{"id":1631,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:07","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1631"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:36:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:07","slug":"49-sadhana-in-the-ashram-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\/49-sadhana-in-the-ashram-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-49_Sadhana in the Ashram.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\nSadhana in the Ashram <\/font><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nCommunal Sadhana <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn respect to Yoga, what is the meaning of communal sadhana?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThere is no communal sadhana. It is the individuals who do
\nthe sadhana and that creates a collective atmosphere with a character and movements of its own.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn the commune can sadhaks help each other in their sadhana?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat commune? There is no commune here, there is only a
\ngroup of people who are supposed to follow the same sadhana. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn what way?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAnyone can help another if he has the capacity. It has nothing to do with a “commune”.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nNot living in a commune, is it possible to reach the highest Truth?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe highest Truth is there for anyone who can reach it.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n16 May 1933
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPersonal Difficulties and Progress in Yoga <\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tYou have now taken the right attitude, and if you keep it all
\nwill go better. It is to the divine Mother that you have come for Yoga, not for the old kind of life. You should also regard this
\nas an Asram, not an ordinary Sansar, and in your dealings with others here strive to conquer anger, self-assertion and pride,
\nwhatever may be their attitude or behaviour towards you; for so long as you keep these moods, you will find it difficult to
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>634<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nmake progress in the Yoga. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 July 1932
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIf the difficulties in my nature still persist after so many years
\nof sadhana, how can I be certain of success? How can I think that I am fit for the Yoga?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe vital difficulties persist so long as one indulges in any way the lower nature
\n\u2014  even after one has ceased indulging, they
\npersist so long as there is anything in the lower consciousness which desires or regrets them or is still responsive to their touch
\nwhen they return either as waves from the universal Prakriti or an attack by the hostile forces. If length of time in mastering the
\nvital or transforming it were a proof of unfitness, then nobody in this Asram
\n\u2014  or outside it \u2014  would be fit for the Yoga.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nUntil success actually comes, there is always the chance that it will not
\n<\/i>come at all.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe mind can argue like that about anything not yet actually realised and established beyond dispute and without flaw. But
\nwhat one has to lean on in Yoga is not the reasonings of the physical mind, but faith in the soul and the secret certitude of
\nthe Spirit. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI want to have the Yogic consciousness at all times and never
\nlose it. This constant moving between light and darkness, peace and struggle cannot be a proof of progress. In what
\nway am I incorrect? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely incorrect. The progress of the sadhana is for most
\neven such an alternation because it is precisely a struggle between the powers of Light and Darkness, those who want the divine
\ntransformation and those who want the continuance of the old ignorant Nature. At each step something has to be conquered
\nfrom the hold of the Ignorance, something brought down from the Light above. When the whole nature is opened and the peace
\nand equality are brought down into the vital and physical and settled there, then there is no inner disturbance, but the struggle
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>635<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

continues until there is the beginning of the supramental transformation.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nHow is it that many sadhaks who had a strong spiritual tendency before coming to the Asram have got stuck in vital
\ndifficulties after many years of sadhana? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is because outside before people come here, they are quite
\nsatisfied with their inner spiritual experiences and there is no idea of changing or attempt to change the vital. The moment
\nthis idea is imposed on the vital or the attempt begins all the vital difficulties begin. That is one reason, but by itself it would
\nnot have mattered so much, the difficulties would have appeared but they could have been conquered without so much trouble.
