{"id":1663,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1663"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:36:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:22","slug":"45-admission-staying-departure-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\/45-admission-staying-departure-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-45_Admission, Staying, Departure.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\t\t\tAdmission, Staying, Departure <\/font><\/b>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n“Acceptance” and “Admission”
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tReply that residence in the Asrama is only allowed to sadhakas who have been accepted into Sri Aurobindo’s path of Yoga, and
\nnot to all of them. This path is a special way of Yoga, difficult and different from others; only those are accepted who have a
\nspecial call to it. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 February 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\tMany thanks for [a transcript of the preceding letter<\/i>]. Permit me to ask as to the qualifications of persons who can be accepted and admitted into the holy ashram as sadhaks.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThere are no specific qualifications except the call to lead a divine life embodying a higher spiritual and supramental Truth
\n(not Sannyasa), the spirit which is prepared to sacrifice all for that one end accepting even the hardest conditions, ordeals and
\ntests, and the recognition of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. It is the Mother herself who decides after seeing the aspirant and
\nthe nature of the call within him. You may point out to him that the seeking in him seems from his letter to be of a vague kind;
\nhe seems to seek any path and any Guru he can find. There is nothing definite that would indicate a call to this way of Yoga.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 February 1930 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n

\n\tX <\/span> <\/i>may write explaining that the Asram is not a public institution with rules etc. which anyone satisfying the rules can enter. Only
\nthose are admitted who are already Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and who are considered ready for the Asram life.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 April 1930 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 559<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

Answer that admission to the Asram is very strictly limited and only those who have already been accepted as Sri Aurobindo’s
\ndisciples are admitted there. This acceptance is not easy, as Sri Aurobindo’s path of Yoga is different from others and only those
\nwho are specially called to it in preference to other paths and who show some sign of the call or are believed to be initially
\ncapable can become disciples.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe answer must be in Hindi.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n30 April 1930 <\/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\tNo one can be received into the life of the Asram unless he has first been accepted as a disciple
\n\u2014  there are no “students” of
\nYoga \u2014  and no one is accepted as a disciple until he has been first seen and it is known whether he has the call to this Yoga
\nand the capacity for it. If he likes to come to Pondicherry, he may; the Mother will see whether he is fit. But permission to
\nstay in the Asram cannot be given now. All the rest can be seen afterwards.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 August 1930 <\/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\tI am quite tired of this selfish and frail world and therefore I wish to stay in your Ashram for the good of my soul. I have
\nheard much about you and I fully trust you will very kindly help me as your younger brother to be free from such a selfish
\nand frail world. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tGive him the usual answer that stay in the Asram is allowed to
\nsome only of those who are already accepted as Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and that owing to the difficulty of the path, only some
\nwho have a call or a capacity are accepted as disciples.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is not possible for him to join the Asram; Sri Aurobindo
\ndoes not admit anyone who is not personally known and already his disciple; even among his disciples he admits only those
\nwhom he considers to be ready or called to the life of the Asram. Moreover the Asram is now full and there is hardly any room
\nfor new members.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAll are not equally capable of practising Yoga and in Yoga
\nitself some paths are more difficult than others. There are some  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>560<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nwho have a special call to a path; others have no call; though they may feel drawn to Yoga, it is to other disciplines that they
\nmust go. This path is especially difficult and even some of those admitted to it find great difficulty in following it. Therefore Sri
\nAurobindo is not willing to admit any new disciples unless he has reason to think that they have a special call for it or a special
\ncapacity. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 June 1932
\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\tThose who follow the Yoga here are accepted by the Mother
\n\u2014  for “accepted” means “admitted into the Yoga, accepted as disciples”. But the progress in the Yoga and the
\nsiddhi <\/i>in the
\nYoga depend on the degree to which there is the opening. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 June 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\tOne cannot enter the Asram like that. One must first be admitted to the Yoga and show that there are the experiences which indicate that one is really called to this path. Even afterwards it
\nrests on the decision of Sri Aurobindo whether the sadhak is to be admitted to the Asram or practise his sadhana outside.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 January 1934 <\/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\tYou will tell him that admission to the Asram is only allowed to those who are already accepted as Sri Aurobindo’s disciples.
\nThere are no arrangements for visitors residing in the Asram; those who come for darshan make their own arrangements out
\nside. Sri Aurobindo does not readily accept disciples as his is a special path of Yoga and very difficult for most. For what he
\nwants, another Guru with an easier way of Yoga would probably be more helpful.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n31 December 1935 <\/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\tYou can tell them that it is not possible. Admissions to the Asram have been stopped owing to want of accommodation. Moreover,
\nit is only those who are already Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>561<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

practising his special way of Yoga who are admitted as members of the Asram.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n19 April 1935 <\/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\tWrite to him that only those who are already Sri Aurobindo’s disciples and have practised his Yoga can be admitted. Moreover
\nat present admissions are rarely made as there is no longer any sufficient accommodation in the Asram.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(This should now be the answer to all these candidates from nowhere and everywhere
\n\u2014  i.e. if they persist, otherwise they
\ncan be left without answer.) <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n15 May 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAdmission to the Ashram, 1927 \u00ad 1943 <\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is best for him to put away all family and worldly cares if he
\nwishes to succeed in the sadhana.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs for staying here, things have changed since he was here.
\nI no longer take direct charge of people’s sadhana; all is in the hands of Sri Mira Devi and the force acting here is much more
\ndirect, powerful and insistent than it was then. It needs a certain strength and a strong receptivity to bear and answer to it,
\nespecially a great sincerity in all the being and a preparation is sometimes necessary before it can do its work.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe best would be perhaps for him to have an experimental stay for some time.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n23 March 1927 <\/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\tPeople are not accepted in the Asram or in the Yoga unless it is seen that they have the call and the capacity. A mere formal
\nrequest is not sufficient for the purpose.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSri Aurobindo is not at present seeing anyone, not even his
\nown disciples.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIf he likes, he can enter into a preliminary correspondence
\nand explain his case, what he is seeking and why and the nature of his past efforts.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n3 June 1927 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>562<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tEverybody is not admitted here, only those who are fit and who have a true call to Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga. The desire for a “calm
\nand peaceful” or Asramic life is not a sufficient passport for this admission.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 July 1927 <\/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\tThere is no question about grihastha and Sannyasin here, because the distinction does not exist for us. There is no place for
\nthe Sannyasin of the ordinary type at least, because we do not turn our backs on life; neither are we grihasthas, because we do
\nleave behind us the ordinary human life and its institutions and motives.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\nThe difficulty in X<\/i>‘s case is of two kinds. First, his mind seems to cling to traditional ideas and ways of action, while here
\nthey are thrown aside altogether. It is impossible without an entirely free intelligence (or, in its place, a strong psychic faith and
\nardour) to follow the movement here. I doubt whether X <\/i>would be able to appreciate, much less to assent to it and follow it.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(2) X <\/i>seems to lay entire stress on the reasoning intellect and to have fixed himself in that movement. Here the endeavour is
\nof a supramental and therefore suprarational character. It has to be carried out through a silent mind, an active psychic being,
\na descent of the supramental Light and Power and Vastness and Ananda transforming all the instruments. An attachment to
\nthe way of the intellect, a bondage to the rational mind would be an insuperable obstacle. The supramental can be reached
\nthrough the active mind only if the latter is large, free, subtle, plastic, ready at every moment to renounce its own way and
\nto admit enlightenment and contradiction of all its cherished conclusions and habitual movements by a higher Light. Not one
\nintellect in a thousand is of that kind. And even then it would not be enough without the heart’s opening and the support of
\nthe psychic brought to the surface.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt would be useless for X <\/i>to come here and find himself at
\na loss in an atmosphere foreign to his temperament. There is no sign that he is
\npsychically <\/i>ready for such a transplantation. A
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>563<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

certain agreement of the philosophic idea is quite insufficient.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOnly two kinds of people can stay here with any true profit;
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(1) Those who are ready to absorb the spiritual atmosphere and change.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(2) Those who, if not yet ready, can still surrender to the influence and prepare slowly till they are ready.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nIt may be that X <\/i>cannot advance precisely because of this interference of the intellect in the ways of the Spirit. The reasoning
\nmind can never give itself confidently to the greater Influence, not even to God or Guru; it is capable of turning unprofitably
\naround itself for ever. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nJuly 1927
\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\tHe cannot come here to join the Asram. If he finds that he is
\nunder a pressure too much for his body, it is better to relax and take to healthy physical habits which will restore strength. Yoga
\nis only for those who have brains and bodies strong enough to bear the pressure.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n6 August 1927 <\/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\tIs it possible under your guardianship (or elsewhere and in that case where?) to live a longer life than usual in India, and similarly to
\ntransplant self with body to other planets or other distant parts on the earth? I believe you have achieved all these powers. I do not mean transplanting the soul alone which could naturally be achieved after death.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWill you very kindly admit one who has some practice in yoga and is prepared to abide strictly by the injunctions to a
\nstudent in yoga? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tOnly those who take up this way of Yoga are admitted, if other
\nwise fit or ready, to this Asrama. The miraculous powers he mentions are not among the objects of this Yoga.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n19 August 1927 <\/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\tHe will have to wait. Admission here does not go by each one’s own desire or idea of his readiness; there is an inner source of
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>564<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tdecision which has nothing to do with any of the reasons given by the mind. But also from a more external point of view we
\nhave neither means nor accommodation to entertain all who would otherwise come and there are some who are not called
\nand are yet more ready than X<\/i>.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nHe must make his sadhana deeper, less mental, more psychic, by a stronger aspiration and more devout surrender, before he can hope to come. Let him learn too to face the difficulties
\nof life and keep his inner consciousness amongst them. It is not always the best thing for everybody to have the external
\ncircumstances made easy and favourable for the sadhana. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n6 September 1927
\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\tThe best thing will be for him to come here for a few days; the
\nMother will see him and decide what is best to be done after seeing his capacity etc., whether he is to remain here for a time
\nor practise there.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nInform him that there is no fixed rule for everybody here.
\nFruits except bananas are not easily available in Pondicherry. For expenses (ordinary diet etc.) Rs. 20 a month can be reckoned
\nas a fair amount; but he can meet his own expenses if he likes, taking his own diet etc.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAlso inform him that I do not see anybody now or personally give initiation, but that will make no difference. He must have
\nunderstood from Jotin’s article1<\/font><\/sup> that all the work is in the hands of the Mother.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nHe should not come till a little time after February 21st.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\ncirca February 1928
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tX <\/span> <\/i>of Burdwan writes that he intends to come here and I will have
\nto support him, because he has nowhere else to go and because <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 “Sri Aurobindo’s Ashram: Daily Life of Disciples”, by Jatindranath Sen Gupta,<\/i>
\npublished in the <\/i>Hindu (Madras) on 6 May 1927. See the Note on the Texts to
\n<\/i>Autobiographical Notes and Other Writings of Historical Interest, volume 36 of
\n<\/i>T<\/font>HE<\/font> C<\/font>OMPLETE<\/font>
\nW<\/font>ORKS OF<\/font> S<\/font>RI<\/font> A<\/font>UROBINDO<\/font>, p. 608.<\/i>  
\n<\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>565<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

he has the need of an intensive sadhana. Write to him not to come. Only those are allowed to live here who are accepted by
\nmyself and the Mother. People cannot merely come because they want or need or think that I ought to receive and maintain them
\nor on the mere ground that they are sadhaks. As for himself, he has not as yet even the first conditions, a psychic opening or
\nan attitude of self-surrender. He is only in the first mental stage of initial realisations. In any case no claim is allowed in these
\nmatters. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n13 April 1928
\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\tThis path of Yoga is very special and a very difficult one. Yogic<\/i>
\nSadhan <\/i>does not give a sufficient idea of it. It requires not only capacity for sadhana, but a psychic call of a very definite kind
\n\u2014  a mental adhesion is not sufficient. Before I can assent to his coming here, I must be sure of his having this call. Why should
\nhe not continue his practice at Rishikesh and see what develops in him and what is his real way?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 September 1928 <\/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\tIt will be better for him to write again stating
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(1) What Yoga he has practised during these 15 years, or,
\nespecially, during the last two years.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(2) With what results.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(3) His age, circumstances etc.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThere are no external rules for admission to the Asrama. The
\nconditions are internal, the call to the way and spiritual purpose of this Yoga, an entire and one-minded readiness for surrender
\nand the giving up of all else for the one Truth, acceptance by myself and the Mother. Those who practise, are not always
\nadmitted at once to the Asrama. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 September 1928
\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\tThe obstacles to his coming here are of two kinds.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(1) There is nothing as yet in his experiences, at least as he has recorded them, which would indicate a real call, necessity
\nor readiness for his stay here.  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>566<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\t(2) If he comes here, unready, the pressure of the forces at the centre is likely to be injurious rather than beneficial to his
\nsadhana. The illness from which he has suffered, may return or regain force; the peace he is gaining may be disturbed etc. He is
\nmistaken in thinking that to stay here will necessarily make his sadhana easier; it may make it more difficult, especially if, as is
\nlikely, the demand and pressure of the Force that is acting here is too great for him and he is unable to receive it or to answer.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI do not wish to increase the number of people in the Asrama excessively under the present conditions and I allow only those
\nto remain with regard to whom the indication from above is perfectly clear and unmistakable.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 September 1928 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWrite to X <\/i>that I am not pleased with the tone of his letter. Demands of this kind, talk of suicide etc., claim to come here
\non the ground of poverty are all entirely out of place in one who aspires to practise this sadhana. Those who cannot face
\nthe difficulties of life in the right spirit, will not be able either to face in the right way the difficulties of sadhana. To stay here
\nis a privilege accorded by the Mother to some who are fit or are called to do some work for her here. It is not conceded to
\nanybody because he is poor and has no other resource or for any other irrelevant reason. And no one has a right to demand
\nor clamour for it. If he wants to practise this Yoga, he must do it with a quiet spirit, demanding nothing but the calm, peace and
\nlight and strength of the divine consciousness and the presence of the Divine. And he must face all that comes to him in life, in
\na spirit of quiet faith and equality and endurance. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\ncirca 1928
\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 very evident from his letter that in his mind he is not at all
\nready. If he has this wandering and experimental spirit, let him satisfy it first in the other places he thinks of visiting or the other
\nexperiments he wants to make. Here only those should come who feel a definite call and are sure that here lies their spiritual
\ndestiny and nowhere else. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n16 January 1929
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>567<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

