{"id":1126,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:45","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1126"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:45","slug":"12-experiences-and-realisations-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\/12-experiences-and-realisations-vol-23-letters-on-yoga-volume-23","title":{"rendered":"-12_Experiences and Realisations.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nPART \u2013 III<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\nS<\/font>ECTION<\/font>
\nO<\/font>NE<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nExperiences and Realisations<\/span><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nE<\/font><\/span><\/b>XPERIENCE<\/font><\/span> is a word that covers almost
\nall the happenings in yoga; only when something gets settled, then it is no
\nlonger an experience but part of the siddhi; e.g. peace when it comes and goes
\nis an experience \u2013 when it is settled and goes no more it is a siddhi.
\nRealisation is different \u2013 it is when<\/span> <\/span>something
\nfor which you are aspiring becomes real to you; e.g. you have the idea of the
\nDivine in all, but it is only an idea, a belief; when you feel or see the
\nDivine in all, it becomes a realisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All this is to make
\nunnecessary distinctions. An experience of a truth in the substance of mind, in
\nthe vital or the physical, wherever it may be, is the beginning of realisation.
\nWhen I experience peace, I begin to realise what it is. Repetition of the experience
\nleads to a fuller and more permanent realisation. When it is settled anywhere,
\nthat is the full realisation of it in that place or that part of the being.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is spirituality when
\nyou begin to become aware of another consciousness than the ego and begin to
\nlive in it or under its influence more and more. It is that consciousness wide,
\ninfinite, self-existent, pure of ego etc. which is called Spirit (Self, Brahman,
\nDivine), so this necessarily must be the meaning of spirituality. Realisation
\nis this and all else that the experience and growth of this greater
\nconsciousness brings with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The yogi is one who is
\nalready established in realisation \u2013 the
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 877<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

sadhak is one who is
\ngetting or still trying to get realisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no law that a
\nfeeling cannot be an experience; experiences are of all kinds and take all
\nforms in the consciousness. When the consciousness undergoes, sees or feels
\nanything spiritual or psychic or even occult, that is an experience \u2013 in the technical
\nyogic sense, for there are of course all sorts of experiences that are not of
\nthat character. The feelings themselves are of many kinds. The word feeling is
\noften used for an emotion, and there can be psychic or spiritual emotions which
\nare numbered among yogic experiences, such as a wave of śuddhā<\/i><\/span> bhakti<\/i> or the rising of love towards
\nthe Divine. A feeling also means a perception of something felt \u2013 a perception
\nin the vital or psychic or in the essential substance of the consciousness. I
\nfind even often a mental perception when it is very vivid described as a
\nfeeling. If you exclude all these feelings and kindred ones and say that they
\nare feelings, not experiences, then there is very little room left for
\nexperiences at all. Feeling and vision are the main forms of spiritual
\nexperience. One sees and feels the Brahman everywhere; one feels a force enter
\nor go out from one; one feels or sees the presence of the Divine within or
\naround one; one feels or sees the descent of Light; one feels the descent of
\nPeace or Ananda. Kick out all that on the ground that it is only a feeling and
\nyou make a clean sweep of most of the things that we call experience. Again, we
\nfeel a change in the substance of the consciousness or the state of
\nconsciousness. We feel ourselves spreading in wideness and the body as a small
\nthing in the wideness (this can be seen also); we feel the heart-consciousness
\nbeing wide instead of narrow, soft instead of hard, illumined instead of
\nobscure, the head-consciousness also, the vital, even the physical; we feel
\nthousands of things of all kinds and why are we not to call them experience? Of
\ncourse it is an inner sight, an inner feeling, subtle feeling, not material, like
\nthe feeling of a cold wind or a stone or any other object, but as the inner
\nconsciousness deepens it is not less vivid or concrete, it is even more so. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 878<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nAn experience is an
\nunmistakable thing and must be given its proper value. The mind may exaggerate
\nin thinking about it but that does not deprive it of its value.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not a question of
\ngiving an equal value to everything you do, but of recognising the value of all
\nthe different elements of the sadhana. No such rule can be made as that trances
\nare of little value or that experiences are of inferior importance any more
\nthan it can be said that work is of no or inferior importance.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a more deep and
\nspiritual sense a concrete realisation is that which makes the thing realised
\nmore real, dynamic, intimately present to the consciousness than any physical
\nthing can be. Such a realisation of the personal Divine or of the impersonal
\nBrahman or of the Self does not usually come at the beginning of a sadhana or
\nin the first years or for many years. It comes so to a very few. But to expect
\nand demand it so soon would be taken in the eyes of any experienced yogi or
\nsadhak as a rather rash and abnormal impatience. Most would say that a slow development
\nis the best one can hope for in the first years and only when the nature is
\nready and fully concentrated towards the Divine can the definitive experience come.
\nTo some rapid preparatory experiences can come at a comparatively early stage,
\nbut even they cannot escape the labour of the consciousness which will make
\nthese experiences culminate in the realisation that is enduring and complete.
\nIt is not a question of liking or disliking, it is a matter of fact and truth
\nand experience. It is the fact that people who are cheerful and ready to go
\nstep by step, even by slow steps, if need be, do actually march faster and more
\nsurely than those who are impatient and in haste. It is what I have always
\nseen.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [self-realisation] is
\nnot a long process! The whole life and seve<\/span><\/span>ral<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 879<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n lives more
\nare often not enough to achieve it. Ramakrishna’s Guru took 30 years to arrive
\nand even then he did not claim that he had realised it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your supposition [that
\nyou can’t love the Divine until you experience him in some way] conflicts with
\nthe experience of many sadhaks. I think Ramakrishna indicated somewhere that
\nthe love and joy and ardour of seeking was much more intense than that of
\nfulfilment. I don’t agree, but that shows at least that intense love is
\npossible before realisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My point is that there
\nare hundreds of Bhaktas<\/span> who have the love and seeking
\nwithout any concrete experience, with only a mental conception or emotional
\nbelief in the Divine to support them. The whole point is that it is untrue to
\nsay that one must have a decisive or concrete experience before one can have
\nlove for the Divine. It is contrary to the facts and the quite ordinary facts
\nof the spiritual experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ordinary Bhakta is
\nnot a lion heart. The lion hearts get experiences comparatively soon but the
\nordinary Bhakta has often to feed on his own love or yearning for years and
\nyears \u2013 and he does it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I meant about the
\nexperiences was simply this that you have created your own ideas about what you
\nwant from the yoga and have always been measuring what began to come by that
\nstandard and because it was not according to expectations or up to that
\nstandard, telling yourself after a moment, \u201cIt is nothing, it is nothing\u201d. That
\ndissatisfaction laid you open at every step to a reaction or a recoil which
\nprevented any continuous development. The yogin<\/span> who
\nhas experience knows that <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 880<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the small beginnings are
\nof the greatest importance and have to be cherished and allowed with great
\npatience to develop. He knows, for instance, that the neutral quiet so
\ndissatisfying to the vital eagerness of the sadhak is the first step towards the
\npeace that passeth<\/span> all understanding, the small
\ncurrent or thrill of inner delight the first trickling of the ocean of Ananda, the
\nplay of lights or colours the key of the doors of the inner vision and
\nexperience, the descent that stiffens the body into a concentrated stillness
\nthe first touch of something at the end of which is the presence of the Divine.
\nHe is not impatient; he is rather careful not to disturb the evolution that is
\nbeginning. Certainly some sadhaks have strong and decisive experiences at the
\nbeginning, but these are followed by long labour in which there are many empty
\nperiods and periods of struggle.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no room
\ncertainly for despair. The bliss always comes in drops at first, or a broken
\ntrickle. You have to go on cheerfully and in full confidence, till there is the
\ncascade.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you truly decide in
\nall your consciousness to offer your being to the Divine to mould it as He
\nwills, then most of your personal difficulty will disappear \u2013 I mean that which
\nstill remains, and there will be only the lesser difficulties of the transformation
\nof the ordinary into the yogic consciousness, normal to all sadhana. Your
\nmental difficulty has been all along that you wanted to mould the sadhana and
\nthe reception of experience and the response of the Divine according to your own
\npreconceived mental ideas and left no freedom to the Divine to act or manifest
\naccording to His own truth and reality and the need not of your mind and vital
\nbut of your soul and spirit. It is as if your vital were to present a coloured
\nglass to the Divine and tell Him, \u201cNow pour yourself into that and I will shut
\nyou up there and look at you through the colours\u201d, or, from the mental point of
\nview, as if you were to offer a test-tube in a similar way and
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 881<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

