{"id":1122,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:42","slug":"14-experiences-of-the-inner-vol-23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23\/14-experiences-of-the-inner-vol-23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23","title":{"rendered":"-14_Experiences of the Inner.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nS<\/font>ECTION<\/font>
\nT<\/font>HREE<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

Experiences of the
\nInner and the Cosmic Consciousness<\/span><\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

T<\/font><\/span><\/b>HE<\/font> piercing of the veil between the outer
\nconsciousness and the inner being is one of the crucial movements in yoga. For
\nyoga means union with the Divine, but it also means awaking first to your inner
\nself and then to your higher self, \u2013 a movement inward and a movement upward. It
\nis, in fact, only through the awakening and coming to the front of the inner
\nbeing that you can get into union with the Divine. The outer physical man is
\nonly an instrumental personality and by himself he cannot arrive at this union,
\n\u2013 he can only get occasional touches, religious feelings, imperfect intimations.
\nAnd even these come not from the outer consciousness but from what is within us.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>
\nThere are two mutually complementary movements; in one the inner being comes to
\nthe front and impresses its own normal motions on the outer consciousness to
\nwhich they are unusual and abnormal; the other is to draw back from the outer
\nconsciousness, to go inside into the inner planes, enter the world of your inner
\nself and wake in the hidden parts of your being. When that plunge has once been
\ntaken, you are marked for the yogic, the spiritual life and nothing can efface
\nthe seal that has been put upon you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

            <\/span>
\nThis inward movement takes place in many different ways and there is sometimes a
\ncomplex experience combining all the signs of the complete plunge. There is a
\nsense of going in or deep down, a feeling of the movement towards inner depths;
\nthere is often a stillness, a pleasant numbness, a stiffness of the limbs. This
\nis the sign of the consciousness retiring from the body inwards under the
\npressure of a force from above, \u2013 that pressure stabilising the body into an
\nimmobile support of the inner life, in a kind of strong and still spontaneous
\nasana. There is a feeling of waves surging up, mounting to the head, which
\nbrings an outer unconsciousness and an inner waking. It is the ascending <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 991<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nof the lower consciousness in the Adhara to meet the greater
\nconsciousness above. It is a movement analogous to that on which so much stress
\nis laid in the Tantric process, the awakening of the Kundalini, the Energy
\ncoiled up and latent in the body and its mounting through the spinal cord and
\nthe centres (cakras<\/i><\/span>) and the
\nBrahmarandhra to meet the Divine above. In our yoga it is not a specialised
\nprocess, but a spontaneous uprush<\/span> of the whole lower
\nconsciousness sometimes in currents or waves, sometimes in a less concrete
\nmotion, and on the other side a descent of the Divine Consciousness and its
\nForce into the body. This descent is felt as a pouring in of calm and peace, of
\nforce and power, of light, of joy and ecstasy, of wideness and freedom and
\nknowledge, of a Divine Being or a Presence \u2013 sometimes one of these, sometimes
\nseveral of them or all together. The movement of ascension has different
\nresults; it may liberate the consciousness so that one feels no longer in the
\nbody, but above it or else spread in wideness with the body either almost
\nnon-existent or only a point in one’s free expanse. It may enable the being or
\nsome part of the being to go out from the body and move elsewhere, and this
\naction is usually accompanied by some kind of partial
\nsamādhi<\/i>
\nor else a complete trance. Or, it may result in empowering the consciousness, no
\nlonger limited by the body and the habits of the external nature, to go within,
\nto enter the inner mental depths, the inner vital, the inner (subtle) physical,
\nthe psychic, to become aware of its inmost psychic self or its inner mental,
\nvital and subtle physical being and, it may be, to move and live in the domains,
\nthe planes, the worlds that correspond to these parts of the nature. It is the
\nrepeated and constant ascent of the lower consciousness that enables the mind,
\nthe vital, the physical to come into touch with the higher planes up to the
\nsupramental and get impregnated with their light and power and influence. And it
\nis the repeated and constant descent of the Divine Consciousness and its Force
\nthat is the means for the transformation of the whole being and the whole
\nnature. Once this descent becomes habitual, the Divine Force, the Power of the
\nMother, begins to work, no longer from above only or from behind the veil, but
\nconsciously in the Adhara itself, and deals with its difficulties and
\npossibilities and carries on the yoga. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 992<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

           
\nLast comes the crossing of the border. It is not a falling asleep or a loss of
\nconsciousness, for the consciousness is there all the time; only it shifts from
\nthe outer and physical, becomes closed to external things and recedes into the
\ninner psychic and vital part of the being. There it passes through many
\nexperiences and of these some can and should be felt in the waking state also;
\nfor both movements are necessary, the coming out of the inner being to the front
\nas well as the going in of the consciousness to become aware of the inner self
\nand nature. But for many purposes the ingoing movement is indispensable. Its
\neffect is to break or at least to open and pass the barrier between this outer
\ninstrumental consciousness and that inner being which it very partially strives
\nto express, and to make possible in future a conscious awareness of all the
\nendless riches of possibility and experience and new being and new life that lie
\nuntapped behind the veil of this small and very blind and limited material
\npersonality which men erroneously think to be the whole of themselves. It is the
\nbeginning and constant enlarging of this deeper and fuller and richer awareness
\nthat is accomplished between the inward plunge and the return from this inner
\nworld to the waking state.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sadhak must understand that these experiences are not mere
\nimaginations or dreams but actual happenings, for even when, as often occurs,
\nthey are formations only of a wrong or misleading or adverse kind, they have
\nstill their power as formations and must be understood before they can be
\nrejected and abolished. Each inner experience is perfectly real in its own way,
\nalthough the values of different experiences differ greatly, but it is real with
\nthe reality of the inner self and the inner planes. It is a mistake to think
\nthat we live physically only, with the outer mind and life. We are all the time
\nliving and acting on other planes of consciousness, meeting others there and
\nacting upon them, and what we do and feel and think there, the forces we gather,
\nthe results we prepare have an incalculable importance and effect, unknown to
\nus, upon our outer life. Not all of it comes through, and what comes through
\ntakes another form in the physical \u2013 though sometimes there is an exact
\ncorrespondence; but this little is at the basis of our outward existence. All
\nthat we become and do and bear in the physical life is <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 993<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nprepared behind the veil within us. It is therefore of immense importance for a
\nyoga which aims at the transformation of life to grow conscious of what goes on
\nwithin these domains, to be master there and be able to feel, know and deal with
\nthe secret forces that determine our destiny and our internal and external
\ngrowth or decline.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is equally important for those who want that union with the Divine
\nwithout which the transformation is impossible. The aspiration could not be
\nrealised if you remained bound by your external self, tied to the physical mind
\nand its petty movements. It is not the outer being which is the source of the
\nspiritual urge; the outer being only undergoes the inner drive from behind the
\nveil. It is the inner psychic being in you that is the bhakta<\/span>,
\nthe seeker after the union and the Ananda, and what is impossible for the outer
\nnature left to itself becomes perfectly possible when the barrier is down and
\nthe inner self in the front. For, the moment this comes strongly to the front or
\ndraws the consciousness powerfully into itself, peace, ecstasy, freedom,
\nwideness, the opening to light and a higher knowledge begin to become natural,
\nspontaneous, often immediate in their emergence.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once the barrier breaks by the one movement or the other, you begin
\nto find that all the processes and movements necessary to the yoga are within
\nyour reach and not, as it seems in the outer mind, difficult or impossible. The
\ninmost psychic self in you has already in it the yogin<\/span>
\nand the bhakta<\/span> and if it can fully emerge and take the
\nlead, the spiritual turn of your outward life is predestined and inevitable. In
\nthe initially successful sadhak it has already built a deep inner life, yogic
\nand spiritual, which is veiled only because of some strong outward turn the
\neducation and past activities have given to the thinking mind and lower vital
\nparts. It is precisely to correct this outward orientation and take away the
\nveil that he has to practise more strenuously the yoga. Once the inner being has
\nmanifested strongly whether by the inward-going or the outward-coming movement,
\nit is bound to renew its pressure, to clear the passage and finally come by its
\nkingdom. A beginning of this kind is the indication of what is to happen on a
\ngreater scale hereafter. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 994<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nThe cry you heard was not in the physical heart, but in the emotional centre.
\nThe breaking of the wall meant the breaking of the obstacle or at least of some
\nobstacle there between your inner and your outer being. Most people live in
\ntheir ordinary outer ignorant personality which does not easily open to the
\nDivine; but there is an inner being within them of which they do not know, which
\ncan easily open to the Truth and the Light. But there is a wall which divides
\nthem from it, a wall of obscurity and unconsciousness. When it breaks down, then
\nthere is a release; the feelings of calm, Ananda, joy which you had immediately
\nafterwards were due to that release. The cry you heard was the cry of the vital
\npart in you overcome by the suddenness of the breaking of the wall and the
\nopening.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt is not possible to distinguish the psychic being at first. What has to be
\ndone is to grow conscious of an inner being which is separate from the external
\npersonality and nature \u2013 a consciousness or Purusha calm and detached from the
\nouter actions of the Prakriti.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The experiences you describe are psycho-physical of which the only
\nimportant one is the current going up which is the beginning of an attempt to
\ncreate a path of connection between the mental centre (inner mind, will, vision)
\nin the forehead and the higher centre above.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The obstacles can only be got rid of gradually by persistent sadhana.
\nThe alternation of dark and bright states is normal and inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The light in your experience indicates an action of force (bluish
\nprobably indicates the spiritual mind-force) \u2013 the rest was a working to open
\nthe higher spiritual centre (sahasradala<\/i><\/span>).<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt is rather a pity that the fear came in and spoiled the inward movement \u2013 for
\nthis inward movement is exceedingly important for the sadhana. The increasing
\nfrequency and completeness <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 995<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nof the psychic consciousness in you coming in and replacing the ordinary one has
\nhitherto been the most hopeful sign of progress \u2013 but the establishment of an
\ninward movement would be a still greater thing; for its natural result would be
\nto liberate the soul within and to give you a stand in the inner being so that
\nyou would be able to regard any fluctuations in the outer consciousness without
\nbeing subjugated by them and without any interruption of the inner poise and
\nfreedom. But the movement is bound to come back and fulfil itself. It is very
\ngood that the help comes when you call and that you can shake yourself free \u2013 it
\nis another sign of the psychic growth.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nWhat you say was not what is in yourself, but a symbol of the things that are in
\nvital Nature. Scorpions and usually snakes also are symbols of harmful energies;
\nthe vital nature of earth is full of these energies and that is why the
\npurification of man’s outer vital nature also is so difficult and there are so
\nmany wrong movements and happenings in him, \u2013 because his vital is easily open
\nto all these earth movements. In order to get rid of them, the inner being must
\nwake and grow and its nature replace the outer nature. Sometimes serpents
\nindicate energies simply, not harmful ones; but more often it is the other way.
\nOn the other hand, the peacocks you saw were powers of victory, the victory of
\nthe energies of light over the energies of darkness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you say about the outer being is correct, it must change and
\nmanifest what is within in the inner nature. But for that one must have
\nexperiences in the inner nature and through these the power of the inner nature
\ngrows till it can influence wholly and possess the outer being. To change the
\nouter consciousness entirely without developing this inner consciousness would
\nbe too difficult. That is why these inner experiences are going on to prepare
\nthe growth of the inner consciousness. There is an inner mind, an inner vital,
\nan inner physical consciousness which can more easily than the outer receive the
\nhigher consciousness above and put itself into harmony with the psychic being;
\nwhen that is done the outer nature is felt as only a fringe on the surface, <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 996<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nnot as oneself, and is more easily transformed altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whatever difficulties there may still be in the outer nature, they
\nwill not make any difference to the fact that you are now awake within, the
\nMother’s force working in you and you her true child destined to be perfectly
\nthat in all ways. Put your faith and your thought entirely on her and you will
\nget through all safely.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt is on the surface that the transformation is done. One comes up to the
\nsurface with what one has gained in the depths to change it. It may be your need
\nto go in again and find it difficult to make the movement back quickly. When the
\nwhole being becomes plastic you will be able to make whatever movement is needed
\nmore quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt takes time of course to make the transition from one state of consciousness
\nto another. The depth of feeling will come more and more as your consciousness
\ndraws back from the claim of external things and goes deeper in into the heart
\nregion seeing and feeling from there with the psychic to prompt and enlighten
\nit. Faith also will increase with that movement \u2013 for it is the outer intellect
\nthat is infirm or deficient in faith, the inner being in the heart has it
\nalways.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nWhat you express in the letter is the right way of thinking and seeing. The
\nself-will of the mind wanting things in its own way and not in the Divine’s way
\nwas a great obstacle. With that gone, the way should become much less rough and
\nhard to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The outer being can grow in faith, fidelity to the Divine, reverence,
\nlove, worship and adoration, great things in themselves, \u2013 though in fact these
\nthings too come from within, \u2013 but realisation can only take place when the
\ninner being is awake with its vision and feeling of things unseen. Till then,
\none<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 997<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\ncan feel the results of the divine help and, if one has faith, know that they
\nare the work of the Divine; but it is only then that one can feel clearly the
\nForce at work, the divine Presence, the direct communion.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nSilence does not mean absence of experiences. It is an inner silence and
\nquietude in which all experiences can happen without producing any disturbance.
\nIt would be a great mistake to interfere with the images rising in you. It does
\nnot matter whether they are mental or psychic. One must have experience not only
\nof the true psychic, but of the inner mental, inner vital and subtle physical
\nworlds or planes of consciousness. The occurrence of the images is a sign that
\nthese are opening and to inhibit them would mean to inhibit the expansion of the
\nconsciousness and experience without which this yoga cannot be done.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nAll experiences come in the silence but they do not come all pell-mell in a
\ncrowd at the beginning. The inner silence and peace have first to be
\nestablished.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe difficulty indicated by you in your last (long) letter indicates that you
\nenter into the inner being and begin to have experiences there, but there is a
\ndifficulty in organising them or seeing them coherently. The difficulty is
\nbecause the inner mind is not yet sufficiently habituated to act and see the
\ninside things and therefore the ordinary outer mind interferes and tries to
\narrange them; but the outer mind is unable to see the meaning of inner things.
\nWhen the outer mind is left outside altogether, the things inside begin to be
\nseen vividly and clearly, but the inner mind not being active, either their
\ncoherence is not seen or the consciousness lingers in the confused experiences
\nof the lower vital plane and does not get through to the deeper, more coherent
\nand significant experiences. A development of the inner consciousness is
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 998<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nneeded \u2013 when that development takes place, then all will become more clear and
\ncoherent. This development will take place if, without getting disturbed, you
\nquietly aspire and go on calling the Mother’s Force to do what is needed. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your call will always reach the Mother. If you remain quiet and
\nconfident, you will in time become aware of the answer. The more the mind
\nbecomes quiet, the clearer will it become to you and you will feel her working.
\nFrom time to time you can write of your experiences, wherever an answer is
\nneeded, I will answer.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThat is what is meant by contact and that is how it comes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for not having it always, it is because there are parts of the
\nbeing that are still unconscious or perhaps states of unconsciousness come. For
\ninstance, people write letters to each other, but they are quite unconscious
\nthat they are exchanging forces in doing so. You have become conscious of it,
\nbecause of the development of your inner consciousness by yoga \u2013 and yet there
\nare likely to be times when you still write from the external awareness only,
\nand then you will see the words only without being aware of what is behind. So,
\nowing to the development of the inner consciousness, you are able to understand
\nwhat contacts are and get the true contact, but at times the external
\nconsciousness may be stronger than the inner one, then you are no longer (for
\nthe time being) able to get the contact.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt is not that anything has been taken from you, but as you say at the end, your
\nbeing is seen by you in two parts. That is a thing that happens as the sadhana
\nproceeds and must happen in order that one may have completely the knowledge of
\noneself and the true consciousness. These two parts are the inner being and the
\nouter being. The outer being (mind, vital and physical) has now become capable
\nof quietude and it gets in meditation in a free, happy, vacant quietude which is
\nthe first step towards the true consciousness. The inner being (inner mind,
\nvital, physical) <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 999<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nis not lost but gone inside \u2013 the outer part does not know where \u2013 but probably
\ngone inside into union with the psychic. The only thing that can have gone is
\nsomething of the old nature that was standing in the way of this experience.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThere is an inner being and an inmost being which we call the psychic. When one
\nmeditates, one tries to go into the inner being. If one does it then one feels
\nvery well that one has gone inside. What can be realised in meditation can also
\nbecome the ordinary consciousness in which one lives. Then one feels what is now
\nthe ordinary consciousness to be something quite external and on the surface,
\nnot one’s real self.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nWhat you feel as the new life is the growth of the inner being in you; the inner
\nbeing is the true being and as it grows the whole consciousness begins to
\nchange. This feeling and your new attitude towards people are signs of the
\nchange. The seeing of inner things also usually comes with this growth of the
\ninner being and consciousness; it is an inner vision which awakes in most
\nsadhaks when they enter this stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is also a characteristic of this inner consciousness that even
\nwhen it is active, there is felt behind the action or containing it a complete
\nquietude or silence. The more one concentrates, the more this quietude and
\nsilence increases. That is why there seems to be all quiet within even though
\nall sorts of things may be taking place within.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is also quite usual that what takes place in the inner
\nconsciousness should not express itself at present in the outer physical. It at
\nfirst creates changes outside, but takes possession of the outer instruments
\nonly afterwards. <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt is a very good sign that when the thoughts and the attempt at <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1000<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\ndisturbance come there is something that remains calm and cool
\n\u2013 for that, like the psychic reply from within, shows that the inner
\nconsciousness is fixed or fixing itself in part of the being. This is a well
\nrecognised stage of the inner change in sadhana. Equally good is the emerging of
\nthe self-existent Ananda from within not dependent on outward things. It is a
\nfact that this inner gladness and happiness is something peaceful and happy at
\nonce \u2013 it is not an excited movement like the vital outward pleasure, though it
\ncan be more ardent and intense. Another good result is the fading out of the
\nfeeling that \u201cthe work is mine\u201d and the power to do it with the outward
\nconsciousness not engaging the inner being.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

The sense of release as if from jail always accompanies the emergence
\nof the psychic being or the realisation of the self above. It is therefore
\nspoken of as a liberation, mukti. It is a release into peace, happiness, the
\nsoul’s freedom not tied down by the thousand ties and cares of the outward
\nignorant existence.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was of course the Mother’s face you saw in your vision, but
\nprobably in one of her supraphysical<\/span>, not her physical
\nform and face \u2013 that is also indicated by the great light that came from the
\nform and rendered it invisible.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe absence of thought is quite the right thing \u2013 for the true inner
\nconsciousness is a silent consciousness which has not to think out things, but
\ngets the right perception, understanding and knowledge in a spontaneous way from
\nwithin and speaks or acts according to that. It is the outer consciousness which
\nhas to depend on outside things and to think about them because it has not this
\nspontaneous guidance. When one is fixed in this inner consciousness, then one
\ncan indeed go back to the old action by an effort of will, but it is no longer a
\nnatural movement and, if long maintained, becomes fatiguing. As for the dreams,
\nthat is different. Dreams about old bygone things come up from the subconscient
\nwhich retains the old impressions and the seeds of the old movements and habits
\nlong after the waking consciousness has dropped them. Abandoned by the waking <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1001<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\nconsciousness, they still come up in dreams; for in sleep the
\nouter physical consciousness goes down into the subconscient or towards it and
\nmany dreams come up from there.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

