{"id":2938,"date":"2013-07-13T01:44:44","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=2938"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:44:44","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:44:44","slug":"17-sadhana-through-work-for-the-mother-vol-32-the-mother-with-letters-on-the-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/03-cwsa\/32-the-mother-with-letters-on-the-mother\/17-sadhana-through-work-for-the-mother-vol-32-the-mother-with-letters-on-the-mother","title":{"rendered":"-17_Sadhana through Work for the Mother.html"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n
\n

\n\tSadhana through Work
\n<\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n


\nfor the Mother <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\tFinding the Mother’s Force in Work and Action
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yesterday I worked with great vigour and after I saw Mother in the evening I felt that there was no physical tiredness at all
\nand that I could work for twelve hours more. <\/p>\n

It is the Mother’s energy that comes down into the vital and
\nphysical for those who are open.<\/p>\n

\n

12 February 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I told you that I could work peacefully at the Granary, but
\nalas, I am unable to do so. As I sit quietly doing my work, X <\/i>comes and starts talking about many things and creates a
\ndisturbance in me. I pray that you will help me. <\/p>\n

You must be able to find the Mother in work and action as well
\nas in concentration and silence. It is quite possible even if there is the silence within you and no restless movement, to move and
\nact and do all that is needful. It is in fact when all within is silent, free from desire and with no restless movement that the
\nMother’s force can act best and do things in the right way. You should aspire to the Mother for the right force to act and do
\nwork and find her in the work and action.<\/p>\n

\n

31 May 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I do any work for myself or do any work as my own, I
\nget tired. But my mind realises now that this tiredness comes because I have not offered the work to my Divine Parents. <\/p>\n

If there is the full surrender in the work and you feel it is the Mother’s and that the Mother’s force is working in you, then
\nfatigue does not come.<\/p>\n

\n

July 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 241<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

During the work, is it good to go on thinking: “It is the Mother who does the work through us”? <\/p>\n

If it is work<\/i>, you can always do that, provided you realise that it depends on the instrument whether the Mother’s force works
\nfully or not.<\/p>\n

\n

But if we think it is the Mother who is working through us,
\nwrong movements may hide in the disguise of the Mother? <\/p>\n

If you think all your actions come from the Mother, then of
\ncourse it will have that effect  \u2014the actions come from Prakriti. Work is a different matter, for it is the Mother’s work you are
\ndoing.<\/p>\n

\n

16 August 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today I felt as if someone other than myself was carrying out
\nmy actions. Of course I was there, but in the background. Was it not the Mother’s Force trying to take me into itself
\nintegrally? <\/p>\n

It is too much to say that. What you say amounts only to some
\nglimpse of the cosmic Force behind all the actions.<\/p>\n

\n

2 June 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everybody is in the Mother, but one must become conscious of
\nthat, not of the work only.<\/p>\n

\n

1 April 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The feeling that all one does is from the Divine, that all action is
\nthe Mother’s is a necessary step in experience, but one cannot remain in it 
\n\t\u2014one has to go farther. Those can remain in it who do
\nnot want to change the nature, but only to have the experience of the Truth behind it. Your action is according to universal Nature
\nand in that again it is according to your individual nature, and all Nature is a force put out by the Divine Mother for the action
\nof the universe. But as things are it is an action in the Ignorance and the ego; while what we want is an action of the divine Truth <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 242<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

unveiled and undeformed by the Ignorance and the ego. <\/p>\n

So when you feel that your actions are all done by the force
\n\t(<\/p>\n


\n\tশক্তি<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\t) of the Mother, that is a true experience. But the will of  is that all you do should be done not the Mother
\n\t(<\/p>\n


\n\tমায়ের ইচ্ছা<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\t)
\nby her force in Nature as now, but her own direct force in the Truth of her nature, the higher divine Nature. So also it was
\ncorrect, what you thought afterwards, that unless there is this change, the experience that all you do is done by her will cannot
\nbe altogether true. So it will not be permanent till then. For if it were permanent now, it might keep you in the lower action as it
\ndoes many and prevent or retard the change. What you need as a permanent experience now is that of the Mother’s Force working
\nin you in all things to change this ignorant consciousness and nature into her divine consciousness and nature. <\/p>\n

