{"id":1644,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1644"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:36:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:12","slug":"35-the-guru-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\/35-the-guru-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-35_The Guru.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

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

\n
\nThe Leader and the Guide<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n 
\n<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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

\n
\nThe Guru and the Avatar<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n 
\n<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Guru <\/font><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\nThe Guru and the Divine<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is not usual to use the word Guru in the supramental yoga, here everything comes from the Divine himself. But if anybody
\nwants it he can use it for the time being. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nNovember 1929
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe relation of Guru and disciple is only one of many relations
\nwhich one can have with the Divine, and in this Yoga which aims at a supramental realisation, it is not usual to give it this
\nname; rather, the Divine is regarded as the Source, the living Sun of Light and Knowledge and Consciousness and spiritual
\nrealisation and all that one receives is felt as coming from there and the whole being remoulded by the Divine Hand. This is
\na greater and more intimate relation than that of the human Guru and disciple, which is more of a limited mental ideal.
\nNevertheless, if the mind still needs the more familiar mental conception, it can be kept so long as it is needed; only do not let
\nthe soul be bound by it and do not let it limit the inflow of other relations with the Divine and larger forms of experience.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n12 December 1929 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThose who consciously carry in them ideas about becoming equal in status with the Divine or with their guru may be detained long, if not in the larger planes, at least in the Overmind, so long as the ego is there.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThey cannot get beyond unless they lose it. Even in these planes it prevents them from getting the full consciousness and knowledge. For in the Overmind cosmic consciousness too ego is absent, though the true Person may be there.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n27 April 1935  <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>395<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nSurrender to the Guru
\n<\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSurrender to the Divine and surrender to the Guru are said to
\nbe two different things. Is it really so? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNo. In surrendering to the Guru, it is to the Divine in him that
\none surrenders \u2014  if it were only to a human entity it would be ineffective. But it is the consciousness of the Divine Presence
\nthat makes the Guru a real Guru, so that even if the disciple surrenders to him thinking of the human being to whom he
\nsurrenders, that Presence would still make it effective.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nDoes surrender to the formless Divine leave the being subject
\nto the gunas and ego to a certain extent? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tYes \u2014  because only the static part would be free in formlessness,
\nthe active Nature would be still in the play of the gunas. Many think they are free from the ego because they get the sense of
\nthe formless Existence, they do not see that the egoistic element remains in their action just as before.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIs not surrender to the Divine in form \u2014  as the Guru \u2014  higher than the surrender to the formless Divine?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is more dynamic.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhat makes the surrender to the Guru so grand and glorious
\nas to be called the surrender beyond all surrenders? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tBecause through it you surrender not only to the impersonal
\nbut to the personal, not only to the Divine in yourself but to the Divine outside you; you get a chance for the surpassing of
\nego not only by retreat into the Self where ego does not exist, but in the personal nature where it is the ruler. It is the sign of
\n˙<\/i> the will to complete surrender to the total Divine, samagram<\/i>
\n\tmā<\/font>m<\/i>, mānusīm tanum āśritam<\/i>. Of course it must be a genuine
\nspiritual surrender for all this to be true.  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>396<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tIf absolute surrender to the Guru leaves one helpless like a puppet in the hands of forces
\n\u2014  what good is it? I think what
\nis harmful is to surrender only to the Divine in the Guru and not to the Divine in one’s Self. It is this one-sided surrender
\nwhich is harmful. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat is harmful is to surrender to something in yourself which
\nflatters your ego and which you call the Divine. It is that which makes you a puppet in the hands of Forces.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nNeed of the Guru’s Help
\n<\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nAn old man of sixty began practising Yoga by reading your books. Eventually he developed signs of insanity. His son de
\nscribes his condition and asks for advice. I am sending his letter.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAs for the letter, I suppose you will have to tell the writer that his father committed a mistake when he took up Yoga without a
\nGuru \u2014  for the mental idea about a Guru cannot take the place of the actual living influence. This Yoga especially, as I have
\nwritten in my books, needs the help of the Guru and cannot be done without it. The condition into which his father got was a
\nbreakdown, not a state of siddhi. He passed out of the normal mental consciousness into a contact with some intermediate zone
\nof consciousness (not the spiritual) where one can be subjected to all sorts of voices, suggestions, ideas, so-called aspirations
\nwhich are not genuine. I have warned against the dangers of this intermediate zone in one of my books. The sadhak can avoid
\nentering into this zone \u2014  if he enters, he has to look with indifference on all these things and observe them without lending any
\ncredence, by so doing he can safely pass into the true spiritual light. If he takes them all as true or real without discrimination,
\nhe is likely to land himself in a great mental confusion and, if there is in addition a lesion or weakness of the brain
\n\u2014  the latter
\nis quite possible in one who has been subject to apoplexy \u2014  it may have serious consequences and even lead to a disturbance
\nof the reason. If there is ambition, or other motive of the kind   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>397<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

mixed up in the spiritual seeking, it may lead to a fall in the Yoga and the growth of an exaggerated egoism or megalomania
\n\u2014  of
\nthis there are several symptoms in the utterances of his father during the crisis. In fact one cannot or ought not to plunge
\ninto the experiences of this sadhana without a fairly long period of preparation and purification (unless one has already a great
\nspiritual strength and elevation). Sri Aurobindo himself does not care to accept many into his path and rejects many more than
\nhe accepts. It would be well if he can get his father to pursue the sadhana no farther
\n\u2014  for what he is doing is not really Sri
\nAurobindo’s Yoga but something he has constructed in his own mind and once there has been an upset of this kind the wisest
\ncourse is discontinuance. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 April 1937
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nA Reluctant Guru
\n<\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI have prayed a lot today. Some comfort to dwell on that,
\nthough Krishnaprem advocates the Upanishadic attitude \u2014 “Awake! Arise!” \u2014  and not to trust too much to Divine Grace.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tKrishnaprem’s objection to Grace would be valid if the religionists mattered, but in spiritual things they don’t. Their action
\nnaturally is to make a formula and dry shell of everything, not Grace alone. Even “Awake, Arise” leads to the swelled head
\nor the formula \u2014  can’t be avoided when Mr. Everyman deals with things divine. I had the same kind of violent objection to Gurugiri, but you see I was obliged by the irony of things or rather by the inexorable truth behind them to become a Guru
\nand preach the Guruvada. Such is Fate. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n16 January 1936
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>398<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part Three The Leader and the Guide     Section One   The Guru and the Avatar   The Guru   The Guru and the…<\/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-1644","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\/1644","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=1644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}