The silence in which all is quiet and one remains as a witness while
\nsomething in the consciousness spontaneously calls down the higher things is the
\ncomplete silence which comes when the full force of the higher consciousness is
\nupon mind and vital and body.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Things inside can be seen as distinctly as outward things whether in
\nan image by the subtle vision or in their essence by a still more subtle and
\npowerful way of seeing; but all these things have to develop in order to get
\ntheir full power and intensity.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\nII<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\nThere is a stage in the sadhana in which the inner being begins to awake. Often
\nthe first result is the condition made up of the following elements:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. A sort of witness attitude in which the inner consciousness looks
\nat all that happens as a spectator or observer, observing things but taking no
\nactive interest or pleasure in them.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. A state of neutral equanimity in which there is neither joy nor
\nsorrow, only quietude.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. A sense of being something separate from all that happens,
\nobserving it but not part of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. An absence of attachment to things, people or events.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It seems as if this condition were trying to come in you; but it is
\nstill imperfect. For instance, in this condition (1) there should be no disgust
\nor impatience or anger when people talk, only indifference and an inner peace
\nand silence. Also, (2) there should not be a mere neutral quiet and
\nindifference, but a positive sense of calm, detachment and peace. Again, (3)
\nthere should be no going out of the body so that you do not know what is
\nhappening or what you are doing. There may be a sense of not being the body but
\nsomething else, \u2013 that is good; but <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1002<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nthere should be a perfect awareness of all that is going on in or around you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moreover, this condition even when it is perfect is only a
\ntransitional stage \u2013 it is intended to bring a certain state of freedom and
\nliberation. But in that peace there must come the feeling of the Divine
\nPresence, the sense of the Mother’s power working on you, the joy or Ananda.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you can concentrate in the heart as well as in the head, then
\nthese things can more easily come.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe experience you have of a division in the being with the inner void and
\nindifferent, udāsīna<\/i><\/span>, \u2013 not
\nsorrowful, but neutral and indifferent, is an experience which many pass through
\nand is highly valued by the Sannyasins. For us it is a passage only to something
\nlarger and more positive. In it the old small human feelings fall away and a
\nsort of calm neutral void is made for a higher nature to manifest. It must be
\nfulfilled and replaced by a sense of large silence and freedom into which the
\nMother’s consciousness can flow from above.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe condition in which all movements become superficial and empty with no
\nconnection with the soul is a stage in the withdrawal from the surface
\nconsciousness to the inner consciousness. When one goes into the inner
\nconsciousness, it is felt as a calm, pure existence without any movement, but
\neternally tranquil, unmoved and separate from the outer nature. This comes as a
\nresult of detaching oneself from the movements, standing back from them and is a
\nvery important movement of the sadhana. The first result of it is an entire
\nquietude but afterwards that quietude begins (without the quietude ceasing) to
\nfill with the psychic and other inner movements which create a true inner and
\nspiritual life behind the outer life and nature. It is then easier to govern and
\nchange the latter.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At present there are fluctuations in your consciousness<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1003<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nbecause this inner state is not yet fully developed and established. When it is,
\nthere will still be fluctuations in the outer consciousness, but the inner
\nquiet, force, love etc. will be constant and the superficial fluctuations will
\nbe watched by the inner being without its being shaken or troubled, until they
\nare removed by the complete outer change.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for X, it is best to let it pass and try to remain steady within
\nand detached; one can’t separate from all contacts; one must become more and
\nmore superior to their customary reactions.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe condition you describe in your work means that the inner being is awake and
\nthat there is now the double consciousness. It is the inner being which has the
\ninner happiness, the calm and quiet, the silence free from any ripple of
\nthought, the inwardly silent repetition of the name. The automatic repetition of
\nthe mantra is part of the same phenomenon \u2013 that is what ought to happen to the
\nmantra, it must become a conscious but spontaneous thing repeating itself in the
\nvery substance of the consciousness itself, no longer needing any effort of the
\nmind. All these doubts and questionings of the mind are useless. What has to
\nhappen is that this inner consciousness should be always there not troubled by
\nany disturbance with the constant silence, inner happiness and quietude etc.,
\nwhile the outer consciousness does what is necessary in the way of work etc. or,
\nwhat is better, has that done through it \u2013 it is this latter experience that you
\nhave some days as someone pushing the work with so much continuous force without
\nyour feeling tired.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you feel more quiet and the surrender feeling more intense, then
\nthat is a good, not a bad condition \u2013 and if it makes the mind an empty room
\nreceiving the light, so much the better. Experiences and descents are very good
\nfor preparation, but change of the consciousness is the thing wanted \u2013 it is the
\nproof that the experiences and descents have had an effect. Descents of peace
\nare good, but an increasingly stable quietude and silence of the mind is
\nsomething more valuable. When that is there, then other things can come \u2013
\nusually one at a time, light or strength <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1004<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nand force or knowledge or Ananda. It is not necessary to go on forever having
\nalways the same preparatory experiences \u2013 a time comes when the consciousness
\nbegins to take a new poise and another state.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIt is simply because you are full of mental and vital activities and relations.
\nOne must get the power to quiet the mental and vital, if not at first at all
\ntimes, yet whenever one wills \u2013 for it is the mind and vital that cover up the
\npsychic being as well as the self (Atman) and to get at either one must get in
\nthrough their veil; but if they are always active and you are always identified
\nwith their activities, the veil will always be there. It is also possible to
\ndetach yourself and look at these activities as if they were not your own but a
\nmechanical action of Nature which you observe as a disinterested witness. One
\ncan then become aware of an inner being which is separate, calm and uninvolved
\nin Nature. This may be the inner mental or vital Purusha and not the psychic,
\nbut to get at the consciousness of the inner manomaya<\/i><\/span> and prāņamaya<\/i><\/span> Purusha is always a step
\ntowards the unveiling of the psychic being.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it would be better to get full control of the speech \u2013 it is an
\nimportant step towards going inward and developing a true inner and yogic
\nconsciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe inner being is composed of the inner mental, the inner vital, the inner
\nphysical. The psychic is the inmost supporting all the others. Usually it is in
\nthe inner mental that this separation first happens and it is the inner mental
\nPurusha who remains silent, observing the Prakriti as separate from himself. But
\nit may also be the inner vital Purusha or inner physical or else without
\nlocation simply the whole Purusha consciousness separate from the whole
\nPrakriti. Sometimes it is felt above the head, but then it is usually spoken of
\nas the Atman and the realisation is that of the silent Self.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1005<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nThe consciousness you speak of would be described in the Gita as the witness
\nPurusha. The Purusha or basic consciousness is the true being or at least, in
\nwhatever plane it manifests, represents the true being. But in the ordinary
\nnature of man it is covered up by the ego and the ignorant play of the Prakriti
\nand remains veiled behind as the unseen Witness supporting the play of the
\nIgnorance. When it emerges, you feel it as a consciousness behind, calm,
\ncentral, unidentified with the play which depends upon it. It may be covered
\nover, but it is always there. The emergence of the Purusha is the beginning of
\nliberation. But it can also become slowly the Master \u2013 slowly because the whole
\nhabit of the ego and the play of the lower forces is against that. Still it can
\ndictate what higher play is to replace the lower movement and then there is the
\nprocess of that replacement, the higher coming, the lower struggling to remain
\nand push away the higher movement. You say rightly that the offering to the
\nDivine shortens the whole thing and is more effective, but usually it cannot be
\ndone completely at once owing to the past habit and the two methods continue
\ntogether until the complete surrender is possible.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nBy itself the Purusha is impersonal, but by mixing itself with the movements of
\nPrakriti it makes for itself a surface of ego and personality. When it appears
\nin its own separate nature then it is seen to be detached and observing.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe witness being does not always remain as a point. It becomes something
\nextended supporting the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThe attitude of the witness consciousness within \u2013 I do not think it necessarily
\ninvolves an external seclusion, though one may do that also \u2013 is a very
\nnecessary stage in the progress. It helps the liberation from the lower Prakriti
\n\u2013 not getting involved<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1006<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

\n in the ordinary nature
\nmovements; it helps the establishment of a perfect calm and peace within, for
\nthere is then one part of the being which remains detached and sees without
\nbeing disturbed the perturbations of the surface; it helps also the ascent into
\nthe higher consciousness and the descent of the higher consciousness, for it is
\nthrough this calm, detached and liberated inner being that the ascent and
\ndescent can easily be done. Also, to have the same witness look on the movements
\nof Prakriti in others, seeing, understanding but not perturbed by them in any
\nway is a very great help towards both the liberation and the universalisation of
\nthe being. I could not therefore possibly object to this movement in a sadhak.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

As for the surrender it is not inconsistent with the witness
\nattitude. On the contrary by liberating from the ordinary Prakriti, it makes
\neasier the surrender to the higher or divine Power. Very often when this witness
\nattitude has not been taken but there is a successful calling in of the Force to
\nact in one, one of the first things the Force does is to establish the witness
\nattitude so as to be able to act with less interference or immixture from the
\nmovements of the lower Prakriti.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There remains the question of the avoidance of contact with others
\nand there there<\/span> is some difficulty or incertitude.
\nPart of your nature has a strong turn towards contact with others, action on
\nothers, interchange, almost a need of it. This brings about some fluctuation
\nbetween the turn to an inner isolation and the turn towards contact and action.
\nThere is the same double and fluctuating movement in others here like X. In such
\ncases I generally do not stress upon either tendency but leave the consciousness
\nto find its own poise, because I have seen that to press too much on the
\nisolation tendency when the nature is not mainly contemplative does not succeed
\nvery well \u2013 unless of course the sadhak himself gets a strong and fixed
\ndetermination that way. This may be the cause of what you felt. But the question
\nbetween witness attitude and surrender does not arise, for the reason I have
\nexplained \u2013 one can very well aid or lead to the other as ours is a yoga which
\njoins these things together and does not keep them always separate. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1007<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nThe silence descends into the inner being first \u2013 as also other things from the
\nhigher consciousness. One can become aware of this inner being calm, silent,
\nuntouched by the movements of Nature, full of knowledge or light, and at the
\nsame time be aware of another lesser being, the small personality on the surface
\nwhich is made up of the movements of Nature or else still subject to them or
\nelse, if not subject to them, still open to invasion by them. This is a
\ncondition that any number of sadhaks and yogis have experienced. The inner being
\nmeans the psychic, the inner mind, the inner vital, the inner physical. In this
\ncondition none of these can be even touched, so there has been an essential
\npurification. All need not feel this division into two consciousnesses, but most
\ndo. When it is there, the will that decides the action is in the inner being,
\nnot in the outer \u2013 so the invasion of the outer by vital movements can in no way
\ncompel the action. It is on the contrary a very favourable stage in the
\ntransformation because the inner being can bring the whole force of the higher
\nconsciousness in it to change the nature wholly, observing the action of Nature
\nwithout being affected by it, putting the force for change wherever needed and
\nsetting the whole being right as one does with a machine. That is if one wants a
\ntransformation. For many Vedantins don’t think it necessary \u2013 they say the inner
\nbeing is mukta<\/i><\/span>,
\nthe rest is simply a mechanical continuation of the impetus of Nature in the
\nphysical man and will drop away with the body so that one can depart into
\nNirvana.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nThat is the old Vedantic idea \u2013 to be free and detached within and leave the
\nPrakriti to itself. When you die, the Purusha will go to glory and the Prakriti
\ndrop off \u2013 perhaps into hell. This theory is a source of any amount of
\nself-deception and wilful self-indulgence.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nYou can certainly go on developing the consciousness of the Witness Purusha
\nabove, but if it is only a witness and the lower Prakriti is allowed to have its
\nown way, there would be no reason <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1008<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nwhy these conditions should ever stop. Many take that attitude \u2013 that the
\nPurusha has to liberate itself by standing apart, and the Prakriti can be
\nallowed to go on till the end of the life doing its own business \u2013 it is prārabdha<\/i><\/span> karma<\/i>; when the body falls away, the
\nPrakriti will drop also and the Purusha go off into the featureless Brahman!
\nThis is a comfortable theory, but of more than doubtful truth; I don’t think
\nliberation is so simple and facile a matter as that. In any case, the
\ntransformation which is the object of our yoga would not take place.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Purusha above is not only a Witness, he is the giver (or
\nwithholder) of the sanction; if he persistently refuses the sanction to a
\nmovement of Prakriti, keeping himself detached, then, even if it goes on for a
\ntime by its past momentum, it usually loses its hold after a time, becomes more
\nfeeble, less persistent, less concrete and in the end fades away. If you take
\nthe Purusha consciousness, it should be not only as the Witness but as the Anumanta<\/span>, refusing sanction to the disturbing movements,
\nsanctioning only peace, calm, purity and whatever else is part of the divine
\nnature. This refusal of sanction need not mean a struggle with the lower
\nPrakriti; it should be a quiet, persistent, detached refusal leaving
\nunsupported, unassented<\/span> to, without meaning or
\njustification, the contrary action of the nature.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nWhen one follows after the impersonal Self, one is moving between two opposite
\nprinciples \u2013 the silence and purity of the impersonal inactive Atman and the
\nactivity of the ignorant Prakriti. One can pass into the Self, leaving the
\nignorant nature or reducing it to silence. Or else, one can live in the peace
\nand freedom of the Self and watch the action of Nature as a witness. Even one
\nmay put some sattwic control, by tapasya<\/span>, over the
\naction of the Prakriti; but the impersonal Self has no power to change or
\ndivinise the nature. For that one has to go beyond the impersonal Self and seek
\nafter the Divine who is both personal and impersonal and beyond these two
\naspects. If, however, you practise living in the impersonal Self and can achieve
\na certain spiritual impersonality, then you grow in equality, purity, <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1009<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\npeace, detachment, you get the power of living in an inner freedom not touched
\nby the surface movement or struggle of the mental, vital and physical nature,
\nand this becomes a great help when you have to go beyond the impersonal and to
\nchange the troubled nature also into something divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the offering of the actions to the Divine and the vital
\ndifficulty it raises, it is not possible to avoid the difficulty \u2013 you have to
\ngo through and conquer it. For, the moment you make this attempt, the vital
\narises with all its restless imperfections to oppose the change. However, there
\nare three things you can do to alleviate and shorten the difficulty:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Detach yourself from this vital-physical \u2013 observe it as something
\nnot yourself; reject it, refuse your consent to its claims and impulses, but
\nquietly as the witness Purusha whose refusal of sanction must ultimately
\nprevail. This ought not to be difficult for you, if you have already learned to
\nlive more and more in the impersonal Self.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. When you are not in this impersonality, still use your mental will
\nand its power of assent or refusal, \u2013 not with a painful struggle, but in the
\nsame way, quietly, denying the claims of Desire, till these claims by loss of
\nsanction and assent lose their force of return and become more and more faint
\nand external.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. If you become aware of the Divine above you or in your heart, call
\nfor help, for light and power from there to change the vital itself, and at the
\nsame time insist upon this vital till it itself learns to pray for the change.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, the difficulty will be reduced to its smallest proportions
\nthe moment you can by the sincerity of your aspiration to the Divine and your
\nsurrender awaken the psychic being in you (the Purusha in the secret heart) so
\nthat it will come forward and remain in front and pour its influence on all the
\nmovements of the mind, the vital and the physical consciousness. The work of
\ntransformation will still have to be done, but from that moment it will no
\nlonger be so hard and painful.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nObviously not. The witness attitude is not meant as a convenient<\/span>
\nmeans for disowning the responsibility of one’s defects and thereby refusing to
\nmend them. It is meant for self-knowledge and, in our yoga, as a convenient
\nstation (detached and uninvolved, therefore not subject to Prakriti) from which
\none can act on the wrong movements by refusal of assent and by substituting for
\nthem the action of the true consciousness from within or above. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1010<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n


\nIII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\na very serious difficulty in one’s yoga \u2013 the absence of a central will always
\nsuperior to the waves of the Prakriti forces, always in touch with the Mother,
\nimposing its central aim and aspiration on the nature. That is because you have
\nnot yet learned to live in your central being; you have been accustomed to run
\nwith every wave of Force, no matter of what kind, that rushed upon you and to
\nidentify yourself with it for the time being. It is one of the things that has
\nto be unlearned; you must find your central being with the psychic as its basis
\nand live in it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So
\nlong as the mind is jumping about or rushing out to outside things, it is not
\npossible to be inward, collected, conscious within.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To be
\naware of one’s central consciousness and to know the action of the forces is the
\nfirst definite step towards self-mastery.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[consciousness] means both. One must be conscious of all one’s states and
\nmovements and the causes and influences that bring them about and conscious too
\nof the Divine \u2013 the memory, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1011<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\npresence, power, peace, light, knowledge, love, Ananda of the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDetachment is the beginning of mastery, but for complete mastery there should be
\nno reactions at all. When there is something within undisturbed by the reactions
\nthat means the inner being is free and master of itself, but it is not yet
\nmaster of the whole nature. When it is master, it allows no wrong reactions \u2013 if
\nany come they are at once repelled and shaken off, and finally none come at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nmust gather yourself within more firmly. If you disperse yourself constantly, go
\nout of the inner circle, you will constantly move about in the pettiness of the
\nordinary outer nature and under the influences to which it is open. Learn to
\nlive within, to act always from within, from a constant communion with the
\nMother. It may be difficult at first to do it always and completely, but it can
\nbe done if one sticks to it \u2013 and it is at that price, by learning to do that,
\nthat one can have the siddhi in the yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nmust have somehow externalised yourself too much. It is only by living in one’s
\ninner consciousness and doing everything from there that the right psychic
\ncondition can be kept. Otherwise it goes inside and the external covers it up.
\nIt is not lost, but hidden \u2013 one must go inside again to recover it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nthe past habit of the vital that makes you repeatedly go out into the external
\npart; you must persist and establish the opposite habit of living in your inner
\nbeing which is your true being and of looking at everything from there. It is
\nfrom there that <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1012<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

you
\nget the true thought, the true vision and understanding of things and of your
\nown self and nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes.
\nWhen one is in the right consciousness, then there is the right movement, the
\nright happiness, everything in harmony with the Truth.<\/p>\n

\nWhen there is the wrong consciousness, there is demand, dissatisfaction, doubt,
\nall kinds of disharmony.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ndifference is when a thing is done with the inner mind and when it is done only
\nwith the outer brain. What you feel is the inner mind taking it up \u2013 then it
\nbecomes part of the consciousness and things are really learned \u2013 the working of
\nthe outer mind is always difficult and superficial.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is evident that the inner being in you is beginning to come more and more
\nforward. As it does so, these outer difficulties will be more and more pushed
\nout and the consciousness will keep the peace and force at first in the greater
\npart of it, afterwards in the whole.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nthat is all right. Relying on outer methods mainly never succeeds very well. It
\nis only when there is the inner poise that the outer movement is really
\neffective and then it comes of itself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\ngood. Fasten on the true thing, the concentration in the inner being and the
\ninner life. All these outer things are of minor importance and it is only when
\nthe inner life is well established that the difficulties with which they are
\nhampered can get their true solution. That you have seen several times when you
\nwent inside. To be too much occupied in mind with the outer
\ndifficulties<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1013<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

keeps it externalised. Living inwardly you will find the Mother
\nclose to you and realise her will and her action.<\/p>\n

\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ndifficulty is that you attach so much importance to things that are of quite a
\nsmall value. You behave as if to have or have not a table is something of
\nsupreme importance and worry and excite yourself so much about the rights and
\nwrongs of the matter that you allow it to upset your whole peace of mind and
\nmake you fall from the true condition. These things are small and relative \u2013 you
\nmay have a new table or you may not have a new table, neither way is of any very
\ngreat importance and it makes no difference to the Divine Purpose in you. The
\none thing important is to increase calm and peace and the descent of the Divine
\nForce, to grow in equality and inward light and consciousness. Outward things
\nhave to be done with a great quiet, doing whatever is necessary but not exciting
\nor upsetting yourself about anything. It is only so that you can advance
\nsteadily and quickly. When you feel the Mother’s Force about you, the peace
\nclosely round you that is the one thing of importance \u2013 these small outward
\nthings can be settled in a hundred different ways, it does not really matter. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nIV<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ndream about X was of course a continuation of the process of clearing out
\nremnants of the old movement from the subconscious vital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe experience you relate, the stillness, the emptiness of mind and vital and
\ncessation of thoughts and other movements was the coming of the state called
\n\u201csamadhi\u201d in which the consciousness goes inside in a deep stillness and
\nsilence. This condition is favourable to inner experience, realisation, the
\nvision of the unseen truth of things, though one can get these in the waking
\ncondition also. It is not sleep but the state in which one feels conscious
\nwithin, no longer outside.
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1014<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tThe diamond in your heart was a formation of the light of Mother’s
\n\t\tconsciousness there, \u2013 for the Mother’s light is of a white and at its
\n\t\tmost intense of a diamond radiance. The light is a sign of the Mother’s
\n\t\tpresence in your heart and that is what you saw once and felt for a
\n\t\tmoment.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

\nThe inability to read books or papers is often felt when the consciousness is
\ngetting the tendency to go inside.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nexperience you had is of course the going inside of the consciousness which is
\nusually called trance or samādhi<\/i>. The
\nmost important part of it however is the silence of the mind and vital which is
\nfully extended to the body also. To get the capacity of this silence and peace
\nis a most important step in the sadhana. It comes at first in meditation and may
\nthrow the consciousness inward in trance, but it has to come afterwards in the
\nwaking state and establish itself as a permanent basis for all the life and
\naction. It is the condition for the realisation of the Self and the spiritual
\ntransformation of the nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n1. No, it was not sleep. You went inside into an inner consciousness; in this
\ninner consciousness one is awake inside, but not outside, not conscious of
\nexternal things but of inner things only. Your inner consciousness was busy
\ndoing what your outer mind had been trying to do, that is to work upon the
\nthoughts and suggestions that bring restlessness and to put them right; it can
\nbe done much more easily by the inner consciousness than by the outer mind.<\/p>\n

