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118 – The love of solitude is a sign of the disposition towards knowledge; but knowledge itself is only achieved when we have a settled perception of solitude in the crowd, in the battle and in the mart.
119 – If when thou art doing great actions and moving giant results, thou canst perceive that thou art doing nothing, then know that God has removed His seal from thy eyelids.
120 – If when thou sittest alone, still and voiceless on the mountain-top, thou canst perceive the revolutions thou art conducting, then hast thou the divine vision and art freed from appearances.
121 –The love of inaction is folly and the scorn of inaction is folly; there is no inaction. The stone lying inert upon the sands which is kicked away in an idle moment, has been producing its effect upon the hemispheres.
This is the experience I have had these last few days, yesterday or the day before. The feeling of an irresistible Power governing everything: the world, things, people, everything, without needing to move materially, and that this excessive material activity is only like the foam that forms when water flows very fast – the foam on the surface; but that the Force runs on underneath like an all-powerful stream. There is nothing else to say. One always comes back to that: to know is all right, to speak is good, to do is all very well, but to be is the only thing which has any power. You see, people are restless, because things do not move quickly; so I had this vision of the formation, of the divine creation in the making, under the surface, all-powerful, irresistible, and in spite of everything, of all this outer turmoil. Page - 231 But in order to express itself, this great flow of Power needs instruments, doesn't it?
A brain.
But, exactly, not only a brain. This Power can express itself, as in the past, in a mental or overmental way; it can express itself vitally through force; it can express itself through the muscles; but how can it express itself physically, purely, directly – since you often speak of material power? What is the difference between the Action above and the true Action here?
Each time I have been conscious of the Power, the experience has been similar. The Will from above is translated into a vibration which certainly takes on some vital force but which acts in a subtle physical domain. One perceives a certain quality of vibration which is difficult to describe, but which gives the impression of something coagulated, not fragmented, something which seems to be denser than air, but which is extremely homogeneous, with a golden luminosity, with a tremendous driving power, and which expresses a certain will – which is not of the same nature as human will, which has the nature of vision rather than of thought; it is like a vision that imposes itself in order to be realized – in a domain that is very close to material Matter, but invisible, except to the inner sight. And that vibration exerts a pressure on people, things, circumstances, to mould them according to its vision. And it is irresistible. Even people who think the opposite, who want the opposite, do what is wanted without wanting to; even the things that by their very nature are opposed to it are turned around. For national events, relations among nations, world circumstances, it acts like that, constantly, constantly, as a tremendous Page - 232 Power. And so if one is oneself in a state of union with the divine Will, without any intervention of thought, or any conception or idea, one can follow it, one sees and knows.¹ The resistances of the inertia that is in every consciousness and in Matter mean that this Action, instead of being direct and perfectly harmonious, becomes confused, full of contradictions, clashes and conflicts; instead of everything resolving itself normally, so to say, smoothly – as it should be – all this inertia that resists and opposes, gives it a tangled movement in which things collide and there is disorder and destruction, which become necessary only because of the resistance, but which were not indispensable, which might not have existed – which truly speaking should not have been – because this Will, this Power is a Power of perfect harmony where each thing is in its place, and it organises things wonderfully. It comes as an absolutely luminous and perfect organisation, which one can see when one has the vision; but when it comes down and presses on Matter, everything begins to seethe and resist. Therefore, to attempt to impute the disorders and confusions and destructions to the divine Action, to the divine Power, is another human foolishness. It is the inertia – not to mention the bad will – which causes the catastrophe. It is not that the catastrophe was intended, nor even foreseen, it is caused by the resistance. And then, there is added the vision of the action of Grace, which comes to moderate the results wherever possible, that is to say, wherever it is accepted. And this explains why aspiration, faith, complete trust on the part of the earthly human element,
¹ It is interesting to note that shortly before this conversation, Mother received the following question: Is the American presence and intervention in Vietnam justifiable? She replied: From what point of view are you asking this question? “If it is from the political point of view – politics are sunk in falsehood and I have nothing to do with them. “If it is from the moral point of view – morality is a shield which ordinary men flourish to protect themselves from the Truth. “If it is from the spiritual point of view – the divine Will alone is justifiable and That is what men travesty and distort in all their actions.” Page - 233 have a harmonising power, because they allow the Grace to come and set right the consequences of this blind resistance. This is a clear vision – clear, clear, even in the details. One could, if one wanted to, make prophecies by saying what has been seen. But there is a kind of super-compassion which prevents this prophecy, because the Word of Truth has a power of manifestation and to express the result of the resistance would make that state concrete and diminish the action of the Grace. That is why even when one sees, one cannot speak, one must not speak. But Sri Aurobindo certainly meant that it is this Power, this Force which does everything – which does everything. When one sees it or is one with it, one knows at the same time, one knows that That is really the only thing that acts and creates; everything else is the result of the domain or the world or the material or the substance in which it acts – the result of the resistance, but not the Action. And to unite with That means to unite with the Action; to unite with what is below means to unite with the resistance. And so because it wriggles and tosses and turns, wants and thinks and makes plans… it imagines that it is doing something – it is resisting. Later, a little later, I shall be able to give examples for very small things, showing how the Force acts and what interferes and mixes with it, or is moved by this Force and distorts its movement, and the result, that is to say, the physical appearance as we see it. Even the example of a very small thing with absolutely no importance for the world, gives a clear idea of the way in which everything happens and is distorted here. And this applies to everything, everything, all the time, all the time. And so, when one is doing the yoga of the cells, one notices the same thing: there is the Force that acts, and then (Mother laughs) what the body does with this Action!…
(Silence) Page - 234 Immediately there comes the how and why. But that belongs to the domain of mental curiosity, because the important thing is to stop the resistance. That is the important thing, to stop the resistance so that the universe can become what it should be: the expression of a harmonious, luminous, wonderful power, of an unparalleled beauty. Afterwards, when the resistance has stopped, if out of curiosity we want to know why it happened… it won't matter any more. But now, one cannot find the remedy by seeking the reason why, but by taking the true attitude. That is the only thing that matters. To stop the resistance by a total surrender, a total self-giving in every cell, if one can do that. They begin to feel the intense delight of existing only by the Lord, for the Lord, in the Lord. When this is established everywhere, all will be well. 6 July 1966
122 – If thou wouldst not be the fool of Opinion, first see wherein thy thought is true, then study wherein its opposite and contradiction is true; last, discover the cause of these differences and the key of God's harmony.