say, \u201cGet in there and I
\nwill test you and see what you are\u201d. But the Divine is shy about such processes
\nand His objections are not altogether unintelligible.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAt any rate I
\nam glad the experience has come back again \u2013 it has come as the result of your
\neffort and mine for the last days and is practically a reminder that the door
\nof entry into yogic experience is still there and can open at the right touch.
\nYou taxed me the other day with making a mistake about your experience of
\nbreathing with the name in it and reproached me for drawing a big inference
\nfrom a very small phenomenon \u2013 a thing, by the way, which the scientists are doing
\ndaily without the least objection from your reason. You had the same idea, I
\nbelieve, about my acceptance of your former experiences, this current and the
\ndescent of stillness in the body, as signs of the yogi in you. But these ideas
\nspring from an ignorance of the spiritual realm and its phenomena and only show
\nthe incapacity of the outer intellectual reason to play the role you want it to
\nplay, that of a supreme judge of spiritual truth and inner experience \u2013 a quite
\nnatural incapacity because it does not know even the A.B.C. of these things and
\nit passes my comprehension how one can be a judge about a thing of which one
\nknows nothing. I know that the \u201cscientists\u201d are continually doing it with
\nsupraphysical phenomena outside their province \u2013 those who never had a
\nspiritual or occult experience laying down the law about occult phenomena and yoga;
\nbut that does not make it any more reasonable or excusable. Any yogi who knows
\nsomething about Pranayama or Japa<\/span> can tell you that
\nthe running of the name in the breath is not a small phenomenon but of great
\nimportance in these practices and, if it comes naturally, a sign that something
\nin the inner being has done that kind of sadhana in the past. As for the
\ncurrent it is the familiar sign of a first touch of the higher consciousness
\nflowing down in the form of a stream \u2013 like the \u201cwave\u201d of light of the
\nscientist \u2013 to prepare its possession of mind, vital and physical in the body.
\nSo is the stillness and rigidity of the body in your former experience a sign
\nof the same descent of the higher consciousness in its form or tendency of
\nstillness and silence. It is a perfectly sound conclusion that one who gets
\nthese experiences at the beginning has the capa<\/span>city <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 882<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nof yoga in him and
\ncan open, even if opening is delayed by other movements belonging to his
\nordinary nature. These things are part of the science of yoga, as familiar as
\nthe crucial experiences of physical science are to the scientific seeker.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the
\nimpression of swooning, it is simply because you were not in sleep, as you
\nimagined, but in a first condition of what is usually called svapna-samādhi<\/i>, dream trance. What
\nyou felt like swooning was only the tendency to go deeper in, into a more
\nprofound svapna-samādhi<\/i> or else
\ninto a suşupti<\/i><\/span>
\ntrance \u2013 the latter being what the word trance usually means in English, but it
\ncan be extended to the svapna<\/i><\/span>
\nkind also. To the outer mind this deep loss of the outer consciousness seems like
\na swoon, though it is really nothing of the kind \u2013 hence the impression. Many
\nsadhaks here get at times or sometimes for a long period this deeper svapna-samādhi<\/i> in what began as
\nsleep \u2013 with the result that a conscious sadhana goes on in their sleeping as
\nin their waking hours. This is different from the dream experiences that one
\nhas on the vital or mental plane which are themselves not ordinary dreams but
\nactual experiences on the mental, vital, psychic or subtle physical planes. You
\nhave had several dreams which were vital dream experiences, those in which you
\nmet the Mother and recently you had one such contact on the mental plane which,
\nfor those who understand these things, means that the inner consciousness is preparing
\nin the mind as well as in the vital, which is a great advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You will ask
\nwhy these things take place either in sleep or in an indrawn meditation and not
\nin the waking state. There is a twofold reason. First, that usually in yoga
\nthese things begin in an indrawn state and not in the waking condition \u2013 it is only
\nif or when the waking mind is ready that they come as readily in the waking
\nstate. Again in you the waking mind has been too active in its insistence on
\nthe ideas and operations of the outer consciousness to give the inner mind a
\nchance to project itself into the waking state. But it is through the inner
\nconsciousness and primarily through the inner mind that these things come; so,
\nif there is not a clear passage from the inner to the outer, it must be in the
\ninner states that they first appear. If the waking mind is subject or
\nsurrendered to the inner consciousness and willing to <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 883<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

become its instrument,
\nthen even from the beginning these openings can come through the waking
\nconsciousness. That again is a familiar law of the yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I may add that
\nwhen you complain of the want of response, you are probably expecting
\nimmediately some kind of direct manifestation of the Divine which, as a rule,
\nthough there are exceptions, comes only when previous experiences have prepared
\nthe consciousness so that it may feel, understand, recognise the response.
\nOrdinarily, the spiritual or divine consciousness comes first \u2013 what I have called
\nthe higher consciousness \u2013 the presence or manifestation comes afterwards. But
\nthis descent of the higher consciousness is really the touch or influx of the
\nDivine itself, though not at first recognised by the lower nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI don’t say that these
\nexperiences are always of no value, but they are so mixed and confused that if
\none runs after them without any discrimination at all they end by either
\nleading astray, sometimes tragically astray, or by bringing one into a confused
\nnowhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThat does not
\nmean that all such experiences are useless or without value. There are those
\nthat are sound as well as those that are unsound; those that are helpful, in
\nthe true line, sometimes sign-posts, sometimes stages on the way to realisation,
\nsometimes stuff and material of the realisation. These naturally and rightly
\none seeks for, calls, strives after, or at least one opens oneself in the
\nconfident expectation that they will sooner or later arrive. Your own main
\nexperiences may have been few or not continuous, but I cannot say that they
\nwere not sound or unhelpful. I would say that it is better to have a few of
\nthese than a multitude of others. My only meaning in what I wrote was not to be
\nimpressed by mere wealth of experiences or to think that that is sufficient to
\nconstitute a great sadhak or that not to have this wealth is necessarily an inferiority,
\na lamentable deprivation or a poverty of the one thing desirable.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are two
\nclasses of things that happen in yoga, realisations and experiences.
\nRealisations are the reception in the consciousness<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 884<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n and the
\nestablishment there of the fundamental truths of the Divine, of the Higher or
\nDivine Nature, of the world-consciousness and the play of its forces, of one’s
\nown self and real nature and the inner nature of things, the power of these
\nthings growing in one till they are a part of one’s inner life and
\nexistence,\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 as for instance, the
\nrealisation of the Divine Presence, the descent and settling of the higher
\nPeace, Light, Force, Ananda in the consciousness, their workings there, the
\nrealisation of the divine or spiritual love, the perception of one’s own
\npsychic being, the discovery of one’s own true mental being, true vital being,
\ntrue physical being, the realisation of the overmind<\/span>
\nor the supramental consciousness, the clear perception of the relation of all
\nthese things to our present inferior nature and their action on it to change
\nthat lower nature. The list, of course, might be infinitely longer. These
\nthings also are often called experiences when they only come in flashes,
\nsnatches or rare visitations; they are spoken of as full realisations only when
\nthey become very positive or frequent or continuous or normal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

Then there
\nare experiences that help or lead towards the realisation of things spiritual
\nor divine or bring openings or progressions in the sadhana or are supports on
\nthe way, \u2013 experiences of a symbolic character, visions, contacts of one kind or
\nanother with the Divine or with the workings of higher Truth, things like the
\nwaking of the Kundalini, the opening of the Chakras<\/span>,
\nmessages, intuitions, openings of the inner powers, etc. The one thing that one
\nhas to be careful about is to see that they are genuine and sincere and that depends
\non one’s own sincerity \u2013 for if one is not sincere, if one is more concerned with
\nthe ego or being a big yogi or becoming a superman than with meeting the Divine
\nor getting the Divine consciousness which enables one to live in or with the
\nDivine, then a flood of pseudos<\/span> or mixtures comes in,
\none is led into the mazes of the intermediate zone or spins in the grooves of
\none’s own formations. There is the truth of the whole matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then why does
\nX say that one should not hunt after experiences, but only love and seek the
\nDivine? It simply means that you have not to make experiences your main aim,
\nbut the Divine only your aim, and if you do that, you are more likely to get
\nthe <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 885<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

true helpful experiences
\nand avoid the wrong ones. If one seeks mainly after experiences, his yoga may
\nbecome a mere self-indulgence in the lesser things of mental, vital and subtle
\nphysical worlds or in spiritual secondaries<\/span>, or it
\nmay bring down a turmoil or maelstrom of the mixed and the whole or half-pseudo
\nand stand between the soul and the Divine. That is a very sound rule of
\nsadhana. But all these rules and statements must be taken with a sense of
\nmeasure and in their proper limits, \u2013 it does not mean that one should not
\nwelcome helpful experiences or that they have no value. Also when a sound line
\nof experience opens, it is perfectly permissible to follow it out, keeping
\nalways the central aim in view. All helpful or supporting contacts in dream or
\nvision, such as those you speak of, are to be welcomed and accepted.
\nExperiences of the right kind are a support and help towards the realisation;
\nthey are in every way acceptable. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do not be over-eager for
\nexperiences; for experiences you can always get, having once broken the barrier
\nbetween the physical mind and the subtle planes. What you have to aspire for
\nmost is the improved quality of the recipient consciousness in you,
\ndiscrimination in the mind, the unattached impersonal Witness look on all that
\ngoes on in you and around you, purity in the vital, calm equanimity, enduring
\npatience, absence of pride and the sense of greatness \u2013 and more especially,
\nthe development of the psychic being in you \u2013 surrender, self-giving, psychic humility,
\ndevotion. It is a consciousness made up of these things, cast in this mould,
\nthat can bear without breaking, stumbling or deviation into error the rush of
\nlights, power and experiences from the supraphysical planes. An entire
\nperfection in these respects is hardly possible until the whole nature from the
\nhigher mind to the subconscient physical is made one in the light that is
\ngreater than the mind, but a sufficient foundation and a consciousness always
\nself-observant, vigilant and growing in these things is indispensable \u2013 for
\nperfect purification is the basis of the perfect Siddhi. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 886<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nAs for sadhana what is
\nnecessary is to arrive at a certain quiet of the inner mind which makes
\nmeditation fruitful or a quietude of the heart which creates the psychic
\nopening. It is only by regular concentration, constant aspiration and a will to
\npurify the mind and heart of the things that disquiet and agitate them that
\nthis can be done. When a certain basis has been established in these two centres
\nthe experiences come of themselves. Many, no doubt, may get some kind of
\nexperiences such as visions etc. before the basis is well laid by a sort of
\nmental or vital aptitude for these things, but such experiences do not of
\nthemselves lead to transformation or realisation \u2013 it is by the quietude of the
\nmind and the psychic opening that these greater things can come. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is necessary to lay
\nstress on three things: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(1) an entire
\nquietness and calm of the mind and the whole being.<\/span><\/p>\n

(2) a continuance
\nof the movement of purification described in the Post Scriptum<\/span>
\nso that the psychic being (the soul) may govern the whole nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