\n2. As for the things that are necessary to be done, they can be done much more
\neasily by the Force and Peace descending (bringing the solid strength) than by
\nyour own mental effort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis no reason why one should not have a burning aspiration <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1015<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

in
\nsleep, provided one is conscious in sleep. In fact, the condition you describe
\nwas not sleep \u2013 it was simply that the consciousness was trying to go inside in
\na sort of indrawn condition (a kind of half-samadhi) while the external mind was
\nconstantly coming out of it. What you have, if you go into this indrawn
\ncondition, is not dreams but spiritual experiences or visions or experiences in
\nother supraphysical<\/span> planes of consciousness. Your burning
\naspiration was just such a spiritual experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About
\nyour experiences:<\/p>\n

\n

\n1. The sleep which you felt when meditating was not sleep but an inward
\ncondition of the consciousness. When this inward condition is not very deep, one
\ncan be aware of various scenes, voices, etc. which belong not to the physical
\nbut to some inner plane of consciousness \u2013 their value or truth depends on the
\nplane to which one reaches. Those of the surface are of no importance and one
\nhas simply to pass through them till one gets deeper.<\/p>\n

\n2. The fear, anger, depression, etc. which used to rise when making the
\nJapa<\/span> of the names came from a vital resistance in the nature (this
\nresistance exists in everyone) which threw up these things because of the
\npressure on the vital part to change which is implied in sadhana. These
\nresistances rise and then, if one takes the right attitude, slowly or quickly
\nclear away. One has to observe them and separate oneself from them, persisting
\nin the concentration and sadhana till the vital becomes quiet and clear.<\/p>\n

\n3. The things you saw (moon, sky, etc.) are due to the opening of the inner
\nvision; this usually comes when the concentration begins to open up the inner
\nconsciousness of which this subtle vision is a part. This faculty of vision has
\nits importance in the development of the inner being, and need not be
\ndiscouraged, even though too much importance should not be attached to the
\nthings seen in the earlier stages.<\/p>\n

\n4. There are some, however, that are part of the growing spiritual experience,
\nsuch as the sun you saw overhead and the piece of golden light \u2013 for these are
\nsigns of an opening within <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1016<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

and
\nsymbolic. Both are symbols of the Divine Truth and Light and of one action of
\ntheir influence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n5. The most important experience, however, is that of the peace and quiet which
\ncomes with a good concentration. It is this that must grow and fix itself in the
\nmind and vital and body \u2013 for it is this peace and quiet that make a firm basis
\nfor the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n1. All these thoughts and influences come really from outside, from universal
\nNature \u2013 they create formations in us or get habitual responses from the
\nindividual being. When they are rejected, they go back into the external
\nuniversal Nature and if one becomes conscious, one can feel them coming from
\noutside and trying to get a lodging inside again or reawaken the habitual
\nresponse. One has to reject them persistently till no possibility of response
\nremains any longer. This is hastened much if a certain inner calm, purity and
\nsilence can be established from which these things fall away without being able
\nto touch it.<\/p>\n

\n2. It is a common obstacle with all who practice yoga at the beginning. The
\nsleep disappears gradually in two ways: (a) by the intensifying of the fire of
\nconcentration, (b) by the sleep itself becoming a kind of svapna-samādhi<\/i> in which one is conscious
\nof inner experiences that are not dreams (i.e. the waking consciousness is lost
\nfor the time but it is replaced not by sleep but by an inward conscious state in
\nwhich one moves in the supraphysical<\/span> or the mental or
\nvital being).<\/p>\n

\n3. About unconsciousness coming in in<\/span>
\nsleep: This is quite usual. Consciousness in sleep can only be gradually
\nestablished with the growth of the true consciousness in the waking state.<\/p>\n

\n4. The cardiac centre and the heart centre are the same.<\/p>\n

\n5. A concrete imagery, such as you use, can help to bring about the descent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to
\nthe dream, it was not a dream but an experience of the inner being in a
\nconscious dream-state, svapna-samādhi<\/i>. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1017<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nThe numbness and the feeling of being about to lose consciousness are always due to
\nthe pressure or descent of a Force to which the body is not accustomed but feels
\nstrongly. Here it was not the physical body that was being directly pressed, but
\nthe subtle body, sūkşma<\/i><\/span> śarīra<\/span><\/i>, in
\nwhich the inner being more intimately dwells and in which it goes out in sleep
\nor trance or at the moment of death. But the physical body in these vivid
\nexperiences feels as if it was itself that was having the experience; the
\nnumbness was the effect in it of the pressure. The pressure on the whole body
\nwould mean a pressure on the whole inner consciousness, perhaps for some
\nmodification or change which would make it more ready for knowledge or
\nexperience; the third or fourth rib would indicate a region which belongs to the
\nvital nature, the domain of the life-force, some pressure for a change there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis no need of the question. At this stage you have only to watch the experiences
\nand observe their significance. It is only when the experiences are in the vital
\nrealm that some are likely to be false formations. These of which you write are
\nsimply the common experiences of an opening yogic consciousness and they have to
\nbe understood, simply. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nHere it is the breaking up of the small surface vital into the largeness of the
\ntrue or inner vital being which can at once open to the Higher Consciousness,
\nits power, light and Ananda. There is also begun a similar breaking of the small
\nphysical mind and sense into the wideness of the inner physical consciousness.
\nThe inner planes are always wide and open into the Universal, while the outer
\nsurface parts are shut up in themselves and full of narrow and ignorant
\nmovements. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your
\nseries of experiences are very interesting by the constant (though interspaced)
\ndevelopment they illustrate. These two new significant elements have been added
\nto the previous substance of the experience. The first is the very precise
\nlocalisation of the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1018<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n


\nuprush<\/span> of the consciousness from the pit of the stomach \u2013 that is to say,
\nfrom above the navel, the movement itself starting from the navel itself, even
\nbelow it. The navel-centre (nābhi-padma<\/i><\/span>) is
\nthe main seat of the centralised vital consciousness (dynamic centre) which
\nranges from the heart level (emotional) to the centre below the navel (lower
\nvital, sensational desire centre). These three make the domain of the vital
\nbeing. It is therefore clear that it was your inner vital being which had this
\nexperience, and its intensity and vehemence was probably due to the whole vital
\n(or most of it) being awake and sharing in it this time. The experience itself
\nwas psychic in its origin, but was given a strong emotional-vital form in its
\nexpression. I may add, for completeness, that the centre of the psychic is
\nbehind the heart and it is through the purified emotions that the psychic most
\neasily finds an outlet. All from the heart above is connected with the
\nmental-vital and above it is the mind with its three centres. One in the throat
\n(the outward-going or externalising mind), one between the eyes or rather in the
\nmiddle of the forehead (the centre of vision and will) and one above,
\ncommunicating with the brain, which is called the thousand-petalled<\/span>
\nlotus, and where are centralised the highest thought and intelligence,
\ncommunicating with the greater mind planes (illumined mind, intuition, overmind)
\nabove.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe second new significant feature is the self-manifestation of the inner mind;
\nfor it was your inner mind that was watching, observing and criticising the
\nvital being’s psychic experience. You found this clear division in you curious,
\nbut it will no longer seem curious once you know the perfectly normal
\ndivisibility of the different parts of the being. In the outer surface nature,
\nmind, psychic, vital, physical are all jumbled together and it needs a strong
\npower of introspection, self-analysis, close observation and disentanglement of
\nthe threads of thought, feeling and impulse to find out the composition of our
\nnature and the relation and interaction of these parts upon each other. But when
\none goes inside as you have done, we find the sources of all this surface action
\nand there the parts of our being are quite separate and clearly distinct from
\neach other. We feel them indeed as different beings in us, and just as two
\npeople in a joint action can do,
\n <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1019<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

they
\ntoo are seen to observe, criticise, help or oppose and restrain each other; it
\nis as if we were a group-being, each member of the group with its separate place
\nand function, and all directed by a central being who is sometimes in front
\nabove the others, sometimes behind the scenes. Your mental being was observing
\nthe vital and not quite easy about its vehemence, for the natural base of the
\nmental being is calm, thoughtfulness, restraint, control and balance, while the
\nnatural turn of the vital is dynamism, energy thrown into emotion, sensation and
\naction. All therefore was perfectly natural and in order.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nexplanation of your experience is plain. The lower being (vital and physical)
\nwas receiving an influence (mental light, yellow) from the thinking mind and
\nhigher vital which was clearing it of the old habitual lower vital reactions:
\nvery often in the sadhana one feels the inner being speaking to the outer or the
\nmind or higher vital speaking to the lower so as to enlighten it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nimportant experience is that of the white ray in the heart \u2013 the white light and
\nthe illumining of the heart by the light is a thing of great power in this
\nsadhana. The intuitions she speaks of are a sign of the inner consciousness
\ngrowing in her \u2013 the consciousness which is necessary for yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nthree experiences of which you speak belong all to the same movement or the same
\nstage of your spiritual life: they are initial movements of the consciousness to
\nbecome aware of your inner being which was veiled, as in most, by the outer
\nwaking self. There are, we might say, two beings in us, one on the surface, our
\nordinary exterior mind, life, body consciousness, another behind the veil, an
\ninner mind, an inner life, an inner physical<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1020<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nconsciousness constituting another or inner self. This inner self once awake
\nopens in its turn to our true real eternal self. It opens inwardly to the soul,
\ncalled in the language of this yoga the psychic being which supports our
\nsuccessive births and at each birth assumes a new mind, life and body. It opens
\nabove to the Self or Spirit which is unborn and by conscious recovery of it we
\ntranscend the changing personality and achieve freedom and full mastery over our
\nnature.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYou did quite right in first developing the sattwic qualities and building up
\nthe inner meditative quietude. It is possible by strenuous meditation or by
\ncertain methods of tense endeavour to open doors on to the inner being or even
\nbreak down some of the walls between the inner and outer self before finishing
\nor even undertaking this preliminary self-discipline, but it is not always wise
\nto do it as that may lead to conditions of sadhana which may be very turbid,
\nchaotic, beset with unnecessary dangers. By adopting the more patient course you
\nhave arrived at a point at which the doors of the inner being have begun almost
\nautomatically to swing open. Now both processes can go on side by side, but it
\nis necessary to keep the sattwic quietude, patience, vigilance, \u2013 to hurry
\nnothing, to force nothing, not to be led away by any strong lure or call of the
\nintermediate stage which is now beginning, before you are sure that it is the
\nright call. For there are many vehement pulls from the forces of the inner
\nplanes which it is not safe to follow.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYour first experience is an opening into the inner mental self \u2013 the space
\nbetween the eyebrows is the centre of the inner mind, vision, will and the blue
\nlight you saw was that of a higher mental plane, a spiritual mind, one might
\nsay, which is above the ordinary human mental intelligence. An opening into this
\nhigher mind is usually accompanied by a silence of the ordinary mental thought.
\nOur thoughts are not really created within ourselves independently in the small
\nnarrow thinking machine we call our mind; in fact, they come to us from a vast
\nmental space or ether either as mind-waves or waves of mind-force that carry a
\nsignificance which takes shape in our personal mind or as thought-formations
\nready-made which we adopt and call ours. Our outer mind is blind to this process
\nof Nature; but by the
\n                               <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1021<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nawakening of the inner mind we can become aware of it. What you saw was the
\nreceding of this constant mental invasion and the retreat of the thought-forms
\nbeyond the horizon of the wide space of mental Nature. You felt this horizon to
\nbe in yourself somewhere, but evidently it was in that larger self-space which
\neven in its more limited field just between the eyebrows you felt to be bigger
\nthan the corresponding physical space. In fact, though the inner mind-spaces
\nhave horizons, they stretch beyond those horizons \u2013 illimitably. The inner mind
\nis something very wide projecting itself into the infinite and finally
\nidentifying itself with the infinity of universal Mind. When we break out of the
\nnarrow limits of the external physical mind we begin to see inwardly and to feel
\nthis wideness, in the end this universality and infinity of the mental
\nself-space. Thoughts are not the essence of mind-being, they are only an
\nactivity of mental nature; if that activity ceases, what appears then as a
\nthought-free existence that manifests in its place is not a blank or void but
\nsomething very real, substantial, concrete we may say \u2013 a mental being that
\nextends itself widely and can be its own field of existence silent or active as
\nwell as the Witness, Knower, Master of that field and its action. Some feel it
\nfirst as a void, but that is because their observation is untrained and
\ninsufficient and loss of activity gives them the sense of blank; an emptiness
\nthere is, but it is an emptiness of the ordinary activities, not a blank of
\nexistence. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThe recurrence of the experience of the receding away of thoughts, the cessation
\nof the thought-generating mechanism and its replacement by the mental
\nself-space, is normal and as it should be; for this silence or at any rate the
\ncapacity for it has to grow until one can have it at will or even established in
\nan automatic permanence. For this silence of the ordinary mind-mechanism is
\nnecessary in order that the higher mentality may manifest, descend, occupy by
\ndegrees the place of the present imperfect mentality and transform the
\nactivities of the latter into its own fuller movements. The difficulty of its
\ncoming when you are at work is only at the beginning \u2013 afterwards, when it is
\nmore settled, one finds that one can carry on all the activities of life either
\nin the pervading silence itself or at least with that as<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1022<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

the
\nsupport and background. The silence remains behind and there is the necessary
\naction on the surface or the silence is our wide self and somewhere in it an
\nactive Power does the works of Nature without disturbing the silence. It is
\ntherefore quite right to suspend the work while the visitation of the experience
\nis there \u2013 the development of this inner silent consciousness is sufficiently
\nimportant to justify a brief interruption or pause.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIn the case of the other two experiences, on the contrary, it is otherwise. The
\ndream experience must not be allowed to take hold of the waking hours and pull
\nthe consciousness within; it must confine its operation to the hours of sleep.
\nSo too there should be no push or pressure to break down the wall between the
\ninner self and the outer \u201cI\u201d \u2013 the fusion must be allowed to take place by a
\ndeveloping inner action in its own natural time. I shall explain why in another
\nletter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your
\nsecond experience is a first movement of the awakening of the inner being in
\nsleep. Ordinarily when one sleeps a complex phenomenon happens. The waking
\nconsciousness is no longer there, for all has been withdrawn within into the
\ninner realms of which we are not aware when we are awake, though they exist; for
\nthen all that is put behind a veil by the waking mind and nothing remains except
\nthe surface self and the outward world \u2013 much as the veil of the sunlight hides
\nfrom us the vast worlds of the stars that are behind it. Sleep is a going inward
\nin which the surface self and the outside world are put away from our sense and
\nvision. But in ordinary sleep we do not become aware of the worlds within; the
\nbeing seems submerged in a deep subconscience. On the surface of this
\nsubconscience floats an obscure layer in which dreams take place, as it seems to
\nus, but, more correctly it may be said, are recorded. When we go very deeply
\nasleep, we have what appears to us as a dreamless slumber; but, in fact, dreams
\nare going on, but they are either too deep down to reach the recording surface
\nor are forgotten, all recollection of their having existed even is wiped out in
\nthe transition to the waking consciousness. Ordinary dreams are <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1023<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

for
\nthe most part or seem to be incoherent, because they are either woven by the
\nsubconscient out of deep-lying impressions left in it by our past inner and
\nouter life, woven in a fantastic way which does not easily yield any clue of
\nmeaning to the waking mind’s remembrance, or are fragmentary records, mostly
\ndistorted, of experiences which are going on behind the veil of sleep \u2013 very
\nlargely indeed these two elements get mixed up together. For, in fact, a large
\npart of our consciousness in sleep does not get sunk into this subconscious
\nstate; it passes beyond the veil into other planes of being which are connected
\nwith our own inner planes, planes of supraphysical<\/span>
\nexistence, worlds of a larger life, mind or psyche which are there behind and
\nwhose influences come to us without our knowledge. Occasionally we get a dream
\nfrom these planes, something more than a dream, \u2013 a dream experience which is a
\nrecord direct or symbolic of what happens to us or around us there. As the inner
\nconsciousness grows by sadhana, these dream experiences increase in number,
\nclearness, coherence, accuracy and after some growth of experience and
\nconsciousness, we can, if we observe, come to understand them and their
\nsignificance to our inner life. Even we can by training become so conscious as
\nto follow our own passage, usually veiled to our awareness and memory, through
\nmany realms and the process of the return to the waking state. At a certain
\npitch of this inner wakefulness this kind of sleep, a sleep of experiences, can
\nreplace the ordinary subconscious slumber. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is of course an inner being or consciousness or something of the inner self
\nthat grows in this way, not as usually it is, behind the veil of sleep, but in
\nthe sleep itself. In the condition which you describe, it is just becoming aware
\nof sleep and dream and observing them \u2013 but as yet nothing farther \u2013 unless
\nthere is something in the nature of your dreams that has escaped you. But it is
\nsufficiently awake for the surface consciousness to remember this state, that is
\nto say, to receive and keep the report of it even in the transition from the
\nsleep to the waking state which usually abolishes by oblivion all but fragments
\nof the record of sleep happenings. You are right in feeling that the waking
\nconsciousness and this which is awake in sleep are not the same \u2013 they are
\ndifferent parts of the being. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1024<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

           
\nWhen this growth of the inner sleep consciousness begins, there is often a pull
\nto go inside and pursue the development even when there is no fatigue or need of
\nsleep. Another cause aids this pull. It is usually the vital part of the inner
\nbeing that first wakes in sleep and the first dream experiences (as opposed to
\nordinary dreams) are usually, in the great mass, experiences of the vital plane,
\na world of supraphysical<\/span> life, full of variety and
\ninterest, with many provinces, luminous or obscure, beautiful or perilous, often
\nextremely attractive, where we can get much knowledge too both of our concealed
\nparts of nature and of things happening to us behind the veil and of others
\nwhich are of concern for the development of our parts of nature. The vital being
\nin us then may get very much attracted to this range of experience, may want to
\nlive more in it and less in the outer life. This would be the source of that
\nwanting to get back to something interesting and enthralling which accompanies
\nthe desire to fall into sleep. But this must not be encouraged in waking hours,
\nit should be kept for hours set apart for sleep where it gets its natural field.
\nOtherwise there may be an unbalancing, a tendency to live more and too much in
\nthe visions of the supraphysical<\/span> realms and a decrease of the hold on outer
\nrealities. The knowledge, the enlargement of our consciousness of these fields
\nof inner nature is very desirable, but it must be kept in its own place and
\nlimits.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In my
\nlast letter I had postponed the explanation of your third experience. What you
\nhave felt is indeed a touch of the Self, not the unborn Self above, the Atman of
\nthe Upanishads, for that is differently experienced through the silence of the
\nthinking mind, but the inner being, the psychic supporting the inner mental,
\nvital, physical being, of which I have spoken. A time must come for every seeker
\nof complete self-knowledge when he is thus aware of living in two worlds, two
\nconsciousnesses at the same time, two parts of the same existence. At present he
\nlives in the outer self, but he will go more and more inward, till the position
\nis reversed and he lives within in this new inner consciousness, inner self and
\nfeels the outer as something on the
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1025<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nsurface formed as an instrumental personality for the inner’s<\/span>
\nself-expression in the material world. Then from within a Power works on the
\nouter to make it a conscious plastic instrument so that finally the inner and
\nthe outer may become fused into one. The wall you feel is indeed the wall of the
\nego which is based on the insistent identification of oneself with the outer
\npersonality and its movements. It is that identification which is the keystone
\nof the limitation and bondage from which the outer being suffers, preventing
\nexpansion, self-knowledge, spiritual freedom. But still the wall must not be
\nprematurely broken down, because that may lead to a disruption or confusion or
\ninvasion of either part by the movements of the two separated worlds before they
\nare ready to harmonise. A certain separation is necessary for some time after
\none has become aware of these two parts of the being as existing together. The
\nforce of the yoga must be given time to make the necessary adjustments and
\nopenings and to take the being inward and then from this inward poise to work on
\nthe outer nature.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThis does not mean that one should not allow the consciousness to go inward so
\nthat as soon as possible it should live in the inward world of being and see all
\nanew from there. That inward going is most desirable and necessary and that
\nchange of vision also. I mean only that all should be done by a natural movement
\nwithout haste. The movement of going inward may come rapidly, but even after
\nthat something of the wall of ego will be there and it will have to be steadily
\nand patiently taken down so that no stone of it may abide. My warning against
\nallowing the sleep world to encroach on the waking hours is limited to that
\nalone and does not refer to the inward movement in waking concentration or
\nordinary waking consciousness. The waking movement carries us finally into the
\ninner self and by that inner self we grow into contact with and knowledge of the
\nsupraphysical<\/span> worlds, but this contact and knowledge need not and should
\nnot lead to an excessive preoccupation with them or a subjection to their beings
\nand forces. In sleep we actually enter into these worlds and there is the
\ndanger, if the attraction of the sleep consciousness is too great and encroaches
\non the waking consciousness, of this excessive preoccupation and influence. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1026<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