He says he wants to come here for his sadhana, but for what sadhana? The Yoga here is of a special kind and everybody is
\nnot called to it or fit for it. He himself seems to have been living very much in the mind and in external things. He is leaving
\nthe Asram there because he has fundamental differences (it is to be presumed, differences of idea and mental outlook) with the
\nworkers. How is it sure that there will be agreement here? In any case, it is the capacity for a special kind of inner life or the inner
\ncall to it that can alone be a reason for admittance to the Asram here. This is what you must explain to him. I do not know what
\nsadhana he has been doing or what experiences he may have, if any. But when he came here, he did not seem to be at all ready.
\nA mental decision to give up one kind of life or activity and take up another, is not sufficient for the purpose.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 June 1929 <\/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\tWhat you should write to him is that it is not so easy to get permission to come here. Many desire it, but only a few are
\nadmitted. The desire is not enough, it has to be seen whether the applicant is fit.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs for the letter itself, he only says that he wants to serve a “good man” and that he is ready to do any work you (X<\/i>) tell
\nhim to do. I do not see in that any sufficient call or reason for his coming here.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 June 1929 <\/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\tI do not consider it advisable that he should abruptly give up his service and come here for good. When he came, he had a
\ndifficulty in bearing the pressure of the atmosphere up to the end. It will be
\nbetter if for the present he comes at intervals, \u2014
\nwe can see how he progresses and, if after a time, the difficulty is finally and definitely eliminated, then a decision can be taken.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n1 August 1929 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWrite that permission is given for his coming but there are at present nearly 90 people here and, even when the temporary
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>568<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nones have gone, something like 80 are likely to be here, for already the permanent number is over 75. In these circumstances
\nit is extremely difficult to find room for new people, even for one. But still this may be arranged; in a few days we shall be
\nable to see what is possible.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nBut if he wants to bring the child, it is another matter. Our
\nexperience is that most children cannot bear the pressure of the atmosphere, and after two or three experiences of this kind it
\nhas been made a rule not to admit young children to reside in the Asram. If he comes with the child, he must make his own
\narrangements for a separate lodging.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAfter receiving this letter he should let us know what are his
\ndefinite plans and when he proposes to come. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\ncirca August 1929
\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\tAnswer that there are many paths of Yoga, \u2014  Sri Aurobindo’s is
\none which is very difficult and exacting and he does not care to accept anyone into it unless he is satisfied that he has a special
\ncall and is capable of following the path. No one is admitted to the Asram as a member in the indefinite and conditional way he
\nsuggests. It is no use taking up Yoga without knowing what it is. If he wants to read books on the subject, he can read the
\nEssays<\/i>
\non the Gita <\/i>and The Mother<\/i>. They will not give him a complete idea of this path and its conditions and objects, but they should
\nat least give him some notion of what Yoga is and of the spirit of this Yoga. <\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n11 December 1929 <\/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 advisable for her to come now; she is not yet spiritually strong enough or sufficiently undivided to be able to support
\nthe pressure of the Yoga here. Nor is there at present room in the Asram. Also, she is mistaken in thinking that she has
\nsomething to get directly from me other than what she has got or can get from the Mother. The only thing she can do now
\nis to prepare herself, going on with what she has received and trying to assimilate it and bring it to her surface consciousness;
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>569<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

especially, she has to cultivate calm, balance, simple sincerity and a quiet
\n<\/i>and firm aspiration.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n25 December 1929 <\/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\tYou can write to X <\/i>answering his questions.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThere are three kinds of arrangements
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(1) Those who live outside, rent their own house and see to their own arrangements.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(2) A room is sometimes given in the Asram to those who come for sadhana, as well as food etc.; but they pay a monthly
\nsum so long as they stay.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n(3) Those who are accepted as permanent resident members
\nof the Asram and give all they have as property or income; these have nothing to pay.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIf he comes, it is probably the first that would suit him best, at least at the beginning.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou can write this on your account and need not give it as coming from me. I have not yet decided anything about him.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\ncirca 1929 <\/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\tI request, if you feel that I may be permitted to do so, to be kindly allowed to pay my pranams to both of you on the
\nNovember festival of Sri Aravinda’s darshan. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWrite to him that he has permission for November 24th; but
\nthere is no room in the Asram; he must make his own arrangements.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nEnter in the applicant’s book.2<\/font><\/sup>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n9 October 1929
\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\tI had the fortune of having Sri Aurobindo’s Darshan and staying in the Asram for twelve days. I feel that I am greatly benefited. Yet I feel unless I can stay there for a long enough
\nperiod I cannot know if I can aspire to get fixed in the path of
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n2 This letter and the next three letters were written to a single sadhak in 1929 and<\/i>
\n1930. The sadhak was admitted to the Ashram in September 1930. \u2014  Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>570<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nYoga. I request therefore that you will be so kind as to let me remain in the Asram for at least six months commencing from
\n1st January 1930 or thereabouts. If I can be found by the end of that time to be a fit one I hope to stay in the Asram for ever
\nif you would kindly take me in. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAn “experiment” of this kind is not made in the Asram. Those
\nwho are as yet uncertain about their capacity or their call, are sometimes allowed to live here outside the Asram (at their own
\nexpense), but in connection with it for a time. It is only when they have accepted the spiritual life and are accepted that they
\ncan be admitted in the Asram as its members and workers or allowed to stay there for a long time on the same footing as the
\nmembers. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 December 1929
\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\tI want to dedicate myself and my life to yoga
\n\t\t\tunder the guidance of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI request you to kindly accept me as one of your disciples
\nand members of the Asram. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tHe is not ready for life in the Asram. He must be able first, staying where he is, to open himself to the divine Power and make sufficient inner progress. It is not enough to want to dedicate
\nhimself; there must be some clear indication that he is capable of entering into the path and following it.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 December 1929 <\/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\tI entirely surrender myself and depend upon your divine Grace. If in your pleasure you direct that I should remain
\nin the Asram, I feel the spiritual path will lose many of its difficulties for me. If on the other hand you should direct that
\nI should go back to Nellore may I request at least that you will graciously accord me darshan tomorrow.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIf he likes to spend some days more here, he can do so; but the time has not come for him to remain here permanently. He must
\nwait for that for some time longer. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 February 1930
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>571<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

As for coming here he will have to wait. Has he any clear idea of what this Yoga and sadhana mean? It is a one-pointed direction
\nand concentration of all the being on an aim which most people would regard as remote from all current human aims and impossible. He would have to turn his back on all the old interests and pursuits and the sympathy and support of those now around
\nhim and undertake a most difficult effort and discipline which his vital being might find painful and distasteful to it. It is better
\nif he considers long before asking for this Yoga and make sure that he has really an irresistible call.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 January 1930 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t* 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tHe can come in June. But I think, if I remember right, I had written that he should first come for some time and we would
\nsee from the results whether he should stay here permanently or not. To do the sadhana permanently in the Asram is not always
\nthe best thing for everybody; it depends on the capacity and also on the stage which has been reached in the sadhana. For some
\nthe Force here would be too strong for a permanent stay; they get more advantage by staying for some time, receiving what
\nthey can and then going elsewhere to assimilate it; they are not ready for a continuous pressure.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI presume he will live separately, making his own arrangements? To live in the Asram and take the food etc. would, I
\nimagine, be a rather abrupt and trying change at his age. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 May 1930
\n<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t    <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tIn each case there is a difference, for some are called upon to
\nenter the Asram life at once, others have to practise the Yoga while they are still in the world. No general rule can be made
\ncovering all cases. Each should do what he is called upon to do without troubling himself with suggestions of this kind. If any
\none has to enter the Asram life either early or at a later stage, the call will come to him at the proper time. Meanwhile he should
\npursue the sadhana quietly keeping himself in close inner contact with the Force that comes from here.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n3 July 1930 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>572<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nWrite to him that it will be better for him to wait until he has from within himself the true and complete turn to a spiritual
\nlife. It is not in his mind only but in his vital nature that there are obstacles to a complete consecration. To come here might
\ngive him a stimulus, but it is not sure that it will be anything more than a partial stimulus which he could easily mistake for a
\ntotal call. Often people receive such a stimulus, the psychic being opens, but the rest of the nature is only silenced for a time and
\ndoes not sincerely concur, so that afterwards resistances arise and the sadhak falls away from the path,
\n\u2014  which it is very
\ninjurious spiritually and otherwise to abandon once it has been begun.
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 July 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\tReply that it will be better for his Yoga if he goes on for some time as he is
\n\u2014  to practise it at the Asram might easily interrupt the present movement which is the right one for him and precipitate another for which he is not ready.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAt present his experience is that of the mental being and mental nature opening to the Light and to some touch of a
\nhigher Ananda, with a basis of calm \u2014  the indispensable basis. This movement should continue till the heart and the vital being
\nand vital nature also open. It is not necessary for him to make a special effort for these things. If he keeps concentrated and open
\nand maintains his faith and the remembrance of the Mother, they will come of themselves in the proper time.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nMeanwhile, he can keep himself in some kind of physical touch by writing from time to time giving succinctly his experiences and the progress of his Yoga. When a sufficient basis has been acquired, the question of his coming to the Asram can be
\nreconsidered. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n6 July 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\tWhat comes to my mind is to live in the Ashram where only
\nit is possible for me to give myself up for the service of the Divine. May I have your permission for this?
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>573<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

No. It is elsewhere that you must prepare yourself, not here. You have not been asked to give yourself up to the service of the
\nDivine in any outward or physical sense, but to prepare yourself inwardly by taking all life and all work wherever you are as a
\nsacrifice, an offering to the Divine. That, if you are sincere in your seeking, you can do anywhere.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n27 February 1931 <\/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\tIt is possible to give X <\/i>a room, the Mother says, in one of the houses. But he speaks of residing here permanently
\n\u2014  in
\nPondicherry. To that there can be no objection; but as far as the life in the Asram is concerned, I think it should be regarded as
\na trial at first \u2014  to be rendered permanent if all is found right afterwards. He should be informed that there are two kinds of
\nresidents in the Asram, permanent members who give all they have or can dispose of and the Asram undertakes in return all
\ntheir expenses etc. and those who come for a time to practise Yoga. The latter pay their expenses of boarding and lodging and
\ncertain contingents, but, as the Asram is in a town mostly in rented houses, these by themselves are sufficiently heavy.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 May 1931 <\/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\tIt is certainly quite true that the psychic contact can exist at a distance and that the Divine is not limited by place, but is every
\nwhere. It is not necessary for everybody <\/i>to be at Pondicherry or physically near the Mother in order to lead the spiritual life or
\nto practise this Yoga, especially in its earlier stages. But that is only one side of the truth; there is another. Otherwise the logical
\nconclusion might be that there was no necessity for the Mother to be here at all or for the existence of the Asram or for anyone
\nto come here.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe psychic being is there in all, but in very few is it well
\ndeveloped, well built up in the consciousness or prominent in the front; in most it is veiled, often ineffective or only an influence,
\nnot conscious enough or strong enough to support the spiritual life. It is for this reason that it is necessary for those drawn
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>574<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ntowards this Truth to come here in order that they may receive the touch which will bring about or prepare the wakening of the
\npsychic being \u2014  that is for them the beginning of the effective psychic contact. It is also for this reason that a stay here is
\nneeded for many \u2014  if they are ready \u2014  in order that under the direct influence and nearness they may have this development
\nor building up of the psychic being in the consciousness or its coming to the front. When the touch has been given or the
\ndevelopment effected, so far as the sadhak is at the moment capable of it, he returns to the outside world and under the
\nprotection and guidance even at a distance is able to keep the contact and go on with his spiritual life. But the influences of the
\noutside world are not favourable to the psychic contact and the psychic development and, if the sadhak is not sufficiently careful
\nor concentrated, the psychic contact may easily be lost after a time or get covered over and the development may become
\nretarded, stationary or even diminished by adverse influences or movements. It is therefore that the necessity exists and is often
\nfelt of a return to the place of the central influence in order to fortify or recover the contact or to restore or give a fresh
\nforward impulse to the development. The aspiration for such nearness from time to time is not a vital desire; it becomes a
\nvital desire only when it is egoistically insistent or mixed with a vital motive,
\n\u2014  but not if it is an aspiration of the psychic being
\ncalm, deep and without clamour in it or perturbing insistence.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThis is for those who are not called upon or are not
\nyet<\/i>
\ncalled upon to live in the Asram under the direct pressure of the central Force and Presence. Those who must so live are
\nthose called from the beginning or who have become ready or who are for some reason or another given a chance to form
\npart of the work or creation which is being prepared by the Yoga. For them the stay here in the atmosphere, the nearness are
\nindispensable; to depart would be for them a renunciation of the opportunity given them, a turning of the back upon the spiritual
\ndestiny. Their difficulties are often in appearance greater than the struggle of those who remain outside because the demand
\nand the pressure are greater; but so also is their opportunity   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>575<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

greater and the power and influence for development poured upon them and that too which they can spiritually become and
\nwill become if they are faithful to the choice and the call. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 October 1931
\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\tReply that it is impossible to have X <\/i>or anybody else here now
\n(for staying) even if they were ready \u2014  for owing to damage to rented houses we are compelled to vacate them and have no
\nlonger sufficient room even for the sadhaks who are here, much less for new members. Moreover there are already a hundred
\nhere and we cannot take more (except for exceptional cases) till the funds of the Asram increase.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nMoreover, it is not good for anybody to come here prematurely \u2014  even for Darshan. If they are not ready, the pressure of
\nthe Power here may disturb them, a resistance or obstacles in the nature may rise as in the case of
\nY<\/i>.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs for the February darshan we do not yet know how we are going to accommodate even those who have already permission
\nto come. It is probable that X <\/i>will have to wait for the Darshan for some time longer.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 January 1932 <\/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\tThere is no possibility of admitting in such cases now. There are already nearly 100 people and it is impossible freely to increase
\nthe Asram by renting new houses or undergoing farther expenses at present. Therefore only in exceptional cases can new people,
\nnot already known as disciples, be accepted. If she wants to prepare herself for Yoga, she can try to practise where she is for
\nthe present. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 February 1932
\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 Asram there is very little room nowadays and what is there
\nmust be kept for disciples \u2014  for those who have been accepted and come for the practice of the Yoga and to profit by quiet
\nmeditation in the Asram atmosphere.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAll that we can offer him is, if he comes to Pondicherry, that
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>576<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nhe can see the Asram and meet people who will speak to him of the “philosophy” and the Yoga. At first more cannot be done.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThis is not an Asram like others. It has a special life of its own and only those can live it who have entered into the spirit
\nof the Yoga and are ready to assimilate its atmosphere.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs to your question about his sincerity, it is quite evident
\nthat his interest is mental only \u2014  it may be mentally sincere, but that does not carry one very far. If we were to admit everyone
\nwho is like that, we should soon have a thousand people here and there would be no Yoga and no spiritual life left. This, however,
\nis for your information only; you need not hint anything of the kind to him in your letter!
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 February 1932 <\/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\tOh Father! I want a heart that can respond to all my moods,<\/i> that can understand me, that can do me justice, that can love<\/i>
\nme intensely and exclusively<\/i>. Love, and love alone, is the chief note of my heart. But the inner voice says it is not love I crave
\nfor. It is Maya. . . . If you think it is time for me, will you allow me to come there for sadhana?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tReply to him that what he describes (in the sentence on the first page of this letter [in italics above<\/i>], which you can quote) is
\na vital demand of the ego for emotional self-satisfaction; it is<\/i> Maya. It is not true love, for true love seeks for union and self
\ngiving and that is the love one must bring to the Divine. This vital (so-called) love brings only suffering and disappointment;
\nit does not bring happiness; it never gets satisfied and, even if it is granted something that it asks for, it is never satisfied with it.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is perfectly possible to get rid of this Maya of the vital demand, if one wishes to do it,
\n\u2014  but the will to do it must be
\nsincere. If he is sincere in his will, he will certainly get help and protection.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is no use his coming to the Asram for sadhana; for so long as he has this vital demand, it will
\nnot <\/i>be easier but rather more
\ndifficult to go on with his sadhana here. Here this vital basis for the Yoga is discouraged, there is a pressure against it and he
\nwould probably find the struggle in him made still more acute.   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>577<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