(3) the
\nmaintenance in all conditions and through all experiences of the attitude of
\nadoration and bhakti for the Mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the
\nconditions in which one can grow through all experiences with security and have
\nthe right development of the complete realisation without disturbance to the
\nsystem or being carried away by the intensity of the experiences. Calm, psychic
\npurity, bhakti and spiritual humility before the Divine are the three
\nconditions. The experiences in themselves are right and helpful.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don’t think there is
\nany cause for dissatisfaction with the progress made by you. Experiences come
\nto many before the nature is ready to make full profit from them; to others a
\nmore or less prolonged period of purification and preparation of the stuff of
\nthe nature or the instruments comes first, while experiences are <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 887<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

held up till this
\nprocess is largely or wholly over. The latter method which seems to be adopted
\nin your case is the safer and sounder of the two. In this respect we think it
\nis evident that you have made considerable progress, for instance, in control over
\nthe violence and impatience and heat natural to the volcanic energy of your
\ntemperament, in sincerity also curbing the devious and errant impulses of an
\nenormously active mind and temperament, in a greater quiet and harmony in the
\nbeing as a whole. No doubt, the process has to be completed, but something very
\nfundamental seems to have been done. It is more important to look at the thing
\nfrom the positive rather than the negative side. The things that have to be
\nestablished are \u2013 brahmacaryam<\/i><\/span> śamah<\/span> satyam
\npraśāntir<\/span> ātmasamyamah<\/span>:
\nbrahmacaryam<\/span><\/i>, complete sex-purity; śamah<\/i><\/span>, quiet
\nand harmony in the being, its forces maintained but controlled, harmonised,
\ndisciplined; satyam, truth and sincerity in the whole nature; praśāntih<\/i><\/span>,
\na general state of peace and calm; ātmasamyamah<\/i><\/span>, the power and habit to control whatever
\nneeds control in the movements of the nature. When these are fairly
\nestablished, one has laid a foundation on which one can develop the yogic
\nconsciousness and with the yogic consciousness there comes an easy opening to
\nrealisation and experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have had experiences
\nwhich are signs of a future possibility. To have more within the first one and
\na half years it would be necessary to have the complete attitude of the sadhak
\nand give up that of the man of the world. It is only then that progress can be
\nrapid from the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All these [giving up
\nindulgence in food, tea, etc.] are external things that have their use, but
\nwhat I mean [by \u201cthe complete attitude of the sadhak\u201d] is something more
\ninward. I mean not to be interested in outward things for their own sake, following
\nafter them with desire, but at all times to be intent on one’s soul,
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 888<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

living centrally in the
\ninner being and its progress, taking outward things and action only as a means
\nfor the inner progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But why be overwhelmed
\nby any wealth of any kind of experiences? What does it amount to, after all?
\nThe quality of a sadhak does not depend on that; one great spiritual
\nrealisation direct and at the centre will often make a great sadhak or yogi, an
\narmy of intermediate yogic experiences will not, that has been amply proved by
\na host of instances…. You need not therefore compare that wealth to your
\npoverty. To open yourself to the descent of the higher consciousness (the true
\nbeing) is the one thing needed and that, even if that comes after long effort
\nand many failures, is better than a hectic gallop leading nowhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Experience in the
\nsadhana is bound to begin with the mental plane, \u2013 all that is necessary is
\nthat the experience should be sound and genuine. The pressure of understanding
\nand will in the mind and the Godward emotional urge in the heart are the two
\nfirst agents of yoga, and peace, purity and calm (with a lulling of the lower
\nunrest) are precisely the first basis that has to be laid; to get that is much
\nmore important in the beginning than to get a glimpse of the supraphysical
\nworlds or to have visions, voices and powers. Purification and calm are the
\nfirst needs in the yoga. One may have a great wealth of experiences of that
\nkind (worlds, visions, voices, etc.) without them, but these experiences
\noccurring in an unpurified and troubled consciousness are usually full of
\ndisorder and mixture.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At first the
\npeace and calm are not continuous, they come and go, and it usually takes a
\nlong time to get them settled in the nature. It is better therefore to avoid
\nimpatience and to go on steadily with what is being done. If you wish to have something
\nbeyond the peace and calm, let it be the full opening of the inner being and
\nthe consciousness of the Divine Power working in you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 889<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

 Aspire for that
\nsincerely and with a great intensity but without impatience and it will come.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quite correct. Unless
\nthe Adhar<\/span> is made pure, neither the higher truth
\n(intuitive, illumined, spiritual) nor the overmental nor the supramental can
\nmanifest; whatever forces come down from them get mixed with the inferior
\nconsciousness and the half-truth takes the place of the Truth or even sometimes
\na dangerous error.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At a certain stage of
\nthe sadhana, in the beginning (or near it) of the more intense experiences, it
\nsometimes happens that there is the intense realisation of some aspect of the
\nDivine, a sort of communion with it, and that is seen everywhere and all as
\nthat. It is a transitory phase and afterwards one gets the larger experience of
\nthe (personal) Divine in all its aspects and beyond all aspects. Throughout the
\nexperience there should be one part of the being that observes and understands
\n\u2013 for, sometimes ignorant sadhaks are carried away by their experience and stop
\nshort there or fall into extravagance. It must be taken as an experience
\nthrough which you are passing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The special experiences
\nyou are having are glimpses of what is to be and what is growing and preparing
\nand are helping to make the consciousness ready for it. It is not therefore
\nsurprising that they change and are replaced by others \u2013 that is what usually
\nhappens; for it is not these forms that are to be perpetuated, but the essence
\nof the thing which they are bringing. Thus the one thing that has to grow most
\nnow is the silence, the quietude, the peace, the free emptiness into which experiences
\ncan come, the sense of coolness and release. When that is in possession of the
\nconsciousness fully, then something else will come into it which is also
\nessential to the true consciousness and fix itself \u2013 it pro<\/span>ceeds<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 890<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n usually like
\nthat. There is nothing strange therefore in the special forms of experience
\nceasing and being followed by others after you have written about or brought
\nthem to the Mother. When the more permanent forms of realisation begin to come,
\nit will no longer be like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not question at all
\nthe personal intensity or concreteness of your internal experiences, but
\nexperiences can be intense and yet be very mixed in their truth and their
\ncharacter. In your experience your own subjectivity, sometimes your ego-pushes
\ninterfere very much and give them their form and the impression they create on
\nyou. It is only if there is a pure psychic response that the form given to the
\nexperience is likely to be the right one and the mental and vital movements
\nwill then present themselves in their true nature. Otherwise the mind, the
\nvital, the ego give their own colour to what happens, their own turn, very
\nusually their own deformation. Intensity is not a guarantee of entire truth and
\ncorrectness in an experience; it is only purity of the consciousness that can
\ngive an entire truth and correctness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother’s
\npresence is always there; but if you decide to act on your own \u2013 your own idea,
\nyour own notion of things, your own will and demand upon things, then it is
\nquite likely that her presence will get veiled; it is not she who withdraws
\nfrom you, but you who draw back from her. But your mind and vital don’t want to
\nadmit that, because it is always their preoccupation to justify their own
\nmovements. If the psychic were allowed its full predominance, this would not happen;
\nit would have felt the veiling, but it would at once have said, \u201cThere must
\nhave been some mistake in me, a mist has arisen in me,\u201d and it would have
\nlooked and found the cause.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nperfectly true that so long as there is not an unreserved self-giving in both
\nthe internal and external, there will always be veilings<\/span>,
\ndark periods and difficulties. But if there is unreserved self-giving in the
\ninternal, the unreserved self-giving in the external would naturally follow; if
\nit does not, it means that the internal is not unreservedly surrendered; there
\nare reserva<\/span><\/span>tions<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 891<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n in some part
\nof the mind insisting on its own ideas and notions; reservations in some part
\nof the vital insisting on its own demands, impulses, movements, ego-ideas,
\nformations; reservations in the internal physical insisting on its own old habits
\nof many kinds, and all claiming consciously, half-consciously or subconsciously
\nthat these should be upheld, respected, satisfied, taken as an important
\nelement in the work, the \u201ccreation\u201d or the yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Experiences on the
\nmental and vital and subtle physical planes or thought formations and vital
\nformations are often represented as if they were concrete external happenings;
\ntrue experiences are in the same way distorted by mental and vital accretions
\nand additions. One of the first needs in our yoga is a discrimination and a
\npsychic tact distinguishing the false from the true, putting each thing in its
\nplace and giving it its true value or absence of value, not carried away by the
\nexcitement of the mind or the vital being. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nII<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Merely to have
\nexperiences of the higher consciousness will not change the nature. Either the
\nhigher consciousness has to make a dynamic descent into the whole being and
\nchange it; or it must establish itself in the inner being down to the inner physical
\nso that the latter feels itself separate from the outer and is able to act
\nfreely upon it; or the psychic must come forward and change the nature; or the
\ninner will must awake and force the nature to change. These are the four ways
\nin which change can be brought about.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The difficulty of the
\nyoga is not in getting experiences or a subjective realisation of the Truth; it
\nis in objectivising<\/span> the Truth, that is in making the
\nouter consciousness down to the material <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n\u2013 892<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

an expression of the
\ninner Truth. So long as that is not done the attacks of the lower Nature can
\nalways intervene.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cosmic
\nconsciousness, the overmind<\/span> knowledge and experience
\nis an inner knowledge \u2013 but its effect is subjective. As long as one has that
\none can be free in soul, but to transform the external nature more is
\nnecessary. [\u201cneeded\u201d in Popular Edition]<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Subjective does not mean
\nfalse. It only means that the Truth is experienced within, but it has not yet
\ntaken hold of the dynamic relations with the outside existence. It is an inner
\nexperience of the cosmic consciousness and the Overmind knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have told you once
\nbefore that your experiences are subjective \u2013 and in the subjective sphere they
\nare correct in substance so far as they go. But to enter the supermind,
\nsubjective experience is not sufficient. Some sufficient application of
\nintuition and overmind<\/span> to life must first be done.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you mean by
\ntrue? You have a subjective experience belonging to a higher plane of
\nconsciousness. When you descend, you come down with it into the material and
\nthe whole of existence is seen by you in the truth of that consciousness \u2013 just
\nas when a man sees the vision of the Divine everywhere, he sees all down to the
\nmaterial world as the Divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It happens so in the sadhak’s<\/span> own subjective consciousness. Of course it does
\nnot mean that the whole world becomes like <\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

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

that \u2013 everybody’s
\nconsciousness….If your experience were objective, then that would mean that
\nthe world had changed, everybody became conscious, no sorrow or suffering
\nanywhere. Needless to say, the material world has not changed objectively in
\nthat way, only in your own consciousness subjectively you see the Divine
\neverywhere, all disharmony disappears, sorrow and suffering become impossible
\nfor the time at least \u2013 that is a subjective experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It depends on what you
\nmean by subjective and objective. Knowledge and Ignorance are in their nature
\nsubjective. But from the personal point of view, the Force of Ignorance may
\nmanifest as something objective outside oneself so that even when one has
\nKnowledge for oneself one cannot remove the environing Ignorance. If that is
\nso, Ignorance is not merely a subjective force in oneself, it is there in the
\nworld.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It seems to have been a
\nseries of experiences of the different Bhavas<\/span> of
\nbhakti and it came for experience only \u2013 or for a manifold development of the
\nbhakti. These, of course, are purely subjective experiences meant to educate
\nthe consciousness and have no definite value for the actual manifestation. It
\nis merely for subjective experience and knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The golden light is usually
\na light from the supermind \u2013 a light of Truth-Knowledge (it may sometimes be
\nthe supramental Truth-Knowledge turned into overmind<\/span>
\nor intuitive truth). <\/span>Orange<\/span> often
\nindicates occult power. You have a strong power of (subjective) creative
\nformation, mostly, I think, in the mental but partly too on the vital plane.
\nThis kind of formative faculty can be used for objective results if accompanied
\nby a sound knowledge of the occult forces and their workings; but by itself <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