           
\nIt is quite true that an inner purity and sincerity, in which one is
\nmotived<\/span> only by the higher call, is one’s best
\nsafeguard against the lures of the intermediate stage. It keeps one on the right
\ntrack and guards from deviation, until the psychic being is fully awake and in
\nfront and, once that happens, there is no further danger. If, in addition to
\nthis purity and sincerity, there is a clear mind with a power of discrimination,
\nthat increases the safety in the earlier stages. I do not think I need or should
\nspecify too fully or exactly the forms the lure or pull is likely to take. It
\nmay be better not to call up these forces by an attention to them which may not
\nbe necessary. I do not suppose you are likely to be drawn away from the path by
\nany of the greater perilous attractions. As for the minor inconveniences of the
\nintermediate stage, they are not dangerous and can easily be set right as one
\ngoes by the growth of consciousness, discrimination and sure experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAs I have said, the inward pull, the pull towards going inward is not
\nundesirable and need not be resisted. At a particular stage it may be
\naccompanied by an abundance of visions due to the growth of the inner sight
\nwhich sees things belonging to all the planes of existence. That is a valuable
\npower helpful in the sadhana and should not be discouraged. But one must see and
\nobserve without attachment, keeping always the main object in front, realisation
\nof the inner Self and the Divine \u2013 these things should only be regarded as
\nincidental to the growth of consciousness and helpful to it, not as objects in
\nthemselves to be followed for their own sake. There should also be a
\ndiscriminating mind which puts each thing in its place and can pause to
\nunderstand its field and nature. There are some who become so eager after these
\nsubsidiary experiences that they begin to lose all sense of the true distinction
\nand demarcation between different fields of reality. All that takes place in
\nthese experiences must not be taken as true \u2013 one has to discriminate, see what
\nis mental formation or subjective construction and what is true, what is only
\nsuggestion from the larger mental and vital planes or what has reality only
\nthere and what is of value for help or guidance in inner sadhana or outer life.
\n                                                                                                               <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1027<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

X’s
\nexperiences are those which usually attend the withdrawal from the outer
\nconsciousness into an inner plane of experience. The feeling of coldness of the
\nbody in the first is one of the signs \u2013 like the immobility and stiffness of Y’s
\nexperience \u2013 that the consciousness is withdrawing from the outer or physical
\nsheath and retiring inside. The crystallisation was the form in which he felt
\nthe organisation of an inner consciousness which could receive at once firmly
\nand freely from above. The crystals at once indicate organised formation and a
\nfirm transparence<\/span> in which the greater vision and experience
\ndescending from the higher planes could be clearly reflected.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAs for the other experience, his rejection of the waking consciousness evidently
\nhad the result of throwing him into an inner awareness in which he began to have
\ncontact with the supraphysical<\/span> planes. What was meant
\nby the sea of red colour and stars depends on the character of the red colour.
\nIf it was crimson, what he saw was the sea of the physical consciousness and
\nphysical life as it is represented to the inner symbolic vision; if it was
\npurple red, then it was the sea of the vital consciousness and the vital
\nlife-force. Perhaps, if he had not stopped his sense of the Mother’s presence,
\nit would have been better, \u2013 he should rather, if he can, take it with him into
\nthe inner planes, then he would have had no occasion to fear.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIn any case, if he wants to go into the inner consciousness and move in the
\ninner planes \u2013 which will inevitably happen if he shuts off the waking
\nconsciousness in his meditation \u2013 he must cast away fear. Probably he expected
\nto get the silence or the touch of the Divine Consciousness by following out the
\nsuggestion of the Gita. But the silence or the touch of the Divine Consciousness
\ncan be equally and for some more easily got in the waking meditation through the
\nMother’s presence and the descent from above. The inward movement, however, is
\nprobably unavoidable and he should try to understand and, not shrinking or
\nafraid, to go to it with the same confidence and faith in the Mother as he has
\nin the waking meditation. His dreams are, of course, experiences on the inner
\n(vital) plane; I need not repeat the explanation I have already given to Y. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1028<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

           
\nP.S. The dream about the Mahadeva<\/span> image may mean that
\nsomeone (not of this world, of course) wanted to mislead him and make him
\nconfuse some narrower traditional form of the past with the greater living Truth
\nthat he is seeking. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nthings you feel are due to the fact that the consciousness goes inside, so
\nphysical things are felt as if they were at a distance. The same phenomenon can
\nhappen when one goes into another plane of consciousness and sees physical
\nthings from there. But it is probably the first that is happening with you. When
\none goes quite inside, then physical things disappear, \u2013 when some connection is
\nkept, then they become distant. But this is a transitory change. Afterwards, you
\nwill be able to have the two consciousnesses together, be in your psychic in one
\npart of yourself with all the experience and activities of the psychic being and
\nnature and yet with your surface self fully awake and active in physical things
\nwith the psychic support and influence behind this outer action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nevidently in a subtle world, not the physical that you move; that is evident
\nfrom the different arrangement of things, but such details as the third arm and
\nthe book-marker removed yet there show that it is a subtle world very near to
\nthe physical; it is either a subtle-physical world or a very material vital
\ndomain. In all the subtle domains the physical is reproduced with a change, the
\nchange growing freer and more elastic as one gets farther away. Such details as
\nthe lameness show the same thing, \u2013 the hold of the physical is still there. It
\nis possible to move about in the physical world, but usually that can only be
\ndone by drawing on the atmosphere of other physical beings for a stronger
\nmaterialisation of the form \u2013 when that happens one moves among them and sees
\nthem and all the surroundings exactly as they are at that time in the physical
\nworld and one can verify the accuracy of the details if immediately after
\nreturning to the body (which is
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1029<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nusually done with a clear consciousness of the whole process of getting into it)
\none can traverse the same scene in the physical body. But this is rare; the
\nsubtle wandering is on the contrary a frequent phenomenon, only when it is near
\nto the physical world all seems very material and concrete and the association
\nof physical habits and physical mental movements with the subtle events is
\ncloser.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was
\na partial exteriorisation, part of the consciousness going out to the scene and
\nsurroundings described by you while the rest remained in the body and was aware
\nboth of the normal surroundings and, by communication or indirect participation,
\nof what the other was experiencing. This is quite possible and for that no form
\nof trance or loss of external consciousness is necessary. As for the cause of
\nsuch an experience, it does not depend at all on one’s own ordinary mental or
\nother interests; it comes by a sort of attraction or touch from someone who is
\nthere on the scene and who feels the need of sympathy, support or help of some
\nkind, a need so strong that it forms a sort of call; it is very usually somebody
\nquite unknown and it just depends on whom the call happens to touch because he
\nis open at the time and receives the vibration and has the capacity to answer.
\nUsually there is a sort of identification of consciousness with that of the
\nperson calling so that one can see the surroundings and the things happening
\nthrough him. It is the physical that becomes nervous at these experiences and
\nthis must be overcome; as the inner mental, vital, physical consciousness opens
\nto things behind the thick physical veil all kinds of experiences may happen
\nthat are strange to the physical mind and its tendency to be apprehensive or
\nnervous at these things must disappear. It must be able to face even formidable
\nthings without fear. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nFor the eyes, that experience had got a certain hold and it was not to be
\nexpected that it would altogether disappear all at once. These things try to
\npersist, but if the refusal is firm and unchanging, they fade away after a time
\nor cease. The lessening of the intensity of the Ananda is already a sign that
\nthe rejection <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1030<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

is
\nhaving its effect. You have only to persist and after a time the vital
\nconsciousness will be free.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nplace where you were is as much a world of fact and reality as is the material
\nworld and its happenings have sometimes a great effect on this world. What an
\nignorant lot of disciples you all are! Too much modernisation and
\nEuropeanisation<\/span>
\nby half!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThese things are meetings on the vital plane, but very often in the
\ntranscription of what happened some details get in that are contributed by the
\nsubconscient. The rest seems all right. The writing on the forehead means of
\ncourse something that is fixed in you in the vital plane and has to come out
\nhereafter in the physical consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nare too physically matter of fact. Besides you are quite ignorant of occult
\nthings. The vital is part of what European psychologists sometimes call the
\nsubliminal, and the subliminal, as everybody ought to know, can do things the
\nphysical cannot do \u2013 e.g. solve a problem in a few minutes over which the
\nphysical has spent days in vain etc. etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhat is the use of the same things happening on both planes? It would be
\nsuperfluous and otiose. The vital plane is a field where things can be done
\nwhich for some reason or other can’t be done now on the physical. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nThere are of course hundreds of varieties of things in the vital as it is a much
\nricher and more plastic field of consciousness than the physical, and all are
\nnot of equal validity and value. I am speaking above of the things that are
\nvalid. By the way, without this vital plane there would be no art, poetry or
\nliterature \u2013 these things come through the vital before they can manifest here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou say about the different vital worlds is no doubt inte<\/span>resting<\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1031<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nand has a certain truth, but you must remember that these worlds, which
\nare different from the true or divine vital, are full of enchantments and
\nillusions and they present appearances of beauty which allure only to mislead or
\ndestroy. They are worlds of `Rakshasimaya<\/span>‘ and their
\nheavens are more dangerous than their hells. They have to be known and their
\npowers met when need be but not accepted; our business is with the supramental
\nand with the vital only when it is supramentalised and until then we have always
\nto be on our guard against any lures from that other quarter. I think the worlds
\nof which you speak are those which have a special attraction and a special
\ndanger for poets, imaginative people and some artists. There is, specially, a
\nstrain of aestheticised<\/span> vital susceptibility or
\nsentiment or even sentimentalism through which they affect the being and it is
\none of the things that have to be purified before one can rise to the highest
\npoetry, art and imaginative creation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nthe vital being goes out, it moves on the vital plane and in the vital
\nconsciousness and, even if it is aware of physical scenes and things, it is not
\nwith a physical vision. It is possible for one who has trained his faculties to
\nenter into touch with physical things although he is moving about in the vital
\nbody, to see and sense them accurately, even to act on them and physically move
\nthem. But the ordinary sadhak who has no knowledge or organised experience or
\ntraining in these things cannot do it. He must understand that the vital plane
\nis different from the physical and that things that happen there are not
\nphysical happenings, though, if they are of the right kind and properly
\nunderstood and used, they may have a meaning and value for the earth life. But
\nalso the vital consciousness is full of false formations and many confusions and
\nit is not safe to move among them without knowledge and without a direct
\nprotection and guidance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nmust have gone out of your body leaving it unprotected <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1032<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

and
\nthere was an attack which you got rid of after coming into the body. This part
\nof the head from the ears down to the neck is the seat of the physical mind \u2013
\nthe centre of the physical or externalising mind is in the throat joining the
\nspine at the back. It was an attack on the physical mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your
\nthree experiences related in your letter mean that you are going out in your
\nvital body into the vital worlds and meeting the beings and formations of these
\nworlds. The old man of the temple and the girls you saw are hostile beings of
\nthe vital plane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt is better not to go in this way unless one has the protection of someone
\n(physically present) who has knowledge and power on the vital world. As there is
\nno one there who can do this for you, you should draw back from this movement.
\nAspire for perfect surrender, calm, peace, light, consciousness and strength in
\nthe mind and the heart. When the mental being and the psychic being are thus
\nopen, luminous and surrendered, then the vital can open and receive the same
\nillumination. Till then premature adventures on the vital plane are not
\nadvisable.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIf the movement cannot be stopped, then observe the following instructions:<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n1. Never allow any fear to enter into you. Face all you meet and see in this
\nworld with detachment and courage.<\/p>\n

\n2. Ask for our protection before you sleep or meditate. Use our names when you
\nare attacked or tempted.<\/p>\n

\n3. Do not indulge in this world in any kind of sympathy for the old man in the
\ntemple or accept such suggestions, e.g., that he was your spiritual preceptor,
\nwhich was obviously false since you could have no other spiritual preceptor than
\nus. It was because of this sympathy and the accepted suggestion that he was able
\nto go inside you and create the pain you felt.<\/p>\n

\n4. Do not allow any foreign personality to enter into you, only the Light, Power
\netc. from above. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1033<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

It
\nlooks as if it were an exteriorisation in which she goes out in her vital body.
\nWhen one does so consciously and at will, it is all right, but this unconscious
\nexteriorisation is not always safe. The important question is what effect it has
\non her. If she comes out of it strong and refreshed or quite normal, there is no
\ncause for distress or anxiety; if she comes out exhausted or depressed, then
\nthere are forces that are pulling her out into the vital world to the detriment
\nof her vital sheath and it should not continue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Among
\nX’s experiences there is one paper headed \u201csurface consciousness\u201d. What is
\ndescribed there is the nervous or physico<\/span>-vital
\nenvelope. This is the thing observed by the mediums and it is by exteriorising
\nit to a less or greater extent that they produce their phenomena. How did X come
\nto know of it? Was it by intuition, by vision or by personal experience? If the
\nlatter, warn him not to exteriorise this vital envelope, for to do so without
\nadequate protection, which must be that of a person acquainted with these things
\nand physically present at the time, may bring about serious psychical dangers
\nand also injuries to the nervous being and the body or even worse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis no utility in such experiences; they may happen on the vital plane so long as
\none has still to pass through the vital range of experiences, but the aim should
\nbe to get beyond them and live in a pure psychic and spiritual experience. To
\nadmit or call the invasion of others into one’s own being is to remain always in
\nthe confusions of the intermediate zone. Only the Divine should be called into
\none’s personal Adhar \u2013 by which is not meant the loss of one’s personal being or
\nany idea of becoming the Divine, for that should be avoided. The ego has to be
\novercome, but the central personal being (which is not the ego but the
\nindividual self, soul, a portion of the Divine) has to remain a channel and
\ninstrument of the Divine Shakti. As for others, sadhaks, etc. one can feel them
\nin one’s universalised consciousness, be aware of
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1034<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

their
\nmovements, live in harmony with them in the Divine All, but not allow or call
\ntheir presence within the personal Adhar. Very often that leads to the invasion
\nof the consciousness by vital powers or presences which assume the forms of
\nthose who are so admitted \u2013 and that is most undesirable. The sadhak must make
\nhis basic consciousness silent, calm, pure, peaceful and preserve or attain an
\nabsolute control over what he shall or shall not admit into it \u2013 otherwise, if
\nhe does not keep this control, he is in danger of becoming a field of confused
\nand disorderly experiences or a plaything of all sorts of mental and vital
\nbeings and forces. Only one rule or influence other than one’s own should be
\nadmitted, the rule of the Divine Shakti over the Adhar.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am
\nnot very sure of the significance of your friend’s statement about experiences.
\nThe `double’ voice is a frequent phenomenon; it happens very often when one has
\nbeen long repeating a mantra that a voice or consciousness within begins to
\nrepeat it automatically \u2013 also prayer can be taken up in the same way from
\nwithin. It is usually by an awakening of the inner consciousness or by the going
\nin of the consciousness more deeply within from its outward poise that this
\nhappens. This is supported in his case by the fact that he feels himself half
\nway to trance, his body seems to melt away, he does not feel the weight of the
\nbook etc.; all these are well-known signs of the inner consciousness getting
\nawake and largely replacing the outer. The moral effects of his new condition
\nwould also indicate an awakening of the inner consciousness, the psychic or
\npsychic-mental perhaps. But on the other hand he seems to feel this other voice
\nas if outside him and to have the sense of another being than himself, an
\ninvisible presence in the room. The inner being is often felt as someone
\nseparate from or other than the ordinary self, but it is not usually felt
\noutside. So it may be that in this state of withdrawal he comes into contact
\nwith another plane or world and attracts to himself one of its beings who wants
\nto share in his sadhana and govern it. The last is not a very safe phenomenon,
\nfor it is difficult to say from the data what kind of
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1035<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

being
\nit is and the handing over of the government of one’s inner development to any
\nother than the Divine, the Guru or one’s own psychic being may bring with it
\nserious peril. That is all I can say at present.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nevident from your description that it was a vital force trying to take violent
\npossession of the body. Nothing can be more dangerous than to allow this kind of
\nloss of control and intrusion of an alien influence. In your present condition
\nof ignorance, the vital being not yet sufficiently open, the psychic not yet
\nsufficiently awake, a hostile power can easily intrude and pass itself off as
\nthe Divine Force. Remember that no personality and no power is to be allowed to
\npossess you. The Divine Force will not act in this way; it will work first to
\npurify, to widen and enlighten the consciousness, to open it to Light and Truth,
\nto awake the heart and the psychic being. Only afterwards will it take gradual
\nand quiet control through a pure and conscious surrender.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYou must also understand that there is only one Power at work and neither you
\nnor he nor anybody else matters. Let each one open himself to the workings of
\nthat Power in him and let there be no attempt at forming a body of sadhaks with
\nsomebody leading or intervening between the one Power and the sadhaks. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nthe other circumstances which you relate are normal and would be the phenomena
\nof an invasion of Ananda occupying the whole instrumental being while the silent
\ninner being within remains separate as it does usually from all that comes from
\noutside. The circumstance that is not clear is the Presence. There is nothing to
\nindicate who or what it is. If it were an undesirable vital Presence producing a
\nvital joy, there would usually be vital phenomena which would enable you to
\ndetect their origin, but these are not apparent here. In the circumstances the
\nonly course is to observe the experience without accepting any occupation of the
\nbeing by what comes, taking it as only an experience which <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1036<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

the
\ninner being looks on as a witness, until the point that remains veiled is made
\nclear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nP.S. There are several possible explanations but I do not speak of them as that
\nmight influence and interfere with the pure observation of the experience by
\nbringing in a mental suggestion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have
\nread your letter and I have also read it to the Mother. My conclusion about the
\nexperience \u2013 I had suspended judgement till now \u2013 is the same as hers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWe consider that it will be wiser for you to be on your guard about it in
\nfuture. In the first place it cannot be the Buddha \u2013 the Buddha’s presence would
\nbring peace but could never give this kind of Ananda. Next, the suggestion based
\non an old subjective feeling of yours seems to be thrown on you to make you more
\nreadily admit some emprise that the experience is a means of establishing on
\nyou. Again the feeling you have that the Ananda is more than you can bear is a
\nsign not favourable to the experience; you suppose that it is a want of
\nadaptation that gives you the feeling, but it is more likely that it is
\nsomething foreign thrown on you through the vital with which the psychic being
\nin you does not feel at home. Finally, it is not safe to admit while you are
\ndoing the yoga here another influence, whatever it may be, which is not ours or
\npart of the movement of this sadhana. If that takes place anything might happen
\nand we would not be able to protect you against it because you would have
\nstepped out of the circle of protection. You have hitherto been proceeding on a
\nvery sound line of development; a diversion of this kind which seems to be on
\nthe vital level might be a serious interference. No trust can be put on the
\nbeauty of the eyes or the face. There are many Beings of the inferior planes who
\nhave a captivating beauty and can enthral with it and they can give too an
\nAnanda which is not of the highest and may on the contrary by its lure take away
\nfrom the path altogether. When you have reached the stage of clear discernment
\nwhere the highest Light is turned on all things that come, then experiences of
\nmany kinds <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1037<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

may be
\nsafely faced, but now a strict vigilance must be exercised and all diversions
\nrejected. It is necessary to keep one’s steps firmly on the straight road to the
\nHighest; all else must wait for the proper time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have
\nno doubt that the action of this force once rejected will disappear in time. It
\nis something with which you have been brought into contact, not something
\nintimate to yourself to which part of your being is naturally responsive. That
\nis shown by the inability to catch what the being who manifested wanted to
\nconvey to you. It seems to have been an onslaught, as you say, an attempted
\ninvasion by force and ruse. It is quite true that when there is the opening to
\nthe Light, the adverse Forces as well as the lower forces become active when
\nthey can do so. The consciousness of the seeker has come out of its normal
\nlimits and is opening to the universal as well as upwards to the Self above and
\nthey take advantage of that to attempt an entrance. Such onslaughts however are
\nnot inevitable and you are probably right in thinking that you caught it in the
\natmosphere of X. He has made experiments of many kinds in the occult field and
\nthere one comes easily into contact with forces and beings of a darker nature
\nand one needs a great power and light and purity \u2013 one’s own or a helping
\nPower’s \u2013 to face them and overcome. There are also deficiencies or errors in
\none’s own nature which can open the door to these beings. But the best is if one
\ncan have nothing to do with them; for the conquest of the forces of the lower
\nnature is a sufficiently heavy task without that complication. If the work one
\nhas to do necessitates the contact and conflict with them, that is another
\nmatter. In your case I think this has been something of an accident and not a
\nnecessity of the development of your sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No,
\nthere was no special concentration or call from the Mother at that time. It was
\nat a time when she never sees anyone, so <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1038<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nevidently she would not have put such a force upon you, nor does she usually
\nexercise her power in this way. You did well to resist the impulsion. It is
\nalways necessary to keep the inner perception and will clear, conscious and in
\nperfect balance and never to allow any force of impulsion, however it may
\npresent itself, to sweep without their discerning consent the vital or the body
\ninto action. Whatever appearance they may assume, such forces cannot be trusted;
\nonce the discriminating intelligence gives up its control, any kind of force can
\nintervene in this way and a path is opened for unbalanced vital impulses to be
\nused to the detriment of the sadhana. A psychic or spiritual control replacing
\nthe mental would not act in this way,\u2014but whatever intensity or ardour it may
\ngive, would maintain a clear perception of things, a perfect discrimination, a
\nharmony between the inward and the outward reality. It is only the vital that is
\nswept by these impulses; the vital must always be kept under the control of the
\nintelligence, the psychic or when that becomes dynamic, the higher spiritual
\nconsciousness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tV<\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All these
\nexperiences are of the same nature and what applies to one applies to another.
\nApart from some experiences of a personal character, the rest are either
\nidea-truths, such as pour down into the consciousness from above when one gets
\ninto touch with certain planes of being, or strong formations from the larger
\nmental and vital worlds which, when one is directly open to these worlds, rush
\nin and want to use the sadhak for their fulfilment. These things, when they
\npour down or come in, present themselves with a great force, a vivid sense of
\ninspiration or illumination, much sensation of light and joy, an impression of
\nwidening and power. The sadhak feels himself freed from the normal limits,
\nprojected into a wonderful new world of experience, filled and enlarged and
\nexalted; what comes associates itself, besides, with his aspirations,
\nambitions, notions of spiritual fulfilment and yogic siddhi; it is represented
\neven as itself that realisation and fulfilment. Very easily he is carried away
\nby the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1039<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