He must first get his basis changed from the vital to the psychic centre.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n20 March 1932 <\/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\tSri Aurobindo does not think that your coming here is advisable at the present stage of your sadhana. If you have this feeling that
\na Divine Guidance is there behind the circumstances of your life and especially if you feel this calmness, strength and light of
\nwhich you speak, it means a great progress \u2014  for this is the real beginning of the spiritual and yogic consciousness and it shows
\nthat the foundation of the true being and the true consciousness is being laid in you. The psychic centre is that turned in all
\nthings towards the Divine, while the vital is that preoccupied with the desires and sufferings and enjoyments of the ego. If you
\ncontinue with all sincerity under this sense of guidance and with this foundation growing in you, the psychic centre is likely to
\nopen of itself. It is when it opens and the present vital turmoil has sunk that it will be useful for you to come to Pondicherry
\nfor darshan. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n29 July 1932
\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\tYou can write to him (whoever he may be) that Sri Aurobindo
\nis living absolutely retired, seeing no one and not corresponding with anyone outside. It is not possible therefore to get from him
\nan opinion about the books.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIn the Asram there is no accommodation for guests
\n\u2014  it is
\nonly the disciples who live there under the rules of the Asram. circa 1932
\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\tYou can write to him that it is not possible to admit him into the
\nAsram at once nor perhaps at any early date. He is too young and has not developed the necessary experience either of himself
\nor of life or of Yoga. He should try to develop himself outside \u2014  develop in his inner spiritual urge and in spiritual experience
\nand in strength and capacity. If he comes here in an unripe state, he is likely to meet not less but more serious difficulties than he
\nhas there. He must develop in himself the strength that can meet  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>578<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthem and a will strong enough to go through all possible opposition and ordeals without wavering or weakness. If these two
\nconditions are satisfied, he may then be fit for a more intensive sadhana and for the Asram life. All depends on himself and his
\nsincerity of aspiration and endeavour. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 May 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\tYes, you can leave everything and come to the Asram; but we
\nsuggest that, if it is at all possible for you to take a prolonged leave, say for six months, you should do that first. The reason
\nis that there is sure to be a strong pressure on you (spoken or unspoken), especially from your father’s side to return, so it is
\nsurest to test yourself first and see that there is no response in yourself, otherwise you might be subjected to a severer internal
\nstruggle if you come permanently at once. If all is well then the six months can become a permanent stay. But if leave is not
\npossible, then you can give up all and come. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n20 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\tIf what she wants is to come here permanently, it is quite out
\nof the question at this time. In future it is only those who make progress in sadhana and show that they have the necessary fit
\nness to come here, who will be allowed. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n18 November 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\tThe question about the failures does not arise. I am not aware
\nthat anybody has come here who was a failure in life. Many have been very active and successful, each in his own line. What
\nbrings men to the Yoga has nothing to do with success or failure, it is the impulse of the psychic being to rise to something truer
\nand higher than the ordinary life. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n6 February 1934
\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\tThis is not the time when we can go on increasing the number
\nof members of the Asram \u2014  as you can well understand. We have no
\naccommodation, the numbers are already unwieldy \u2014
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>579<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and there is the other reason.3<\/font><\/sup> He must either wait perhaps for a very long time
\n\u2014  he is exceedingly young \u2014  or find a place
\nelsewhere. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 February 1934
\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 possible to receive X <\/i>here. In the first place we are
\nobliged to stop or very strictly limit new admissions for some time to come. In the second place,
\nX<\/i>‘s struggle would be no less
\nsevere but more so here than over there, as the pressure is greater and the inner demand also. His difficulty is the usual difficulty
\nin the vital and it can always arise at his age when the vital has to choose between the satisfaction of its normal movement and
\nthe single-minded pursuit of sadhana not for its own sake but for the sake of the Divine alone.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n19 February 1934 <\/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\tPermanent admission is no longer given except in exceptional cases as the number is already large and accommodation is likely
\nto be more and more difficult to provide.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAll that can be permitted is to come for darshan in August
\n\u2014  the rest is premature. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n28 February 1934
\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 some minds there is, I think, the idea that the Divine is
\n“in need” of instruments for the work of manifestation. With this idea are associated some very curious ideas. I suppose the
\nDivine may be in need of us in his own supramental way, but that cannot mean that we have not to make any effort.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat you say is right. This attitude that the Divine has need of the sadhak and not the sadhak of the Divine, is utterly wrong and
\nabsurd. When people are accepted here, they are given a chance of a great Divine Grace, of being instruments in a great work.
\nTo suppose that the Divine cannot <\/i>do his work without the help of this or that person is surely most arrogant and illogical. They
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n3 In February 1934, the Government of French India initiated an inquiry into the<\/i>
\norganisation and finances of the Ashram, as a result of which it requested Sri Aurobindo<\/i>
\nand the Mother not to buy or rent more houses. See pages 30 \u00ad 32. \u2014  Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>580<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tought to remember the Gita’s 
\n\tऋतेऽपि त्वां, “even without thee” the work can be done, and its
\n\tनिमित्तमात्रं भव.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n11 April 1934 <\/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\tI have recently gone through a volume called Practice of Yoga<\/i> by Sivananda Saraswati of Rishikesh and learnt therefrom
\nthat about sixty students are practising yoga in the Ashram of your holiness. While writing a few words on the Ashram, the
\nSwamiji says that “Those who really want to join the Ashram may communicate to Shree Arabindoo directly.”4 It is really
\na very great fortune for a man who practises yoga under the guidance of such a great realised soul as your holiness.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe number of sadhaks is over 150 and it is impossible to make farther admissions except in the most sparing way, as the means
\nof the Asram are not unlimited. Moreover Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is of a special and difficult kind and he admits only those who
\nseem to him to have a special call to the life here. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n9 May 1934
\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\tI send you back your friend’s letters. As regards the question
\n\t\t\tabout his ś<\/font>isyā<\/i>, I do not usually give directions in such matters
\n\u2014  one has to follow the course that seems best relying on the Divine Will both for the choice and the consequence. It seems
\nfairly clear that the course already suggested is the wiser one.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs for his coming here, he must first prepare himself. For
\nthe time being we are not making new admissions to the Asram except in certain cases, mostly where a promise had been
\npreviously given. He could come for darshan if he wishes in August and return back,
\n\u2014  but the more important thing is that
\nhe should establish a conscious inner connection and attain to the calm and peace of mind which is always the best preparation
\nand foundation of this Yoga. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 June 1934
\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\tThere is no possibility of that just now. The Asram is crowded
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 Swami Sivananda, <\/i>Practice of Yoga (Madras: Ganesh & Co., 1929), p. 211.<\/i>  
\n582<\/i> <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>581<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and we cannot admit new resident members for some time to come \u2014  except those who have already a claim or right to come.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 July 1934 <\/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\tImpossible. We do not accept people for a long fixed period like that. Either they come as permanent sadhaks or, if they are
\ndisciples, on a short visit as at the darshan times. But at present we have suspended permanent admissions.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 August 1934 <\/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\tHe wants to stay \u2014  but for how long and where? The conditions are such now that we have been obliged to refuse all requests
\nfor permanent admission and even those for residence in the Asram. Otherwise we shall have no accommodation at all for
\nthose who are to come or for the habitual visitors at the darshan times.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n28 August 1934 <\/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\tThe Mother accepts in principle your coming here as a permanent member of the Asram. She would like you indeed to
\nconsider yourself, from now on as a member, \u2014  as X <\/i>is though living for most of the year in Madras,
\n\u2014  not an outside disciple.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe question remains about the time of your coming here not to return. Here the Mother is inclined to think that it would
\nbe more satisfactory to settle the affairs of the estate definitely, and then permanently come. There would in that case be some
\ndelay, but it would have this advantage of leaving little chance of a call or pull from over there to create any vibrations in the
\nsadhana. The second date proposed by you would then have to be adopted.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nNext, the children. Most of them are too young to have an intelligent will of their own in such matters as yet and in a
\nmatter like sadhana there should be no pressure or influencing of any kind. The delay will give some of them time to grow into
\na possibility of a clear and willed choice. Under this arrangement the matter of their coming over here can be decided then, when
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>582<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthings are ready. Meanwhile their photographs can be sent and perhaps the older of them can come at some darshan time so
\nthat the Mother can see them.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI think these are the main points in your letter. As for other
\ndetails it is for you to arrange. You have given us a clear idea of the situation and the possibilities and we will help you with the
\nForce we can give you to support your measures. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n29 September 1934
\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

\nYou must reply to him that at present the situation is such
\nthat we have not sufficient accommodation and no likelihood of extension in the near future
\n\u2014  so we are unable to make
\nnew admissions. There is room only for some who have already received a promise of admission when they are free to come.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 October 1934 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\nI have made no final decision about your request. But it does not seem to me advisable, as yet at least, for you to remain here
\nlonger than the two months you had settled on when you came. This Yoga is a long and difficult one and one has to travel far be
\nfore there can be any question of a supramental illumination or transformation. It means besides a constant breaking up of past
\nformations and realisations which would not be easy for you, as you have advanced fairly far on another line of sadhana with its
\nown lights and inspiring sources. My advice to you would be to go on in the direction you had already been following and see
\nwhere it leads you. If any light from my writings is of use to you, you can take it or if any help from me is necessary you will get it
\nfrom within. But if in the end it is destined that you should enter this path of Yoga, you will get the necessary realisations which
\nwill make that possible. At present it seems to me premature for you to enter this way or to stay here for any great length of
\ntime. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 March 1935
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>583<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n

I am afraid it is not possible for him to join the Asram. It is open only for those who have practised or wish to practise
\na particular path of Yoga of a very difficult type. As a rule only those who are Sri Aurobindo’s disciples are accepted and
\nnew admissions are almost stopped because there is no longer sufficient accommodation. Moreover he could not get here what
\nhe asks \u2014  it is a Yoga full of difficulties and even dangers and joining the Asram does not ensure a smooth path
\n\u2014  that only
\nhappens to one or two who have a spiritual strength and mental and vital temperament that is very rare.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n26 May 1935 <\/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\tThere is no chance of her living in the Asram. She is too young and has seen nothing of life.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n9 July 1935 <\/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\tThere should be no desire or anxiety in your mind to get these people or others to come here. These things ought to be decided
\non one side by their call and fitness and on the other by the will of the Mother.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n28 June 1936 <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t“Dedication of life” is quite possible for some without their staying here. It is a question of inward attitude and of the total
\nconsecration of the being to the Divine. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n28 June 1936
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nHere is a man of fifty intending vānaprastha<\/i>, who thinks our Asram will just be the place for him. He says he has prepared
\nhimself for Asram life; his only fault being taking a little opium for the sake of health. He can bring with him Rs. 150 in cash.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tDeclined with thanks. Opium not allowed here. Also this is not a
\n\tVānaprastha Asram. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 July 1936 <\/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\tWhat he asks for (to stay here immediately as a resident sadhak) is not possible. There are only two conditions under which such
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>584<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\ta permission can be given \u2014  1st if after seeing personally the Mother was satisfied that the applicant would be able to do
\nthe sadhana here or could be given a chance to prepare himself here by work or otherwise
\n\u2014  or, if after practising Yoga outside
\nit was seen that he had come to a point at which he could be admitted to the Asram.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 August 1936
\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\tInform him that Sri Aurobindo is not at present admitting any more resident sadhaks in his Asram, as the number is already
\ntoo large. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 December 1936
\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\tI have read and considered your letter and have decided to give
\nyou the opportunity you ask for \u2014  you can reside in the Asram for two or three months to begin with and find out whether this
\nis really the place and the path you were seeking and we also can by a closer observation of your spiritual possibilities discern
\nhow best we can help you and whether this Yoga is the best for you.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThis trial is necessary for many reasons, but especially because it is a difficult Yoga to follow and not many can really
\nmeet the demands it makes on the nature. You have written that you saw in me one who achieved through the perfection
\nof the intellect, its spiritualisation and divinisation; but in fact I arrived through the complete silence of the mind and whatever
\nspiritualisation and divinisation it attained was through the descent of a higher supra-intellectual knowledge into that silence.
\nThe book, Essays on the Gita<\/i>, itself was written in that silence of the mind, without intellectual effort and by a free activity
\nof this knowledge from above. This is important because the principle of this Yoga is not perfection of the human nature
\nas it is but a psychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the action of an inner conscious
\nness and then of a higher consciousness which works on them, throws out the old movements or changes them into the image
\nof its own and so transmutes lower into higher nature. It is   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>585<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

