the occult power] will be more common, but if you imagine a world where everyone has equally the same occult power, there will no longer be any difference. You understand? There are people who have the occult power and act on those who haven’t, but if everyone has it equally it will no longer be occultism!…Is that what you meant?
Yes. Page – 187 Ah!…Well, I am convinced that even in the most perfect supramental realisation there will always] be a differentiation between the capacities and functions of each one; but instead of being or not being in one’s right place, of doing or not doing what one ought to do, unconsciously, one will be in one’s right place – I hope always in one’s place – and will always do what one ought to do, consciously. That is, instead of always trying to know and groping in the dark, one will know what one ought to do and do it well. But that is the whole difference. Differentiations will be there, each one will have his own role, his own place, each one will have his own activity. Don’t think that everybody will begin to look alike and do the same thing in the same way! That would be a terrible world. We could say that the difference between the supramental world and our present world will be this: what you don’t know, you will know, what you can’t do, you will be able to do, and what you don’t understand, you will understand, and of what you are unconscious, you will become conscious. But fundamentally this is the basis of the new creation: to replace ignorance by knowledge and unconsciousness by consciousness, and weakness by strength. But this does not necessarily mean that everything is going to be so mixed up that it is scarcely recognisable!
(Long silence)
Sri Aurobindo has told us that in the Supermind itself there are different planes of realisation and that these planes will manifest successively, with the same progressive movement that has always presided over the universal development. And simply because, till today, it is a world that is closed to the greater part of mankind or hardly half-open to some, it is difficult to conceive of this progress in the supramental life, but it will exist; and the moment there is progress, there is ascension, and there is a perfection which develops according to a law of its own, Page – 188 which is gradually unveiled to the consciousness – even to a fully illumined consciousness – and works in the truth instead of working in ignorance.…This something ¹ which is not there completely, totally, all at once – it could almost be said massively – in the Manifestation but is progressive, will follow the same law of development as that of the world we live in now, but instead of not knowing where we are going, well, we shall know the way and follow it consciously. Instead of standing there imagining or guessing or speculating about what ought to be, we shall see where we are going and know how to go there. That will be the essential difference. Certainly it will not be a dull existence in which everything goes on indefinitely without changing. I believe there is always a tendency in the human consciousness to want to get somewhere, to sit down and feel it is at last all over: “We have arrived, we settle down and don’t move any more!” That would be a poor type of Supermind. But this ascending, progressive movement towards a growing perfection will be still more prominent, certainly, and instead of unfolding itself in the darkness where everybody is blind and gropes along, it will unfold in the light and one will have the joy of knowing where one is going and what one is doing. That’s all. So one must not come and ask, “Will this be there?” or “Won’t that be there?” There will be many more things still than we have now. Every possible thing will be there.
¹ When this talk was first published, Mother defined this “something”: “The unmanifest which will use the supramental world to manifest itself”. Page – 189
“A new humanity means for us the appearance, the development of a type or race of mental beings whose principle of mentality would be no longer a mind in the Ignorance seeking for knowledge but even in its knowledge bound to the Ignorance, a seeker after Light but not its natural possessor, open to the Light but not an inhabitant of the Light, not yet a perfected instrument, truth-conscious and delivered out of the Ignorance. Instead, it would be possessed already of what could be called a mind of Light, a mind capable of living in the truth, capable of being truth-conscious and manifesting in its life a direct in place of an indirect knowledge. Its mentality would be an instrument of the Light and no longer of the Ignorance. At its highest it would be capable of passing into the supermind and from the new race would be recruited the race of supramental beings who would appear as the leaders of the evolution in earth-nature.” The Supramental Manifestation, p. 67
This was certainly what he expected of us, what he conceived of as the superman who must be the intermediate being between humanity as it is and the supramental being created] in the supramental way, that is, no longer belonging to animality at all and delivered from all animal needs. As we are, we have been created in the ordinary animal way, and therefore, even if we transform ourselves, there will remain something of this animal origin. The supramental being as he conceived of it, is not formed in the ordinary animal way at all] but directly, through a process that for the moment still seems occult to us, but is a direct handling of forces and substance in such a way that the body can be a “materialisation” and not a Page – 190 formation according to the ordinary animal principle. It is quite obvious that intermediate beings are necessary, that it is these intermediate beings who must find the means of creating beings of the supermind, and, undoubtedly, when Sri Aurobindo wrote this he was convinced that this is what we must do. I think – I know – that it is now certain that we shall realise what he expects of us. It has become no longer a hope but a certainty. Only the time necessary for this realisation will be longer or shorter according to our individual effort, our concentration, our goodwill…and the importance] we give to this fact. For the inattentive observer things may appear very much what they were before, but for one who knows how to see and is not deceived by appearances things are going well. Let each one do his best and perhaps not many years will have to elapse before the first visible results become apparent to all. It is for you to know whether this interests you more than everything else in the world.…There comes a moment when the body itself finds that there is nothing in the world] which is so worth living for as this transformation; that there is nothing which can have as great an interest as this passionate interest of transformation. It is as though all the cells of the body were athirst for that Light which wants to manifest; they cry out for it, they find an intense joy in it and are sure] of the Victory. This is the aspiration that I am trying to communicate to you, and you will understand that everything else in life is dull, insipid, futile, worthless in comparison with that: the transformation in the Light. Page – 191 |