splendour and
\nthe rush, and thinks that he has realised more than he has truly done,
\nsomething final or at least something sovereignly true. At this stage the
\nnecessary knowledge and experience are usually lacking which would tell him
\nthat this is only a very uncertain and mixed beginning; he may not realise at
\nonce that he is still in the cosmic Ignorance, not in the cosmic Truth, much
\nless in the Transcendental Truth, and that whatever formative or dynamic
\nidea-truths may have come down into him are partial only and yet further
\ndiminished by their presentation to him by a still mixed consciousness. He may fail
\nto realise also that if he rushes to apply what he is realising or receiving as
\nif it were something definitive, he may either fall into confusion and error or
\nelse get shut up in some partial formation in which there may be an element of
\nspiritual Truth but it is likely to be outweighted<\/span> by
\nmore dubious mental and vital accretions that deform it altogether. It is only
\nwhen he is able to draw back (whether at once or after a time) from his
\nexperiences, stand above them with the dispassionate witness consciousness,
\nobserve their real nature, limitations, composition, mixture that he can
\nproceed on his way towards a real freedom and a higher, larger and truer
\nsiddhi. At each step this has to be done. For whatever comes in this way to the
\nsadhak of this yoga, whether it be from overmind or Intuition or Illumined Mind
\nor some exalted Life Plane or from all these together, it is not definitive and
\nfinal; it is not the supreme Truth in which he can rest, but only a stage. And
\nyet these stages have to be passed through, for the supramental or the Supreme
\nTruth cannot be reached in one bound or even in many bounds; one has to pursue a
\ncalm patient steady progress through many intervening stages without getting
\nbound or attached to their lesser Truth or Light or Power or Ananda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is in fact an intermediary state, a zone of transition between
\nthe ordinary consciousness in mind and the true yoga knowledge. One may cross
\nwithout hurt through it, perceiving at once or at an early stage its real
\nnature and refusing to be detained by its half-lights and tempting but
\nimperfect and often mixed and misleading experiences; one may go astray in it, follow
\nfalse voices and mendacious guidance, and that ends <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1040<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

in a spiritual
\ndisaster; or one may take up one’s abode in this intermediate zone, care to go
\nno farther and build there some half-truth which one takes for the whole truth
\nor become the instrument of the powers of these transitional planes, \u2013 that is what
\nhappens to many sadhaks and yogis. Overwhelmed by the first rush and sense of
\npower of a supernormal condition, they get dazzled with a little light which
\nseems to them a tremendous illumination or a touch of force which they mistake
\nfor the full Divine Force or at least a very great yoga Shakti; or they accept
\nsome intermediate Power (not always a Power of the Divine) as the Supreme and
\nan intermediate consciousness as the supreme realisation. Very readily they
\ncome to think that they are in the full cosmic consciousness when it is only
\nsome front or small part of it or some larger Mind, Life-Power or subtle
\nphysical ranges with which they have entered into dynamic connection. Or they
\nfeel themselves to be in an entirely illumined consciousness, while in reality
\nthey are receiving imperfectly things from above through a partial illumination
\nof some mental or vital plane; for what comes is diminished and often deformed
\nin the course of transmission through these planes; the receiving mind and
\nvital of the sadhak also often understands or transcribes ill what has been
\nreceived or throws up to mix with it its own ideas, feelings, desires, which it
\nyet takes to be not its own but part of the Truth it is receiving because they
\nare mixed with it, imitate its form, are lit up by its illumination and get
\nfrom this association and borrowed light an exaggerated value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are worse dangers in this intermediate zone of experience. For
\nthe planes to which the sadhak has now opened his consciousness, \u2013 not as
\nbefore getting glimpses of them and some influences, but directly, receiving
\ntheir full impact, \u2013 send a host of ideas, impulses, suggestions, formations of
\nall kinds, often the most opposite to each other, inconsistent or incompatible,
\nbut presented in such a way as to slur over their insufficiencies and
\ndifferences, with great force, plausibility and wealth of argument or a
\nconvincing sense of certitude. Overpowered by this sense of certitude, vividness,
\nappearance of profusion and richness, the mind of the sadhak enters into a
\ngreat confusion which it takes for some larger organisation and order; or else
\nit <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1041<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

whirls about in
\nincessant shiftings<\/span> and changes which it takes for a
\nrapid progress but which lead nowhere. Or there is the opposite danger that he
\nmay become the instrument of some apparently brilliant but ignorant formation;
\nfor these intermediate planes are full of little Gods or strong Daityas<\/span> or smaller beings who want to create, to
\nmaterialise something or to enforce a mental and vital formation in the earth
\nlife and are eager to use or influence or even possess the thought and will of
\nthe sadhak and make him their instrument for the purpose. This is quite apart from
\nthe well-known danger of actually hostile beings whose sole purpose is to
\ncreate confusion, falsehood, corruption of the sadhana and disastrous unspiritual<\/span> error. Anyone allowing himself to be taken hold
\nof by one of these beings, who often take a divine Name, will lose his way in
\nthe yoga. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the sadhak may be met at
\nhis entrance into this zone by a Power of the Divine which helps and leads him
\ntill he is ready for greater things; but still that itself is no surety against
\nthe errors and stumblings of this zone; for nothing is easier than for the
\npowers of these zones or hostile powers to imitate the guiding Voice or Image
\nand deceive and mislead the sadhak or for himself to attribute the creations
\nand formations of his own mind, vital or ego to the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For this intermediate zone is a region of half-truths \u2013 and that by
\nitself would not matter, for there is no complete truth below the supermind;
\nbut the half-truth here is often so partial or else ambiguous in its
\napplication that it leaves a wide field for confusion, delusion and error. The
\nsadhak thinks that he is no longer in the old small consciousness at all,
\nbecause he feels in contact with something larger or more powerful, and yet the
\nold consciousness is still there, not really abolished. He feels the control or
\ninfluence of some Power, Being or Force greater than himself, aspires to be its
\ninstrument and thinks he has got rid of ego; but this delusion of egolessness<\/span> often covers an exaggerated ego. Ideas seize
\nupon him and drive his mind which are only partially true and by over-confident
\nmisapplication are turned into falsehoods; this vitiates the movements of the
\nconsciousness and opens the door to delusion. Suggestions are made,
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1042<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

sometimes of a
\nromantic character, which flatter the importance of the sadhak or are agreeable
\nto his wishes and he accepts them without examination or discriminating
\ncontrol. Even what is true, is so exalted or extended beyond its true pitch and
\nlimit and measure that it becomes the parent of error. This is a zone which
\nmany sadhaks have to cross, in which many wander for a long time and out of
\nwhich a great many never emerge. Especially if their sadhana is mainly in the mental
\nand vital, they have to meet here many difficulties and much danger; only those
\nwho follow scrupulously a strict guidance or have the psychic being prominent
\nin their nature pass easily as if on a sure and clearly marked road across this
\nintermediate region. A central sincerity, a fundamental humility also save from
\nmuch danger and trouble. One can then pass quickly beyond into a clearer Light
\nwhere if there is still much mixture, incertitude and struggle, yet the
\norientation is towards the cosmic Truth and not to a half-illumined prolongation
\nof Maya and ignorance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have described in general terms with its main features and
\npossibilities this state of consciousness just across the border of the normal
\nconsciousness, because it is here that these experiences seem to move. But
\ndifferent sadhaks comport themselves differently in it and respond sometimes to
\none class of possibilities, sometimes to another. In this case it seems to have
\nbeen entered through an attempt to call down or force a way into the cosmic
\nconsciousness \u2013 it does not matter which way it is put or whether one is quite
\naware of what one is doing or aware of it in these terms, it comes to that in
\nsubstance. It is not the overmind which was entered, for to go straight into
\nthe overmind is impossible. The overmind is indeed above and behind the whole
\naction of the cosmic consciousness, but one can at first have only an indirect
\nconnection with it; things come down from it through intermediate ranges into a
\nlarger mind-plane, life-plane, subtle physical plane and come very much changed
\nand diminished in the transmission, without anything like the full power and
\ntruth they have in the overmind itself on its native levels. Most of the
\nmovements come not from the overmind, but down from higher mind ranges. The ideas
\nwith which these experiences are penetrated and on which they seem to rest
\ntheir claim to truth are not
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1043<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

of the overmind, but of the higher Mind or sometimes of the
\nillumined Mind; but they are mixed with suggestions from the lower mind and
\nvital regions and badly diminished in their application or misapplied in many
\nplaces. All this would not matter; it is usual and normal, and one has to pass
\nthrough it and come into a clearer atmosphere where things are better organised
\nand placed on a surer basis. But the movement was made in a spirit of excessive
\nhurry and eagerness, of exaggerated self-esteem and self-confidence, of a
\npremature certitude, relying on no other guidance than that of one’s own mind
\nor of the \u201cDivine\u201d as conceived or experienced in a stage of very limited
\nknowledge. But the sadhak’s<\/span> conception and experience
\nof the Divine, even if it is fundamentally genuine, is never in such a stage
\ncomplete and pure; it is mixed with all sorts of mental and vital ascriptions
\nand all sorts of things are associated with this Divine guidance and believed
\nto be part of it which come from quite other sources. Even supposing there is
\nany direct guidance, \u2013 most often in these conditions the Divine acts mostly
\nfrom behind the veil, \u2013 it is only occasional and the rest is done through a
\nplay of forces; error and stumbling and mixture of Ignorance take place freely
\nand these things are allowed because the sadhak has to be tested by the
\nworld-forces, to learn by experience, to grow through imperfection towards
\nperfection \u2013 if he is capable of it, if he is willing to learn, to open his
\neyes to his own mistakes and errors, to learn and profit by them so as to grow
\ntowards a purer Truth, Light and Knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The result of this state of mind is that one begins to affirm everything
\nthat comes in this mixed and dubious region as if it were all the Truth and the
\nsheer Divine Will; the ideas or the suggestions that constantly repeat
\nthemselves are expressed with a self-assertive absoluteness as if they were
\nTruth entire and undeniable. There is an impression that one has become impersonal
\nand free from ego, while the whole tone of the mind, its utterance and spirit
\nare full of vehement self-assertiveness justified by the affirmation that one
\nis thinking and acting as an instrument and under the inspiration of the Divine.
\nIdeas are put forward very aggressively that can be valid to the mind, but are
\nnot spiritually valid; yet they are stated as if they were spiritual <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1044<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nabsolutes. For
\ninstance, equality, which in that sense \u2013 for yogic Samata<\/span>
\nis a quite different thing \u2013 is a mere mental principle, the claim to a sacred
\nindependence, the refusal to accept anyone as Guru or the opposition made
\nbetween the Divine and the human Divine etc., etc. All these ideas are positions
\nthat can be taken by the mind and the vital and turned into principles which
\nthey try to enforce on the religious or even the spiritual life, but they are
\nnot and cannot be spiritual in their nature. There also begin to come in
\nsuggestions from the vital planes, a pullulation<\/span> of
\nimaginations romantic, fanciful or ingenious, hidden interpretations,
\npseudo-intuitions, would-be initiations into things beyond, which excite or
\nbemuse the mind and are often so turned as to flatter and magnify ego and
\nself-importance, but are not founded on any well-ascertained spiritual or
\noccult realities of a true order. This region is full of elements of this kind
\nand, if allowed, they begin to crowd on the sadhak; but if he seriously means
\nto reach the Highest, he must simply observe them and pass on. It is not that
\nthere is never any truth in such things, but for one that is true there are
\nnine imitative falsehoods presented and only a trained occultist with the
\ninfallible tact born of long experience can guide himself without stumbling or
\nbeing caught through the maze. It is possible for the whole attitude and action
\nand utterance to be so surcharged with the errors of this intermediate zone
\nthat to go farther on this route would be to travel far away from the Divine
\nand from the yoga.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

Here the choice is still open whether to follow the very mixed
\nguidance one gets in the midst of these experiences or to accept the true
\nguidance. Each man who enters the realms of yogic experience is free to follow
\nhis own way; but this yoga is not a path for anyone to follow, but only for
\nthose who accept to seek the aim, pursue the way pointed out upon which a sure
\nguidance is indispensable. It is idle for anyone to expect that he can follow
\nthis road far, \u2013 much less go to the end by his own inner strength and
\nknowledge without the true aid or influence. Even the ordinary long-practised yogas<\/span> are hard to follow without the aid of the Guru; in
\nthis which as it advances goes through untrodden<\/span>
\ncountries and unknown entangled regions, it is quite impossible. As for the
\nwork to be done it also is not a work for any sadhak of
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1045<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

any path; it is
\nnot, either, the work of the \u201cImpersonal\u201d Divine who, for that matter, is not
\nan active Power but supports impartially all work in the universe. It is a
\ntraining ground for those who have to pass through the difficult and complex
\nway of this yoga and none other. All work here must be done in a spirit of
\nacceptance, discipline and surrender, not with personal demands and conditions,
\nbut with a vigilant conscious submission to control and guidance. Work done in
\nany other spirit results in an unspiritual<\/span> disorder,
\nconfusion and disturbance of the atmosphere. In it too difficulties, errors,
\nstumblings are frequent, because in this yoga people have to be led patiently
\nand with some field for their own effort, by experience, out of the ignorance
\nnatural to Mind and Life to a wider spirit and a luminous knowledge. But the
\ndanger of an unguided wandering in the regions across the border is that the
\nvery basis of the yoga may be contradicted and the conditions under which alone
\nthe work can be done may be lost altogether. The transition through this
\nintermediate zone \u2013 not obligatory, for many pass by a narrower but surer way \u2013
\nis a crucial passage; what comes out of it is likely to be a very wide or rich creation;
\nbut when one founders there, recovery is difficult, painful, assured only after
\na long struggle and endeavour. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have seen all
\nthe experiences that you have written down, and sent to me and received yours
\nand X’s letter. It is no doubt true as you say that your sadhana has gone on
\ndifferent lines from that of the others. But it does not follow that you are entirely
\nright in insisting on your own ideas about it. I shall tell you briefly what I
\nhave observed about your experiences. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first things you sent were very interesting and valuable
\npsycho-spiritual and psycho-mental experiences and messages. Later ones lean
\nmore to the psychic-emotional and have in them a certain one-sidedness and
\nmixture and there are also psycho-vital and psycho-physical developments of a
\ndouble nature. I do not mean that all is false in them but that there are many
\nstrong partial truths which need to be corrected by others which
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1046<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

they seem to ignore
\nand even to exclude. Besides there are suggestions from the intellect and the
\nvital being and also suggestions from external sources which you ought not to
\naccept so easily as you seem to do. This mixture is inevitable in the earlier
\nstages and there is no need to be disheartened about it. But if you insist on
\npreserving it, it may deflect you from your true path and injure your sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As yet you have no sufficient experience of the nature of the
\npsychic being and the psychic worlds. Therefore it is not possible for you to
\nput the true value on all that comes to you. When the psychic consciousness
\nopens, especially so freely and rapidly as it has done in your case, it opens
\nto all kinds of things and to suggestions and messages from all sorts of planes
\nand worlds and forces and beings. There is the true psychic which is always
\ngood and there is the psychic opening to mental, vital and other worlds which
\ncontain all kinds of things good, bad and indifferent, true, false and half
\ntrue, thought-suggestions which are of all kinds, and messages also which are
\nof all kinds. What is needed is not to give yourself impartially to all of them
\nbut to develop both a sufficient knowledge and experience and a sufficient
\ndiscrimination to be able to keep your balance and eliminate falsehood,
\nhalf-truths and mixtures. It will not do to dismiss impatiently the necessity
\nfor discrimination on the ground that that is mere intellectualism. The
\ndiscrimination need not be intellectual, although that also is a thing not to
\nbe despised. But it may be a psychic discrimination or one that comes from the
\nhigher supra-intellectual mind and from the higher being. If you have not this,
\nthen you have need of constant protection and guidance from those who have it,
\nand who have also long psychic experience, and it may be disastrous for you to
\nrely entirely on yourself and to reject such guidance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the meantime there are three rules of the sadhana which are very
\nnecessary in an earlier stage and which you should remember. First, open yourself
\nto experience but do not take the bhoga<\/span> of the
\nexperiences. Do not attach yourself to any particular kind of experience. Do
\nnot take all ideas and suggestions as true and do not take any knowledge, voice
\nor thought-message as absolutely final and definitive. Truth itself is only
\ntrue
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1047<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

when complete
\nand it changes its meaning as one rises and sees it from a higher level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I must put you on your guard against the suggestions of hostile
\ninfluences which attack all sadhaks in this yoga. The vision you had of the
\nEuropean is itself an intimation to you that these forces have their eye on
\nyou, and are prepared to act if they are not already acting against you. It is
\ntheir subtler suggestions, which take the figure of truth, and not their more open
\nattacks, that are the most dangerous. I will mention some of the most usual of
\nthem.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be on your guard against any suggestion that tries to raise up your
\negoism, as for instance that you are a greater sadhak than others or that your
\nsadhana is unique or of an exceptionally high kind. There seems to be some
\nsuggestion of this kind to you already. You had a rich and rapid development of
\npsychic experiences, but so precisely have some others who have meditated here
\nand none of yours are unique in their kind or degree or unknown to our
\nexperience. Even if it were otherwise, egoism is the greatest danger of the
\nsadhana and is never spiritually justifiable. All greatness is God’s: it
\nbelongs to no other.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be on your guard against anything that suggests to you to keep or
\ncling to any impurity or imperfection, confusion in the mind, attachment in the
\nheart, desire and passion in the prāņa<\/i><\/span>, or disease in the body. To keep up these
\nthings by ingenious justifications and coverings, is one of the usual devices
\nof the hostile forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be on your guard against any idea which will make you admit these
\nhostile forces on the same terms as the divine forces. I understand you have
\nsaid that you must admit all because all is a manifestation of God. All is a
\nmanifestation of God in a certain sense but if misunderstood, as it often is,
\nthis Vedantic truth can be turned to the purposes of falsehood. There are many
\nthings which are partial manifestations and have to be replaced by fuller truer
\nmanifestations. There are others which belong to the ignorance and fall away
\nwhen we move to the knowledge. There are others which are of the darkness and
\nhave to be combated and destroyed or exiled. This manifestation is one which
\nhas been freely used by the force represented by the European you
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1048<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

