{"id":1668,"date":"2013-07-13T01:36:24","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1668"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:36:24","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:36:24","slug":"22-ordinary-life-and-yoga-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\/22-ordinary-life-and-yoga-vol-35-letters-on-himself-and-the-ashram","title":{"rendered":"-22_Ordinary Life and Yoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

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

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

\n
\nHis Sadhana or Practice of Yoga<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

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

\n
\nSection One <\/font><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n
\nSadhana before Coming <\/font><\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nto Pondicherry in 1910<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nOrdinary Life and Yoga <\/font><\/b> <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\nFaith and Knowledge
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIs it true that only those who have obtained a clear knowledge of their spiritual possibility through a definite glimpse,
\nreceived by the Grace of the Divine, are able to stick to the path till the end?
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tAt least I had no such glimpse before I started Yoga. I can’t say about others
\n\u2014  perhaps some had \u2014  but the glimpse could only
\nbring faith, it could not possibly bring knowledge; knowledge comes by Yoga, not before it.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThose who had no such glimpse may get some experience but will not be able to stick to their sadhana.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI repeat that all one needs to know is whether the soul in one has been moved to the Yoga or not.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n5 May 1933 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nEducation, Belief and Yoga
\n<\/b>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tI suppose I have had myself an even more completely European education than you and I have had too my period of agnostic
\ndenial, but from the moment I looked at these things I could never take the attitude of doubt and disbelief which was for so
\nlong fashionable in Europe. Abnormal, otherwise supraphysical experiences and powers, occult or Yogic, have always seemed
\nto me something perfectly natural and credible. Consciousness in its very nature could not be limited by the ordinary physical
\nhuman-animal consciousness; it must have other ranges. Yogic or occult powers are no more supernatural or incredible than is
\nsupernatural or incredible the power to write a great poem or compose great music. Few people can do it, as things are,
\n\u2014  not
\neven one in a million; for poetry and music come from the inner   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>227<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nbeing and to write or to compose true and great things one has to have the passage clear between the outer mind and something
\nin the inner being. That is why you got the poetic power as soon as you began Yoga
\n\u2014  Yoga-force made the passage clear. It is
\nthe same with Yogic consciousness and its powers; the thing is to get the passage clear,
\n\u2014  for they are already there within you.
\nOf course the first thing is to believe, aspire and, with the true urge within, make the endeavour.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n2 September 1931 <\/font> <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nOrdinary Consciousness and Awakening
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSomebody writing a biography of Confucius in Bengali says: “Why do the Dharmagurus marry, we can’t understand. Buddha did and his wife’s tale is heart-rending [<\/span>
\nহৃদয়-বিদারক<\/font> <\/span>].”
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhy? What is there
\n\t<\/span>
\n\tবিদারক<\/font> <\/span>
\n\t in it?
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nHe goes on: “Aurobindo Ghose, not a Dharmaguru, though he may be called Dharma-mad [<\/span>ধমর্পাগল<\/font>
\n<\/span>]” \u2014  how do you feel about that, Sir? \u2014  “has done it too.”
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWell, it is better to be
\n\t<\/span>ধমর্পাগল<\/font> <\/span>
\n\t than to be a  sententious ass and
\npronounce on what one does not understand.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n“We don’t understand why they marry and why this change
\ncomes soon after marriage.” <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tPerfectly natural \u2014  they marry before the change
\n\u2014  then the
\nchange comes and the marriage belongs to the past self, not to the new one.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n“The wives of Buddha and Ramakrishna felt proud when they were deserted.”
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tThen what’s the harm?
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n“If married life is an obstacle to spirituality, then they might
\nas well not marry.”  
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>228<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tNo doubt. But then when they marry, there is not an omniscient ass like this biographer to tell them that they were going to be
\n\t<\/span>ধমর্গুরু <\/font><\/span>
\n\tor
\n\t<\/span>ধমর্পাগল<\/font> <\/span>
\n\t or in any way concerned with any other
\n\t<\/span> <\/span> than the biographer’s.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSo, according to the biographer, all of you, except Christ,
\nshowed a lack of wisdom by marrying. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWell, if a biographer of Confucius can be such an unmitigated
\nass, Confucius may be allowed to be unwise once or twice, I suppose.
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI touch upon a delicate subject, but it is a puzzle. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhy delicate? and why a puzzle? Do you think that Buddha
\nor Confucius or myself were born with a prevision that they or I would take to the spiritual life? So long as one is in the
\nordinary consciousness, one lives the ordinary life \u2014  when the awakening
\nand the new consciousness come, one leaves it \u2014
\nnothing puzzling in that. <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\n27 April 1936
\n<\/font>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nMeditation as a Means
\n<\/b><\/span> <\/p>\n

\n 
\n <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n\tWhat do you call meditation? Shutting the eyes and concentrating? It is only one method for calling down the true consciousness. To join with the true consciousness or feel its descent is
\nthe only thing important and if it comes without the orthodox method, as it always did with me, so much the better. Meditation
\nis only a means or device, the true movement is when even walking, working or speaking one is still in sadhana.
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n 
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nMeditation and Purification
\n<\/b>
\n\t<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIn an article Krishnaprem says that meditation can’t be fruitful for those who have not achieved a high degree of inner
\ndevelopment and purification.   <\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>229<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n\tI do not know what Krishnaprem said or in which article, I do not have it with me. But if the statement is that nobody can
\nhave a successful meditation or realise anything till he is pure and perfect, I fail to follow it; it contradicts my own experience. I have always had realisation by meditation first and the purification started afterwards as a result. I have seen many get
\nimportant, even fundamental realisations by meditation who could not be said to have a great inner development. Are all
\nYogis who have meditated to effect and had great realisations in their inner consciousness perfect in their nature? It does not look
\nlike it to me. I am unable to believe in absolute generalisations in this field, because the development of spiritual consciousness
\nis an exceedingly vast and complex affair in which all sorts of things can happen and one might almost say that for each man
\nit is different according to his nature and that the one thing that is essential is the inner call and aspiration and the perseverance
\nto follow always after it no matter how long it takes or what are the difficulties or impediments
\n\u2014  because nothing else will
\nsatisfy the soul within us. <\/span> <\/p>\n

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

\n 
\n\t<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 <\/font>230<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part Two   His Sadhana or Practice of Yoga     Section One   Sadhana before Coming to Pondicherry in 1910   Ordinary Life and…<\/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-1668","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\/1668","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=1668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}