\nBut here owing to the wrong attitude of many sadhaks, their indulgence of the vital opposition and revolt, an atmosphere of
\nextreme vital difficulty has been created and when one comes to stay here all that atmosphere throws itself upon him and it
\nis only by a great and prolonged struggle that he can get back to the spiritual simplicity and straightforward aspiration or the
\npsychic poise. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n18 July 1934
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI do not see why your having difficulties or the external consciousness denying the inner truth should prevent you from calling our help. At that rate hardly anybody could call for
\nhelp. Almost everybody in the Asram except a few have this difficulty of the external consciousness denying or standing in
\nthe way of the inner experience and trying to cling to its old ways, ideas, habits and desires. This division in human nature
\nis a universal fact and one should not make too much of it. Once the Peace and Power are there, it is best to trust to that
\nto remove in time the opposition and enlighten and occupy the external nature.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n19 July 1934 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou have often spoken of the Man of Sorrows in connection
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>636<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\twith me. But I was a cheerful fellow at school and college. So
\nI am afraid he is a contribution, partly at least, of your Yoga. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNot of my Yoga, but of the blasted atmosphere that has been
\ncreated here by the theory that revolt, doubt and resultant sorrow and struggle and all that rot are the best way to progress.
\nThe Asram has never been able to get out of it, but only some people have escaped. The others have opened themselves to the
\nconfounded Man of Sorrows and got the natural consequence. But why the devil did you do it? The Man of Sorrows is a
\nfellow who is always making a row in himself and covering himself with sevenfold overcoats of tragedy and gloom and he
\nwould not feel his existence justified if he couldn’t be colossally miserable
\n\u2014  when he gets on people’s backs he puts the same
\nthing on them. Yoga on the other hand tells you even if you have all sorts of unpleasantnesses to live in the inner sunlight,
\nyour own or God’s. At least most Yogas do except the Vaishnava \u2014  but the Yoga here is not a Vaishnava Yoga.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n19 June 1935 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAll I want to know is whether the whole of my being wants God or not. I am always saying, “I have come here to attain
\nGod.” But perhaps this is just self-deception. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI have already answered your question. You came because your
\nsoul was moved to seek the Divine. That some part of your vital has strong attachments to the people you left behind, is a fact,
\nbut it does not make your soul’s seeking unreal. If the presence and persistence of vital difficulties were to prove that a sadhak is
\n"unfit" and has no chance, then only one or two in the Asram \u2014 and perhaps not even they
\n\u2014  would survive the test. The feeling
\nof dryness and not being “able to aspire” is also no proof. Every sadhak gets periods and even long periods of such emptiness.
\nI could point to some who are considered among the most “advanced” sadhaks and yet are not free yet altogether from
\nthe family instinct. It is therefore quite unreasonable to be upset because these reactions still linger in you. These reactions come
\nand go, but the need of the soul is permanent, even when covered   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>637<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

up and silent, and will always stay and reemerge. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 June 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA vast abyss has opened its jaws to swallow X <\/i>for ever. I tell
\nyou, Sir, it will be a pathetic failure on the part of the Divine. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tRubbish! It will be a failure on the part of
\nX<\/i>. I don’t profess to
\ntransform men against their will. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 September 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIf I want to hang myself, would you say, “I can’t help him
\nagainst his will”? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIf that were your will and not merely an impulse of the vital
\nbeing, nobody could stop you. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n2 September 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAll who come here did not come with a conscious seeking for
\nthe Divine. It is without the mind knowing it the soul within that brought them here. In your case it was that and the relation
\nyour soul had with the Mother. Once here the force of the Divine works upon the human nature till a way is opened for the soul
\nwithin to come out from the veil. The conscious seeking for the Divine does not by itself prevent the struggle with the ignorance
\nof the nature; it is only self-giving to the Mother that can do that.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 November 1935 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWhy is the sex-force working so vehemently now? Does it mean that the supramental also is vehemently descending? Or
\nat least some Divine Force, giving a last kick at the sex-force? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Divine Force has nothing to do with it. It is the sex and other
\nlower forces that are attacking in order to make it impossible for the Divine Force to do its work or the Supramental to descend.