saw in your
\nvision and it has ruined the yoga of many. You yourself wished to reject the
\nintellect and yet the intellect is a manifestation of God as well as the other
\nthings you have accepted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you really accept and give yourself to me, you must accept my
\ntruth. My truth is one that rejects ignorance and falsehood and moves to the
\nknowledge, rejects darkness and moves to the light, rejects egoism and moves to
\nthe Divine Self, rejects imperfections and moves to perfection. My truth is not
\nonly the truth of Bhakti or of psychic development but also of knowledge,
\npurity, divine strength and calm and of the raising of all these things from
\ntheir mental, emotional and vital forms to their supramental reality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I say all these things not to undervalue your sadhana but to turn
\nyour mind towards the way of its increasing completion and perfection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not possible for me to have you here just now. First because
\nthe necessary conditions are not there and secondly because you must be fully
\nprepared to accept my guidance before you come here. If, as I suppose you must
\nunder the present circumstances, you have to go home, meditate there, turning
\nyourself to me and try to prepare yourself so that you may come here hereafter.
\nWhat you need now is not so much psychic development, which you will always be
\nable to have (I do not ask you to stop it altogether), but an inner calm and
\nquiet as the true basis and atmosphere of your future development and
\nexperience, calm in the mind, in the purified vital being and in the physical
\nconsciousness. A psycho-vital or psycho-physical yoga will not be safe for you
\nuntil you have this calm and an assured purity of being and a complete and always
\npresent vital and physical protection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have read
\ncarefully X’s letter and I think the best thing is first to explain his present
\ncondition as he describes it. For he does not seem to me to understand the true
\ncauses and the meaning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The present condition of passivity and indifference is a reaction
\nfrom a former abnormal state to which he was brought by an internal effort not
\nproperly guided from without or from <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1049<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

within. The
\neffort brought about a breaking of the veils which divide the physical from the
\npsychic and vital worlds. But his mind was unprepared and unable to understand
\nhis experiences and judged them by the light of fancy and imagination and erroneous
\nmental and vital suggestions. His vital being full of rajasic and egoistic
\nenergy rushed up violently to enjoy these new fields and use the force that was
\nworking for its own lower ends. This gave an opportunity for a hostile power
\nfrom the vital world to break in and take partial possession and the result was
\ndisorganisation of the nervous and physical system and some of the brain
\ncentres. The attack and possession seem to have passed out and left behind the
\npresent reaction of passivity with a strong hold of tamas and indifference. The
\ntamas and indifference are not in themselves desirable things but they are
\ntemporarily useful as a rest from the past unnatural tension. The passivity is
\ndesirable and a good basis for a new and right working of the Shakti.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not a true interpretation of his condition that he is dead
\nwithin and there is only an outside activity. What is true is that the centre
\nof vital egoism that thinks itself the actor has been crushed and he now feels
\nall the thought and activity playing outside him. This is a state of knowledge;
\nfor the real truth is that all these thoughts and activities are Nature’s and come
\ninto us or pass through us as waves from the universal Nature. It is our egoism
\nand our limitation in the body and individual physical mind which prevent us
\nfrom feeling and experiencing this truth. It is a great step to be able to see
\nand feel the truth as he is now doing. This is not of course the complete
\nknowledge. As the knowledge becomes more complete and the psychic being opens
\nupwards one feels all the activities descending from above and can get at their
\ntrue source and transform them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The light playing in his head means that there has been an opening
\nto the higher force and knowledge which is descending as light from above and
\nworking on the mind to illumine it. The electrical current is the force
\ndescending in order to work in the lower centres and prepare them for the
\nlight. The right condition will come when instead of the vital forces trying to
\npush upward the Prana becomes calm and surrendered and waiting
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1050<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

with full assent
\nfor the light and when instead of the chasm in between there is a constant
\naspiration of the heart towards the truth above. The light must descend into
\nthese lower centres so as to transform the emotional and vital and physical being
\nas well as the mental thought and will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The utility of psychic experiences and knowledge of the invisible
\nworlds as of other yogic experiences is not to be measured by our narrow human
\nnotions of what may be useful for the present physical life of man. In the
\nfirst place these things are necessary for the fulness<\/span>
\nof the consciousness and the completeness of the being. In the second place
\nthese other worlds are actually working upon us. And if you know and can enter
\ninto them then instead of being the victims and puppets of these powers we can
\nconsciously deal with, control and use them. Thirdly, in my yoga, the yoga of
\nthe supramental, the opening of the psychic consciousness to which these
\nexperiences belong is quite indispensable. For it is only through the psychic
\nopening that the supramental can fully descend with a strong and concrete grasp
\nand transform the mental, vital and physical being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the present condition and its value. For the future if he
\nwishes to accept my yoga the conditions are a steady resolve and aspiration
\ntowards the truth I am bringing down, a calm passivity and an opening upward
\ntowards the source from which the light is coming. The Shakti is already
\nworking in him and if he takes and keeps this attitude and has a complete
\nconfidence in me there is no reason why he should not advance safely in the
\nsadhana in spite of the physical and vital damage that has been done to his
\nsystem. As for his coming here to see me I am not yet quite ready but we will
\nspeak of it after your return to Pondicherry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the
\nletter, I suppose you will have to tell the writer that his father committed a
\nmistake when he took up yoga without a Guru \u2013 for the mental idea about a Guru
\ncannot take the place of the actual living influence. This yoga especially, as
\nI have written in my books, needs the help of the Guru and cannot be done
\nwithout it. The condition into which his father got was a <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013<\/span>
\n1051<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

breakdown, not a
\nstate of siddhi. He passed out of the normal mental consciousness into a
\ncontact with some intermediate zone of consciousness (not the spiritual) where
\none can be subjected to all sorts of voices, suggestions, ideas, so called inspirations
\nwhich are not genuine. I have warned against the dangers of this intermediate
\nzone in one of my books.\u00b9 The sadhak can avoid entering into this zone \u2013 if he
\nenters, he has to look with indifference on all these things and observe them
\nwithout lending any credence, \u2013 by so doing he can safely pass into the true
\nspiritual light. If he takes them all as true or real without discrimination,
\nhe is likely to land himself in a great mental confusion and if there is in
\naddition a lesion or weakness of the brain \u2013 the latter is quite possible in
\none who has been subject to apoplexy \u2013 it may have serious consequences and
\neven lead to a disturbance of the reason. If there is ambition, or other motive
\nof the kind mixed up in the spiritual seeking, it may lead to a fall in the
\nyoga and the growth of an exaggerated egoism or megalomania \u2013 of this there are
\nseveral symptoms in the utterances of his father during the crisis. In fact one
\ncannot or ought not to plunge into the experiences of this sadhana without a
\nfairly long period of preparation and purification (unless one has already a
\ngreat spiritual strength and elevation). Sri Aurobindo himself does not care to
\naccept many into his path and rejects many more than he accepts. It would be
\nwell if he can get his father to pursue the sadhana no farther \u2013 for what he is
\ndoing is not really Sri Aurobindo’s yoga but something he has constructed in
\nhis own mind and once there has been an upset of this kind, the wisest course
\nis discontinuance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The intermediate
\nzone means simply a confused condition or passage in which one is getting out
\nof the personal consciousness and opening into the cosmic (cosmic Mind, cosmic
\nvital, cosmic physical, something perhaps of the cosmic higher Mind) without<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9 This warning
\nagainst the dangers of the intermediate zone was given by Sri Aurobindo in a
\nlong letter which was first published in 1933 in the book The Riddle of this
\nWorld. This letter is now included in the present Volume. See pp. 1039-1046.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1052<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

having yet
\ntranscended the human mind levels. One is not in possession of or direct
\ncontact with the divine Truth on its own levels, but one can receive something
\nfrom them, even from the overmind, indirectly. Only, as one is still immersed
\nin the cosmic Ignorance, all that comes from above can be mixed, perverted,
\ntaken hold of for their purposes by lower, even by hostile Powers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not necessary for everyone to struggle through the
\nintermediate zone. If one has purified oneself, if there is no abnormal vanity,
\negoism, ambition or other strong misleading element, or if one is vigilant and
\non one’s guard, or if the psychic is in front, one can either pass rapidly and
\ndirectly or with a minimum of trouble into the higher zones of consciousness
\nwhere one is in direct contact with the Divine Truth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the other hand the passage through the higher zones \u2013 higher
\nMind, illumined Mind, Intuition, overmind is obligatory \u2013 they are the true
\nIntermediaries between the present consciousness and the supermind. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I mean by it
\n[the intermediate zone] that when the sadhak gets beyond the barriers of his
\nown embodied personal mind he enters into a wide range of experiences which are
\nnot the limited solid physical truth of things and not yet either the spiritual
\ntruth of things. It is a zone of formations, mental, vital, subtle physical,
\nand whatever one forms or is formed by the forces of these worlds in us becomes
\nfor the sadhak for a time the truth \u2013 unless he is guided and listens to his
\nguide. Afterwards if he gets through he discovers what it was and passes on
\ninto the subtle truth of things. It is a borderland where all the worlds meet,
\nmental, vital, subtle physical, pseudo-spiritual \u2013 but there is no order or
\nfirm foothold \u2013 a passage between the physical and the true spiritual realms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You are taking
\nthe first steps towards the cosmic consciousness in which there are all things
\ngood and bad, true and false, the cosmic Truth and the cosmic Ignorance. I was
\nnot thinking so <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1053<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

much of ego as
\nof these thousand voices, possibilities, suggestions. If you avoid these, then
\nthere is no necessity of passing through the intermediate zone. By avoid I mean
\nreally not admit \u2013 one can take cognizance of their nature and pass on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anyone passing
\nthe border of ordinary consciousness can enter into this [intermediate] zone,
\nif he does not take care to enter into the psychic. In itself there is no harm
\nin passing through, provided one does not stop there. But ego, sex, ambition, etc.,
\nif they get exaggerated, can easily lead to a dangerous downfall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the breaking
\nof the veil] comes of itself with the pressure of the sadhana. It can also be
\nbrought about by specific concentration and effort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is certainly better if the psychic is conscious and active before
\nthere is the removing of the veil or screen between the individual and the
\nuniversal consciousness which comes when the inner being is brought forward in
\nall its wideness. For then there is much less danger of the difficulties of
\nwhat I have called the Intermediate Zone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All these
\nexperiences of yours belong to what I have called the intermediate zone; a
\nlarge proportion of them are of the vital plane. In the vital plane there are
\nall kinds of things, good and bad, helpful and dangerous, true, half true and
\nfalse, genuine and deceptive. One has therefore to be very careful and be
\nalways vigilant and turned towards the true source of Light. The difficulty is
\nthat here one may have a true spiritual experience and afterwards all sorts of
\nimitative deceptions come in and bring with them the danger of a false
\nexperience. One has to watch, observe one’s experiences and try to discriminate
\nand understand, \u2013 waiting for two things, the opening of a wider higher <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1054<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\n\t\tconsciousness
\nfrom above and the coming forward of the psychic being from behind. When these
\ntwo things happen, the chance of error is diminished and the true inner
\nguidance begins to make itself more and more felt in the sadhana. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lights are of all kinds, supramental, mental, vital, physical,
\ndivine or Asuric \u2013 one has to watch, grow in experience and learn to know one
\nfrom another. The true lights however are by their clarity and beauty not
\ndifficult to recognise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The current from above and the current from below are familiar
\nfeatures of yogic experience. It is the energy of the higher Nature and the
\nenergy of the lower Nature that become active and turned towards each other and
\nmove to meet, one descending, the other ascending. What happens when they meet
\ndepends on the sadhak. If his constant will is for the purification of the lower
\nby the higher consciousness, then the meeting results in that and in spiritual
\nprogress. If his mind and vital are turbid and clouded, there is a clash, an
\nimpure mixture and much disturbance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The division of the being into two parts \u2013 one a large consciousness
\nbehind, the other a smaller consciousness in front, is also a familiar feature
\nof sadhana. In itself it is a necessary movement; it should naturally result in
\nthe growth of a larger yogic consciousness prevailing over the small external
\nconsciousness and becoming a means for transformation under the pressure of the
\nDivine Shakti. But here too it is possible for error to take place \u2013 especially
\nan outside Force may come in and replace the larger consciousness behind by a
\nlarger vital ego which pretends to be that. One must be on one’s guard against
\nany such intrusion; for many sadhaks suffer long and severely owing to such an
\nintrusion which spoils the course of he sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the whole aspire for the growth of the psychic and its control of
\nthe rest of the nature and for the opening not to a larger vital consciousness,
\nbut to the higher consciousness above. And at all stages open yourself to the
\nprotection of the Mother and her grace and call that for your safeguard and
\nyour guidance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1055<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

This kind of
\nmanifestation (Adesh<\/span>) comes very often at a certain
\nstage of the practice of yoga. My experience is that it does not come from the
\nhighest source and cannot be relied upon and it is better to wait until one is
\nable to enter a higher consciousness and a greater truth than any that these
\ncommunications represent. Sometimes they come from beings of an intermediate
\nplane who want to use the sadhak for some work or purpose. Many sadhaks accept
\nand some, though by no means all, succeed in doing something, but it is often
\nat the cost of the greater aims of yoga. In other cases they come from beings
\nwho are hostile to the sadhana and wish to bring it to nothing by exciting
\nambition, the illusion of a great work or some other form of ego. Each sadhak
\nmust decide for himself (unless he has a Guru to guide him) whether to treat it
\nas a temptation or a mission.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These voices are
\nsometimes one’s own mental formations, sometimes suggestions from outside. Good
\nor bad depends on what they say and on the quarter from which they come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anybody can get
\n\u201cvoices\u201d \u2013 there are first the movements of one’s nature that take upon
\nthemselves a voice \u2013 then there are all sorts of beings who either for a joke
\nor for a serious purpose invade with their voices. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is in this
\ncondition more a sense of having power than real power. There are some mixed
\nand quite relative powers \u2013 sometimes a little effective, sometimes ineffective
\n\u2013 which could be developed into something real if put under the control of the
\nDivine, surrendered. But the ego comes in, exaggerates these small things, and
\nrepresents them as something huge and unique, and refuses to surrender. Then
\nthe sadhak makes no progress \u2013 he wanders about in the jungle of his own imaginations <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1056<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

without any
\ndiscrimination or critical sense, or brings in a play of confused forces he is
\nunable to understand or master.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first result
\nof the downflow<\/span> of the overmind forces is very often
\nto exaggerate the ego, which feels itself strong, almost irresistible (though
\nit is not really so), divinised, luminous. The first thing to do, after some
\nexperience of the thing, is to get rid of this magnified ego. For that you have
\nto stand back, not allow yourself to be swept in by the movement, but to watch,
\nunderstand, reject all mixtures, aspire for a purer and yet purer light and
\naction. This can only be done perfectly if the psychic comes forward. The mind
\nand vital, especially the vital, receiving these forces, can with difficulty
\nresist the tendency to seize on and use them for their ego’s objects or, which
\ncomes practically to the same thing, they mix the demands of the ego with the
\nservice of a higher object.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the first
\nplace one is not obliged to believe all that X’s disciples have written about
\nhim after his death. Besides, the experiences they relate about him are of the
\nintermediate planes, not of the highest spiritual consciousness. Whatever experience
\nhe had of the highest was hidden by them in a jungle of miraculous and romantic
\nlegends. It is probable that in trying to make him out a great Siddha<\/span>, they have lowered him below what he really was. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To have the true
\nintuition one must get rid of the mind’s self-will, and the vital’s<\/span>
\nalso, their preferences, fancies, fantasies, strong insistences and eliminate
\nthe mental and vital ego’s pressure which sets the consciousness to work in the
\nservice of its own claims and desires. Otherwise these things will come in with
\nforce and claim to be intuitions, inspirations and the rest of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1057<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

it. Or if any
\nintuitions come, they can be twisted and spoiled by the mixture of these forces
\nof the Ignorance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, these
\nindications of time and these voices were not commands from the Mother. I have
\nindicated to you the truth of this matter; you must follow the rules laid down
\nby the Mother for the physical life; if any change has to be made, either she herself
\nwill let you know or you have to get sanction for it from her. No voice heard
\nwithin can prevail against her word and no intimation that comes through your
\nmind can be accepted as binding unless it is confirmed by her.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have made a confusion which is often made at the beginning of
\nthis kind of experience. It is no doubt the Mother’s Force that was working
\nwithin you or upon you, and some of the experiences, such as that of feeling
\nthe Mother in your heart, were perfectly genuine. But when the pressure of the
\nForce works upon the consciousness, then in the plane on which it happens to be
\nworking, a great activity of different forces is set in play, e.g. if it is the
\nmind, various mental forces, if it is the vital, various vital forces. It is
\nnot safe to take all these for true things, to be accepted without question and
\nfollowed as commands of the Mother. You received a pressure of a force so
\nstrong that it made your head shake for a long time; if the head shook like
\nthat, it is a sign that the mind or at least the mental physical was not able
\nyet to receive all the force and assimilate it; if it had done so, there would
\nhave been no movement of the head, all would have been perfectly at ease, calm
\nand still. But your mind started working, interpreting, beginning to put its
\nown meaning on this particular phenomenon and again on others, trying to make a
\nsystem by which to regulate your conduct and to give it authority, put it as
\nthe command of the Mother. The action of the Force was a fact, the
\ninterpretation you put on its details of coming and going was a mental
\nformation and had no very positive value.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you look at it carefully \u2013 as I have looked at the details
\nreported by you \u2013 you will see that these suggestions were of a <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1058<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

very shifting
\nand changeful character, now one thing, now the other; only your mind adapted
\nitself to the changes, adjusted its interpretation to suit them and tried to
\nkeep the consistency of a system. But in fact all was irregular and chaotic and
\nit tended to make your action and conduct irregular and chaotic. True intuition
\nwould not do that; it would at least tend to balance, harmony, order.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You speak of intuition as regards the indication of time. There is
\nan intuition of Time which is not of the mind and when it plays is always
\naccurate to the very minute and if need be to the very second; but this was not
\nthat Intuition, \u2013 for it was not always accurate; it came right perhaps several
\ntimes, then it began to be deceptive, it made you late for Pranam; it began to
\npush toward lateness for the noon meal, make you clash with the convenience of
\nthe dining-room workers. It pushed you to be late for the evening and abandoned
\nyou altogether, so that in the end you had no evening meal. But your mind had
\ngot attached to its own formations and tried to justify, to put a meaning on
\nthese chaotic caprices, to explain them by the (very changeful) will of the
\nMother. All this is well-known to those experienced in yoga and it means that
\nthese things were not intuitions, but constructions of the mind, mental
\nformations. If there was an intuition at all, it was a movement of the
\nintuitive mind, but what the intuitive mind gives to us is the intuition of
\npossibilities, some of which realise themselves, some do not or do it partly
\nonly, others miss altogether. Behind these mental constructions are Forces that
\nwant to realise themselves and try to use men as their instruments of
\nrealisation. These Forces need not be hostile, but they play for their own
\nhand, they want to rule, use, justify themselves, create their own results. If
\nthey can do it by getting the Mother’s sanction or passing themselves off as
\ncommands of the Mother, they are ready to do so; if they cannot get the embodied
\nMother’s sanction, they are ready to represent themselves as sanctions of the
\nMother in her subtle unseen universal Form or Presence. Some they persuade to
\nmake not only a distinction but an opposition between their inner Mother who
\nalways tells them what they want to hear and the embodied Mother who, they
\nfind, is not so complaisant, checks them, corrects their fancies and <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1059<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

their errors. At
\nthis stage there is the danger of a more serious invasion of Falsehood, of a
\nhostile vital Force coming in, taking advantage of the mind’s errors, which
\neither tries to take the place of the Mother, using her name or else creates revolt
\nagainst her. A persuasion not to come to Pranam, not to keep her acquainted
\nwith your experiences and submit to correction, not to accord the life with her
\nexpressed will is a danger-signal at this stage \u2013 for it means that the
\nintruding Force wants space to work free from control \u2013 and that was why I felt
\ncompelled to call your attention to the peril of a hostile Maya.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for voices, there are many voices; each Force, each movement of
\nthe mental, vital, physical plane may equip itself with a voice. Your voices
\nwere not even at one with each other; one said one thing, when it did not work
\nout, another said something inconsistent with it; but you were attached to your
\nmental formation and still tried to follow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All this happens because the mind and vital in these exaltations of
\nthe stress of the sadhana become very active. That is why it is necessary,
\nfirst to found your sadhana on a great calm, a great equality, not eagerly
\nrushing after experiences or their fruit, but looking at them, observing,
\ncalling always for more and more Light, trying to be more and more wide, open, quietly
\nand discerningly receptive. If the psychic being is always at the front, then
\nthese difficulties are greatly lessened, because there is here a light which
\nthe mind and vital have not, a spontaneous and natural psychic perception of
\nthe divine and the undivine, the true and the false, the imitation and the
\ngenuine guidance. It is also the reason why I insist on your referring your
\nexperiences to us, because, apart from anything else, we have the knowledge and
\nexperience of these things and can immediately put a check on any tendency to
\nerror.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Keep yourself open to the Mother’s Force, but do not trust all
\nforces. As you go on, if you keep straight, you will come to a time when the
\npsychic becomes more predominantly active and the Light from above prevails
\nmore purely and strongly so that the chance of mental constructions and vital
\nformations mixing with the true experience diminishes. As I have told you,
\nthese are not and cannot be the supramental Forces; it is a work of
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1060<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