not so much the perfection of the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the substitution of a larger
\ngreater principle of knowledge \u2014  and so with all the rest of the being.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThis is a slow and difficult process; the road is long and it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing
\nnature resists and obstructs and difficulties rise one after another and repeatedly till they are overcome. It is therefore necessary
\nto be sure that this is the path to which one is called before one finally decides to tread it.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIf you wish, we are ready to give you the trial you ask for. On receiving your answer the Mother will make the necessary
\narrangements for your residence in the Asram. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n26 March 1937
\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\tUsually we do not give consent to anybody staying in the Asram
\nuntil we have seen him at one of the Darshans. If he wishes to come for the August darshan he may do so.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n12 May 1937 <\/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\tX <\/span> <\/i>has requested me to bring to your notice his sincere prayer for permission to come here before August and stay as a
\nresident sadhak. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWe do not think it would be advisable at this stage. By coming to
\nthe Asram difficulties do not cease \u2014  they have to be faced and overcome wherever you are. For certain natures residence in the
\nAsram from the beginning is helpful \u2014  others have to prepare themselves outside.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 June 1937 <\/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\tAs for X <\/i>he can remain in Calcutta. I do not consider it likely that we shall permit him to be a permanent resident of the
\nAsram unless he is or becomes very different from what his letter indicates. At some future date it may be possible for him to have
\ndarshan. Why should everybody want to be in the Asram? There are many practising sadhana outside. The number in the Asram
\nmust necessarily be limited. I have no objection to his preparing
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>586<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\thimself for this Yoga, if he feels the call to do so, there are many
\nwho are doing that. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n2 August 1937
\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\tSri Aurobindo says you are mistaken in thinking that by merely
\nbeing at Pondicherry one can keep the psychic being in front. Difficulties arise here as outside. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother
\nwould not advise you to throw up your practice and come here now, especially as this is a very difficult time for everybody even
\nin the Asram itself. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n26 April 1938
\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\tI want to live in the Ashram and be a regular inmate of it;
\nso you will kindly advise me in this matter. Eagerly awaiting your reply.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat the deuce! Is the Asram a caravanserai that everybody who “wants” to live in it can come there? Who is this Ahmedabad
\nmonsieur? As these people are sending stamps and envelopes, I suppose they have to be answered.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n9 October 1938 <\/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\tHere is a village girl, a young widow, who has heard your call in a dream and is eager to come here.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tToo young \u2014  such dreams are not conclusive and there is too much of the vital tone in her remark; you need say nothing about
\nthat however. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n14 October 1938
\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\tX <\/span> <\/i>has come here. If I happen to see him, what should be my
\nattitude? If I speak to him should I advise him to stay here or go away?
\n<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tX <\/span> <\/i>has come here not only without permission but in spite of repeated prohibitions. He cannot be received in the Asram or
\nencouraged to stay at Pondi. It is not good for him; his mental illness would increase and it would be the cause of endless
\ntrouble for himself and others. To live a normal life with work   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>587<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and study and without intensive sadhana or seclusion is his only chance of keeping normal.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou must tell him, if you see him, to go away and if he can be persuaded to return to the Gurukul and live a normal life,
\nthat would be the best for him. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n23 October 1938
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tX <\/span> <\/i>is there [outside Pondicherry<\/i>] because he has not yet made
\nup his mind about his future and Mother wants him to see fully both possibilities before him
\n\u2014  the ordinary life and the Asram
\nlife \u2014  and choose his way. He cannot go on always oscillating between the one and the other. If he comes back to the Asram,
\nit should be with the firm determination to stick to the Asram life. If he cannot be steady to that then he must choose the outer
\nlife and face its problems and find his way there. In that case he cannot be always dependent on you [his father<\/i>], but must train
\nhimself to live his own life on his own basis. He has parts, special gifts, a fine intelligence, but no full training and no steadiness in
\none line. He must acquire that or he will not be able to stand in the outer life. It is during this time that he must make up his
\nmind one way or the other. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 November 1938
\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\tI have already told you that X<\/i>5<\/font><\/sup> has not the capacity for disciplined study sustained for a long time. What is the use of forcing him any farther and trying to make him do what he will
\nnot because he cannot do? It will be a sheer waste of time and energy. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI cannot sanction his coming here to stay, for under present conditions his vital being will not remain steady here and it will
\ntake him away again. The one thing to do is what he himself wants to do, to take a job requiring intelligence and energy
\nrather than book-learning and maintain himself; there must be plenty of jobs of that kind and it ought not to be difficult for him
\nto get one when men are so much needed. Once he has shown to himself and others that he is not helpless in the world, then the
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 The same person as in the preceding letter. \u2014  Ed.<\/i>  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>588<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nvital conditions will be much better for his taking up the Asram life if he wants to do it. This is the one thing to be done and at
\npresent there is no other way that is worth taking. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tWhy does he want to come to Pondicherry for solitude and peace? The Asram itself is not a place of solitude and peace,
\nmuch less the town. In any case, one has to get peace in oneself<\/i> much more than from one’s surroundings.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 June 1943 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe Purpose of the Ashram
\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tThe liberated person finds everything going on according to the will of the Supreme. What then is the purpose of the
\nAshram and the necessity of our individual sadhana for a divine creation on earth? Is it only an experiment for the
\nindividual’s own development? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI don’t catch the point. The Divine does not act in the void, but
\nthrough instruments, embodiments or channels. If a creation is intended, those will have to be prepared who can be part of
\nthe creation and at the same time the means of developing it, I suppose.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n25 July 1932 <\/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\tI don’t know where to draw the line between the egoistic will and the divine Will. Can there really be anything like the will
\nof the instrument in the practical field? As the physical mind would put it: Since only the Divine’s Will is done, what is the
\nneed of your creating instruments for the divine creation? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAs long as there is egoism, the egoistic will is there. And so long
\nas there is Ignorance, there will be a will of the instrument in the practical field. If the ignorant egoistic will is to be considered
\nas a manifestation of the Divine Will, then there is no utility in Yoga \u2014  in that case the Yogi and the ordinary man stand on
\nthe same footing, they are both the Divine and their will is the Divine Will.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe Divine can create his own instruments in an institution  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>589<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

as well as outside it. Whether He does it in an institution or not, depends on what He intends to do. If His purpose is to manifest
\nsomething through a collectivity and not only through scattered and separate individuals, there is nothing to prevent Him from
\ncreating an institution for the purpose. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n26 July 1932
\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\tThis is not an Asram like others \u2014  the members are not Sannyasis; it is not
\n\t\t\tmoksa <\/i>that is the sole aim of the Yoga here. What
\nis being done here is a preparation for a work \u2014  a work which will be founded on Yogic consciousness and Yoga-Shakti, and
\ncan have no other foundation. Meanwhile every member here is expected to do some work in the Asram as part of his spiritual
\npreparation. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n16 August 1932
\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\tYour effort of so many years does not seem to have produced
\nany effect on people in the world outside. They have not changed in the least in their aims. On the contrary they seem
\nto be becoming more and more critical instead of appreciative of your aim and purpose.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWe cannot make that a test at present. The Force is not working directly on the outside world at present
\n\u2014  first something has to
\nbe prepared here \u2014  when the Asram is really a manifestation of the “aim and purpose”, then there will be less difficulty with the
\nouter world. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tEven in the Ashram there are extremely few who have reached
\nor tried to reach even up to the Nirvana level.6<\/font><\/sup> Even to reach Nirvana one has to give up desire, duality and ego and establish a certain amount of equanimity and peace. Could it be said that a sufficient number of Sadhaks in the Ashram have
\nsucceeded in doing so? At least everybody must be making some effort to do this. Why then are they not successful? Is
\nit that after some time they forget the aim and live here as in ordinary life?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n6 The correspondent alludes here to an exchange of 29 April 1934 that is published<\/i>
\non pages 309 \u00ad 10. \u2014  Ed.<\/i>
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>590<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nI suppose if the Nirvana aim had been put before them, more would have been fit for it, for the Nirvana aim is easier than the
\none we have put before us \u2014  and they would not have found it so difficult to reach the standard. The sadhaks here are of all kinds
\nand in all stages. But the real difficulty even for those who have progressed is with the external man. Even among those who
\nfollow the old ideal, the external man of the sadhak remains almost the same even after they have attained to something. The
\ninner being gets free, the outer follows still its fixed nature. Our Yoga can succeed only if the external man too changes, but that
\nis the most difficult of all things. It is only by a change of the physical nature that it can be done, by a descent of the highest
\nlight into this lowest part of Nature. It is here that the struggle is going on. The internal being of most of the sadhaks here,
\nhowever imperfect still, is still different from that of the ordinary man, but the external still clings to its old ways, manners, habits.
\nMany do not seem even to have awakened to the necessity of a change. It is when this is realised and done, that the Yoga will
\nproduce its full results in the Asram itself, and not before. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n30 April 1934
\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 will not be possible for me to return to Gujarat. I was ill
\ntreated in my father-in-law’s house. I stayed with my parents for a few months but I can’t go back there permanently. I had
\npermission for Darshan so I came here. Now let the Mother do what she thinks is right for me.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Asram is not a place where people can come merely because they are unhappy in their homes. At that rate we should have to
\nkeep thousands of people. The Asram is for those who want to practise Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n13 July 1934 <\/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\tYou can answer to your brother that Yoga life and the ordinary life cannot be the same thing
\n\u2014  otherwise there would be no use
\nin doing Yoga, if one lives just as others in the same way and with the same motives. The object of the Asram life is to prepare
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>591<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

a new way of living based on a spiritual consciousness \u2014  it is the preparation of a new foundation of life in which all works
\nhave to be done not for the self but for the Divine. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n31 December 1934
\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\tHumanitarian work of this kind is outside the scope of the
\nAsram; it is not as in Ramakrishna mission. We avoid public work and activities and confine ourselves to the sole spiritual
\nwork of the Asram itself. To do otherwise would be to disperse energy on the ordinary levels instead of concentrating it on the
\nbuilding up of a personal and collective spiritual consciousness and life.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n27 October 1938 <\/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\tIt is not absolutely necessary to abandon the ordinary life in order to seek after the Light or to practise Yoga. This is usually
\ndone by those who want to make a clean cut, to live a purely religious or exclusively inner and spiritual life, to renounce the
\nworld entirely and to depart from the cosmic existence by cessation of the human birth and a passing away into some higher
\nstate or into the transcendental Reality. Otherwise it is only necessary when the pressure of the inner urge becomes so great
\nthat the pursuit of the ordinary life is no longer compatible with the pursuit of the dominant spiritual objective. Till then what is
\nnecessary is a power to practise an inner isolation, to be able to retire within oneself and concentrate at any time on the necessary
\nspiritual purpose. There must also be a power to deal with the ordinary outer life from a new inner attitude and one can then
\nmake the happenings of that life itself a means for the inner change of nature and the growth in spiritual experience. This
\nwas what was recommended to X <\/i>when she first wanted to join the Ashram; she had already acquired the habit of inward concentration and it was suggested to her to proceed farther in this way, opening herself towards the spiritual and psychic aid she
\ncould get from here, until she had made farther progress; later on we acceded to her request to join the Ashram. The Ashram
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>592<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nitself has been created with another object than that ordinarily common to such institutions, not for the renunciation of the
\nworld but as a centre and a field of practice for the evolution of another kind and form of life which would in the final end be
\nmoved by a higher spiritual consciousness and embody a greater life of the spirit. There is no general rule as to the stage at which
\none may leave the ordinary life and enter here; in each case it depends on the personal need and impulsion and the possibility
\nor the advisability for one to take the step, the decision resting with the Mother.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 April 1947 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nNot a School or Teaching Institution
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThis is not an “institution” for practical teaching of Yoga. Only those who follow Sri Aurobindo’s path of Yoga and have been
\nrecognised as fit to bear the direct influence are allowed to come and stay here.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n30 May 1927 <\/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\tI am an irregular student of your Arya <\/i>philosophy. Nowadays I keenly feel the necessity of meditation and concentration; for, I fear,
\n\twithout it the ego sense is likely to haunt me still, however much I may talk of self-surrender and spirituality.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI hope you will be kind enough to send me a copy of the instructions you might have given to the yogic pupils staying
\nwith you, to enable them to learn and practise meditation. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIf copying the notes would be a tedious task, I pray some
\none should be asked to send me his notebook, which I would copy out and return safely without any unnecessary delay.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tYoga is not taught as in a school. There are no set formal instructions or notebooks; therefore his request cannot be complied
\nwith.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSuggest to him the separation of Purusha and Prakriti, introspection, rejection of ego and desire wherever he sees it. Also to open to the Divine Shakti.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 June 1927 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>593<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nI was discouraged to learn that you have not yet come out. I would like to come to Pondicherry on the 15th August and
\nremain for about three months. I try to follow the instructions given me, and have been able to calm my mind and improve
\nmy nature to some extent. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI am still not coming out; no “instructions” are given for the
\nSadhana. All depends now on the sadhaka being able to open silently to the influence and allowing that to work while rejecting
\nall lower influences and lower movements. I do not know if he is quite ready for that as yet. If he can once open himself to
\nthe Divine Shakti and feel the Power and get accustomed to its working, it would then be different and he would profit by his
\nstay. Otherwise he may find the conditions too difficult for him here.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n20 July 1928 <\/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\tAnswer that the Asram is not meant for “study” of Yoga but for spiritual life. It has no teaching and no courses. Only those
\ncome who are accepted for this particular path of Yoga, which is more difficult than any other. The Asram has nothing to do
\nwith politics; but it is watched on account of Sri Aurobindo’s past political activities of 20 years ago.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 December 1929 <\/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\tThe Asram here is not precisely a place for “spiritual training” but for growing into a divine consciousness and divine life.
\nThose who come here must have grown already so far that they are ready to give up all past mental ideas, fixed life-habits or
\nlife-tendencies and even the very mould of their physical consciousness and open only to the light of a greater Truth which, by
\ntheir complete surrender to it, will transform the whole nature. This is very difficult, and it has been found by experience that
\nthose who come here unprepared break down after a time and can go no farther, because they cannot consent to get free from
\ntheir past selves. They find the atmosphere too hard for them to breathe and the pressure of the Truth too exacting. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother are therefore unwilling to call anyone  
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>594<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nhere, especially from so great a distance, transplanted from such different surroundings unless they have first assured themselves
\nthat the one concerned is ready for the change and truly called to this way of Sadhana.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n26 February 1930 <\/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\tThere is no study of philosophy here; there is only a silent practice of Yoga. But this Yoga is too difficult for everyone to be
\nadmitted to it; one must have a special call or a certain capacity (not intellectual, but psychic or spiritual) before he is accepted.
\nAnd even then all who are accepted as disciples are not allowed to stay in the Asram. The life of the Asram is of a special kind and
\nit is only rarely that those are admitted who have not become permanent members; a few come and stay for short periods, but
\nthese are already accepted disciples of Sri Aurobindo. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 April 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\tI wish to get all the information about the sadhak-Asrama in
\nregard to the following matters: <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t1. The method of instruction.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNo “instruction” given. It is an Asram for spiritual life and the only method is to open to the divine influence and live and work
\nfor the Divine. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t2. The students living there.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThere are no students, only disciples who give their lives and all they have to the Asram and its spiritual aim and in return are
\nmaintained by the Asram. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t3. The terms of joining the Asrama.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tOnly those who are already disciples can join and among them only those who are chosen by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t4. Is the person free to communicate with friends and relatives?  
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>595<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