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

it results more often in
\none’s building up an inner world of one’s own in which you can live very well
\nsatisfied, as long as you live in yourself, apart from any close contact with
\nexternal physical life; but it does not stand the test of objective experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In each plane there is
\nan objective as well as a subjective side. It is not the physical plane and
\nlife alone that are objective.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When you have
\nthe power of formation of which I spoke, whatever is suggested to the mind, the
\nmind constructs and establishes a form of it in itself. But this power can cut
\ntwo ways; it may tempt the mind to construct mere images of the reality and
\nmistake them for the reality itself. It is one of the many dangers of a too
\nactive mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You make a
\nformation in your mind or on the vital plane in yourself \u2013 it is a kind of creation,
\nbut subjective only; it affects only your own mental or vital being. You can
\ncreate by ideas, thought-forms, images, a whole world in yourself or for
\nyourself; but it stops there.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some have the
\npower of making consciously formations that go out and affect the mind,
\nactions, vital movements, external lives of others. These formations may be
\ndestructive as well as creative.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally,
\nthere is the power to make formations that become effective realities in the
\nearth-consciousness here, in its mind, life, physical existence. That is what
\nwe usually mean by creation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIII<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mental realisation is
\nuseful at the beginning and prepares spiritual experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It can help
\ntoo at the beginning \u2013 but also it can hinder. It depends on the sadhak. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 895<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Wordsworth’s experience
\nalso was mental. Mental experiences are of course a good preparation, but to
\nstop there leaves one far away from the real thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the realisation of
\nthe Divine in the mind] is a certain kind of living cognition \u2013 of which there
\nare two parts \u2013 the living perception in thought rising as far as intuition or
\nrevelation, the vivid mental feeling and reproduction of what is thus known in
\nthe substance of mind. Thus the One in all is felt, seen, realised by the mind
\nby a sort of inner mental sense. The spiritual realisation is more concrete
\nthan that \u2013 one has the knowledge by a kind of identity in one’s very
\nsubstance.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have to know by
\nexperience. The mental perception and mental realisation are different from
\neach other \u2013 the first is only an idea, in the second the mind in its very
\nsubstance reflects or reproduces the truth. The spiritual experience is more
\nthan the mental \u2013 it is in the very substance of the being that the experience
\ntakes place.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A mental or vital sense
\nof oneness has not the same essentiality or the same effect as a spiritual
\nrealisation of oneness \u2013 just as the mental perception of the Divine is not the
\nsame thing as the spiritual realisation. The consciousness of one plane is different
\nfrom the consciousness of another. Spiritual and psychic love are different
\nfrom mental, vital or physical love \u2013 so with everything else. So too with the
\nperception of oneness and its effects. That is why the different planes have
\ntheir importance; otherwise their existence would have no meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your experience is the
\nbeginning of the fundamental and decisive <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n\u2013 896<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

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

realisation which
\ncarries the consciousness out of the limited mental into the true spiritual
\nvision and experience in which all is one and all is the Divine. It is this
\nconstant and living experience that is the true foundation of spiritual life.
\nThere can be no doubt about its truth and value, for it is evidently something
\nliving and dynamic and goes beyond a mental realisation. It may add to itself
\nin future different aspects, but the essential fundamental realisation you now
\nhave. When this is permanent, one can be said to have passed out of the
\ntwilight of the mind into the light of the Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you have
\nnow to do is to allow the realisation to grow and develop. The necessary
\nmovements will probably come of themselves as these have come \u2013 provided you
\nkeep your will single and faithful towards this Light and Truth. Already it has
\nbrought you the guidance towards the next step, cessation of the flow of
\nthought, the inner mind’s silence. Once that is won, there is likely to come a
\nsettled peace, liberation, wideness. The sense of the need of simplicity and
\ntransparency is also a true movement and comes from the same inner guidance.
\nThat is necessary for the deepest inmost divine element within behind the mind,
\nlife and body to come forward fully in you \u2013 when it does you will be able to
\nbecome aware of the inner guide within you and of a Force working for the full
\nspiritual change. This simplicity comes by a separation from the manifold
\ndevious mental and vital movements which lead one in all directions \u2013 a quiet,
\na detachment in the heart which turns one singly towards the one Truth and the
\none Light till it takes up the whole being and the whole life.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Put your
\ntrust in the grace of the One and Divine which has already touched you and
\nopened its door and rely on it for all that is to come.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have read the record
\nof X’s experiences. It appears from it that he has made the right start to a
\ncertain extent and has been able to establish the beginning of a mental calm
\nand some kind of psychic opening but neither of these has as yet been able to
\ngo very far. The reason probably is that he has done everything
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
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\n

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

by a strong mental
\ncontrol and forcible stilling of the mind and emotional and vital movements,
\nbut has not yet established the true spiritual calm which can only come by
\nexperience of or surrender to the higher being above the mind. It is this that
\nhe has to get in order to make a foundation for a more substantial progress.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1. He is
\nright in thinking that an inner calm and silence must be the foundation, not
\nonly of external work but of all inner and outer activities. But the quieting
\nof the mind in a mental silence or inactivity, although often useful as a first
\nstep, is not sufficient. The mental calm must be changed first into a deeper
\nspiritual peace, Shanti<\/span>, and then into the
\nsupramental calm and silence full of the higher light and strength and Ananda.
\nMoreover, the quieting of the mind only is not enough. The vital and physical
\nconsciousness have to be opened up and the same foundation established there.
\nAlso the spirit of devotion of which he speaks must be not merely a mental
\nfeeling but an aspiration of the deeper heart and will to the truth above, that
\nthe being may rise up into it and that it may descend and govern all the
\nactivities.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2. The void
\nhe feels in the mind is often a necessary condition for the clearing of it from
\nits ordinary movements so that it may open to a higher consciousness and a new
\nexperience, but in itself it is merely negative, a mental calm without anything
\npositive in it and, if one stops there, then the dullness and inertia of which
\nhe complains must come. What he needs is, in the void and silence of the mind,
\nto open himself to, to wait or to call for, the action of the higher power,
\nlight and peace from above the mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3. The
\nsurvival of the evil habits in sleep is easily explained and is a thing of
\ncommon experience. It is a known psychological law that whatever is suppressed
\nin the conscious mind remains in the subconscient being and recurs either in the
\nwaking state when the control is removed or else in sleep. Mental control by
\nitself cannot eradicate anything entirely out of the being. The subconscient in
\nthe ordinary man includes the larger part of the vital being and the physical
\nmind and also the secret body-consciousness. In order to make a true and
\ncomplete change,
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

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

one has to make all these
\nconscious, to see clearly what is still there and to reject them from one layer
\nafter another till they have been entirely thrown out from the personal
\nexistence. Even then, they may remain and come back on the being from the
\nsurrounding universal forces and it is only when no part of the consciousness
\nmakes any response to these forces of the lower plane that the victory and
\ntransformation are absolutely complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4. His
\nexperience that whenever he gains a conquest in the mental plane the forces of
\npast Karma, \u2013 that is to say, really of the old nature, \u2013 come back upon him
\nwith a double vigour is again a common experience. The psychological explanation
\nis to be found in the preceding paragraph. All attempt at transformation of the
\nbeing is a fight with universal forces which have long been in possession and
\nit is vain to expect that they will give up the struggle at the first defeat.
\nAs long as they can, they seek to retain possession and even when they are cast
\nout they will, as long as there is any chance of response in the conscious or
\nsubconscious being, try to recur and regain their hold. It is no use being
\ndiscouraged by these attacks. What has to be done is to see that they are made
\nmore and more external and all assent refused until they weaken and fade away.
\nNot only the Chitta and Buddhi must refuse consent but also the lower parts of
\nthe being, the vital and physico<\/span>-vital, the physical
\nmind and the body consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5. The
\ndefects of the receiving mind and the discriminating Buddhi spoken of are
\ngeneral defects of the intellect and cannot be entirely got rid of so long as
\nthe intellectual action is not replaced by a higher supra-intellectual action
\nand finally by the harmonising light of the supramental being. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next as
\nregards the psychic experiences. The region of glory felt in the crown of the
\nhead is simply the touch or reflection of the supramental sunlight on the
\nhigher part of the mind. The whole mind and being must open to this light and
\nit must descend and fill the whole system. The lightning and the electric
\ncurrents are the (vaidyuta<\/span>) Agni<\/span>
\nforce of the supramental sun touching and trying to pour into the body. The
\nother signs are promises of the future psychic and other experiences. But none <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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\n

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of these things can
\nestablish themselves until the opening to the higher force has been made. The
\nmental yoga can only be a preparation for this truer starting-point.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I have
\nsaid is merely an explanation of these experiences but it seems to me that he
\nhas advanced far enough to make a foundation for the beginning of the higher
\nyoga. If he wishes to do that he must replace his mental control by a belief in
\nand a surrender to the Supreme Presence and Force above the mind, an aspiration
\nin the heart and a will in the higher mind to the supreme truth and the
\ntransformation of the whole conscious being by its descent and power. He must,
\nin his meditation, open himself silently to it and call down first a deeper
\ncalm and silence, next the strength from above working in the whole system and
\nlast the higher glory of which he had a glimpse pouring through his whole being
\nand illuminating it with the divine truth-movement.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, so long as the
\nattitude is mental it is insecure because it is something imposed on the nature
\n\u2013 a mental direction and control. But with the spiritual experience what begins
\nis a change in the stuff of the consciousness itself and by that, as it proceeds
\nto settle and confirm itself, begins naturally what we call the transformation
\nof the nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, the phrase [\u201cstuff
\nof consciousness\u201d] simply means \u201csubstance of consciousness\u201d, the consciousness
\nin itself. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the yogic
\nexperience develops, consciousness is felt as something quite concrete in which
\nthere are movements and formations which are what we call thoughts, feelings
\netc.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your feeling is quite
\ncorrect. All spiritual experience is a substantial experience \u2013 consciousness,
\nAnanda even are felt as something substantial. It is also true that it is felt
\nso by something <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
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\n