\nThey hope to prevent it altogether or, if by some miracle it still descends, to limit its extension and prevent anything more than
\nan individual achievement. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n6 August 1937
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>638<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThe Supramental Evolution, the Ashram <\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nand the Hostile Forces<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWith Sri Aurobindo and the Mother so close to us here, how is it that we continue to fall into darkness and sorrow
\n\u2014  even
\ninto struggles with the hostile forces? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tYou are right. The hostile forces, their attacks, their suggestions
\nought now to be superannuated, out of date, out of place here in this sadhana. If somebody would realise that and fulfil it in
\nhis sadhana, the others might perhaps get strength to follow. At present these things are still here because the sadhaks open
\nthemselves to them, out of habit, out of desire, out of attraction for the drama of the vital, out of fear, out of passive response
\nand unresisting inertia. But there is no real necessity for them any longer or true justification for their presence here,
\n\u2014  the
\nouter world is a different matter. The sadhana could very well go on and should go on as an unfolding, a natural falling away
\nof defects and difficulties, a coming of greater and greater light and power and peace and transformation.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 November 1933 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nMany people are experiencing acute difficulties. Is this the result of an inrush of forces or a pressure in the atmosphere?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is not the pressure from above that creates difficulties. There is a strong resistance to change in the lower planes and certain
\nForces take advantage of it to throw in vortices of disturbance and try to upset as many people as possible. The only action
\nof the Pressure from above on these is to push them out from the atmosphere of the person touched or from the atmosphere
\ngenerally. After a time they are pushed out of the atmosphere of the person and can no longer work on him except from a distance
\nwith very slight effect. When that can be done generally \u2014  so as to push them to a distance from the atmosphere of the Asram,
\nthen all this trouble will cease. <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>639<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nYou wrote, in the letter that was placed on the notice board,1<\/font><\/sup> that there is not “any longer” a justification for the hostile
\nforces here. That suggests that there has been some change in the atmosphere, which makes possible their elimination. But
\ncan they really be eliminated? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI wrote because now there is a sufficient descent of Light and
\nPower, for one not to be subject to the ordeals and tests which the Hostile Powers are permitted to put when one has only the mental, or ordinary spiritual forces on the plane of mind, to support one’s progress. If you look closely, you will see that when these
\nForces work now it is in a perfectly irrational, instinctive way, repeating always the same movements without any intellectual
\nor higher vital power behind them. Theirs is now an irrational mechanical method which obscures more in the lowest physical
\nand subconscient than anything else. That means that their true justification for being there is gone.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI have something to ask about your letter [of 8 November<\/i> 1933<\/i>] about the hostile forces. You write that they are “out of
\nplace here in this sadhana”. But you go on to say that attacks continue because “the sadhaks open themselves to them, out
\nof habit, . . . out of passive response and unresisting inertia”. Please explain all this more clearly. Do you mean that the
\nforces that were obstructing the sadhaks have been destroyed? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThere is no question of destruction. There is only the question of
\ntheir exclusion from the Asram. The things enumerated are not causes of the attacks, but they are the occasion, the weakness
\nin the sadhaks that allows them when they could very well be dismissed. The hostile forces are there in the world to maintain
\nthe Ignorance \u2014  they were there in the sadhana because they had the right to test the sincerity of the sadhaks and their power
\nand will to cleave to the Divine and overcome all difficulties. But this is only so long as the higher Light has not descended
\ninto the physical \u2014  now it is descending, it is sufficiently there
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 The letter of 8 November 1933 on page 639.
\n\u2014  Ed.<\/i>
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>640<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nfor anyone to receive it more and more fully, so that the way becomes smooth and open, a progressive development and not
\na struggle. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 November 1933
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSince I wrote to you last, the hostile force has been trying to
\nprove that it still has a place in this world. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tEven if it had a place in the world where men do not seek the
\nDivine, it has no right of place in the Asram. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n14 November 1933
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt seems to me that the evolution out of matter could have
\ntaken place without the hostile forces. It could have happened quickly, by the descent of the Supramental and other lights,
\npowers and joy of the Transcendent. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAnything could have happened \u2014  but if the Supramental was to
\ndescend immediately, there was no need of matter or evolution \u2014  the only reasonable thing would have been to create a supra
\nmental world at once without any slow evolution of matter, of life in matter, of mind in living matter or of the spiritual or
\nsupramental in spiritualised life in the material body.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWithout the hostile forces and the self-contradictory consciousness of an exclusive division,
\navidyā<\/i>, the manifestation
\nwould have been self-luminous and perfect and there would have been no need of an evolution from imperfection to
\nperfection. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tObviously \u2014  but this world was created for evolution and not
\nfor an immediately luminous manifestation such as already exists on some other planes.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhoever gave the hostile forces the power of avidyā <\/i>to
\nenter into and interfere with the earth-evolution has allowed tremendous pain and suffering to grow in the earth-conscious
\nness.   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>641<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Avidya did not interfere with the earth evolution, it existed before the earth life was evolved in the form of Inconscience.