If he wants, but the less he does so, the better for his Yoga.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t5. Is the Asrama free from politics?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t6. What language is spoken prominently in the Asrama?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tEnglish, French, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi \u2014 the sadhaks being of these nationalities.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t7. Is the whole teaching based perfectly upon Hinduism?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNo sectarian religion is the basis; orthodox Hinduism and its
\ncaste rules are not followed; but the spiritual Truth recognised here is in consonance with the Vedas, Upanishads and Gita while
\nnot limited by any Scripture. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 September 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\tYour Ashram purposes to be as I believe a training school for
\nthe synthetic process of realisation. Knowing it to be a place of peace and prayer I have come as a pilgrim seeking entrance
\ninto your Ashram. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tReply to him that he has been misinformed about the Asram; it
\nis not a training school for the synthetic process of realisation. It is simply that a number of disciples of Sri Aurobindo are living
\nhere in order to practise Yoga \u2014  only those are allowed who have accepted this path which is not identical with any other
\ndiscipline but a thing apart and are permitted by Sri Aurobindo to stay here. Sri Aurobindo himself does not see or speak with
\nanyone. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 December 1932
\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\tYou can write to him that the Asram is not an institution and
\nno pupils are taken and no teaching given. Some of those who are already following Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga are admitted to live
\nhere and practise the Yoga under the influence of the immediate presence of Sri Aurobindo. No others are admitted.
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>596<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tSri Aurobindo does not usually accept new disciples unless they have been seen and he is sure that they are called to this
\nparticular way of Yoga and have some capacity for it. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 July 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\tIf he cannot receive help from a distance how does he expect to
\ncarry on the Yoga here? This is a Yoga which does not depend upon verbal instructions or anything outward but on the power
\nto open themselves and receive the force and influence even in a complete silence. Those who do not receive it at a distance
\ncannot receive it here also. Also without establishing in oneself calm, sincerity, peace, patience and perseverance this Yoga can
\nnot be done, for many difficulties have to be faced and it takes years and years to overcome them definitely and altogether.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n25 June 1934 <\/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\tBarin-da has just written me a letter. He has started a Yoga school. Fancy that!!
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tBut what an idea, good heavens! A Yoga school \u2014  a class, a blackboard (with the gods on it?); interesting cases! a spiritual
\nclinic, what? What has happened to Barin’s wits and especially to his sense of humour? Too much
\nStatesman<\/i>? marriage? writing
\nfor a living? age? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 December 1934
\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\tYou can write and tell her this is not a school and there are no
\nstudents or correspondence system. It is an Asram or residence for those of the disciples of Sri Aurobindo whom he selects and
\nthe Yoga done here is conducted not by verbal instruction but by special methods mostly of a silent influence, concentration
\nand self-discipline. It is only for those who accept the aims and demands of this special path of Yoga.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n29 April 1937 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>597<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

You can answer that the Asram is only a residence for a number of Sri Aurobindo’s disciples to stay and practise Yoga. As the
\nnumber has become very large, it was necessary to organise it as an Asram, but it still retains its original character. Outsiders
\nare not usually allowed to reside, for there is no provision for that. There are no religious discourses nor any set course of
\ninstruction. All is done by meditation, work for the Divine and self-opening to receive knowledge and experience from Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n27 May 1937
\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\tWrite to him that pupils are not taken into the Asram, for there
\nis no teaching or instruction. The Asram is a place where some of the disciples of Sri Aurobindo are allowed to live and practise
\nYoga or prepare themselves for it by work and service if they are not yet ready for the deeper inner practice. As a rule disciples are
\nnot allowed to live in the Asram unless they have been specially chosen and usually after some practice of the Yoga outside.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSri Aurobindo does not receive anyone in a private interview or speak to anyone. The work of the Asram is carried on by the
\nMother, Sri Mira Devi. Only 3 times in a year Sri Aurobindo gives a silent blessing to his disciples in the Asram and those from
\noutside and a restricted number of visitors from outside. The disciples admitted into the Asram are expected to know enough
\nof the Yoga (through Sri Aurobindo’s writings or otherwise) to practise it or prepare themselves for the practice
\n\u2014  the principal
\nrequirement for progress in the Yoga is that they should be able to open their consciousness mentally, psychically and spiritually
\nto the silent help and force which is given them from within; they must also follow implicitly the directions for work, action, life
\nor their sadhana given them by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIn these conditions it may not be worth while for him to
\ncome here unless he has acquainted himself more intimately with the Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and found that it is the path his
\nnature accepts and can follow. The Yogic Sadhan <\/i>does not give any real idea of the nature of this Yoga; he would have to read
\nother works of a completer and deeper character. Most even  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>598<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nafter accepting follow out the practice of the Yoga to a certain extent and communicate their experiences before thinking of
\ncoming here for a closer contact.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIf however he is in any case coming to India to find his
\npath and a Guru, he could pass through Pondicherry and see the Asram and establish a contact after which it can be known
\nwhether he can take up the Yoga. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 July 1938
\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\tWrite that this Asram is not intended for religious teaching,
\nbut for the practice of Yoga; its object, like that of all Yoga, is the attainment of a higher consciousness and the spiritual life.
\nBut Sri Aurobindo’s Yoga is a special path with its own special objects in addition to this common aim of all Yoga. Only those
\nare admitted who have a call to this special path which is a very difficult one, are recognised as having some capacity for
\nit and are willing to give up everything else and follow without reservations the guidance of Sri Aurobindo. There is no separate
\nasram for ladies; the Asram is composed of several houses and accommodation is given according to convenience.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nRepresentation of People in the Ashram <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMy mind is so full of thoughts about the possibilities of new
\ncreation that whenever I see a sadhak I think of him as an aspect of the beauty of the new creation.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThat is what he should be. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 April 1934
\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\tWhat disciples we are of what a Master!
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAs to the disciples, I agree! <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI wish you had chosen or called some better stuff
\n\u2014  perhaps
\nsomebody like Krishnaprem. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tYes, but would the better stuff, supposing it to exist, be typical
\nof humanity? To deal with a few exceptional types would hardly   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>599<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

solve the problem. And would they consent to follow my path \u2014 that is another question. And if they were put to the test, would
\nnot the common humanity suddenly reveal itself \u2014  that is still another question.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n3 August 1935 <\/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\tIn the Ashram one finds that people with forceful personalities and great capacities like
\nX <\/i>or Y <\/i>are not able to put their
\nenergies to good use. Others, like Z <\/i>and A<\/i>, who have no great capacities, are able to apply their energies better. No doubt
\nthe Divine could give great capacities to Z <\/i>and A<\/i>, but could they ever become great writers or artists like
\nX<\/i>, Y <\/i>or B<\/i>?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThere is no necessity for everybody to become artists or writers or do work of a public character.
\nZ <\/i>and A <\/i>have their own capacities and it is sufficient for the present if they train themselves to make them fit for the Mother’s work. Others have great capacities which they are content to use in the small and obscure work of the Asram without figuring before the public in something
\nbig. What is important now is to get the true consciousness from above, get rid of the ego (which nobody has yet done) and
\nlearn to be an instrument of the Divine Force. After that the manifestation can take place, not before.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is necessary or rather inevitable that in an Asram which is a “laboratory”, as Adhar Das puts it,7<\/font><\/sup> for a spiritual and supra
\nmental Yoga, humanity should be variously represented. For the problem of transformation has to deal with all sorts of elements favourable and unfavourable. The same man indeed carries in him a mixture of these two things. If only sattwic and cultured
\nmen came for the Yoga, men without very much of the vital difficulty in them, then because the difficulty of the vital element
\nin terrestrial nature has not been faced and overcome, it might well be that the endeavour would fail. There might conceivably
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 A. C. Das, review of <\/i>Lights on Yoga. <\/i>The Calcutta Review 47 (October 1935), pp.<\/i>
\n101 \u00ad 2.<\/i>
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>600<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nbe under certain circumstances an overmental layer superimposed on the mental, vital and physical and influencing them,
\nbut hardly anything supramental or a sovereign transmutation of the human being. Those in the Asram come from all quarters
\nand are of all kinds; it cannot be otherwise.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIn the course of the Yoga, collectively
\n\u2014  though not for
\neach one necessarily \u2014  as each plane is dealt with, all its difficulties arise. That will explain much in the Asram that people
\ndo not expect there. When the preliminary work is over in the “laboratory”, things must change.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAlso much stress has not been laid on human fellowship of the ordinary kind between the inmates, (though good feeling,
\nconsideration and courtesy should always be there), because that is not the aim; it is a unity in a new consciousness that is the aim
\nand the first thing is for each to do his sadhana, to arrive at that new consciousness and realise oneness there.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nWhatever faults are there in the sadhaks must be removed by the Light from above
\n\u2014  a sattwic rule can only change natures
\npredisposed to a sattwic rule. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n31 October 1935
\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\tYour description of the psychological state of the Asramites is
\nvivid and convincing and very true. It is that which we are up against. It is the average physical consciousness of humanity
\nconcentrated in the Asram and the one consolation is that if the Force can transform
\nthat<\/i>, then it can transform anything. If
\neverybody were as accurately conscious of the nature of the thing as you show yourself in this letter, the transformation would be
\nperhaps more quickly possible. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 February 1936
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nProfiting from One’s Stay in the Ashram <\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tHe can come, if he understands the conditions under which
\nalone he can profit by staying here. Henceforth a stay here can only be profitable (1) for those who are ready for an intensive
\nsadhana turning their back on all attachments belonging to the ordinary human life, (2) for those who, though not ready, yet
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>601<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

recognise fully the aim and open themselves so as to prepare for it, (3) those who, even if not capable as yet of an inner
\nintensive sadhana, can yet dedicate themselves entirely in the way of service.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 August 1927 <\/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\tYou can write to him that at present his coming here is hardly possible or advisable. There are now nearly 80 members in the
\nAsram and all the accommodation available is taken up or else marked out already for others who are coming. Moreover if he
\nhas not been able to make the vital surrender, he would not be able to profit by coming here; for the conditions of the sadhana
\nhere are no longer what they were before and this vital surrender is precisely the first condition of any benefit from our help or
\nany true farther progress.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs for his sadhana, if he can persist in the attitude he has
\ntaken and be entirely sincere in it, then the difficulty he is experiencing is bound to disappear. Necessarily, the resistance in the
\nvital being and the body, based on all their past habits, cannot be overcome in a day. In his case, it is probable that the mental
\nhas reached the point where the surrender can be made, but the vital purusa
\n<\/i>still refuses. If he can become conscious in his
\n sadhana not only of the resistance on the surface but of the vital
\nbeing behind in its entirety, separately from the mind, and see all its deeper movements and offer them in the whole and detail to
\nthe Mother for transformation, then the work of transformation can be done. It is for more and more consciousness and more
\nand more strength for consecration that he must ask. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1 December 1929
\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\tYou can write to him that, if he is in the grip of adverse forces,
\nit is not a condition in which to come to the Asram. Only those are called here and allowed to stay who are ready to profit by
\nthe Asram atmosphere. What he can do, if he likes, is to come for the 15th August for darshan
\n\u2014  after seeing him, then we can
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>602<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nsay something more definite. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 April 1932
\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 no use people staying here unless they have, first, the capacity
\nand, secondly, the pull and the will for Yoga. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n16 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\tNo, it is not enough to be in the Asram \u2014  one has to open to
\nthe Mother and put away the mud which one was playing with in the world.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n25 September 1934 <\/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\tBut what is the meaning of the dull life we lead here? No scope for any skills, no use for knowledge. My five years of
\nmedical study all lost. Some at least have the satisfaction of using their
\ncapacities \u2014 
\nX <\/i>his training as an engineer, Y <\/i>his
\nmedical knowledge. But for most of us, it seems like you have put square pegs in round holes.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tObviously the life here is not that of a place where the mind and vital can hope to be satisfied and fulfilled or lead a lively life. It is
\nonly if one can live within that it becomes satisfactory. Y <\/i>himself if he were outside, would be dealing not with two or three
\nselected patients but with many \u2014  he speaks of hundreds in the past \u2014  and would be living a much fuller vital life. But for one
\nwho has the assured inner life, there is no dullness. Realisation within must be the first object; work for the Divine on the basis
\nof the true inner self and a new consciousness, not on the basis of the old, is the result that can follow. Till then work and life can
\nbe only a means of sadhana, not a “self-fulfilment” or a brilliant and interesting vital life on the old basis.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n15 April 1936 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tEverybody has to deal with the lower nature. No Yoga can be done without overcoming it, neither this Yoga nor any other. A
\nYogic life means a life in which one tries to follow the law of Yoga, the aim of Yoga in all details of life. Here people do not
\ndo that, they live like ordinary people, quarrelling, gossiping,   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>603<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