It is the same with the truth about the instrument. It is true that each being is an instrument of the cosmic Shakti, therefore
\nof the Mother. But the aim of the sadhana is to become a conscious and perfect instrument instead of one that is unconscious
\nand therefore imperfect. You can be a conscious and perfect instrument only when you are no longer acting in obedience to
\nthe ignorant push of the lower nature, but in surrender to the Mother and aware of her higher Force acting within you. So
\nhere too your intuition was perfectly true. <\/p>\n

But all this cannot be done in a day. So you are once more
\nright in not being anxious or uneasy. One must be vigilant, but not anxious and
\n\tuneasy,<\/p>\n


\n\tব্যস্ত<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\t. The Mother’s Force will act and bring the result in its own time  \u2014provided one offers all to her
\nand aspires and is vigilant, calling and remembering her at all times, rejecting quietly all that stands in the way of the action
\nof her transforming Force. Your second view of this was more from the right angle of vision than the first. To say that it is not
\nI who have to act, so I need not mind, is to say too much  \u2014one has to act in so far as one has to aspire, offer oneself, assent to
\nthe Mother’s working, reject all else, more and more surrender. All else will be done in time; there is no need for anxiety or
\ndepression or impatience.<\/p>\n

\n

13 July 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 243<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

What is meant by being an instrument or being used by the Mother’s Force? When one acts on impulse, often it is a wrong
\nmovement  \u2014how can that be a case of being an instrument? When you wrote to
\nX<\/i>, “You are being used as an effective
\ninstrument”, did you write it as a temporary encouragement? <\/p>\n

So long as one is not conscious of the Force working through
\none, one is moved by the Prakriti. The Prakriti may be used sometimes by the Divine for some work to be done, but that
\nis not what is meant in the Yoga by being an “instrument”. I do not know to what you refer as regards
\nX<\/i>,  \u2014his poetry
\nwas inspired by us and he felt it and it certainly helped several people; to that extent he was an effective instrument for the
\nwork so long as he was in the right attitude. Naturally, it is for the work that one can be an instrument, not for things like sex
\nwhich have nothing to do with the Yoga or the work. But the real instrumentality begins when the consciousness of the Force
\nworking begins within.<\/p>\n

\n

30 October 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a letter about work Sri Aurobindo says: “As for the dedication make the sankalpa <\/i>always of offering it, remember
\nand pray when you can. . . . This is to fix a certain attitude. Afterwards, the Force can take advantage of this key to open
\nthe deeper dedication within.” May I know in what terms this deeper dedication can be expressed? <\/p>\n

One begins to feel a double consciousness, one an inner being within which is always dedicated, spontaneously and silently full
\nof the devotion to the Mother or aware of her Force working or of her presence or all these together and another the outer
\nthrough which the work is done.<\/p>\n

\n

1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During work, the consciousness, however high it was before,
\nfalls at once into inertia. Is this condition never to change? <\/p>\n

It is not necessary to fall into inertia, but one always comes
\ninto a less intensity of consciousness during work unless one  
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 244<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

has established in work the conscious contact with the Mother’s Force and is aware of that during the work or unless one has
\ndeveloped a double consciousness, the inner concentrated, the outer doing the work. <\/p>\n

12 April 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You seem to have written to X <\/i>that there is a special force for the work and, if it is brought down, its action need not remain
\na separate thing from meditation. What is this special force for work? <\/p>\n

It is the Mother’s force, naturally.<\/p>\n

\n

16 May 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is only when work and action are done in that way, without
\ninsistence on one’s personal ideas and personal feelings but only for the Divine’s sake without thought of self that work becomes
\nfully a sadhana and the internal and the external nature can arrive at a harmony. It makes it more possible for the inner being
\nto take up and enlighten the outer action and grow conscious of the Mother’s force behind it guiding it in its works. <\/p>\n

3 January 1937 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Should one try to put out the Mother’s Force during work, if one is conscious of it? <\/p>\n

It is the Mother’s Force that has to work through the sadhak, not the sadhak who has to work through the Mother’s Force. <\/p>\n

If one is not yet conscious of her Force, should one put out one’s inner energy in work? How is the inner energy related
\nto the outer energy? <\/p>\n