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

\ndeeper than mind;
\nit is the mind that turns concrete realities into abstractions.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These disadvantages of
\nmental knowledge no doubt exist. But I doubt whether anybody could mentally
\nsimulate to himself the experience of the One everywhere or the downflow<\/span> of peace. He might mistake a first mental
\nrealisation for the deeper spiritual one or think the descent was in his
\nphysical when it was in his mental influencing the body through the mental
\nsheath of the subtle body \u2013 but those who have no mental knowledge can also
\nmake these mistakes. The disadvantage of the one who does not know mentally is
\nthat he gets the experience without understanding it and this may be a
\nhindrance or at least retardatory<\/span> to development
\nwhile he would not get so easily out of a mistake as one more mentally
\nenlightened.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Usually they [who do not
\nhave the mental knowledge about the universal Self] feel first through the
\npsychic centre by union with the Mother and do not call it the Self \u2013 or else
\nthey simply feel a wideness and peace in the head or in the heart. Previous
\nmental knowledge is not indispensable. I have seen in more cases than one
\nsadhaks getting the Brahman realisation and asking \u201cwhat is this?\u201d \u2013 describing
\nit with great vividness and exactness but without any of the known terms.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just after
\nwriting this I read a letter from a sadhika<\/span> in which
\nshe writes \u201cI see that my head is becoming very quiet, pure, luminous, universal, viśvamaya<\/span><\/i>.\u201d
\nWell that is the beginning of the realisation of the universal Brahman \u2013 Self
\nin the mind, but if I put it to her in that language she would understand
\nnothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tEven imagined
\nexperiences (honestly imagined) can help to
\n\t\t <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n
\n

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

mental realisation and
\nmental realisation can be a step to total realisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When one is living in
\nthe physical mind, the only way to escape from it is imagination. Incidentally,
\nthat is why poetry and art, etc. have so strong a hold. But these imaginations
\nare often really shadows of supraphysical experience and once the barrier of
\nthe physical mind is broken or even swung a little open, there come the
\nexperiences themselves, if the temperament is favourable. Hence are born
\nvisions and other such phenomena \u2013 all those that are miscalled psychic phenomena.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for
\nprayer, no hard and fast rule can be laid down. Some prayers are answered, all
\nare not. You may ask, why should not then all prayers be answered? But why
\nshould they be? It is not a machinery: put a prayer in the slot and get your asking.
\nBesides, considering all the contradictory things mankind is praying for at the
\nsame moment, God would be in a rather awkward hole if he had to grant all of
\nthem; it wouldn’t do.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIV<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There is no impossibility
\nin the purification of the heart which was the thing you were trying for, and
\nwhen the heart is purified, other things which seemed impossible before become
\neasy \u2013 even the inner surrender which now seems to you impracticable.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the
\nusual experience that if the humility and resignation are firmly founded in the
\nheart, other things like trust come naturally afterwards. If once the psychic
\nlight and happiness which is the boon of these things is founded, it is not
\neasy for other forces to cloud that state and not possible for them to destroy
\nit. That is the common experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Purification
\nand consecration are two great necessities of sadhana. Those who have
\nexperiences before purification run a great risk: it is much better to have the
\nheart pure first, for then the way becomes safe. That is why I advocate the psychic <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
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\n

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

change of the nature
\nfirst \u2013 for that means the purification of the heart: the turning of it wholly
\nto the Divine, the subjection of the mind and the vital to the control of the
\ninner being, the soul. Always, when the soul is in front, one gets the right guidance
\nfrom within as to what is to be done, what avoided, what is the wrong thing or
\nthe true thing in thought, feeling, action. But this inner intimation emerges
\nin proportion as the consciousness grows more and more pure.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nstumbling-block of X was ambition, pride, vanity \u2013 the desire to be a big yogi
\nwith occult powers. To try to bring down occult powers into an unpurified mind,
\nheart and body \u2013 well, you can do it if you want to dance on the edge of a precipice.
\nOr you can do it if your aim is not to be spiritual but to be an occultist, for
\nthen you can follow the necessary methods and get the help of the occult
\npowers. On the other hand, the true occult spiritual forces and mysteries can
\nbe called down or can come down without calling, but this must be made
\nsecondary to the one true thing, the seeking for the Divine, and if it is part
\nof the Divine plan in you. Occult powers can only be for the spiritual man an
\ninstrumentation of the Divine Power that uses him: they cannot be the aim or an
\naim of his sadhana. Many people have a habit of doing yoga according to their
\nown ideas without caring for the guidance of the Guru \u2013 from whom, however,
\nthey expect an entire protection and success in sadhana even if they prance or
\ngambol into the wrongest<\/span> paths possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I mean
\nby subtle methods is psychological, non-mechanical processes, e.g.,
\nconcentration in the heart, surrender, self-purification, working out by inner
\nmeans the change of the consciousness. This does not mean that there is no
\nouter change: the outer change is necessary but as a part of the inner change.
\nIf there is impurity or insincerity within, the outer change will not be
\neffective, but if there is a sincere inner working, the outer change will help
\nit and accelerate the process….The most important thing for the purification
\nof the heart is an absolute sincerity. No pretence with oneself, no concealment
\nfrom the Divine, or oneself, or the Guru, a straight look at one’s movements, a
\nstraight will to make them straight. It does not so much matter if it takes
\ntime: one must be prepared to make it one’s <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

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

whole life-task to seek
\nthe Divine. Purifying the heart means after all a pretty considerable
\nachievement and it is no use getting despondent, despairful<\/span>,
\netc., because one finds things in oneself that still need to be changed. If one
\nkeeps the true will and true attitude, then the intuitions or intimations from
\nwithin will begin to grow, become clear, precise, unmistakable and the strength
\nto follow them will grow also: and then before even you are satisfied with
\nyourself, the Divine will be satisfied with you and begin to withdraw the veil
\nby which he protects himself and his seekers against a premature and perilous
\ngrasping of the greatest thing to which humanity can aspire.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The automatic tendency
\nis a good sign as it shows that it is the inner being opening to the Truth
\nwhich is pressing forward the necessary changes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As you say,
\nit is the failure of the right attitude that comes in the way of passing
\nthrough ordeals to a change of nature. The pressure is becoming greater now for
\nthis change of character even more than for decisive yoga experience \u2013 for if
\nthe experience comes, it fails to be decisive because of the want of the
\nrequisite change of nature. The mind, for instance, gets the experience of One
\nin all, but the vital cannot follow, because it is dominated by ego-reaction
\nand ego-motive or the habits of the outer nature keep up a way of thinking,
\nfeeling, acting, living which is quite out of harmony with the experience. Or
\nthe psychic and part of the mind and emotional being feel frequently the
\ncloseness of the Mother, but the rest of the nature is unoffered<\/span>
\nand goes its own way prolonging division from her nearness, creating distance.
\nIt is not enough \u2013 and there is great need that this should change.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not know what X
\nsaid or in which article, I do not have it with me. But if the statement is
\nthat nobody can have a successful meditation or realise anything till he is
\npure and perfect, I fail to follow it: it contradicts my own experience. I have
\nalways had
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
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\n

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

realisation by
\nmeditation first and the purification started afterwards as a result. I have
\nseen many get important, even fundamental realisations by meditation who could
\nnot be said to have a great inner development. Are all yogis who have meditated
\nwith effect and had great realisations in their inner consciousness perfect in
\ntheir nature? It does not look like it to me. I am unable to believe in
\nabsolute generalisations in this field, because the development of spiritual
\nconsciousness is an exceedingly vast and complex affair in which all sorts of
\nthings can happen and one might almost say that for each man it is different
\naccording to his nature and that the one thing that is essential is the inner
\ncall and aspiration and the perseverance to follow always after it, no matter
\nhow long it takes, what are the difficulties or impediments, because nothing
\nelse will satisfy the soul within us.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is quite
\ntrue that a certain amount of purification is indispensable for going on, that
\nthe more complete the purification the better, because then when the
\nrealisations begin they can continue without big difficulties or relapses and
\nwithout any possibility of fall or failure. It is also true that with many purification
\nis the first need, \u2013 certain things have to be got out of the way before one
\ncan begin any consecutive inner experience. But the main need is a certain
\npreparation of the consciousness so that it may be able to respond more and
\nmore freely to the higher Force. In this preparation many things are useful \u2013 the
\npoetry and music you are doing can help, for it all acts as a sort of śravaņa<\/i><\/span>
\nand manana, even, if the feeling roused is intense, a sort of natural nididhyāsana<\/i><\/span>.
\nPsychic preparation, clearing out of the grosser forms of mental and vital ego,
\nopening mind and heart to the Guru and many other things help greatly \u2013 it is
\nnot perfection or a complete freedom from the dualities or ego that is the
\nindispensable preliminary, but preparedness, a fitness of the inner being which
\nmakes spiritual responses and receiving possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no
\nreason therefore to take as gospel truth these demands which may have been
\nright for X on the way he has trod, but cannot be imposed on all \u2013 the law of
\nthe spirit is not so exacting and inexorable.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

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

X has… a day or two
\nago had the experience of the ascent above and of the wideness of peace and joy
\nof the Infinite (free from the bodily sense and limitation) as also the descent
\ndown to the Muladhara. She does not know the names or technicalities of these
\nthings but her description which was minute and full of details was
\nunmistakable. There are three or four others who have had this experience
\nrecently so that we may suppose the working of the Force is not altogether in
\nvain as this experience is a very big affair and is supposed to be, if
\nstabilised, the summit of the old yogas, for us it is only a beginning of
\nspiritual transformation. I have said this though it is personal so that you
\nmay understand that outside defects and obstacles in the nature or the
\nappearance of unyogicness<\/span> does not necessarily mean
\nthat a person can do or is doing no sadhana.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is a mistake to dwell
\ntoo much on the lower nature and its obstacles, which is the negative side of
\nthe sadhana. They have to be seen and purified, but preoccupation with them as
\nthe one important thing is not helpful. The positive side of experience of the
\ndescent is the more important thing. If one waits for the lower nature to be
\npurified entirely and for all time before calling down the positive experience,
\none might have to wait for ever. It is true that the more the lower nature is purified,
\nthe easier is the descent of the higher Nature, but it is also and more true
\nthat the more the higher Nature descends, the more the lower is purified.
\nNeither the complete purification nor the permanent and perfect manifestation
\ncan come all at once, it is a matter of time and patient progress. The two
\n(purification and manifestation) go on progressing side by side and become more
\nand more strong to play into each other’s hands \u2013 that is the usual course of
\nthe sadhana.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To change the nature is
\nnot easy and always takes time, but if there is no inner experience, no gradual
\nemergence of the other purer consciousness that is concealed by all these
\nthings you now see, it would be almost impossible even for the strongest will.
\nYou <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