\nThe meaning of evolution is the evolving or slow manifestation of life, mind and conscious supermind out of matter with its
\noriginal Inconscience. Avidya is one thing and the intervention of the hostile forces is another.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\nEven if the hostile forces go back to their own region, they will certainly wage war against the transformed divine world.
\nThe only way for God to save us from this would be for him to put some pressure on them for self-transformation.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is supposed that the supramental Light and Force is to descend \u2014  if the descent is so complete that these forces are driven back
\nto their own world, it is not likely that any efforts on their part would have any success. It is the darkness or the insufficient
\nLight that gave them their chance to intervene. If there is the victory of the true light, they cannot any longer.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother has said that the hostile forces are necessary in the life of the Asrama for testing the sincerity of the sadhakas.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe work of this Yoga and therefore the principle of the Asram life is to take the world as it is and deal with it by a trans
\nformation of which the supramental descent is not the first but the final process. The presence of the hostile forces is a part of
\nthe world as it is and not to deal with them at all or to act as if they were not there would have been to leave the problem
\nunsolved and the work undone. The sadhaks of the Asram are not spotless Saints or perfect born Yogis but men who carry in
\nthem their human nature and typify each in his own way what is in the world and what has to be changed. The influence of
\nthe hostile Forces was on them as on all human beings in a less or greater degree, and so long as they open themselves to that
\ninfluence, it works on them as on the world, \u2014  it is only by a perfect sincerity and by a perfect opening to the Light that it
\ncan disappear. In that sense the presence of these forces is a test and the world that has to be changed being what it is and their
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>642<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nnature being what it is, it could not be otherwise. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI believe that each divine being has a hostile being associated
\nwith it for some unknown purpose in the Asrama. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is not only in the Asram but everywhere that it is like that. It
\nis a well-known principle of all occult knowledge that there are these two elements overstanding each seeker of the Truth.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe Mother once said that she never upheld the hostile forces, nor was she their Mother.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe hostile forces are upheld not by the Mother but by something in the sadhaks themselves which opens the doors to them
\nby concentrated egoism, mental arrogance, vital revolt and many other things, e.g. lying, sex etc.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI remember how I was suddenly betrayed into the hands of the hostile forces when I came to the Budhi house. When I asked
\nto be moved to a house near the Asrama, you ordered me to remain here.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe hostile forces were not in the Budhi house any more than in any other and being in a house near the Asram does not
\nsave anybody from their attacks \u2014  as is shown by the case of several who lived in houses near the Asram. Even to be in the
\ncentral building does not necessarily save anybody from attacks. It depends on oneself, not on purely external things.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYou have said that the hostile forces are no more necessary here in the Asrama. Will you let me know when they are going
\nto be put out of the Asrama life altogether? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThey are no more necessary if the sadhaks open to the Light that
\nis descending \u2014  that was what I said \u2014  but if they do not open and go on exposing themselves, there will still be a possibility of
\ntheir presence for some time to come.   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>643<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nPlease give me the highest solutions and not temporary truths of a passing evolution.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe highest solutions cannot be brought in like that, as if one were acting in a clear field. If the “temporary” truths of the
\nevolution could be got rid of so easily, there would have been no need of preparation or of a trying and difficult sadhana. It
\nwas necessary to deal with what had come into existence in the evolution so that the supramental descent might become
\npossible. <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWhat I meant in my first question [p. 641<\/i>] was that, as far as I
\ncan see, evolution is not necessary for the divine manifestation.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThere is no question about the possibility of a non-evolutionary
\nmanifestation \u2014  but that is quite irrelevant, for this is <\/i>an evolutionary manifestation and it was evidently intended to be so
\nfrom the beginning.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nBut on account of the interference of an exclusive avidyā<\/i>, the manifestation has been perverted into what it now is.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat do you mean by an interference? The exclusive Avidya, that is the Inconscience of Matter, was the starting point, not
\nsomething that came in after life had begun. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIf there had been a gradual descent of the supramental light
\nin the beginning, the true life, mind and higher planes might have been released and organised.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tA gradual descent of the Supramental Light into what? Matter being the starting point, life and mind had to evolve first
\n\u2014  to
\nbegin with a supramental descent would have reversed the order of the creation.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThus the hostile forces and the perversion that they bring might have been dispensed with.
