{"id":1630,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:06","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1630"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:36:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:06","slug":"60-the-ashram-and-the-outside-world-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram\/60-the-ashram-and-the-outside-world-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-60_The Ashram and the Outside World.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\t\t\tSection Two <\/font><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/font><\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe Practice of Yoga in the Ashram
\n<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nand the Outside World  
\n  
\n<\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Ashram and the Outside World <\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\nPressure of the Environment
\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIs it possible that thoughts and suggestions come to sadhaks from people in the town who think about us in a critical or
\nhostile way? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is not only likely but certain that it happens. The pressure of
\nthe environment is always there and it becomes more effective for suggestion if there are any in the Asram itself who are accustomed to mix and receive freely the impacts of the people there.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n20 May 1933 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSome boys in the neighbourhood have become a systematic nuisance \u2014  jeering and throwing things
\n\u2014  and something decisive needs to be done. I know you do not like violence, but how else can one deal with this sort of thing?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is in the nature of things that the ignorance and smallness of these low minds should push them to these petty manifestations
\nof malevolence and ill-will. The best thing is to remain unmoved. As for violence that is out of the question. No doubt you do not
\nmind about yourself \u2014  but you represent the Asram and we must not give a handle to those in power
\n\u2014  many of whom
\nare not now favourable to us \u2014  to get a handle to do anything against the Asram. That is the primary consideration at the
\npresent moment and under the present conditions \u2014  which will not always remain as they are now.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 December 1933 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nContact with the Outer World
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe protection and help will be there as they were here. You have only to keep yourself open to them and live inwardly seeking
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>811<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

to become more and more conscious so that you may feel the Divine Presence and Power.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs to the Bombay atmosphere, keep inwardly separate from it, even while mixing with others. See it as a thing outside and
\nnot belonging to the inner world in which you yourself live. If you can achieve this inward separateness, it will not be able to
\ncloud you, whatever its daily pressure. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n18 May 1930
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt is not good that X <\/i>[a visitor<\/i>] should spend so much time with
\nyou. The Yogic atmosphere is not easy to keep when one is in constant contact with people who are living in another consciousness \u2014  it is only when one has got a complete foundation in the outer as well as the inner consciousness that one can do
\nit completely in all surroundings. That is why the Mother has always insisted on keeping the Asram and the sadhaks as much
\nas possible out of contact with the outer world. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n9 August 1933
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn The Synthesis of Yoga <\/i>you write of the love of the Divine
\nin all beings and the constant perception and acceptance of its workings in all things. If this is one of the ways of realising the
\nDivine, why do we have to restrict our contact with people? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThat is all right in the ordinary karmayoga which aims at union
\nwith the cosmic Spirit and stops short at the Overmind \u2014  but here a special work has to be done and a new realisation achieved
\nfor the earth and not for ourselves alone. It is necessary to stand apart from the rest of the world so as to separate ourselves from
\nthe ordinary consciousness in order to bring down a new one.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is not that love for all is not part of the sadhana, but it has
\nnot to translate itself at once into a mixing with all \u2014  it can only express itself in a general and when need be dynamic universal
\ngoodwill, but for the rest it must find vent in this labour of bringing down the higher consciousness with all its effect for the earth.
\nAs for accepting the working of the Divine in all things that is necessary here too in the sense of seeing it even behind our struggles and difficulties, but not accepting the nature of man and the  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>812<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nworld as it is \u2014  our aim is to move towards a more divine working which will replace what now is by a greater and happier manifestation. That too is a labour of divine Love.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 October 1933
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t*<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIt seems as if we avoid the world much more than the Mayavadin sannyasis. Some of them start hospitals and schools and do famine relief; some even joined the Satyagraha Movement.
\nSimilarly it may be that one would find more true ahimsaks among fighters and warriors than among those who shout
\n“non-violence”. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tVery probably. You are right about the Mayavadins (I mean
\nthe present-day ones) and ourselves. The former Mayavadins were often more consistent, except that they wrote books and
\npreached and disputed and founded institutions which seems a waste of energy if all is Maya. All the energy ought to have
\ngone to getting out of Maya. As for our own position it is that ordinary life is Maya in this sense, not that it is an illusion, for
\nit exists and is very real, but that it is an Ignorance, a thing founded on what is from the spiritual point of view a falsehood.
\nSo it is logical to avoid it or rather we are obliged to have some touch with it but we minimise that as much as possible except
\nin so far as it is useful for our purpose. We have to turn life from falsehood into spiritual truth, from a life of ignorance into
\na life of spiritual knowledge. But until we have succeeded in doing that for ourselves, it is better to keep apart from the life
\nof Ignorance of the world \u2014  otherwise our little slowly growing light is likely to be submerged in the seas of darkness all around
\nit. Even as it is, the endeavour is difficult enough \u2014  it would be tenfold more difficult if there were no isolation.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n20 June 1935 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWork Outside and as Part of Sadhana <\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIn work done outside, the ego remains often concealed and satisfies itself without being detected
\n\u2014  but when there is the
\npressure of sadhana, it is obliged to show itself: then what has to be done is to reject it and free oneself and make the object of
\nthe work the Divine alone.  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>813<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Section Two   The Practice of Yoga in the Ashram and the Outside World       The Ashram and the Outside World   Pressure…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","wpcat-37-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630","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=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}