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

say that first you must
\nget rid of all these things, then have the inner experiences. But how is that
\nto be done? These things, anger, jealousy, desire are the very stuff of the
\nordinary human vital consciousness. They could not be changed if there were not
\na deeper consciousness within which is of quite another character. There is
\nwithin you a psychic being which is divine, directly a part of the Mother, pure
\nof all these defects. It is covered and concealed by the ordinary consciousness
\nand nature, but when it is unveiled and able to come forward and govern the
\nbeing, then it changes the ordinary consciousness, throws all these undivine
\nthings out and changes the outer nature altogether. That is why we want the sadhaks
\nto concentrate, to open this concealed consciousness \u2013 it is by concentration
\nof whatever kind and the experiences it brings that one opens and becomes aware
\nwithin and the new consciousness and nature begin to grow and come out. Of course
\nwe want them also to use their will and reject the desires and wrong movements
\nof the vital, for by doing that the emergence of the true consciousness becomes
\npossible. But rejection alone cannot succeed; it is by rejection and by inner experience
\nand growth that it is done.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You say that
\nall these things were hidden within you. No, they were not deep within, they
\nwere in the outer or surface nature, only you were not sufficiently conscious
\nof them because the other true consciousness had not opened and grown within
\nyou. Now by the experiences you have had the psychic has been growing and it is
\nbecause of this new psychic consciousness that you are able to see clearly all
\nthat has to go. It does not go at once because the vital had so much the habit
\nof them in the past, but they will now have to go because your soul wants to
\nget rid of them and your soul is growing stronger in you. So you must both use
\nyour will aided by the Mother’s force to get rid of these things, and go on
\nwith your inner psychic experiences \u2013 it is by the two together that all will
\nbe done.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once these experiences
\nbegin, they repeat themselves usually, whether the general condition is good or
\nnot. But naturally
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n<\/span>907<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

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

they cannot make a
\nradical change until they settle themselves and become normal in the whole
\nbeing or at least in the inner part of it. In the latter case the old movements
\ncan still come, but they are felt as something quite superficial and the sadhana
\nincreases in spite of them. There is no question of good or wicked. If some
\npart of the being even has been opened the experiences come.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, that is the truth
\nof the working. At first what has to be established comes with difficulty and
\nis felt as if abnormal, an experience that one loses easily \u2013 afterwards it
\ncomes of itself, but does not yet stay; finally it becomes a frequent and intimate
\nstate of the being and makes itself constant and normal. On the other hand all
\nthe confusions and errors once habitual to the nature are pushed out; at first
\nthey return frequently, but afterwards they in their turn become abnormal and foreign
\nto the nature and lose frequency and finally disappear. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The up and down movement
\nwhich you speak of is common to all ways of yoga. It is there in the path of
\nbhakti, but there are equally alternations of states of light and states of
\ndarkness, sometimes sheer and prolonged darkness, when one follows the path of
\nknowledge. Those who have occult experiences come to periods when all
\nexperiences cease and even seem finished for ever. Even when there have been
\nmany and permanent realisations, these seem to go behind the veil and leave nothing
\nin front except a dull blank, filled, if at all, only with recurrent attacks
\nand difficulties. These alternations are the result of the nature of human
\nconsciousness and are not a proof of unfitness or of predestined failure. One
\nhas to be prepared for them and pass through. They are the \u201cday and night\u201d of
\nthe Vedic mystics.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for
\nsurrender, everyone has his own first way of approach towards it; but if it is
\ndue to fear, \u201cform\u201d or sense of duty, then certainly that is not surrender at
\nall; these things have nothing to <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

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do with surrender. Also,
\ncomplete and total surrender is not so easy as some seem to imagine. There are
\nalways many and large reservations; even if one is not conscious of them, they
\nare there. Complete surrender can best come by a complete love and bhakti.
\nBhakti, on the other hand, can begin without surrender, but it naturally leads,
\nas it forms itself, to surrender. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You are
\nsurely mistaken in thinking that the difficulty of giving up intellectual
\nconvictions is a special stumbling-block in you more than in others. The
\nattachment to one’s own ideas and convictions, the insistence on them is a
\ncommon characteristic. It can be removed by a light of knowledge from above
\nwhich gives one the direct touch of Truth or the luminous experience of it and
\ntakes away all value from mere intellectual opinion, ideas or conviction and
\nremoves the necessity for it, or by a right consciousness which brings with it
\nright ideas, right feeling, right action and right everything else. Or else it
\nmust come by a spiritual and mental humility which is rare in human nature \u2013 especially
\nthe mental, for the mind is always apt to think its own ideas, true or false,
\nare the right ideas. Eventually, it is the psychic growth that makes this
\nsurrender too possible and that again comes most easily by bhakti. In any case,
\nthe existence of this difficulty is not in itself a good cause for forecasting
\nfailure in yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The reason why there are
\nthese alternations of which you complain is that the nature of the
\nconsciousness is like that; after a little spell of wakefulness it feels the
\nneed of a little sleep. Very often in the beginning the wakings<\/span>
\nare brief, the sleeps long; afterwards it becomes more equal and later on the
\nsleep periods are shorter and shorter. Another cause of these alternations,
\nwhen one is receiving, is the nature’s need of closing up to assimilate. It can
\ntake perhaps a great deal, but while the experience is going on it cannot
\nabsorb properly what it brings, so it closes down for assimilation. A third
\ncause comes in the period of transformation, \u2013 one part of the nature changes
\nand one feels for a time as if there had been a complete and permanent change.
\nBut one is disappointed to find it cease and a period of barrenness <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

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

or lowered consciousness
\nfollow. This is because another part of the consciousness comes up for change
\nand a period of preparation and veiled working follows which seems to be one of
\nunenlightenment or worse. These things alarm, disappoint or perplex the
\neagerness and impatience of the sadhak; but if one takes them quietly and knows
\nhow to use them or adopt the right attitude, one can make these unenlightened
\nperiods also a part of the conscious sadhana. So the Vedic Rishis speak of the
\nalternation of \u201cDay and Night both suckling the divine Child.\u201d What you feel in
\nthe head is probably the first conscious descent into the body of the divine
\nForce from above. Up to now it must have been working unfelt by you from behind
\nthe heart. If the concentration takes place naturally in the head you must
\nallow it to do so, but the possibility of this has been prepared by the
\nprevious concentration in the heart, so that also need not be discontinued
\nunless the force working in you insists on the upper concentration only.
\nAspiration can be continued in the same way until the conduct of the sadhana by
\nthe Mother’s power is clearly felt and becomes to you the normal thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it is right.
\nEveryone has these alternations because the total consciousness is not able to
\nremain always in the above experience. The point is that in the intervals there
\nshould be quietude, at least in the inner being, no restlessness, dissatisfaction
\nor struggle. If that point is attained, then the sadhana can go on smoothly \u2013 not
\nthat there will be no difficulties but there will be no disquietude or
\ndissatisfaction etc. etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Vaishnava<\/span>
\nBhajan<\/span> is one that easily excites the vital being and
\nif there are people there of a low nature, all sorts of dark and low forces
\ncome in to feed upon the excitement…. The spiritual fulfilment will come in
\nits time by a steady development of the being and the nature. It does not
\ndepend on seizing upon this or that opportunity. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\n

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

There is
\nanother thing which you must learn. If you are interrupted in sadhana… you
\nmust simply remain inwardly quiet and allow the interruption to pass. If you
\nlearn to do this, the inner state or experience will go on afterwards just as if
\nnothing had happened. If you attach undue importance and get upset, on the
\ncontrary, you change the interruption into a disturbance and the inner state or
\nexperience ceases. Always keep the inner quiet and confidence in every
\ncircumstance; allow nothing to disturb it or to excite you. A steady inner calm
\nand quiet will and psychic faith and bhakti are the one true foundation for your
\nsadhana.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A quiet and even basis
\nmeans a condition of the sadhana in which there is no tossing about between
\neager bursts of experience and a depressed inert or half inert condition, but
\nwhether in progress or in difficulty there is always a quiet consciousness
\nbehind turned in confidence and faith towards the Divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An occasional sinking of
\nthe consciousness happens to everybody. The causes are various, some touch from
\noutside, something not yet changed or not sufficiently changed in the vital,
\nespecially the lower vital, some inertia or obscurity rising up from the
\nphysical parts of nature. When it comes, remain quiet, open yourself to the
\nMother and call back the true conditions and aspire for a clear and undisturbed
\ndiscrimination showing you from within yourself the cause of the thing that needs
\nto be set right.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are always pauses
\nof preparation and assimilation between two movements. You must not regard
\nthese with fretfulness or impatience as if they were untoward gaps in the
\nsadhana. Besides, the Force rises up lifting part of the nature on a higher
\nlevel and then comes down to a lower layer to raise it; <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 911<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

this motion of ascent
\nand descent is often extremely trying because the mind partial to an ascent in
\na straight line and the vital eager for rapid fulfilment cannot understand or
\nfollow the intricate movement and are apt to be distressed by it or resent it.
\nBut the transformation of the whole nature is not an easy thing to accomplish
\nand the Force that does it knows better than our mental ignorance or our vital
\nimpatience.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everything once gained
\nis there and can be regained. Yoga is not a thing that goes by one decisive
\nrush one way or the other \u2013 it is a building up of a new consciousness and is
\nfull of ups and downs. But if one keeps to it the ups have a habit of resulting
\nby accumulation in a decisive change \u2013 therefore the one thing to do is to keep
\nat it. After a fall don’t wail and say, \u201cI’m done for,\u201d but get up, dust
\nyourself and proceed farther on the right path.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The entire oblivion of
\nthe experience means merely that there is still no sufficient bridge between
\nthe inner consciousness which has the experience in a kind of samadhi and the
\nexterior waking consciousness. It is when the higher consciousness has made the
\nbridge between them that the outer also begins to remember.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fluctuations of this
\nkind cannot but come and when they come, one has to remain very quiet and
\ndetach oneself from the surface condition and wait for it to pass while calling
\nthe Mother’s force. A neutral condition of this kind serves a certain purpose
\nin the economy of the purification and change \u2013 it brings up things that have
\nto be transformed or rejected, lifts up some part of the being in order to
\nexpose it to the transforming force. If one can understand, remain quiet and
\ndetached from the surface movements, not identified, then it goes sooner, the
\nForce can quickly <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 912<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