preparation
\nwhich is only making things ready for a future yoga-siddhi.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can the
\npeople in this Ashram judge whether a man has progressed in yoga or not? They
\njudge from outward appearances \u2013 if a sadhak secludes himself, sits much in
\nmeditation, gets voices and experiences, etc. etc., they think he is a great
\nsadhak! X was always a very poor Adhar. He had a few experiences of an
\nelementary kind \u2013 confused and uncertain, but at every step he was getting into
\ntrouble and going off on a side-path and we had to pull him up. At last he
\nbegan to get voices and inspirations which he declared to be ours \u2013 I wrote to
\nhim many letters of serious warning and explanation but he refused to listen,
\nwas too much attached to his false voices and inspirations and, to avoid rebuke
\nand correction, ceased to write or inform us. So he went wholly wrong and
\nfinally became hostile. You can tell this by my authority to anybody who is puzzled
\nlike yourself about this matter. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I mean what
\nhappened to X and others like Y, Z and others. Higher experiences hurt nobody \u2013
\nthe question is what is meant by higher? Y for instance thought his experiences
\nto be the highest Truth itself \u2013 I told him they were all imaginations but only
\nwith the result that he became furious with me. There are imitation higher
\nexperiences when the mind or vital catches hold of an idea or suggestion and
\nturns it into a feeling, and while there is a rush of forces, a feeling of
\nexultation and power etc. All sorts of \u201cimperatives\u201d come, visions, perhaps
\n\u201cvoices\u201d. There is nothing more dangerous than these voices \u2013 when I hear from
\nsomebody that he has a \u201cvoice\u201d, I always feel uneasy, though there can be
\ngenuine and helpful voices, and feel inclined to say \u201cNo voices please, \u2013 silence,
\nsilence and a clear discriminating brain\u201d. I have hinted about this region of imitation
\nexperiences, false inspirations, false voices into which hundreds of yogins<\/span> enter and some never get out of it in my letter
\nabout the intermediate zone. If a man has a strong clear head and a certain
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1061<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

kind of
\nspiritual scepticism, he can go through and does \u2013 but people without
\ndiscrimination like Y or Z get lost. Especially ego enters in and makes them so
\nattached to their splendid (?) condition that they absolutely refuse to come
\nout. Now a retirement into seclusion gives free scope for this kind of action,
\nas it makes one live entirely in one’s own subjective being without any control
\nexcept what one’s own native discernment can bring in \u2013 and if that is not
\nstrong? Ego is of course the strong support of these subjective falsehoods, but
\nthere are other supports also. Work and mixing with others \u2013 with the contact
\nof the objective that that brings \u2013 is not an absolute defence against these
\nthings, but it is a defence and serves as a check and as a kind of corrective
\nbalance. I notice that those who enter into this region of the intermediate
\nzone usually make for retirement and seclusion and insist on it. These are the
\nreasons why I prefer usually that sadhaks should not take to an absolute
\nretirement but keep a certain poise between silence and action, the inner and
\nthe outer together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to the
\ndangers, the one real danger in these retirements (apart from the pride) is the
\nbecoming a prey of subjective influences and imaginations and losing the hold
\nof reality which work and contact with others help to keep up. Of course one can
\nlose that even while keeping contact as happened to X and others. But I suppose
\nyou have a sufficiently cool and critical head to avoid that danger.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Retirement is
\nnot necessary for passing from one plane to another. It is necessary only in
\nrare cases and with certain temperaments for a time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have no
\nobjection to your doing this for a week, as you propose. I understand that it
\nis not a retirement, but a cessation of social visits. My objection to
\nretirement is that so many have <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1062<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\u201cgone morbid\u201d by
\nit or gone astray into zones of false vital experiences; secondly, that
\nabsolute retirement is not necessary for the spiritual life. It is different
\nhowever for people like X who are to the manner born or at least perfectly
\ntrained. A \u201crestriction of publicity\u201d is quite another matter. Also to be
\ncapable of solitude and to have the Ananda of solitude can always be helpful to
\nsadhana, and a power of inner solitude is natural to the yogi.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We will give our help and hope you will succeed \u2013 at least, you will
\nhave established a precedent for withdrawing whenever you want in the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To live in the
\nself is of course the proper object of withdrawal and to live in the self
\nbrings the higher experiences which must obviously be helpful and not harmful.
\nWhat I wrote was only to explain what I meant by the danger of too complete retirement
\nand why it turned out to be harmful to X, Y and others. There are some like Z
\nwho derived unmixed profit from it. It altogether depends on one’s temperament
\nand on one’s attitude and aim and inner poise during the silence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The impulse to
\nretire comes from some push to concentrate within \u2013 but the cause of the push
\nvaries in different cases. There are certain cases in which there was a desire
\nto isolate oneself from the Mother’s influence (Pranam, meditation etc.) and
\nfollow one’s own fancies, e.g. A, B, also perhaps with a sense of superiority \u2013
\n\u201cno need of these things for so great a yogi as I\u201d. In other cases there was a
\nmarked desire for isolation, but that was where the brain was already upset (C)
\nor a wrong influence at work (D). It is to these I suppose that E was
\nreferring. But others have simply desired concentration or wished not to spend
\nthemselves in externalisation (F, G in their period of retirement). So all
\ncannot come under one sentence. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page \u2013 1063<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

Not speaking or
\ncontacting when one is in the intensity of the peace is one thing \u2013 that can be
\ndone. Remaining isolated at other times as a rule of life does not seem to me
\nnecessary \u2013 it is safe only for those who can live entirely within without losing
\ntheir hold on outer reality. If one has always a solid poise of peace one can
\ndo that or a clear mind balanced and discriminating along with constant
\nexperiences which it is able to put in the right place. But some get absorbed
\nin inner experiences which they get lost in and get passionately attached to
\nand this inner life becomes for them the sole reality without the outer to
\npoise it and keep it under check and test \u2013 there lies a danger. Again if one
\nremains isolated without the support of a settled inner poise and constant
\nexperience over which one has a discriminating control, then in periods of emptiness
\nthe vital can arise bringing struggles, difficulties, unrest, suggestions of
\nall kinds, a troubled and turbid state \u2013 rather than spend the time in that, as
\nsome do, it is better to mix with others or do some work or otherwise externalise
\noneself in a healthy way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To be too
\nsensitive and upset by any contact is excessive; but to have too many contacts
\nand be always dispersing oneself prevents the sadhana from growing and
\nsolidifying in the inner being, since one is always being pulled out into the
\nordinary outer consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In your
\nrelations with people, act simply and naturally. Get rid of these nervous shrinkings<\/span> which are a weakness. The important thing is to
\nhave the right inner attitude, calm and without attachment. If you do that all
\ndetails become trifling matters which will arrange themselves according to
\nconvenience and common sense.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How are you
\ngoing to find the right external relations by withdrawing altogether from
\nexternal relations? And how do you
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page \u2013 1064<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

propose to be
\nthoroughly transformed and unified by living only in the internal life, without
\nany test of the transformation and unity by external contact and the ordeals of
\nthe external work and life? Thoroughness includes external work and relations and
\nnot a retired inner life only.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is only by the vital ego giving up its demands and claims and the
\nreactions these produce when not satisfied, that the transformation and
\nunification can come, and there is no other way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I told you you<\/span> were not to try to decide by your mind. You
\npersistently go on repeating, \u201cI must decide. I must decide. I must take a
\ndecision. I must take a resolution.\u201d You are always repeating this I, I, I must
\ndecide, as if you knew better than myself and the Mother! \u201cI must understand, I
\nmust decide!\u201d And always you find that your mind can decide nothing and understand
\nnothing. And yet you go on repeating the same falsehood.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I tell you plainly once again that all your so-called experiences
\nare worth nothing, mere vital ignorance and confusion. The only experience you
\nneed is the experience of the presence of the Mother, the Mother’s light, the
\nMother’s force, and the change they bring on you.<\/p>\n

You have to throw away all other influences and open yourself only
\nto the Mother’s influence.<\/p>\n

You have to think and talk no longer about energies flowing out and
\nyour energies and others’ energies. The only energy you have to feel is the descent
\nand inflow and action of the Mother’s force.<\/p>\n

These were my instructions and so long as you carried them out, you
\nwere progressing rapidly.<\/p>\n

Throw all these incoherent false experiences away. Go back to the
\nsingle rule I gave you. Open to the Mother’s presence, influence, light, force
\n\u2013 reject everything else. Only so will you get back clearness (instead of this
\nconfusion), peace, psychic perception and progress in the sadhana. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1065<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tYou are
\npersisting in a wrong effort which prevents the very object that you have in
\nview. You want to have what you call \u201cdivinisation\u201d; but you cannot have it in
\nthe way you are trying.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

I will point out your mistake; please read carefully and try to
\nunderstand rightly. Especially \u00a0<\/span>understand
\nmy words in their plain sense and do not put into them any \u201chidden meaning\u201d or
\nany other meaning which might be favourable to your present ideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine Consciousness we are trying to bring down is a
\nTruth-Consciousness. It shows us all the truth of our being and nature on all
\nthe planes \u2013 mind, life and body. It does not throw them away or make an
\nimpatient effort to get rid of them immediately and substitute something
\nfantastic and wonderful in their place. It works upon them patiently and slowly
\nto perfect and raise in them all that is capable of perfection and to change
\nall that is obscure and imperfect.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your first mistake is to imagine that it is possible to become
\ndivine in a moment. You imagine that the higher consciousness has only to
\ndescend in you and remain there and all is finished. You imagine that no time
\nis needed, no long, hard or careful work, and that all will be done for you in
\na moment by the Divine Grace. This is quite wrong. It is not done in that way;
\nand so long as you persist in this error, there can be no permanent
\ndivinisation, and you will only disturb the Truth that is trying to come, and
\ndisturb your own mind and body by a fruitless struggle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Secondly, you are mistaken in thinking that because you feel a
\ncertain force and presence, therefore you are at once divine. It is not so easy
\nto become divine. There must be to whatever force or presence comes, a right
\ninterpretation and response, a right knowledge in the mind, a right preparation
\nof the vital and physical being. But what you are feeling is an abnormal vital
\nforce and exaltation due to the impatience of your desire, and with this there
\ncome suggestions born of your desire, which you mistake for truth and call
\ninspirations and intuitions. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I will point out some of the mistakes you make in this condition.<\/p>\n

You immediately begin to think that there is no further need <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1066<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

of my
\ninstructions or guidance, because you imagine you are henceforth one with me.
\nNot only so, but the suggestions which you want to accept go quite against my
\ninstructions. How can this be if you are one with me? It is obvious that these ideas
\nthat go against my instructions come from your mind and impulses and not from
\nme or from any Divine Consciousness or from anything that can be called the Sri Aurobindo Consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this connection you write, \u201cI see the difficulty that even when I
\nam filled with you, the idea of obeying and following your instructions still
\nworks \u2013 even when you have made me yourself. I pray for the needful.\u201d The idea
\nof following and obeying my instructions is not a difficulty, it is the only
\nthing that can help you. That obedience is the thing that is needful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you mean by saying, \u201cYou have made me yourself\u201d? The words
\nseem to have no meaning. You cannot mean that you become the same individual
\nself as I; there cannot be two Aurobindos<\/span>; even if it
\nwere possible it would be absurd and useless. You cannot mean that you have
\nbecome the Supreme Being, for you cannot be God or the Ishwara. If it is in the
\nordinary (Vedantic) sense, then everyone is myself, since every Jiva is a
\nportion of the One. You may perhaps have become conscious for a time of this
\nunity; but that consciousness is not sufficient by itself to transform you or
\nto make you divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You begin to imagine that you can do without food and sleep and
\ndisregard the needs of the body; and you forget my instructions and mistakenly
\ncall these needs a disturbance or the play of the hostile material and physical
\nforces. This idea is false. What you feel is only a vital force, not the
\nhighest truth, and the body remains what it was; it will suffer and break down
\nif it is not given food, rest and sleep.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the same mistaken vital exaltation that made you feel your
\nbody to see if it was of supramental substance. Understand clearly that the
\nbody cannot be transformed in that way into something quite unphysical. The
\nphysical being and the body, in order to be perfected, have to go through a
\nlong preparation and gradual change. This cannot be done, if you do not come
\nout of this mistaken vital exaltation and come down <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1067<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

into the
\nordinary physical consciousness first, with a clear sense of physical
\nrealities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally, if you want the real change and transformation, you must
\nclearly and resolutely recognise that you have made and are still making
\nmistakes and have entered into a condition that is unfavourable to your object.
\nYou have tried to get rid of your thinking mind, instead of perfecting and
\nenlightening it, and have tried to replace it by artificial \u201cinspirations and intuitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have developed a dislike and shrinking for the body and the
\nphysical being and its movements; and therefore you do not want to come down
\ninto the normal physical consciousness and do patiently there what is necessary
\nfor the change. You have left yourself only with a vital consciousness which
\nfeels sometimes a great force and Ananda and at others falls into bad
\ndepressions because it is not supported either by the mind above or by the body
\nbelow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You must absolutely change all this, if you want the real
\ntransformation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You must not mind losing the vital exaltation; you must not mind
\ncoming into a normal physical consciousness, with a clear practical mind,
\nlooking at physical conditions and physical realities. You must accept them
\nfirst, or you will never be able to change and perfect them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You must recover a quiet mind and intelligence. If you can once
\nfirmly do these things, the Greater Truth and Consciousness can come back in
\nits proper time, in the right way and under the right conditions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You must have
\nfull power of will and action in order to succeed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not sufficient to strengthen your body, you must also
\nstrengthen your mind; you must absolutely get rid of these ideas about sin,
\nthis brooding upon suggestions of sexual impulse and this habit of seeing dark
\nvital forces everywhere. Your people are quite ordinary human beings, they are
\nnot evil spirits or forces. Your attitude to them must be one neither of attachment <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013<\/span>
\n1068<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

nor of fear,
\nhorror and shrinking but of quiet detachment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do not seek for inspiration, but act quietly and rationally
\naccording to our instructions, with a calm mind and a quiet will. Get rid of
\nyour obsession about coming here and falling at our feet. This and the other
\nsuggestions and voices are not inspirations but merely things created by your
\nown mind and its impulses. Your safety lies in remaining quiet and doing what we
\ntell you quietly and persistently, with a perfect confidence, until you are
\nentirely recovered.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It will be very
\ngood for you to read and translate the Arya<\/span>….\u00a0 <\/span>I will send you a copy of the Essays on the Gita<\/i>, first series; it
\nwill be best for you to begin with this and translate it. Accustom yourself to
\ntranslate only a little every day and do it very carefully. Do not write in
\nhaste; go several times through what you have written and see whether it
\naccurately represents the spirit of the original and whether the language
\ncannot be improved. In all things, in the mental and physical plane, it should
\nbe your aim, at present, not to go fast and finish quickly, but to do
\neverything carefully, perfectly, and in the right manner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We wish you to understand and keep henceforth the right attitude
\nwith regard to the physico<\/span>-vital impulses of which you
\ncomplain; that is as regards food, money, sexual impulses etc. You have been
\nadopting the moral and ascetic attitude which is entirely wrong and cannot help
\nyou to master these powers of the nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For food, it is a need of the body and you must use it to keep the
\nbody fit and strong. You must replace attachment by the Ananda of food. If you
\nhave this Ananda and the right sense of taste etc. and of the right use of
\nfood, the attachment, if there is any, will of itself, after a time, disappear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As regards money, that too is a need for life and work….\u00a0 <\/span>Money represents a great power of life which
\nmust be conquered for divine uses. Therefore you must have no attachment to it
\nbut also no disgust or horror of it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to the sexual impulse, for this also you must have no <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1069<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

moral horror or puritanic<\/span> or ascetic repulsion. This also is a power of
\nlife and while you have to throw away the present form of this power (that is
\nthe physical act), the force itself has to be mastered and transformed. It is
\noften strongest in people with a strong vital nature and this strong vital
\nnature can be made a great instrument for the physical realisation of the
\nDivine Life. If the sexual impulse comes, do not be sorry or troubled but look
\nat it calmly, quiet it down, reject all wrong suggestions connected with it and
\nwait for the Higher Consciousness to transform it into the true force and
\nAnanda. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All these things we have told you are necessary for your being in
\nthe physical consciousness and having the right relations with physical life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

VI<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cosmic
\nconsciousness does not belong to overmind in especial; it covers all the
\nplanes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Man is shut up at present in his surface individual consciousness
\nand knows the world (or rather the surface of it) only through his outward mind
\nand senses and by interpreting their contacts with the world. By yoga there can
\nopen in him a consciousness which becomes one with that of the world; he
\nbecomes directly aware of a universal Being, universal states, universal Force
\nand Power, universal Mind, Life, Matter and lives in conscious relations with
\nthese things. He is then said to have cosmic consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The overmind<\/span> is the basis of the total cosmic consciousness,
\nbut the cosmic consciousness itself can be felt on any plane, not only above
\nmind, but in mind, life, matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are in the
\ncosmic consciousness two sides \u2013 one the contact with and perception of the
\nordinary cosmic forces and the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n\u2013
\n1070<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

beings behind
\nthese forces, that is what I call the cosmic Ignorance \u2013 the other is the
\nperception of the cosmic Truths, the realisation of the one universal, the one
\nuniversal Force, all the Vedantic truths of the One in all and all in one, all
\nthe various aspects of the Divine in the cosmic and a host of other things can
\ncome which do help to realisation and knowledge \u2013 provided they are taken in
\nthe right way. However all that can be best dealt with when it actually comes.
\nIt does not always come as soon as there is the widening \u2013 many pass through
\nthe widening of the consciousness to what is beyond the cosmic and take the
\ncosmic in detail afterwards \u2013 and it is perhaps the safest order.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When one has the
\ncosmic consciousness, one can feel the cosmic Self as one’s own self, one can
\nfeel one with other beings in the cosmos, one can feel all the forces of Nature
\nas moving in oneself, all selves as one’s own self.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no why except that it is so, since all is the One.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All is in the
\nSelf; when identified with the universal self all is in you. Also the microcosm
\nreproduces the macrocosm \u2013 so all is present in each, though all is not
\nexpressed (and cannot be) in the surface consciousness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everything acts
\nin the self. The whole play of Nature takes place in the self, in the Divine.
\nThe self contains the universe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Self is
\nbeing, not a being. By Self is meant the conscious essential existence, one in
\nall. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1071<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

The original
\nsubstance of all spirit is pure existence carrying in it pure self-existent
\nconsciousness (or consciousness-force) and pure self-existent Ananda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Substance and
\nbeing are the same thing. In the creation they can be looked upon as two
\naspects of the spirit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Self is
\nessentially universal; the individualised self is only the universal experienced
\nfrom or in an individual centre. If what you have realised is not felt to be
\none in all, then it is not the Atman; it is the central being not yet revealing
\nits universal aspect as Atman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The self is felt
\neither as universal, one in all, or as universalised individual the same in
\nessence as others, extended everywhere from each being but centred here. Of
\ncourse centre is a way of speaking, because no physical centre is usually felt
\n\u2013 only all the actions take place around the individual.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The usual
\nexperience of the Impersonal is that It is everywhere without form or
\nlimitation in any place or time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The impersonal
\nDivine has no abode and cannot have; it is all-pervading. If anybody says the
\nimpersonal Divine has its abode in the heart he can be asked what he means by
\nthe impersonal Divine. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the cosmic
\nconsciousness the personal `I’ disappears into the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1072<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

one Self of all.
\nThe `I’ which alone exists is not that of the person, the individualised `I’,
\nbut the universalised `I’ identical with all and with the cosmic Self (Atman).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What will remain
\nafter liberation is the central being \u2013 not the ego. The central being will
\nlive in the consciousness of the Divine everywhere and in all other beings
\nalso; so it will not have the consciousness of a separate ego but of one centre
\namong many of the Divine Multiplicity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you feel is
\nthe normal condition when the liberation takes place. The work of the senses
\netc. goes on as before, but the consciousness is different, so that one feels
\nnot only the sense of liberation, separation, etc., but that one is living in
\nquite another world than that of the ordinary mind, life or senses. It is
\nanother consciousness with another knowledge and way of looking at things that
\nbegins. Afterwards as this consciousness takes possession of the instruments,
\nthere is a harmony of it with the sense and life; but these too become
\ndifferent, with a changed outlook, seeing the world no more as before but as if
\nmade of another substance with another significance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Liberation is
\nthe first necessity, to live in the peace, silence, purity, freedom of the
\nself. Along with that or afterwards if one wakens to the cosmic consciousness,
\nthen one can be free, yet one with all things. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To have the cosmic consciousness without liberation is possible, but
\nthen there is no freedom anywhere in the being from the lower nature and one
\nmay become in one’s extended consciousness the playground of all kinds of
\nforces without being able to be either free or master.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the other hand, if there has been Self-realisation, there <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1073<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

is one part of
\nthe being that remains untouched amid the play of the cosmic forces \u2013 while if
\nthe peace and purity of the self has been established in the whole inner
\nconsciousness, then the outer touches of the lower nature can’t come in or overpower.
\nThis is the advantage of Self-realisation preceding the cosmic consciousness
\nand supporting it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When there is
\nthe development of the Self-realisation or of the cosmic consciousness or if
\nthere is the emptiness which is the preliminary condition for these things,
\nthere comes an automatic tendency for a unity with all \u2013 their affections,
\nmental, vital, physical may easily touch. One has to keep oneself free. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You had a mental
\nand the beginning of a vital opening to the cosmic consciousness \u2013 kept on the
\nspiritualised level, the vision or feeling of the Divine Ananda without seeking
\nfor possession or a gross outer enjoyment, it would have established a yogic
\nconsciousness and made a base for knowledge and peace and power and psychic
\nlove and surrender to come down. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is very good.
\nThe widening of the consciousness so as to be at one with the universal
\nInfinite is an important stage in the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, your
\nexperience was a very good one and your feeling about it was correct. When the
\nconsciousness is narrow and personal or shut in the body, it is difficult to
\nreceive from the Divine \u2013 the wider it expands, the more it can receive. A time
\ncomes when it feels as wide as the world and able to receive all the Divine
\ninto itself. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1074<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