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>644<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tAll that depends on the original statement that it might have been otherwise \u2014  if a rapid supramental creation had been intended
\nand not an evolution. As this is in its nature an evolutionary world, there is no practical use in pressing that possibility.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nMy point is that the hostile forces could have been dispensed with, and that they still can be dispensed with, at present.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAs for what can be done at the present time, that is just what is being fought out. But there are two parties to the issue, the higher
\nconsciousness and the earth consciousness, the latter largely represented by the sadhaks here. If the earth consciousness is ready
\nan easy descent is quite possible, but if it resists, then there is in the nature of things difficulty and struggle and the Asuric forces
\nhave their chance. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n25 December 1933
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt may be that a God-man was created first. But by “interference” he degenerated into the present man in his surface mental and vital consciousness. And this same spirit of a
\nself-contradictory hostile nature created in his surface consciousness the
\nexclusive <\/i>Avidya (vide <\/i>Bible, Book of Genesis).
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI am not aware of it \u2014  not on this earth at any rate. If he was a God-man, why did he allow the interference and degeneration
\nin himself? The Bible to which you refer supposes Adam to have been innocent but ignorant in the beginning.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn 1926 you said that this creation was not intended to be as it is, but that a self-contradictory spirit interfered at a certain
\nstage and perverted it. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tMy statement does not bear the meaning you give it.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSupposing that this physical body has evolved on this planet in the way understood by Darwin . . .
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt has nothing to do with Darwin.   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>645<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nyet it seems from inner knowledge that it was essentially an action of the Supermind below, the Supermind above and the
\npsychic being, and all the struggle and difficulty and delay that we see was caused by adverse forces of a consciousness of a
\nself-contradictory nature. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI have no inner knowledge to that effect \u2014  that it was intended
\nto be worked out by these three forces alone. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe whole thing looks like an intended perfect manifestation
\nperverted in its surface mental and vital consciousness by the power of a self-contradictory hostile nature that was a
\npossibility of God’s being. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIf it started from the Inconscience, it could not be a perfect
\nmanifestation from the beginning. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYou say [p. 641<\/i>] that in a supramental manifestation matter
\nwould not have been necessary. I suppose you meant that the darkness of matter was not necessary.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt would have been not matter but supramental substance.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nYou say that permission was given to the hostile forces to
\npervert the creation by a sort of beautiful Asuric stress. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat is this word beautiful? I never used it and it is an absurd
\nepithet. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAlso it seems that in this Asrama the hostile forces were
\nallowed to move and play with the idea of testing the sadhaks. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNot at all \u2014  it is a law that grew up in the world, as I have said
\nclearly, it seems to me, and as this Asram is part of the world, it worked here also.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAt least the dangers of the hostile forces were not pointed out as clearly as they should have been.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThat is false.  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>646<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nContd…<\/span><\/a><\/b><\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sadhana in the Ashram   Communal Sadhana   In respect to Yoga, what is the meaning of communal sadhana?   There is no communal sadhana….<\/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-1631","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\/1631","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=1631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1631\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}