indulging their desires, thinking of Yoga only in their spare moments.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n13 February 1936 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nDeparture from the Ashram
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span>
\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tX <\/span> <\/i>is quite happy here and she is progressing very well in her sadhana. If she goes away from here, the progress will be stopped
\nand much of what she has gained may be lost. An intensive and concentrated sadhana once begun has to be persistently
\ncontinued in the right atmosphere. If it is kept up only for a short time and then dropped for another kind of life in which the
\nconcentration is diffused and weakened, there is no likelihood of fruition. For this reason we would disapprove of her departure.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n9 January 1928 <\/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\tI have had no time to answer X<\/i>‘s letter tonight. I will write in the course of tomorrow, afternoon or evening. He may at least
\nask the gentleman inside who is so furiously hurrying him away, to wait for one day.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt looks as if the hopes I had for him were either unjustified or premature \u2014  he is either too young or too raw and unfit. In
\nthat case there will be nothing to do but to let him return to the ordinary life and ordinary atmosphere. But he must understand,
\nif he goes, that it is his own choice and must not blame either myself or the Mother.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nc. August 1929 <\/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\tI certainly cannot sanction your departure on so wrong and trivial a ground. You must be aware, as you admitted at first,
\nthat you are yourself to blame. When the Mother after a long and exhausting morning’s work still gave you time, it was very wrong
\nof you to reward her by speech of an insulting character. And it was wrong of you to resent her kind letter and her reference
\nto the adverse force which you yourself have called the “devil” and from which you have prayed insistently to be delivered. I
\nshall add that if you allow yourself to be ruled in this way by  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>604<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nself-will and an abnormal sensitiveness, you will always create trouble for yourself, no matter where you go.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI could only sanction your departure if I came to the conclusion that you are still too young and raw and ill-balanced to bear
\nthe pressure for change which is inevitable in the atmosphere of the Asram. But before this attack, you were progressing very well
\nwith a rapid growth in consciousness and character. It ought not to be difficult for you to get over this attack and settle down to
\na self-development of your undoubted possibilities on the right line. It would be a pity if you threw away the chance by obstinate
\npersistence in the result of a moment’s pique.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI prefer not to give any decision till after the 15th. You will
\ndo well to wait till then and see if your present feelings do not change.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 August 1929 <\/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\tWhen these moods come upon you, why do you run away from the Mother and avoid her? Why do you not come to her, tell her
\nfrankly what you feel and what is in your mind and let her take the trouble from you?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe reasons you give for wishing to leave us are no good reasons at all. If you want to see the richness and greatness of
\nGod, you will, if you wait, see more of it with us than you ever can outside. And if you want to see the Himalayas, it will be
\nmuch better for you to see them hereafter with your Mother beside you.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou are quite mistaken when you say that if you will go, there will be no Devil left in the Asram. The Devil is not here
\nbecause of you; he is here because he wants to give trouble to the Mother and spoil her work. And what he chiefly wants is to drive
\nher children away from her, and especially those who like you are nearest to her. If you go, he will remain; and not only he will
\nremain, but he will feel that he has won a great victory and will set himself with a double vigour to attack her through others.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou talk of not giving trouble to the Mother and to me; but do you not realise that nothing can be worse trouble to us
\nthan your going away? The moods of revolt that come upon   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>605<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

you are clouds that pass; but to see you leave us in this way and feel our love rejected and your place near us empty would
\nbe indeed a real trouble to us and we would feel it more deeply than anything else you could do.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou know that it is not true that your sole desire is to go away. It is only so when you are in these moods. And you know
\nthat these are moods that pass, and if you allow the Mother to take them away, they go at once. The trouble is that when
\nthey come, you take them too much to heart and you begin to think that there is nothing else to do but go away. I assure you
\nthat that is no solution and that we would much rather have you with us even with these moods than be separated from you;
\ncompared with our love for you, the trouble they give us is mere dust in the balance.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nRead this letter, talk with the Mother and act according to your true self; never mind the rest.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 March 1930 <\/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\tIt is certainly the force hostile to the Yoga and the divine realisation upon earth that is acting upon you at the present moment. It
\nis the force (one force and not many) which is here in the Asram and has been going about from one to another. With some as
\nwith X, Y <\/i>and Z <\/i>it has succeeded; others have cast it from them and have been able to liberate the light of their soul, open in that
\nlight to the nearness and constant presence of the Mother, feel her working in them and move forward in a constant spiritual
\nprogress. Some are still struggling, but in spite of the bitterness of the struggle have been able to keep faithfully to the divine call
\nthat brought them here.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThat it is the same hostile force would be shown, even if its
\npresence were not for us visible and palpable, by the fact that the suggestions it makes to the minds of its victims are always
\nthe same. Its one master sign is always this impulse to get away from the Asram, away from myself and the Mother, out of this
\natmosphere, and at once<\/i>. For the force does not want to give time for reflection, for resistance, for the saving Power to be
\nfelt and act. Its other signs are doubt, tamasic depression, an  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>606<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nexaggerated sense of impurity and unfitness, the idea that the Mother is remote, does not care for one, is not giving what
\nshe ought to give, is not divine, with other similar suggestions accompanied by an inability to feel her presence or her help,
\na feeling that the Yoga is not possible or is not going to be done in this life, the desire to go away and do something in the
\nordinary world \u2014  the thing itself suggested varying according to the personal mind. If it were not this one invariable hostile
\nforce acting, there would not be this exact similarity in all the cases. In each case it is the same obscurities thrown on the intelligence, the same subconscious movements of the vital brought to the surface, the same irrational impulses pushing to the same
\naction, \u2014  departure, renunciation of the soul’s truth, refusal of the Divine Love and the Divine Call.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is the vital crisis, the test, the ordeal for you as for others \u2014 a test and ordeal which we would willingly spare to those who
\nare with us but which they call on themselves by persistence in some wrong line of movement or some falsification of the
\ninner attitude. If you reject entirely the falsehood that this force casts upon the sadhak, if you remain faithful to the Light that
\ncalled you here, you conquer and, even if serious difficulties still remain, the final victory is sure and the divine triumph of the
\nsoul over the Ignorance and the darkness. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n30 March 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\tThe Mother has told me what you said to her. In other circum
\nstances I would have asked you to stay on in the confidence that, however sharp the struggle might be, the inner being in
\nyou aided by the Divine Force would prevail over the other and foreign influence. But in the condition of mind described
\nby you some relief and rest from the inner struggle seems to be necessary for you. An absence from Pondicherry and change of
\natmosphere may be the best way to give it.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI do not, however, care to take the responsibility of sending you to Hyderabad, as that might turn out not at all the best, but the worst thing for you. Even if there were nothing
\nelse to do, it would not be possible to send you all that way   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>607<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

alone; arrangements would have to be made. We would prefer instead to see whether another means cannot be arranged, such
\nas staying in a quiet place in the hills where you could have a healthy change of air for a time and other surroundings and
\nrecover your vital strength and nervous balance. We are making enquiries and in a few days hope to be able to let you know
\nwhat can be done.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI write this much today in answer to your request for an
\nimmediate decision; but I have something to say with regard to your spiritual life and its difficulties which I have not had time to
\nfinish. I will finish it tomorrow and send it to you. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n3 June 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\tYou ought to be able to see, after receiving today’s telegram,
\nthat the cause of the unrest is in yourself and not in the outward circumstances. It is your vital attachment to family ties and
\nthe ordinary social ideas and feelings that has risen in you and creates the difficulty. If you want to practise Yoga, you must be
\nable to live in the world, so long as you are there, with a mind set upon the Divine and not bound by the environment. One
\nwho does this, can help those around him a hundred times more than one who is bound and attached to the world.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is not possible for the Mother to tell you to remain, if you are yourself in your mind and vital eager to go. It is from within
\nyourself that there must come the clear will on one side or the other.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 February 1932 <\/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\tThe crisis you are passing through might be due to your not being ready for an intensive practice of Yoga. On the other hand, a
\ncrisis of this kind often happens in the ordinary course of the sadhana. As long as the sadhana is only in the mind, things go
\non well enough, but as soon as the vital or the physical begin to be worked upon directly, all the resistance, inability, obscurity
\nin the adhar rises up and there may be a prolonged period or recurrent periods of darkness.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI would suggest to wait a little longer \u2014  say, till the 24th  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>608<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nNovember. If by that time there is no return of the favourable course of the sadhana or if meanwhile you find the resistance
\ntoo great, you may for a time discontinue.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIn any case, the habit you speak of ought to be given up at
\nonce and altogether. You must be aware how injurious it is to the mind, the nervous system and the body, and it can of itself
\ncreate the most serious obstacles in the way of any sadhana. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 October 1932
\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 outside world people live in quite a different consciousness
\nand the sadhak if he goes there in the middle of his sadhana is bound either to fall back into it or to get so much mixed with
\nit that he either falls out of his path or struggles through great difficulties. Either the work within is, outside, not done at all or
\nwhat would here take 2 or 3 years would there be not done in thirty.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 November 1932 <\/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\tHow can the people in this Asram judge whether a man has progressed in Yoga or not? They judge from outward appearances
\n\u2014  if a sadhak secludes himself, sits much in meditation, gets voices and experiences, etc. etc. they think he is a great sadhak!
\nX <\/i>was always a very poor Adhar. He had a few experiences of an elementary kind
\n\u2014  confused and uncertain, but at every step he
\nwas getting into trouble and going off on a side path and we had to pull him up. At last he began to get voices and inspirations
\nwhich he declared to be ours \u2014  I wrote to him many letters of serious warning and explanation but he refused to listen, was
\ntoo much attached to his false voices and inspirations and, to avoid rebuke and correction, ceased to write or inform us. So he
\nwent wholly wrong and finally became hostile. You can tell this by my authority to anybody who is puzzled like yourself about
\nthis matter. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 March 1933
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>609<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\n

If your staying here is to end in “death and scandal”, obviously I cannot tell you not to go. But I have not forsaken you; it is you
\nwho prefer to turn away from the Yoga. I will not “send” you away. If you go, it will be because you do not want to stay here
\nor feel that you cannot and that you will be at peace elsewhere. You can take my blessings with you if or when you go
\n\u2014  but I
\ndo not know why they should be of more use to you than my help and guidance in the Yoga.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 March 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\tI know well that the ordinary life is not for me. Why then do I get thoughts of going? What part of me wishes it?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIs it a part of yourself at all that has the idea? It may be that it is only because others are thinking it or wanting you to come
\nand some portion of you still in contact with them gets the impression. Such touches can easily be felt as if they were your
\nown ideas, emotions or desires, but they may not be so. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 April 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\tI hear that many people, at one time or another, have been on
\nthe point of going away from here due to pressure of Yoga. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is not due to the pressure of Yoga, but to the pressure of
\nsomething in them that negates the Yoga. If one follows one’s psychic being and higher mental call, no amount of pressure of
\nYoga can produce such results. People talk as if the Yoga had some maleficent force in it which produces these results. It is on
\nthe contrary the resistance to Yoga that does it. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n11 May 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 feels as though some hostile force is trying to pull me back.
\nBut I have no desire to return to my old family life. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt usually happens like that
\n\u2014  when one comes out of the world,
\nthe forces that govern the world do all they can to pull you back into their own unquiet movement.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n4 October 1933 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t* 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>610<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nI don’t know why. It is perfectly irrational. People have been going as well as coming since the Asram began. Perhaps it arises
\nfrom the ignorant idea that the people who go like X <\/i>and Y <\/i>are true bhaktas and sadhaks
\n\u2014  while the fact is that
\nX <\/i>never made
\nmuch progress even elementary and Y <\/i>has been in a state of vital revolt sometimes against the Mother, sometimes against myself,
\nbattling against both, for the last six or seven years. People go away because they are too proud and arrogant to accept the
\ncontrol of the Guru or of the Truth or of the Divine. Y <\/i>had decided that the Truth was in him alone and there was no Truth
\nin myself or in the Mother. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 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\tWhat would be the best way of rejecting the thought of
\ngoing away? Every few days or so I have to deal with this “challenge”.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThe reason why it recurs so much is that it is not so much a personal reaction as a force that whenever it gets the door of the
\nconsciousness open, is consciously pressing the idea of departure with all sorts of reasons to support it. There are a certain number
\nin the Asram who have it with the same recurrence \u2014  while there are others who used to have it but from whose consciousness
\nit is now after a long series of attacks excluded or fading out. Obviously to give the movement any kind of scope would be no
\nconquest. One day it will give up coming of itself, as it has done with others, when the external vital nature has got as convinced
\nas the inner being of the imperativeness of its spiritual destiny. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n23 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\tI do not understand the meaning of the complaint in your letter.
\nI am not aware that there was any maltreatment of you by us or any lack of true love and care. In your spiritual life I have striven
\nto give you all the possible help and support and guidance, more so than to most others because I felt that you had much need of
\nit. I do not see any reason why you should go on the goad of a difficulty which always occurs in sadhana or under the driving
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>611<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