clear out what rises and
\nafterwards it is found that something has been gained and a progress made.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These fluctuations in
\nthe force of the aspiration and the power of the sadhana are unavoidable and
\ncommon to all sadhaks until the whole being has been made ready for the
\ntransformation. When the psychic is in front or active and the mind and vital
\nconsent, then there is the intensity. When the psychic is less prominent and
\nthe lower vital has its ordinary movements or the mind its ignorant action,
\nthen the opposing forces can come in unless the sadhak is very vigilant.
\nInertia comes usually from the ordinary physical consciousness, especially when
\nthe vital is not actively supporting the sadhana. These things can only be
\ncured by a persistent bringing down of the higher spiritual consciousness into
\nall the parts of the being. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fall of the concentration
\nhappens to everybody \u2013 it has not to be taken as if it were something tragic or
\nallowed to be the cause of depression.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These variations in the
\nconsciousness during the day are a thing that is common to almost everybody in
\nthe sadhana. The principle of oscillation, relaxation, relapse to a normal or a
\npast lower condition from a higher state that is experienced but not yet
\nperfectly stable, becomes very strong and marked when the working of the
\nsadhana is in the physical consciousness. For there is an inertia in the
\nphysical nature that does not easily allow the intensity natural to the higher
\nconsciousness to remain constant, \u2013 the physical is always sinking back to
\nsomething more ordinary; the higher consciousness and its force have to work
\nlong and come again and again before they can become constant and normal in the
\nphysical nature. Do not be disturbed or discouraged by these variations or this
\ndelay, however long
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 913<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and tedious; remain
\ncareful only to be quiet always with an inner quietude and as open as possible
\nto the higher Power, not allowing any really adverse condition to get hold of
\nyou. If there is no adverse wave, then the rest is only a persistence of imperfections
\nwhich all have in abundance; that imperfection and persistence the Force must
\nwork out and eliminate, but for the elimination time is needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That is a frequent
\nexperience, (though I suppose it is not general) \u2013 not only with peace, but
\nother things; there is a tendency towards a lowering of the consciousness in
\nthe evening. On the other with some it is the opposite. I don’t know that it actually
\ndepends on work and mixing, though these may have a wearing effect \u2013 I find
\nmore often that it is a sort of rhythm of rise and fall in the consciousness
\nduring the day. Even when peace is perfectly established, there may be this
\nrhythm for other things that are being developed.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no mentally
\ndefinite and rigidly effective reason for the thing [the fall into inertia]
\ncoming in the evening rather than at <\/span>2 p.m.<\/span> or in the <\/span>midnight<\/span> or in the
\nmorning. For some people the fall comes in the evening, for some in the
\nmorning, for some at other times, and so too with the rise. But the
\nalternations happen to most people in one law of rhythm or another. The times
\nvary with people and even can vary with the same man. There is no definable
\nreason for it being at a particular time except that it has made itself
\nhabitual at that time. The rest is a question of the play of forces which is
\nobservable but the reasons of which escape mental definition.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Reason for fluctuations
\nin sadhana:] I don’t know. Time and seasons vary according to the poise and
\nflux and reflux of the forces in the consciousness. It is not a thing to which
\nyou can
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 914<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

affix a rationalised and
\nsystematised explanation. One can feel it and understand in the essence of the
\nconsciousness, but not formulate precise cause and effect.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can only say as
\nbefore, that there is \u201cno specific\u201d reason [for fluctuations in the working of
\nthe Force] which the mind can determine. It depends on the total condition and
\ninteraction of the forces. One has to hold on to the aspiration and look steadily
\ntowards the goal without being disturbed by these inequalities and
\nfluctuations.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are no fixed rules
\n[for fluctuations in the working of the Force]. There are simply a mass of
\ntendencies and forces with which one has to become familiar. It is not a fixed
\nmachinery which one can manage by devices or by pulling this or that button. It
\nis only by the inner will, the constant aspiration, by detachment and
\nrejection, by bringing down the true consciousness, force etc. that it can be
\ndone.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The falling down of
\nconsciousness comes usually by some inertia coming in the consciousness through
\nfatigue or through mere habit of relaxation or it comes through some vital
\nreaction which one may or may not notice or it comes through a wrong movement
\nof the mind. These are the positive lowering causes, but at the back of them is
\nthe fact that these alternations are almost inevitable so long as the
\nconsciousness is in any way subject to the old nature. The intervals of non-sadhana
\nmay, however, be long or short according to inner circumstances (mainly the
\npower of the will or the psychic or the higher being to restore quickly the
\ntrue poise).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The depression is not
\nthe only cause of suspension of experiences.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 915<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

There are others such as
\ninertia etc. If one can have experiences continuously in spite of these things,
\nthat means that a part of the consciousness has definitely separated from the
\nrest and is able to go on in spite of the outer resistance.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 if the peace is
\nestablished, then the falls are only on the surface, and do not affect the
\ninner consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even if there is
\nphysical fatigue sometimes, it is not inevitable that it should interfere with
\nthe sadhana. The inner movement can always go on.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Usually it is when
\nsomething in the mind and vital accepts and indulges the lower forces that this
\ninability to re-enter the true consciousness remains so obstinate. Physical
\ntamas can produce long interregnums of obscure consciousness, but not usually
\nwith such a violent obstruction, but it is usually dull and obstinate.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Intensities like that do
\nnot remain so long as the consciousness is not transformed \u2013 there has to be a
\nperiod of assimilation. When the being is unconscious, the assimilation goes on
\nbehind the veil or below the surface and meanwhile the surface consciousness
\nsees only dullness and loss of what it had got; but when one is conscious, then
\none can see the assimilation going on and one sees that nothing is lost, it is
\nonly a quiet settling in of what has come down.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vastness,
\nthe overwhelming calm and silence in which you feel merged is what is called
\nthe Atman or the silent Brahman. It is the whole aim of many yogas<\/span> to get this realisation of Atman or silent Brahman
\nand live in it. In our yoga it is only the first stage of the realisation of
\nthe Divine and of that growing
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 916<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of the being into the
\nhigher or divine Consciousness which we call transformation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After one has got to a
\ncertain stage the things gained are never lost \u2013 they may be covered over but
\nthey return \u2013 they have only gone inside and come back to the surface.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the physical
\nconsciousness prevails, often one does not feel any sign or effect even if the
\nexperiences are there.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you expect
\nanything so obtuse and forgetful as the physical consciousness to have the
\neffect if the experiences are not repeated? It is as when you learn a lesson,
\nyou have to repeat it till the physical mind gets hold of it \u2013 otherwise it
\ndoes not become a part of consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nVI<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The emptiness that you
\ndescribed in your letter yesterday was not a bad thing \u2013 it is this emptiness
\ninward and outward that often in yoga becomes the first step towards a new
\nconsciousness. Man’s nature is like a cup of dirty water \u2013 the water has to be
\nthrown out, the cup left clean and empty for the divine liquor to be poured
\ninto it. The difficulty is that the human physical consciousness feels it difficult
\nto bear this emptiness \u2013 it is accustomed to be occupied by all sorts of little
\nmental and vital movements which keep it interested and amused or even if in
\ntrouble and sorrow still active. The cessation of these things is hard to bear
\nfor it. It begins to feel dull and restless and eager for the old interests and
\nmovements. But by this restlessness it disturbs the quietude and brings back
\nthe things that had been thrown out. It is this that is creating the difficulty
\nand the <\/span><\/p>\n

\n.<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 917<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

obstruction for the
\nmoment. If you can accept emptiness as a passage to the true consciousness and
\ntrue movements, then it will be easier to get rid of the obstacle.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All in the
\nAshram are not suffering from the sense of dullness and want of interest, but
\nmany are because the Force that is descending is discouraging the old movements
\nof the physical and vital mind which they call life and they are not accustomed
\nto accept the renunciation of these things, or to admit the peace or joy of
\nsilence.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emptiness is not in
\nitself a bad condition, only if it is a sad and restless emptiness of the
\ndissatisfied vital. In sadhana emptiness is very usually a necessary transition
\nfrom one state to another. When mind and vital fall quiet and their restless movements,
\nthoughts and desires cease, then one feels empty. This is at first often a
\nneutral emptiness with nothing in it, nothing in it either good or bad, happy
\nor unhappy, no impulse or movement. This neutral state is often or even usually
\nfollowed by the opening to inner experience. There is also an emptiness made of
\npeace and silence, when the peace and silence come out from the psychic within
\nor descend from the higher consciousness above. This is not neutral, for in it
\nthere is the sense of peace, often also of wideness and freedom. There is also
\na happy emptiness with the sense of something close or drawing near which is
\nnot yet there, e.g. the closeness of the Mother or some other preparing
\nexperience. What you describe is the neutral quiet. There is no need for
\nanxiety. When it comes, one has only to remain quiet and open and turned to the
\nMother till something develops from within.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To be an empty vessel is
\na very good thing if one knows how to make use of the emptiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If it is only emptiness,
\nthere is nothing wrong. Alternations of
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 918<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

emptiness and fullness
\nare a quite normal feature of experience in sadhana.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The voidness (if by that
\nyou mean silence and emptiness of thoughts, movements etc.) is the basic
\ncondition into which the higher consciousness can flow.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The voidness is the best
\ncondition for a full receptivity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Voidness can come from
\nanywhere, mind, vital or from above.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emptiness usually comes
\nas a clearance of the consciousness or some part of it. The consciousness or
\npart becomes like an empty cup into which something new can be poured. The
\nhighest emptiness is the pure existence of the self in which all manifestation
\ncan take place.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emptiness as such is not
\na character of the higher consciousness, though it often looks like that to the
\nhuman vital when one has the pure realisation of the Self, because all is
\nimmobile, and for the vital all that is not full of action appears empty. But the
\nemptiness that comes to the mind, vital or physical is a special thing intended
\nto clear the room for the things from above.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An emptiness in the mind
\nor vital may be spiritual without emptiness being an essential characteristic
\nof the higher consciousness. If it were, there could be no Force, Light or
\nAnanda in the higher consciousness. Emptiness is only a result produced by a
\ncertain
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 919<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

action of the higher
\nForce on the system in order that the higher consciousness may be able to come
\ninto it. It is a spiritual emptiness as opposed to the dull and inert emptiness
\nof complete tamas which is not spiritual.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Emptiness is a state of
\nquietude of the mental or vital or all the consciousness not visited by any
\nmind or vital movements, but open to the Pure Existence and ready or tending to
\nbe that or already that but not yet realised in its full power of being. Which
\nof these conditions it happens to be depends on the particular case. The Self
\nstate or the state of pure existence is sometimes also called emptiness, but
\nonly in the sense that it is a state of sheer static rest of being without any
\ncontacts of mobile Nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no such thing
\nas n\u00e9ant<\/i><\/span>.
\nBy \u201cvoid\u201d is meant emptiness clear of all contents except existence pure and
\nsimple. Without that one cannot realise the silent Brahman.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The void is the
\ncondition of the Self \u2013 free, wide and silent. It seems void to the mind but in
\nreality it is simply a state of pure existence and consciousness, Sat and Chit
\nwith Shanti<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Voidness may be of
\ndifferent kinds \u2013 a certain kind of spiritual voidness, or the emptiness that
\nis a preparation for new experience. But an exhaustion of life energy is a very
\ndifferent thing. It may come from fatigue, from somebody or something drawing
\naway the vital force or from an invasion of tamas. But I don’t know why it
\nshould be connected with the English study and happening only then.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 920<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