\n\tThe first stage is when one works with the outer energy, but there is an
\n\tinner consciousness supporting it which relies wholly on the Mother. The
\n\tsecond is when there is an inner consciousness and force which uses the
\n\touter instruments  \u2014the outer energy<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 245<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

being quiescent or else a part only of the inner 
\n\u2014while this inner consciousness knows that the force is the Mother’s or feels the
\nMother’s presence in it: there are different experiences in this respect. The third is when all is the Mother’s Force working. <\/p>\n

10 April 1937 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are two ways of making an offering to the Mother: one is to offer an act at her feet as one might offer a flower; the
\nother is to withdraw one’s personality and feel as though she were doing all the actions. Which of these ways is better for
\nthe sadhana? <\/p>\n

There is no need to ask which is the better as they are not
\nmutually exclusive. It is the mind that regards them as opposites. The psychic being can offer the act while the nature is passive
\nto the Force (the ego being expunged or having withdrawn) and feels the Mother’s Force doing the act and her Presence in it. <\/p>\n

5 November 1938 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Efface the stamp of ego from the heart and let the love of the Mother take its place. Cast from the mind all insistence on your
\npersonal ideas and judgments, then you will have the wisdom to understand her. Let there be no obsession of self
\n\u2014will, ego \u2014drive
\nin the action, love of personal authority, attachment to personal preference, then the Mother’s force will be able to act clearly in
\nyou and you will get the inexhaustible energy for which you ask and your service will be perfect. <\/p>\n

27 November 1940 <\/p>\n

\n\tWork for the Mother in the Integral Yoga
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To go entirely inside in order to have experiences and to neglect the work, the external consciousness, is to be unbalanced, onesided in the sadhana 
\n\u2014for our Yoga is integral; so also to throw oneself outward and live in the external being alone is to be
\nunbalanced, one \u2014sided in the sadhana. One must have the same  
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 246<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

consciousness in inner experience and outward action and make both full of the Mother. <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There should be not only a general attitude, but each work
\nshould be offered to the Mother so as to keep the attitude a living one all the time. There should be at the time of work
\nno meditation, for that would withdraw the attention from the work, but there should be the constant memory of the One to
\nwhom you offer it. This is only a first process; for when you can have constantly the feeling of a calm being within concentrated
\nin the sense of the Divine Presence while the surface mind does the work, or when you can begin to feel always that it is the
\nMother’s force that is doing the work and you are only a channel or an instrument, then in place of memory there will have
\nbegun the automatic constant realisation of Yoga, divine union, in works. <\/p>\n

April 1930 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Those who do work for the Mother in all sincerity, are prepared by the work itself for the right consciousness even if they do
\nnot sit down for meditation or follow any particular practice of Yoga. It is not necessary to tell you how to meditate; whatever
\nis needful will come of itself if in your work and at all times you are sincere and keep yourself open to the Mother. <\/p>\n

15 March 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother does not think that it is good to give up all work and only read and meditate. Work is part of the Yoga and it
\ngives the best opportunity for calling down the Presence, the Light and the Power into the vital and its activities; it increases
\nalso the field and the opportunity of surrender. <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is not enough to remember that the work is the Mother’s  \u2014and the
\n\tresults also. You must learn to feel the Mother’s force behind you and to
\n\topen to the inspiration and the guidance. Always to remember by an effort of
\n\tthe mind is too difficult;<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 247<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

but if you get into the consciousness in which you feel always the Mother’s force in you or supporting you, that is the true
\nthing.<\/p>\n

\n

18 August 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Mother refuses to relieve you of all work 
\n\t\u2014work is a necessary part of this Yoga. If you do not do work and spend all the time in “meditation”, you and your sadhana will lose all
\nhold of realities; you will lose yourself in uncontrolled subjective imaginations such as those you are now allowing to control
\nyou and lead you into actions  \u2014like your absenting yourself from Pranam, becoming fanciful and irregular in your taking of
\nfood, coming to the Mother at a wrong time and place under the imagination that she has called you 
\n\t\u2014actions dictated by
\nerror and false suggestion and not by Truth. It is by doing work for the Mother with surrender to her, with obedience to her
\nexpressed will, without fancies and vital self \u2014will that you can remain in touch with the embodied Mother here and progress
\nin the Yoga. Mere subjective experiences without control by us will not lead you to the Truth and may lead you far from it into
\nsheer confusion and error. <\/p>\n