of a suggestion or impulse; if it were a mature and deliberate decision taken after full reflection, one could understand it. In
\nany case, this Asram is here as your spiritual home so long as you choose to avail yourself of it and our help and consistent
\nsupport in your difficulties are at your disposal so long as you need and desire them for the attainment of the goal of your
\nspiritual endeavour. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 November 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\tFor the last few days, I have felt quite foreign here. I do not
\nlike going to work or doing anything else. If there is any reason for my being here, I don’t know what it is.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhy do you allow these suggestions to get hold of your mind? You have made great progress here which you could not have
\nmade over there \u2014  and as for usefulness, there are few whose work can be
\nrelied on as yours can. Dry moments come to all \u2014
\nthat is not a reason for doubting one’s call to the Yoga. Shake off these false suggestions
\n\u2014  they must surely be the result of the
\nold atmosphere coming in in such a mass \u2014  and regain the peace and stillness that you were having before.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n18 August 1934 <\/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\tI have given you the permission to go only on your insistence that the pull from there is too strong for you to resist. It is not
\nbecause we think that it is the right or the best thing for you \u2014 on the contrary we do not like the idea of your going at all. I
\nhave told you that to stay and fight out any inner difficulty here is always the true course. If there is any misconception about
\nthat, you should reconsider your decision. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n27 August 1934
\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\tI have written to X<\/i>8<\/font><\/sup> to set right any misunderstanding \u2014  if there
\nis really a misunderstanding \u2014  about our consent to her going. That consent I consider as forced from me by her own insistence
\nthat she could not stay \u2014  the pull was too great \u2014  she must go.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n8 The recipient of the preceding letter.
\n\u2014  Ed.<\/i>
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>612<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tI reminded her of what I told her before that the only true way was to stay and fight out the difficulty
\n\u2014  the only justification for
\ngoing would be if her call was more to the family life than to the spiritual life. I have told her that we keep to that and the Mother
\nand I do not like her going \u2014  and asked her to reconsider her decision. For it is hers not mine. You know that I dislike any
\none who has a psychic call going away from here, because it is throwing away their spiritual destiny or at least postponing it.
\nFor I don’t suppose X<\/i>, if she persists in going, will remain always under the illusion of the family bonds
\n\u2014  but the risk is there
\nand the postponement is there. Mother has called her tomorrow morning and we will see what she decides.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n28 August 1934 <\/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\tThe Mother was not distant and had no reason for being so \u2014  that cannot be put forward as a reason for going away. It
\nis the feeling of the vital-physical that has been stopped in its activities and is not yet able to receive the touch of the higher
\nconsciousness or keep it that makes you feel like that. I don’t know that you would get so much interest or satisfaction from
\nthe life outside that it would be worth while to give up and go. To persist is better.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 January 1935 <\/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\tThe inability to go can come from the psychic which refuses, when it comes to the point, to allow the other parts to budge, or
\nit can come from the vital which has no longer any pull towards the ordinary life and knows that it will never be satisfied there.
\nIt is usually the higher parts of the vital that act like that. What still is capable of turning outwards is probably the physical vital
\nin which the old tendencies have not been extinguished. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n19 May 1935
\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\tI certainly do not wish to “put you in the wrong box”, nor
\nhave I an idea or any desire to keep you here against your own inclination or choice. Going or staying is a matter entirely for
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>613<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

your own decision. If you can stay here with spiritual profit to yourself, we shall be very glad; but if you find that there
\nis nothing to be gained by staying or that you cannot receive anything or that your will is decidedly for the ordinary life, I
\ncertainly would not like to put any undue pressure on you to stay against your own real interest or will. You must consider
\nyourself entirely free to shape your own course in life by your own independent choice.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 May 1935 <\/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\tWhere will I begin again? There certainly is something fundamentally wrong \u2014  otherwise why these impulses to depart?
\nEverything is confused. I can’t see my way, and have lost all capacity to analyse or synthesise. In addition [in the preceding<\/i>
\nletter<\/i>] you are practically giving me a carte blanche <\/i>to depart!
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI am not telling you to go, but if I tell you the opposite it will
\nonly strengthen the suggestion that is being put on you \u2014  viz. that you are being kept here contrary to your own nature’s
\nchoice and your mind’s judgment for something that you cannot do and no longer want to do, a spiritual life that you cannot
\nlive and don’t want to live. You think it is something in yourself that says that, but in reality it is not so. Only as you cannot see
\nthat at present, I have no choice but to leave everything to your own decision so that the sense of being outrageously compelled
\nto stay may have no ground for growing in you.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou have mentioned X<\/i>‘s case more than once as analogous,
\nbut his was quite opposite. He considered himself as the holder of the supramental Truth whom all ought to approach for the
\nTruth, but that this was an Asram peopled by Asuras who refused to recognise him and all these Asuras were supported
\nagainst him at every step by the Mother and me. He gave me the ultimatum that in this we must support him against the others
\nand give him his proper position or else give him freedom to leave the Asram with which he had no longer any affinity, an
\nimpossible place for such a one as he, so that he might give the Truth to others elsewhere. No point of contact at all there with
\nyou except the Force driving him away.  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>614<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tWhat is happening just now is that there is a great uprush of the subconscient in which are the seeds or the strong remnants
\nof the habitual difficulties of the nature. But its character is a confusion and obscurity without order or clear mental or other
\narrangement \u2014  it is a confused depression, discouragement, inability to progress
\n\u2014  a feeling of what are we doing? why are
\nwe here? how can we go on? will anything ever be attained? and along with it old difficulties recurring in a confused and random
\nbut often violent and distressing fashion.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou cannot “begin” again; it would be too difficult a thing
\nin this confusion. You have to get back to the point at which you deviated. If you can get back to the Peace that was coming
\nand with it aspire to the freedom and wideness of the Purusha consciousness forming a
\n<\/span>
\npoint d’appui<\/span> <\/span> <\/i>
\nof detachment and separation from all this confusion of the subconscient Prakriti, then you will have a firm ground to stand upon and proceed. But for
\nthat you must make your choice firmly and refuse to be upset at every moment and diverted from it.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n25 May 1935 <\/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\tSometimes people who are in difficulty ask your permission to leave the Ashram, and you and the Mother grant it. But if
\nthings turn out badly they say, “Why did I fall even after taking their permission to go?” I think that too much should not be
\nmade of such “permissions”, which are often just concessions to their weaknesses.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is well understood that the permission given does not exclude the possibility of the experiment ending badly. But the experiment becomes necessary if the pull of the ego or outer being and that of the soul have become too acute for solution otherwise or
\nif the outer being insists on having its experience. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t20 June 1935 <\/font>
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n\t\t\t  <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tDo you mean [in the preceding letter<\/i>] that when we feel a
\nstrong push to leave, it would be best to make the experiment?   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>615<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

It is especially when the outer being rejects the Truth and insists on living its own life and refuses the rule of the spiritual life that
\nthe experiment becomes inevitable. I have never said that it is recommendable.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tSometimes that part is so violent that we feel we can’t deal with it.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIn some it is too strong; they have to go and see for themselves. That does not mean that everyone has to go whenever he feels a
\ndifficulty. These are exceptional cases. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 June 1935
\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\tLast evening I saw X <\/i>off at the station. He looked very black
\nin the face and gloomy too. I felt for the poor fellow who has lost his all through his own waywardness. I felt a little sad as I
\ncame back. The question recurred to me again and again: did Sri Krishna truly mean it concretely or did he merely poeticise
\n\t\t\twhen he said na hi kaliana-krt acid durgatim tāta gacchati<\/i>?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tYou have forgotten the context. Arjuna asks what of a Yogi who
\nfails in this life because of his errors \u2014  does he fall from both the ordinary life and the spiritual and perish like a broken cloud?
\nKrishna says no. All who follow the Good get the reward of their effort and do not perish
\n\u2014  they get it first in the life beyond and
\nafterwards in the next birth in which the Yogi who fails now may even resume his effort under the best conditions and arrive
\nat Siddhi. Krishna never said that nobody ever in this life fails who attempts the Yoga.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n20 September 1935 <\/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\tI feel a push to leave the Ashram often just before other people actually do leave. A day or two before
\nX<\/i>‘s departure on the
\n19th, I felt the same way. Do all people get such feelings? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThere is a Force that is always seeking to push people away;
\nformerly more than half the sadhaks were getting from time to time the suggestion to go. This has diminished now in its general
\npower, but the Force is still there and presses very heavily on  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>616<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nsome. When it gets anyone to go, then the power of the suggestion revives through that person and spreads to others. Those
\nwho are specially sensitive receive it most. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n22 September 1935
\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\tIf I am not doing anything useful here, why should I not try
\nthe world where also there is so much love and joy and the Divine?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tDo you think so? Those who have gone do not find the world like that \u2014  they feel miserable and harassed on every side. So it
\nhas been with all who left here. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n28 September 1935
\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 difficult for the Mother to decide for you. If you had been
\nsettled in Yoga as a resident sadhak of the Asram recognised as such by your family and everybody, then the rule of not allowing
\nany tie of the world to draw you away would have stood with force against all such calls. But now it is different and you have to
\nsee for yourself what you feel called upon to do. For the Mother to decide would not be a solution from the spiritual point of
\nview and it is better if the decision rises out of yourself \u2014  then only is it likely to be
\nfor you <\/i>the true one.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 November 1935 <\/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\tWhat takes people away mostly is not the smaller failings like family attachment etc., but either ambition and great vanity or
\nsexual desire or else some extreme form of vital ego which wants its own way and not the Divine’s. It is from the first two causes
\nthat the departures from the Asram have mostly taken place and X <\/i>and Y<\/i>‘s case is no exception to the rule.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n1935 <\/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\tYou can have permission to go. But one knows when one goes, one does not know whether or when one will come back. But if
\nyou really want to go, we cannot refuse permission. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n26 March 1936
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>617<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

If you wish to go, Mother gives the permission. But we cannot assure you that you will be able to come back or that it will not
\ninjure your sadhana. These things depend on yourself and on circumstances.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n26 March 1936 <\/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\tX <\/span> <\/i>has been here on probation for three years now. If we are sending her home, it is not as a punishment for any offence or
\nout of anger or any similar reason, but it is because that is the best thing for her also. It is after long observation of her that
\nthis step has been taken and it is not a sudden decision on our part but has been maturing for some time. We have not rejected
\nher, \u2014  it is with our blessings that she will go and if she keeps the right attitude our protection will be with her there. This has
\n\t\t\tall been now explained to her and I believe she is not <\/span>
\n\t\t\taffol\u00e9e<\/span> <\/span> <\/i>
\n\t\t\tany
\nlonger. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n3 May 1936
\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 a little difficult for me to answer your letter in view of
\nwhat you have written there. I have certainly persuaded you to remain here because I did not think that going away was the
\nright solution, nor do I think so now. But from what you wrote last time after this came on you, I understood that you did not
\nreally want to go and were glad that I had persuaded you, that in fact you would have suffered greatly if I had given my consent.
\nHere you write very differently and in such a way that if I am to take what you say in its full sense I would have to reply at
\nonce “Yes, go, since there is no other alternative.” Let me say that persuasion is not force. Last time I don’t think I even used
\npersuasion; I simply gave my opinion against your proposal. My opinion remains the same, but that is not binding on you. I have
\nalso never thought of cutting you off if you go to Cape Comorin for a time or to Calcutta. Everyone here is free to follow his own
\ndecision in these matters. But when I am asked for a full consent, I take it as an invitation to give my own view on what is proposed
\nand I give it. There is no question there of detaining or refusing a bitter need and therefore there can be no reason for your being
\n   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>618<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ndriven to the extremes of which you speak in your letter.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs for the way out of the impasse, I know only of the
\nquieting of the mind which makes meditation effective, purification of the heart which brings the divine touch and in time
\nthe divine presence, humility before the Divine which liberates from egoism and the pride of the mind and of the vital, the pride
\nthat imposes its own reasonings on the ways of the spirit and the pride that refuses or is unable to surrender, sustained persistence
\nin the call within and reliance on the Grace above. These things come by the inner discipline which you had begun to practise
\nsome time ago, but did not continue. Meditation, japa, prayer or aspiration from the heart can all succeed, if they are attended by
\nthese or even some of these things. But I do not know that you can be promised what you always make the condition of any
\ninner endeavour, an immediate or almost immediate realisation or beginning of concrete realisation. I fully believe on the other
\nhand that one who has the call in him cannot fail to arrive, if he follows patiently the way towards the Divine.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nFrankly this is my view of the matter. I have never seen that anyone by changing place arrived at spiritual realisation
\n\u2014  it
\nalways comes by a change of mind and heart. I put before you what I can see. The rest is for you to consider.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n29 May 1936 <\/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\tI have surely never said that you should not want the Divine Response. One does Yoga for that. What I have said is that you
\nshould not expect or insist on it at once or within an early time. It can come early or it can come late, but come it will if one is
\nfaithful in one’s call \u2014  for one has not only to be sincere but to be faithful through all. If I deprecate insistence, it is because I
\nhave always found it creates difficulties and delays \u2014  owing to a strain and restlessness which is created
\n\u2014  in the nature and
\ndespondencies and revolts of the vital when the insistence is not satisfied. The Divine knows best and one has to have trust in His
\nwisdom and attune oneself with His will. Length of time is no proof of an ultimate incapacity to arrive
\n\u2014  it is only a sign that
\nthere is something in oneself which has to be overcome and, if   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>619<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

there is the will to reach the Divine, it can be overcome.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nSuicide solves nothing
\n\u2014  it only brings one back to life with
\nthe same difficulties to be faced in worse conditions. If one wishes to escape from life altogether, it can only be by the way of
\ncomplete inner renunciation and merging oneself in the Silence of the Absolute or by a bhakti that becomes absolute or by a
\nkarmayoga that gives up one’s own will and desires to the will of the Divine.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI have said also that the Grace can <\/i>at any moment act suddenly, but over that one has no control, because it comes by
\nan incalculable Will which sees things that the mind cannot see. It is precisely the reason why one should never despair,
\n\u2014  that
\nand also because no sincere aspiration to the Divine can fail in the end.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nMother does not remember having said to X <\/i>what you report \u2014  it may have been something in another sense which
\nX<\/i>
\nunderstood in that way. For it cannot be said that you have never received Force from us, you have received it to any extent; it can
\nonly be said that you were not conscious of it, but that happens with many. Certainly none of the sadhaks receives and uses all
\nthe Force the Mother sends, but that is a general fact and not peculiar to you.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nI hope you will not carry out your idea of going suddenly away \u2014  if you have to go for a time, it should be with our
\nknowledge and our protection around you. I hope it will not be necessary at all, but certainly it should not be in that way.
\nWhatever else you doubt, you should not doubt that our love and affection will be always with you. But I still hope that you
\nwill be able to overcome this despair and this impulse of flight and develop the quiet force of intense will which brings the Light
\nthat is sure to come. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nMay 1936
\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\tI have analysed and analysed myself, and have found that
\nI have no real urge for the Divine. It seems more the unfavourable external circumstances that have brought me here.
\nHad I been happy and in plenty there, would I have chosen  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>620<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nthe path? . . . Where is the sincerity in me? . . . So wouldn’t it be better for you to let me go instead of wasting so much of
\nyour time and labour on me?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tYour analysis and reasonings are those of Grand-mere Depression which sees only what she allows to come to the surface for
\nher purposes. There are other things that Madame suppresses because they don’t suit her. It does not greatly matter what
\nbrought you here \u2014  the important thing is to go on till the psychic truth behind all that becomes manifest. The inertia of your
\nphysical nature is only a thick crust on the surface which gives way slowly, but under the pressure it will give way. If you had
\nsome big object in the ordinary life and nothing to hope for here it might be different, but as things are it would be foolish to walk
\noff under the instigation of this old Mother Gloom-Gloom. Stick on and you will get the soul’s reward hereafter.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n14 June 1936 <\/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\tThere is no reason to be so much cut down or despair of your progress. Evidently you have had a surging up of the old movements, but that can always happen so long as there is not an entire change of the old nature both in the conscious and subconscient parts. Something came up that made you get out of poise and stray into a past round of feelings. The one thing to do
\nis to quiet yourself and get back into the true consciousness and poise. . . . Always keep within and do things without involving
\nyourself in them, then nothing will happen or, if it does, no serious reaction will come.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe idea of leaving for any reason is of course absurd and out of the question. Eight years is a very short time for trans
\nformation. Most people spend as much as that or more to get conscious of their defects and acquire the serious will to change
\n\u2014  and after that it takes a long time to get the will turned into full and final accomplishment. Each time one stumbles, one has to
\nget back onto the right footing and go on with fresh resolution; by doing that the full change comes.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 August 1936 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>621<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