It is an
\nexperience of the extension of consciousness. In yoga experience the
\nconsciousness widens in every direction, around, below, above, in each
\ndirection stretching to infinity. When the consciousness of the yogi becomes
\nliberated, it is not in the body, but in this infinite height, depth, and
\nwideness that he lives always. Its basis is an infinite void or silence, but in
\nthat all can manifest \u2013 Peace, Freedom, Power, Light, Knowledge, Ananda. This
\nconsciousness is usually called the consciousness of the Self or Atman, for it
\nis a pure existence or self that is the source of all things and contains all
\nthings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 it
\n[wideness] is felt as if a great substantial vastness full of power and giving
\nthe sense of oneness free and infinite and the same from top to bottom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the beginning
\nthe experience of wideness like other experiences comes only from time to time.
\nIt is only afterwards that it becomes frequent and remains long, till finally
\nit settles and the consciousness remains always wide.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You must dismiss
\nthe fear of the concentration. The emptiness you feel coming on you is the silence
\nof the great peace in which you become aware of your self, not as the small ego
\nshut up in the body, but as the spiritual self wide as the universe. Consciousness
\nis not dissolved; it is the limits of the consciousness that are dissolved. In
\nthat silence thoughts may cease for a time, there may be nothing but a great
\nlimitless freedom and wideness, but into that silence, that empty wideness
\ndescends the vast peace from above, light, bliss, knowledge, the higher
\nConsciousness in which you feel the oneness of the Divine. It is the beginning
\nof the transformation and there is nothing in it to fear.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1075<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

It means the
\nliberation from the body sense in which one can truly say, \u201cI am not the body\u201d.
\nThis liberation is part of the cosmic consciousness \u2013 as is also the
\nrealisation of the cosmic Will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the liberation from the body sense only. That is quite
\ndifferent from the control of the body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you felt as
\na strong subtle air was the concrete expression of consciousness or conscious
\nexistence in itself independent of the body. As yet the experience is still
\nlimited by the body, but when it is felt without that limit then it is a sense
\nof a wide ether filling all space, Akasha Brahman. As this grows, the body
\nsense disappears and when the mind also is quite inactive, one feels oneself to
\nbe that spreading out to all Infinity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If these were
\nimaginations, you would be able to reproduce them exactly each time you thought
\nof them. The idea that it is imagination comes from the physical mind which
\ncannot believe in any thing supraphysical<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This opening of the chest into the void (not really the void, but
\nthe infinite Akasha of the Chit universal and illimitable) is always the sign
\nof an opening of the emotional being into the wideness of the Universal Divine.
\nThe image of the Akasha is often seen by sadhaks in Dhyana<\/span>.
\nWhen the consciousness is liberated, whether in the mind or other part, there
\nis always this sense of the wide infinite emptiness. From the top of the head
\nto the throat is the mental plane of the being \u2013 a similar opening and
\nemptiness or wideness here is the sign of the mind being freed into the
\nUniversal. From the throat to the stomach is the higher vital or emotional
\nregion. Below is the lower vital plane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is more, I
\nthink, forgetting the body than non-identification <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1076<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

\nwith it. In an
\nintense mentalisation<\/span> or an intense vital activity,
\nthe body takes a second place and becomes more outward and the same may happen
\nto a certain extent more constantly in a man who lives in his mind or his vital
\nand is identified more closely with that. But still it is the mental in the
\nbody, the vital in the body. There is no release, no getting entirely separate
\nas in the spiritual liberation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it is not
\npossible for the human mind to live entirely in itself to such a degree as to
\nignore the body altogether \u2013 a real or complete liberation or
\nnon-identification is not possible without the spiritual release. All that is
\npossible to the mind is a constant absorption in itself and an ignoring or
\nforgetfulness as much as possible of the body. That one finds often in people who
\nlive a retired mental life (scholars, thinkers etc.) without the need to
\ntrouble themselves about their livelihood, family etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sun rising
\non the horizon is the direct light of the Divine Truth rising in the being \u2013 the
\nray upwards opens the being to the Truth as it is above mind, the ray in front
\nopens it to what we call the cosmic consciousness, it becomes released from the
\npersonal limitation and opens and becomes aware of the universal mind,
\nuniversal physical, universal vital. The action on the heart was the pressure
\nof this Sun on it to have this direct opening, so that the consciousness may
\nbecome free, wide and wholly at peace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is a great thing that you have been able to keep untroubled and
\nundisturbed in the presence of the adverse pressure and kept the consciousness
\nof the Peace still there behind. It is a sign that it is becoming more
\nconsolidated and effective. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The wideness
\ncomes when one exceeds or begins to exceed the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1077<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

individual
\nconsciousness and spread out towards the universal. But the psychic can be
\nactive even in the individual consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The psychic is
\nthe support of the individual evolution; it is connected with the universal
\nboth by direct contact and through the mind, vital and body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Love, joy and
\nhappiness come from the psychic. The Self gives peace or a universal Ananda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Self or
\nAtman is inactive; Nature (Prakriti) or Shakti acts. When the Self is felt it
\nis first an infinite existence, silence, freedom, peace that is felt \u2013 that is
\ncalled Atman or Self. What action takes place in it is according to the
\nrealisation either felt as forces of Nature working in that wideness, as the
\nDivine Shakti working or as the cosmic Divine or various powers of them
\nworking. It is not felt that the Self is acting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the
\nspectator and the coils of the dragon, it is the Chino-Japanese image for the
\nworld-force extending itself in the course of the universe and this expresses
\nthe attitude of the witness seeing it all and observing in its unfolding the
\nunrolling of the play of the Divine Lila. It is this attitude that gives the
\ngreatest calm, peace, samatā<\/i><\/span>
\nin face of the riddle of the cosmic workings. It is not meant that action and
\nmovement are not accepted but they are accepted as the Divine Working which is
\nleading to ends which the mind may not always see at once, but the soul divines
\nthrough all the supreme purpose and the hidden guidance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, there is afterwards an experience in which the two sides
\nof the Divine Whole, the Witness and the Player, blend <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1078<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

together; but
\nthis poise of the spectator comes first and leads to that fuller experience. It
\ngives the balance, the calm, the increasing understanding of soul and life and
\ntheir deeper significances without which the full supramental experience cannot
\ncome.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The universal
\nforces move by their own force and the consciousness within them \u2013 but there is
\nalso the Cosmic Spirit who supports them and determines by his onlook<\/span> and disposing will their play \u2013 although the direct
\naction is left to the forces \u2013 it is the play of universal Prakriti with the
\nuniversal Purusha watching behind it. In the individual also there is the
\nindividual Purusha who can, if he wills, not merely assent to the play of
\nPrakriti, but accept or reject or will for its change. All that is in the play
\nitself as we see it here. There is something above \u2013 but the action of that is
\nan intervention rather than a moment to moment control; it can become a
\nconstant direct control only when one replaces the play of the forces by the
\ngovernment of the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the true
\nyogic consciousness in which one feels the oneness and lives in it, not touched
\nby the outer being and its inferior movements, but looking on them with a smile
\nat their ignorance and smallness. It will become much more possible to deal
\nwith these outer things if that separateness is maintained always. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the
\nPurusha and Prakriti sides of the nature \u2013 one leading to pure conscious
\nexistence, static, the other to pure conscious force, dynamic. The past
\ndarkness they have come out of is that of ignorance, the future darkness that
\nis felt above is superconscience<\/span>. But, of course, the
\nsuperconscience<\/span> is really luminous \u2013 only its light
\nis not seen. The three forms of consciousness are the three sides of Nature
\nrepresented by the three gunas \u2013 force of subconscious tamas, Inertia, which is
\nthe law of<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

                                                                                                                          
\nPage \u2013 1079<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

Matter, force of
\nhalf-conscious desire, Kinesis, which is rajas, which is the law of Life, and
\nforce of sattwic Prakasha<\/span>, which is the law of
\nIntelligence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is one
\nPurusha \u2013 its action is according to the position and need of the consciousness
\nat the time. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the nature of the action above the ordinary mind or in the
\ncosmic consciousness which is many-sided.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prakriti is only
\nthe executive or working force \u2013 the Power behind the Prakriti is Shakti. It is
\nthe Chit-Shakti in manifestation: that is the spiritual consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is true of
\nmental knowledge and will, but not of the higher knowledge-will. In the
\nsupermind, knowledge and will are one.<\/p>\n

All energies derive from the Chit-Shakti, but they differentiate
\nfrom it as they descend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This much is true that Life is characteristically Force \u2013 the
\nPhysical is characteristically substance, but the dynamism of both derives from
\nChit \u2013 mind dynamism also, all dynamism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is one
\ncommon Force working in all and a vibration of that Force or any one of its
\nmovements can awake (it does not always) the same vibration in another.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a constant movement (Prakriti) and a constant silence
\n(Purusha).<\/p>\n

It is a statement of the Upanishad that there is an ether of Ananda
\nin which all breathe and live; if it were not there, none could breathe or
\nlive. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1080<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

The force
\n\u201ccreated\u201d is not yours \u2013 it is Prakriti’s \u2013 your will sets it in motion, it
\ndoes not really create it; but once set in motion, it tends to fulfil itself so
\nfar as the play of other forces will allow it. So, naturally, if you want to
\nstop it, you have to set a contrary force in motion which will be strong enough
\nto prevail against its momentum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This vision is
\nthe perception of cosmic movement of things developing from state to state and
\nin that the individual movements which make it up. There is also possible a
\nsense of the All as Time in flow or of the same as a dimension interwoven with
\nSpace like warp and woof of a cloth, etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The world is the
\nform, the reality is the Divine. One must see the presence in the form.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine is
\nthe Supreme Truth because it is the Supreme Being from whom all have come and
\nin whom all are.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Divine is
\nthat from which all comes, in which all lives, and to return to the truth of
\nthe Divine now clouded over by Ignorance is the soul’s aim in life. In its
\nsupreme Truth, the Divine is absolute and infinite peace, consciousness,
\nexistence, power and Ananda.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Supreme
\ncannot create through the Transcendent because the Transcendent is the Supreme.
\nIt is through the Cosmic Shakti that the Divine creates. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1081<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

The cosmic Force
\nis under the control of the overmind. The supermind does not act on it directly
\n\u2013 whatever comes down from there is modified so as to pass through the overmind
\nand take a lesser form suitable to the plane on which it acts, mental, vital or
\nphysical. But this intervention is exceptional in the ordinary play of the
\ncosmic forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cosmic
\nspirit contains the supermind, but it keeps it above and works for the present
\nbetween the overmind and the physical. It is only when the Ignorance is removed
\nthat the supramental becomes directly a dynamic part of the workings of cosmic
\nNature here. Till then there are only reflections of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the Cosmic
\nSpirit] uses Truth and Falsehood, Knowledge and Ignorance and all the other
\ndualities as elements in the manifestation and works out what has to be worked
\nout till all is ready for a higher working.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cosmic
\nforces here whether good or bad are forces of the Ignorance. Above them is the
\nTruth-Consciousness that can only manifest when ego and desire are overcome \u2013 it
\nis the force from the Divine Truth-Consciousness that must descend; the higher
\nPeace, Light, Knowledge, Purity, Ananda must work upon the cosmic forces in the
\nindividual so as to change them and substitute the Truth-Force in place of the
\nordinary working.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A cosmos or
\nuniverse is always a harmony, otherwise it could not exist, it would fly to
\npieces. But as there are musical harmonies which are built out of discords
\npartly or even predominantly, so this universe (the material) is disharmonious
\nin its separate <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1082<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

elements \u2013 the
\nindividual elements are at discord with each other to a large extent; it is
\nonly owing to the sustaining Divine Will behind that the whole is still a
\nharmony to those who look at it with the cosmic vision. But it is a harmony in
\nevolution in progress \u2013 that is, all is combined to strive towards a goal which
\nis not yet reached, and the object of our yoga is to hasten the arrival to this
\ngoal. When it is reached, there will be a harmony of harmonies substituted for
\nthe present harmony built up on discords. This is the explanation of the
\npresent appearance of things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everything here
\nis not perfect but all works out the cosmic Will in the course of the ages.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The harmony of
\nthe lower consciousness is a harmony of discords brought about by a clash and
\nmixture of forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This vision is a
\nrepresentation in sound of the cosmic harmony from which the Ignorance is a
\nfall and a discord.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is a
\nrhythm in everything unheard by the physical ear and by that rhythm things
\nexist.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Both of these [OM and the sound of
\nchurch-bells] are usually sounds that indicate the opening or attempt to open
\nto the cosmic consciousness. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1083<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

It is when you
\nfeel the universal or divine beauty or presence in things that the senses are
\nopen to the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One can live in
\ncontact with the Divine even amidst the universal forces \u2013 but to live in the
\nDivine one must be able to rise beyond the lower universal Nature or to call
\ndown the Divine consciousness here. The beginnings are difficult for most \u2013 and
\nat no time is it really easy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To be always
\nmerged in the Divine is not so easy. It can be done only by an absorption in
\none’s own inner self or by a consciousness that sees all in the Divine and the
\nDivine in all and is always in that condition. There is none who has attained to
\nthat yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Cosmic
\nSpirit or Self contains everything in the cosmos \u2013 it upholds cosmic Mind,
\nuniversal Life, universal Matter as well as the overmind. The Self is more than
\nall these things which are its formulations in Nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[The results of
\nthe opening to the cosmic Mind:] One is aware of the cosmic Mind and the mental
\nforces that move there and how they work on one’s mind and that of others and
\none is able to deal with one’s own mind with a greater knowledge and effective
\npower. There are many other results, but this is the fundamental one. This is
\nof course if one opens in the right way and does not merely become a passive
\nfield of all sorts of ideas and mental forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The opening to
\ncosmic Mind makes the experience of the Divine everywhere for instance more
\neasy \u2013 but it is not essentially <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1084<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

spiritual; if
\nthere is not a coming of wider spiritual experiences, then it need not be
\nspiritual at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is
\nhappening is that you have got into touch with the cosmic Mind where all sorts
\nof ideas, possibilities, formations are moving about. The individual mind takes
\nup those which appeal to it or perhaps come into distinct form when they touch
\nit. But these are possibilities, not truths, so it is better not to let them
\nrun free like that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mind has its own
\nrealms and life has its own realms just as matter has. In the mental realms
\nlife and substance are entirely subordinated to Mind and obey its dictates.
\nHere on earth there is the evolution with matter as the starting-point, life as
\nthe medium, mind emerging from it. There are many grades, realms, combinations
\nin the cosmos \u2013 there are even many universes. Ours is only one of many.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[The effect of
\nopening to the cosmic Life:] One becomes aware of all the life-forces and of
\nhow they act upon oneself and others, upon mind, upon body \u2013 also the force
\nmovements behind events. One becomes too directly aware of the vital plane, its
\nworlds, its beings, and the direct action of their formations on the
\nearth-life. One has to become aware also at the same time of one’s own true
\nvital being and act from it and not from the surface or desire vital in relation
\nto all these things. All this effect does not come at once, \u2013 it develops as
\nthe contact with the cosmic Life increases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the universal
\nvital especially there is a deceptive attraction and an exhilarating rush of
\npower (not true quiet power but mere force) which those who yield to it cling
\nto as a drunkard to his <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1085<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

intoxicants. It
\ngives them a sense of being strong and great and full of interesting things \u2013 when
\nit is taken from them, they feel \u201clike ordinary people\u201d and ask for it back
\nagain.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Universal forces
\nmeans all forces good or bad, favourable or hostile, of light and darkness that
\nmove in the cosmos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The earth is the
\nplace of evolution in which all these forces meet and try to manifest and out
\nof their working something has to develop. On the other planes (the mental,
\nvital etc.) there is not the evolution \u2013 there each acts separately according
\nto its own law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Universal
\napplies to everything in the universe \u2013 there are individual beings everywhere,
\nbut not physical in the terrestrial sense \u2013 the composition being different.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, they [the
\nhostile beings] do not create universal forces; they are themselves moved by
\nthem and move them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, of course,
\nthere is always a fight between the forces of Light and Darkness.<\/p>\n

In sadhana it becomes concentrated and conscious to us.<\/p>\n

As for the hostile beings, they are always in battle with each
\nother; but they make common cause against the Truth and Light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The forces are
\nconscious. There are besides individualised beings <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1086<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

who represent
\nthe forces or use them. The wall between consciousness and force, impersonality
\nand personality becomes much thinner when one goes behind the veil of matter.
\nIf one looks at a working from the side of impersonal force one sees a force or
\nenergy at work acting for a purpose or with a result, if one looks from the
\nside of being one sees a being possessing, guiding and using or else
\nrepresentative of and used by a conscious force as its instrument of
\nspecialised action and expression. You speak of the wave, but in modern science
\nit has been found that if you look at the movement of energy, it appears on one
\nside to be a wave and act as a wave, on the other as a mass of particles and to
\nact as a mass of particles each acting in its own way. It is somewhat the same
\nprinciple here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nature-Forces
\nare conscious forces \u2013 they can very well combine all that is necessary for an
\naction or a purpose and when one means fails, take another.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes. They [the
\nforces] are able to act with a greater force if they can make a special
\nformation than by general psychological action common to all human nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They [the cosmic
\nforces] act on everyone, according to the person’s nature \u2013 and his will and
\nconsciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Egoism is part
\nof the machinery \u2013 a chief part \u2013 of universal Nature, first to develop
\nindividuality out of indiscriminate force and substance of Nature and,
\nsecondly, to make the individual (through the machinery of egoistic thought,
\nfeeling, will and desire) a tool of the universal forces. It is only when one
\ngets\n<\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1087<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

into touch with
\na higher Nature that it is possible to get free of this rule of ego and
\nsubjection to these forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, if there is
\nthe solid experience [that all one’s energies and capacities come from the
\nuniversal forces], the ego habit is much diminished, but it does not go
\naltogether. It takes refuge in the sense of being an instrument and \u2013 if there
\nis not the psychic turn \u2013 it may easily prefer to be the instrument of some
\nForce that feeds the satisfaction of the ego. In such cases the ego may still
\nremain strong although it feels itself instrumental and not the primary actor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the psychic
\nis active \u2013 or in so far as it is active, there is something in it which is
\nlike an automatic test for the universal forces \u2013 warning against, (not by
\nthought so much as by an essential feeling) and rejecting what should not be,
\naccepting and transmuting what should be.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it is so.
\nThe universal forces act very often through the subconscient \u2013 especially when
\nthe force they send is something the person has been in the habit of obeying
\nand of which the seeds, impressions, \u201ccomplexes\u201d are strongly rooted in the
\nsubconscient \u2013 or, even if that is no longer the case, of which there is a
\nmemory still in the subconscient. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no rule
\nfor that. The human being is ordinarily conscious only on the surface \u2013 but the
\nsurface records only the results of subliminal agencies at work. It is often
\nthrough the centres that the forces come in, for then they get the greatest
\npower to act on the nature \u2013 but they can enter anywhere. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tPage \u2013 1088<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n

They [pain and
\ngrief] are perhaps rather the result of the action of universal forces \u2013 but in
\na certain sense grief and pain may be said to be universal forces \u2013 for there
\nare waves of these things that arrive and invade the being often without apparent
\ncause.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [death] is a
\nuniversal force \u2013 the happening or change called death is simply one result of
\nthe working of the force. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

\nEND OF PART THREE<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1089<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECTION THREE Experiences of the Inner and the Cosmic Consciousness    THE piercing of the veil between the outer consciousness and the inner being is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23","wpcat-24-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}