123 – An opinion is neither true nor false, but only serviceable for life or unserviceable; for it is a creation of Time and with time it loses its effect and value. Rise thou above opinion and seek wisdom everlasting.
124 – Use opinion for life, but let her not bind thy soul in her fetters.
(After a silence)
I was trying to find out in what way opinions are serviceable… Sri Aurobindo says that they are serviceable or unserviceable Page - 235 – in what way can an opinion be serviceable?
They are helpful for a moment, in action.
No, this is precisely what I deplore; people act according to their opinion, and that is worthless. I am constantly receiving letters from people who want or do not want to do something and tell me: “This is my opinion, this is true, that is not true”, and always, more than ninety-nine times out of a hundred it is wrong, it is nonsense. One feels very clearly – in fact, it is visible – that the opposite opinion has just as much value, that it is simply a question of attitude, nothing more. And naturally the ego's preferences are always involved: you like it better like that and so you have the opinion that it is like that.
But until one can act with the higher light, one needs to use opinions.
It would be better to have some wisdom rather than an opinion, that is, to consider all the possibilities, all the aspects of the question and then try to be as unegoistic as possible and to see, for example, in the case of an action, which one can be of service to the greatest number of people or is the least destructive, the most constructive. Anyway, even from a standpoint that is not spiritual, but merely utilitarian and unselfish, it is better to act according to wisdom than according to one's opinion.
Yes, but what would be the right way to proceed when one doesn't have the light, without involving one's opinion or one's ego?
I think it is to consider all the aspects of the problem, to lay them before your consciousness as disinterestedly as possible and to see which one is the best – if this is possible – or which Page - 236 one is the least harmful if there are unpleasant consequences.
I wanted to ask: what is the best attitude? Is it an attitude of intervention or an attitude of non-interference? Which is better?
Ah, that's just it, to intervene you must be sure that you are right; you must be sure that your vision of things is superior, preferable or truer than the vision of the other person or people. Then it is always wiser not to intervene – people intervene without rhyme or reason, simply because they are in the habit of giving their opinion to others. Even when you have the vision of the true thing, it is very rarely wise to intervene. It only becomes indispensable when someone wants to do something which will necessarily lead to a catastrophe. Even then, intervention (smiling) is not always very effective. In fact, intervention is justified only when you are absolutely sure that you have the vision of truth. Not only that, but also a clear vision of the consequences. To intervene in someone else's actions, one must be a prophet – a prophet. And a prophet with total goodness and compassion. One must even have the vision of the consequences that the intervention will have in the destiny of the other person. People are always giving each other advice: “Do this, don't do that.” I see it: they have no idea how much confusion they create, how they increase confusion and disorder. And sometimes they impair the normal development of the individual. I consider that opinions are always dangerous and most often absolutely worthless. You should not meddle with other people's affairs, unless first of all you are infinitely wiser than they are – of course, one always thinks that one is wiser! – but I mean in an objective way and not according to your own opinion; unless you see further and better and are yourself above all passions, desires Page - 237 and blind reactions. You must be above all these things yourself to have the right to intervene in someone else's life – even when he asks you to do so. And when he does not, it is simply meddling with something which is not your business.
(Mother goes into a long contemplation, and then continues.)
I have just seen a curious image! It looked like a very steep mountain slope and someone – like the symbol of Man – was climbing. A being… It's strange, I have seen this several times: beings without clothes who are not naked! I mean, they have a kind of robe of light. But it does not look like a radiating light or anything of that kind. It is like an atmosphere, or rather the aura, the aura made visible. And this transparence does not conceal the form and at the same time the form is not naked… And then from the sky – there was a vast sky stretching from top to bottom, like a painting, a very clear, very luminous, very pure sky – there were countless… hundreds of birdlike things flying towards him and he was beckoning them to him. The picture was mainly pale blue, white; from time to time there was something a little darker like a wing-tip or the top of a crest, but that was incidental. And they kept coming in hundreds and he summoned them together with a gesture, then he sent them down to earth – he was standing on a steep slope — he sent them down, into the valley. And there, they became… (Mother laughs) they were opinions! They became opinions! There were dark ones, light ones, brown ones, blue ones… They were like birds flying down towards earth, like that. But it was a picture and yet it was not a picture, because it was moving. It was very amusing. And he said: “Look, that is how opinions are formed”… They came from the sky, a vast sky – vast and luminous and clear, neither blue nor white nor pink nor… it was luminous, simply luminous; and from this sky, it was… I said they came Page - 238 in hundreds, but they came in thousands, and he was there, he received them, and then he gestured with his hands and sent them down to earth, and… they became opinions! I think I began to laugh, it amused me. It is strange. They were all going down, going down – one could not see the bottom – they were going down. So then it may be that opinions come from a sky of light! (Mother laughs) In truth, images are much more expressive than words. 14 September 1966 Page - 239 |