You must not deceive yourself into thinking that the ordinary life will prepare you for the Asram life. So we cannot tell you
\nhow to prepare yourself. It is better to choose frankly between the two. If you go away, you would find the same difficulties if
\nyou came back. It is knowing that that you must decide. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 August 1936
\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\tSince the attacks of fear do not cease, it is best that you should
\ngo and rest for the time being from the sadhana \u2014  for these two cannot go together. In order to be quite sure, it would be
\nadvisable to see in Calcutta whether there is not some physical cause also such as blood pressure. It is not possible for the
\nMother to see you before you go as you have to go tonight. For the rest, we can decide only after seeing how you go on over
\nthere. If you keep your trust in the Divine and clear yourself of all that conflicts with it, there is no reason to fear that the
\nDivine will abandon you. For the present what is necessary is to shake off this disturbance and get out of the condition of fear
\nand nervous disturbance altogether. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 October 1936
\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\tAs you say that you are determined to go, I can only answer
\nby reaffirming our disapproval of the step you propose to take and the rejection
\n\u2014  from a blind vital feeling \u2014  of the true path
\nand the spiritual life. It is not true that you could not appreciate our help and solicitude or that you were unable to follow the
\nsadhana, you are only shutting the doors of your mind and vital to the help and laying stress on a temporary block which would
\nhave disappeared if you had dissociated yourself from it. I can only express the hope that the true being in you will awake in
\ntime and draw you back from this course, restoring the inner contact with us and the unity with the higher Self, a glimpse of
\nwhich had come to you for a moment. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n31 January 1937
\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\tNeither the Mother nor I have asked you to go nor approved
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>622<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nof your going. As I could not give any assent to it and the reasons put forward by you precluded my asking you to stay, I had to
\nbe silent. Mother could not withhold from you the money you asked for because you claimed it as your own and her with
\nholding it would have looked like an undue interference with your personal liberty and your formed decision. I must now say
\nhowever that if you go, it will be your own decision and not in any way ours. If you change your decision and resolve to face out
\nyour difficulty here until it is solved, we shall be very glad of it.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThere is no such impossibility of your victory over the harder
\nparts of your nature as you imagine. There is only needed the perseverance to go on till this resistance breaks down and the
\npsychic which is not absent nor unmanifest is able to dominate the others. That has to be done whether you stay here or not and
\nto go is likely only to increase the difficulty and imperil the final result \u2014  it cannot help you. It is here that the struggle however
\nacute has, because of the immediate presence of the Mother, the best chance and certitude of a solution and successful ending.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 March 1937 <\/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\tNo one in fact is kept here when his will or decision is to go \u2014 although the principle of the spiritual life is against any return to
\nthe old one even for a time especially if the deeper urge is there and striving towards a firm foundation of the new consciousness
\n\u2014  for the return to the ordinary atmosphere and surroundings and motives disturbs the work and throws back the progress.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n10 March 1937 <\/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\tDoes your allowing people to go out from here mean that now there is no harm in their doing so?
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNo, it does not; it simply means that we can’t always be holding back people whose vital says “I want to go, I want to go” and
\nthey side with the vital. They are allowed to go and take their risk.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n18 March 1937 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>623<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nEach time somebody leaves the Asram, I feel a kick, a shock, a heartquake.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tMay I ask why? People have been leaving the Asram since it began, not only now. Say 30 or 40 people have gone, 130 or
\n140 others have come. The big Maharathas, X<\/i>, Y<\/i>, Z <\/i>departed from this too damnable Asram where great men are not allowed
\nto do as they like. The damnable Asram survives and grows. A and B and C fail in their Yoga
\n\u2014  but the Yoga proceeds on its
\nway, advances, develops. Why then kick, shock and heartquake? <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tYou said long ago that the Supramental won’t tolerate any
\nnonsense of freedom of movement or wrong movement. Is this the kick he is imparting from high up? . . . In these two
\nmonths he has struck a tall tower like A <\/i>and a fat buoy like B<\/i>; how many of these!
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAnd what then? <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tI hold the view that the Supramental is descending concentratedly, though I don’t feel it,
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tNot so strongly or concentratedly as it ought, but better than
\nbefore. <\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t. . . and that those who resist, who are between two fires, have
\neither to quit or to submit. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tEven if it were so, that is their own business. The Divine is
\ndriving nobody out except in rare cases where their staying would be a calamity to the Asram (for instance it could decide
\none day to drive C <\/i>out); if they cannot bear the pressure and rush away, listening to the “Go away, go away” push and suggestion
\nof the Hostiles can it be said then that it was the Divine who drove them away and the push and suggestion of the Hostile
\nis that of the Divine? A singular logic! The “Go, go” push and suggestion have been successfully there ever since the Asram
\nstarted and even before when there was no Asram. How does that square with your theory that it is due to the concentrated
\n  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>624<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\ndescent of the Force? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n21 April 1937
\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\tWhat you say about yourself \u2014  the jealousy etc. \u2014  is already
\nknown; you have yourself written it all before to the Mother. In spite of that we did not consider you unfit for the Yoga. Every
\nsadhak has by nature certain characteristics which are a great obstacle in the way of the sadhana; these remain with obstinacy
\nand can only be overcome after a very long time by an action of the Divine from within. Your mistake is
\n\u2014  not to have these
\ndefects, others have defects of anger, jealousy, envy etc. very strongly and not only have them within but show them very
\nopenly, \u2014  but to accept it as a reason for despair and the wish to go away from here. There is absolutely no meaning in going
\naway, for nothing would be gained by it. One does not escape from what is within oneself by changing place; it follows and
\nreproduces itself under other circumstances and among other surroundings. To go away and die does not solve anything either;
\nfor one’s being and nature do not end with death, they continue. The only way to get rid of them is to throw them out and the
\nonly place where you can get rid of them is here. Here, if you remain, a time is sure to come when these things will go out
\nof you. The suffering it causes cannot cease by going out \u2014  it can only cease by the
\ninner <\/i>cause being removed or else by your
\ndrawing back from them and realising your true self which even if they rose would not be troubled by them and could refuse to
\nregard them as part of itself \u2014  this liberation too can only come here by sadhana.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n24 May 1937 <\/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\tWhat you have written is quite correct. To say that the Divine is defeated when a sadhak goes away is an absurdity. If the sadhak
\nallows his lower nature to get the better of him, it is his defeat, not the Divine’s. The sadhak comes here not because the Divine
\nhas need of him, but because he has need of the Divine. If he carries out the conditions of the spiritual life and gives himself
\nto the Mother’s leading, he will attain his goal but if he wants   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>625<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

to lay down his own conditions and impose his own ideas and his own desires on the Divine, then all the difficulty comes. This
\nis what happened to X <\/i>and Y <\/i>and several others. Because the Divine does not yield to them they go away; but how is that a
\ndefeat for the Divine? <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n27 May 1937
\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\tYou speak as if the majority of the sadhaks who came here had
\ngone! As a matter of fact it is only a small minority. Some went owing to a revolt of pride and ambition thinking that they had a
\ngreat work to do or that they were already the equals or superiors of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo
\n\u2014  some because they were un
\nable to resist their sexual desires, others because they preferred to take their own way instead of following the directions of the
\nGuru and went off the track. These things always happen to a number of those who start on the way, whatever the path they
\nfollow. It is no proof of the special difficulty of this Yoga. If one yields to ambition, sexual passion or self-sufficiency, a fall is
\nalways possible. There is also the possibility of being driven off the track by doubt or attraction to the old life
\n\u2014  family, friends
\netc. The only one of these things that can act in your case is this doubt of your own capacity.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nAs I have told you, the capacity for having inner experience \u2014  and that is the one thing all sadhaks must have or develop
\n\u2014  this you have, for it showed itself clearly. The rest does not depend on personal capacity, but on reliance and opening
\nto the Mother’s force. It was because you had that that you were progressing for some time very well. It got covered over
\nby the physical consciousness which understands only external things and understands even those wrongly and obscurely. If
\nthat consciousness opens, there is no reason to suppose that you will not be able to go through.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n12 July 1937 <\/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\tBy no means at my command can I make my mind even reasonably silent. It has again started bringing in doubts and
\nmisgivings and disquiet. One of them is that perhaps I am  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>626<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\non the wrong path; this is not the goal that my nature wants. Perhaps it is some ambition that has attracted me to this path. I
\nwrite this to you because I cannot deal with it effectively. Temperamentally the rest of my instruments seem more amenable
\nto influences representing other paths and other goals. Am I really on the right path, have I really the call to it?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is the right path for your inner nature and there there is the call. The resistance is from the outer, especially the mind, but that is
\ndue to a dissatisfied restlessness which is part of the outer mental nature (the reasons given are only supports which it builds for
\nits restlessness) and that would have interfered wherever you might have been and on whatever path. To conquer this outer
\nnature is the only way and that can be best done here, since the change of the outer being is here a part of the sadhana and you
\nwill receive the necessary help. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n17 July 1937
\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\tDon’t be with me as with X<\/i>. You couldn’t keep him here;
\nforces took him away. Doubts! <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI repeat that he took himself away. No Force can take a man
\naway, who really wants not to go and really wants the spiritual life. X <\/i>
\nwanted the "Divine Response" only, not spiritual life \u2014
\nhis doubts all rose from that. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n2 August 1937
\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\tYes, you can do as you propose. So long as you have the attachment to the family, it is not possible to do any good sadhana here. Yoga and attachment do not go together. As long as you
\nhave it, the best you can do is to go on with the ordinary life, develop Bhakti and try to prepare yourself for a true and complete sadhana hereafter.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\ncirca 1937
\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 doesn’t seem to me that it will be impossible for me to
\nreturn after I have exhausted my vital attachments. I feel I am destined for the spiritual life and will take the final plunge very
\nsoon.   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>627<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

When there is so sharp a difference between the inner and the outer being, it is always the sadhak who has to make his choice.
\nAs for coming back, many who have gone out have come back, others have not \u2014  for in going out there is always the danger
\nof entering into a current of forces that make return impossible. Whatever
\ndecision you make should be clear and deliberate \u2014
\notherwise, you may go out and as soon as you are there want to come back and after coming here again want to go; that would
\nbe inadmissible. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n16 May 1938
\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\tI have already answered more than once to what you have writ
\nten in your last two letters and I can only give the same answer as before.
\n\t\t\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nYou write as if our only reason for not consenting to your going away or for not sending you away was that you had
\nnowhere to go. But that is not so. It is because we do not approve of the idea of your going; it is a wrong step altogether without
\nany sense or reason in it.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe difficulties in your nature are not peculiar to you alone
\namong the sadhaks here and their persistence is no sign that you cannot do Yoga. The few years you have been here is too short
\na time to expect a transformation of the character. Nobody can expect a transformation in so short a time.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nIt is not a fact that you are incapable of doing Yoga. Anyone who can open his consciousness and have inner experiences is
\ncapable of Yoga and that did happen in you. The closing of this openness by a descent into the physical consciousness is some
\nthing that has happened to most in this Asram and it usually takes a long time to come out of the closing. There is therefore
\nno reason for concluding that this shows incapacity for Yoga and therefore there is no use in staying here.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nThe only reasonable thing for you to do is to get rid of this wrong idea and remain quietly here where alone the true
\nconsciousness and the true life can come to you. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n7 July 1938
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>628<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\nThese ideas are only suggestions that always come up when you allow this sadness to grow in you; instead of indulging
\nthem, they should be immediately thrown from you. There is no “why” to your feeling of our far-away-ness and indifference,
\nfor these do not exist, and the feeling comes up automatically without any true reason along with this wave of the wrong
\nkind of consciousness. Whenever this comes up, you should be at once sure that it is a wrong turn and stop it and reject all
\nits characteristic suggestions. It is when you have been able to do so for a long time that you have made great progress and
\ndeveloped a right consciousness and right ideas and the true psychic attitude. You are not hampering our work nor standing
\nin the way of others coming here; in cleaving to the sadhana in spite of all difficulties you are not deceiving yourself but, on
\nthe contrary, doing the right thing and you are certainly not deceiving the Divine, who knows very well both your aspiration
\nand your difficulties. So there is not a shred of a reason for your going away. If you “sincerely want to do Yoga”, and there can
\nbe no doubt about that, that is quite a sufficient reason for your being here. It does not matter about not having as yet any occult
\nexperiences, like the rising of the Kundalini etc.; these come to some early, to some late; and there are besides different lines of
\nsuch experiences for different natures. You should not hanker after these or get disappointed and despondent because they do
\nnot yet come. These things can be left to come of themselves when the consciousness is ready. What you have to aspire to is
\nbhakti, purification of the nature, right psychic consciousness and surrender. Aspire for bhakti and it will grow in you. It is
\nalready there within and it is that which expresses itself in your poetry and music and the feelings that rise up as in the temple
\nof the Mother at the Cape. As the bhakti and aspiration in the nature grow, the right psychic consciousness will also increase
\nand lead to the full surrender. But keep steady and don’t indulge these ideas of incapacity and frustration and going away; they
\nare stuff of tamas and good only to be flung aside. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n19 October 1942
\n  
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>629<\/font><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Admission, Staying, Departure   “Acceptance” and “Admission”   Reply that residence in the Asrama is only allowed to sadhakas who have been accepted into Sri…<\/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-1663","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\/1663","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=1663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}