The usual result of
\nvoidness is to quiet down any vital disturbance although it does not, unless it
\nis complete, stop the mechanical recurrent action of the mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If it is a real
\nemptiness, one can rest in it for years together, \u2013 it is because the vital is
\nrestless and full of desires (not empty) that it is like that. Also the
\nphysical mind is by no means at rest. If the desires were thrown out and the
\nego less active and the physical mind at rest, knowledge would come from above
\nin place of the physical mind’s stupidities, the vital mind could be calm and
\nquiet and the Mother’s Force take up the action and the higher consciousness
\nbegin to come down. That is the proper sequel of emptiness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I cannot have written
\nthat it is only you who feel the silence as empty, as there are plenty who do
\nso feel it at first. One feels it empty because one is accustomed to associate
\nexistence with thought, feeling and movement or with forms and objects, and
\nthere are none of these there. But it is not really empty.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have written about
\nthe Force coming down \u2013 even sometimes of its filling all parts \u2013 so what is
\nthis \u201cnever\u201d? I did not at all mean that there is a mechanical process by which
\nevery time there is emptiness there comes an entire filling up. It depends on
\nthe stage of the sadhana. The emptiness may come often or stay long before there
\nis any descent \u2013 what fills may be silence and peace and Force or Knowledge and
\nthey may fill only the mind or mind and heart or mind and heart and vital or
\nall. But there is nothing fixed and mechanically regular about these two
\nprocesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Silence of the being is
\nthe first natural aim of the yoga. X and
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 921<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

some others do not find
\nsatisfaction in it because they have not overcome the vital mind which wants
\nalways some kind of activity, change, doing something, something to happen. The
\neternal immobility of the silent Brahman is a thing it does not relish. So when
\nemptiness comes, it finds it dull, inert, monotonous.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nCertainly, the vital
\ncannot take an interest in a blank condition. If you depend on your vital you
\ncannot prolong it. It is the spirit that feels a release in the silence empty
\nof all mental or other activities, for in that silence it becomes self-aware.
\nFor the blankness to be real one must have got into the Purusha or Witness Consciousness.
\nIf you are looking at it with your mind or vital, then there is not blankness,
\nfor even if there are not distinct thoughts then there must be a mental
\nattitude or mental vibrations \u2013 e.g. the not feeling interest.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is no reason why
\nthe void should be a dull or unhappy condition. It is usually the habit of the
\nmind and vital to associate happiness or interest only with activity, but the
\nspiritual consciousness has no such limitations.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I really do not know
\nwhat kind of joy you want. All experiences are not accompanied by joy. Interest
\nis another matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the tendency of
\nthe physical to substitute its own inertia for the emptiness. The true
\nemptiness is the beginning of what I call in the Arya<\/span>
\n\u201cśama<\/i><\/span>\u201d
\n\u2013 the rest, calm, peace of the eternal Self \u2013 which has finally to replace
\ntamas, the physical inertia. Tamas is the degradation of sama<\/i><\/span>, as rajas is the degradation
\nof Tapas, the Divine Force. The physical consciousness is always <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 922<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

trying to substitute its
\nown inertia for the calm, peace or rest of the true consciousness, just as the
\nvital is always trying to substitute its rajas for the true action of the
\nForce.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The physical does not
\nget tired of the blankness. It may feel tamasic because of its own tendency to
\ninertia, but it does not usually object to voidness. Of course it may be the
\nvital physical. You have only to reject it as a remnant of the old movements.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the course of the
\nsadhana a state of blankness, of \u201cneutral quiet\u201d like this often comes \u2013 especially
\nwhen the sadhana is in the physical consciousness. It is not that the
\naspiration is gone, but that it does not manifest for the time being, because
\nall has become neutrally quiet. This condition is trying for the human mind and
\nvital which are accustomed to be in some kind of activity always and regard
\nthis as a lifeless state. But one must not feel disturbed or disappointed when
\nthis comes, but remain calm in the full confidence that it is a stage only, a ground
\nthat has to be crossed in the sadhana. In whatever condition, the faith and the
\nfixed idea of surrender must be kept before the mind. As for the brief
\nmovements of restlessness, they will still down if this is kept and the quiet
\nmind and vital reassert themselves quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blankness is only a
\ncondition in which realisation has to come. If aspiration is needed for that,
\nit has to be used; if the realisation comes of itself, then of course
\naspiration is not necessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The \u201cstate\u201d I was
\nspeaking of was not blankness but something else \u2013 I see by reference to the
\npassage in your letter that it was <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 923<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

a \u201cstate in which
\naspiration is not needed.\u201d Such a state is not blankness but a condition in
\nwhich the Mother’s force is present to the consciousness and doing everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Every kind of
\nrealisation \u2013 infinite self, cosmic consciousness, the Mother’s Presence,
\nLight, Force, Ananda, Knowledge, Sachchidananda realisation, the different
\nlayers of consciousness up to the supermind. All these can come in the silence which
\nremains but ceases to be blank.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The silence can remain
\nwhen the blankness has gone. All sorts of things can pour in and yet the
\nsilence still remains, but if you become full of force, light, Ananda,
\nknowledge etc. you cannot call yourself blank any longer. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If it is the spiritual
\nemptiness then it will not be felt as interfering with the sadhana.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you describe is the
\nsame neutral condition that you had before. It is a transitional state in which
\nthe old consciousness has ceased to be active, the new is preparing behind a
\nneutral quietude. One must take it quietly and wait for it to turn into the
\nspiritual peace and the psychic happiness which is quite different from vital
\njoy and grief. To have neither vital joy nor vital grief is considered by the yogins<\/span> to be a very desirable release, \u2013 it makes it
\npossible to pass from the ordinary human vital feelings to the true and
\nconstant inner peace, joy or happiness. I suppose you have no time just now for
\nsitting in meditation. The pressure of sleep is a pressure to go inside and the
\nhabit of meditation makes it possible to turn the sleep that comes into a <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 924<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

kind of sleep-samadhi in
\nwhich one is conscious of various experiences and progresses in the inner
\nbeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The condition which you
\nfeel is one which is very well known in sadhana. It is a sort of passage or
\ntransition, a state of inwardness which is growing but not yet completed \u2013 at
\nthat time to speak or throw oneself outward is painful. What is necessary is to
\nbe very quiet and remain within oneself all the time until the movement is
\ncompleted, \u2013 one should not speak or only a little and in a low quiet way nor
\nconcentrate the mind on outward things. You should also not mind what people
\nsay or question, \u2013 although they are practising sadhana, they know nothing
\nabout these conditions and if one becomes quiet or withdrawn they think one
\nmust be sad or ill. The Mother did not find you at all like that, sad or ill; it
\nis simply a phase or temporary state in the sadhana that she has experience of
\nand knows very well.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The condition
\nlasts often for a number of days, sometimes many, until something definite
\nbegins. Remain confident and quiet. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nVII<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The usual rule given by
\nyogis is that one should not speak of one’s experience to others except of
\ncourse the Guru while the sadhana is going on because it wastes the experience,
\nthere is what they call kşaya<\/i><\/span>
\nof the tapasya<\/span>. It is only long past experiences that
\nthey speak of and even that not too freely.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Light left you
\nbecause you spoke of it to someone who was not an adhikārī<\/i><\/span>. It is safest
\nnot to speak of these experiences except to a Guru or to one who can help you.
\nThe passing away of an experience as soon as it is spoken of is a frequent
\nhappening and for that reason many yogis make it a rule never to speak of
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 925<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

what happens within
\nthem, unless it is a thing of the past or a settled realisation that nothing
\ncan take away. A settled permanent realisation abides, but these were rather
\nthings that come to make possible an opening in the consciousness to something
\nmore complete \u2013 to prepare it for realisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I thought it was
\nunderstood that what I wrote to you about persons was private. Experiences
\none’s own or others’ if one comes to know of them, should not be talked about
\nor made a matter of gossip. It is only if there can be some spiritual profit to
\nothers and even then if they are experiences of the past that one can speak of
\nthem. Otherwise it becomes like news of Abyssinia or Spain, something common
\nand trivial for the vital mass-mind to chew or gobble.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want to keep the
\njoy, it will be wise not to speak of it to others. Things spoken about get
\nwings and try to escape.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To show what is written
\nabout experiences or to speak about one’s experiences to others is always
\nrisky. They are much better kept to oneself.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

General knowledge is
\nanother matter, it is intellectual and the intellect gains by the intellectual
\nactivity of teaching. Also if in yoga it were only a matter of imparting
\nintellectually one’s mental knowledge of the subject, that rule would perhaps
\nhold; but this mental aspect is only a small part of yoga. There is something
\nmore complex which forms the bigger part of it. In teaching yoga to another one
\nbecomes to some extent a master with disciples. The yogis have always said that
\none who takes <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 926<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

disciples, takes upon
\nhimself the difficulties of his disciples as well as one’s own \u2013 that is why it
\nis recommended not to take disciples unless and until one is siddha<\/span> and even then only if one receives the Divine
\nauthority to do it \u2013 what Ramakrishna called getting the chaprās<\/i><\/span>. Secondly, there is
\nthe danger of egoism \u2013 when one is free from that, then the objection no longer
\nholds. There is a separate question and that is the telling of one’s own
\nexperiences to others. That too is very much discouraged by most yogis \u2013 they
\nsay it is harmful to the sadhana. I have certainly seen and heard of any number
\nof instances in which people were having a flow of experiences and, when they
\ntold it, the flow was lost \u2013 so there must be something in this objection. I
\nsuppose however it ceases to apply after one has reached a certain
\nlong-established stability in the experience, that is to say when the
\nexperience amounts to a definite and permanent realisation, something finally
\nand irrevocably added to the consciousness. I notice that those who keep their
\nexperiences to themselves and do not put themselves out on others seem to have
\na more steady sadhana than others, but I don’t know whether it is an invariable
\nrule. It would probably not apply any longer after a certain stage of
\nrealisation.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage
\n\u2013 927<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART \u2013 III   SECTION ONE Experiences and Realisations    EXPERIENCE is a word that covers almost all the happenings in yoga; only when something…<\/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-1126","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\/1126","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=1126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}