If you do not want to do the B. D. [Building Department<\/i>]
\naccount and letter work, you can take up the work of keeping the gate daily from 12 to 2; but it is better if you combine this
\ngate work with the typing of letters whenever needed. If you do not want to do the gate work, then you must go on with the
\nwork you now have. If you take the gate work only, you must hand over the typewriter to the B. D. so that it may continue to
\nbe used for the work you were doing up till now. <\/p>\n

I must warn you that by withdrawing into a one
\n\t\u2014sided subjective existence within and by pushing away from you all touch with physical realities, you are running into a wrong path and
\nimperilling your sadhana. What happens to sadhaks who do this is that they make a mental Formation and put it in place of the
\ntrue embodied Mother here, and then under its inspiration they begin to lose touch with her and disobey her and follow the false
\nsuggestions of their mental Formation. The first thing it does is  
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 248<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

to instigate them not to write to her, not to come to Pranam, not to act as regards food, work etc. on the lines laid down by her, to
\ndisobey her  \u2014as you have disobeyed her with regard to coming to Pranam this morning. Another very bad sign of this false
\ncondition is when they feel not in touch with the Mother when they meet her in the body and guided only by some disembodied
\nMother in their own egoistic consciousness  \u2014that is a sure sign that a Falsehood is getting into their sadhana. As regards their
\nway of life, they do not wish to do like the others, but to have a special way of life of their own, governed by some Imagination
\nwithin them. All this you must stop. You must come to Pranam regularly, take your food regularly, sleep regularly, do the work
\ngiven you conscientiously, following the lines laid down for this Asram by the Mother, and through a right consciousness in this
\nlife you must realise her Truth in the physical existence. <\/p>\n

Your unwillingness to come to the Pranam because that
\nwould interrupt some subjective experience is altogether out of place. No experience in formal meditation, not a hundred
\nexperiences together can be worth the touch of the Mother in the Pranam. If you had the psychic being in front in the physical
\nor even in the heart and the vital, you would feel that at once. Moreover, these experiences are not supramental as you seem to
\nimagine. The supramental Truth could never stand behind such errors as you are making now. Moreover to get the supramental
\nLight is not so easy as you fancy; I have warned again and again the sadhaks against the error of thinking they are already
\nin possession of the supermind or in touch with it. One has to go through a long and patient development through many
\nlower stages of consciousness before one can be even within measurable distance of the supermind. <\/p>\n

\nAll attachment and self \u2014indulgence are dangerous  \u2014attachment and self
\n\u2014indulgence in subjective experiences and remote "meditations", pushing aside
\nthe Truth in objective life is as dangerous as any other. Draw back from these
\nerrors and get back into the true balance of the sadhana. If you want the
\npsychic in the physical, you cannot get it by merely sitting in meditation and
\nhaving abstract experiences; you can get it only by seeking<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 249<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

it in physical life and action, by work for the Mother, obedience and surrender in work to the Mother who is present in her own
\nbody here.<\/p>\n

\n

15 September 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I am alone for some time, I feel aspiration in the heart,
\npeace and Samata. I feel as if nothing can disturb me. But when I come out to work or move here and there and mix
\nwith others, I lose this feeling. Why does it happen like this? <\/p>\n

It is the difficulty of being calm and surrendered in action and
\nmovement; when there is no action and one is simply sitting still, it is easy to be quiet. <\/p>\n

How can this weakness be rejected from the nature so that I can live in peace and Samata in the midst of work and
\neverywhere? <\/p>\n

By rejecting ego and desire and living and working for the Divine
\nalone. <\/p>\n

Will those who live in peace and Samata but do not work for
\nthe Mother’s sake or do little work be transformed fully? <\/p>\n

No; they do not get transformed at all. <\/p>\n

7 May 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If one works with an attitude of service and love, but does not meditate, will it not lead to stagnation from an inner
\nstandpoint? Many say, “We are doing Mother’s work and that is sufficient.” <\/p>\n

If they do it in the right spirit, then it may be sufficient for them, as it will bring the rest 
\n\u2014because of the spirit in which they do
\nit. It is a matter of idiosyncrasy  \u2014there are some who cannot get anything by meditation, so that work or bhakti is their only
\nresource.<\/p>\n

\n

24 May 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\n  
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 250<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

People say, “As long as the lower nature is not fully purified, it is dangerous to do a lot of meditation. If one meditates
\ntoo much before one has become purified by means of work, things might rise up from the lower nature and upset the sadhak. When the higher forces come down into a nature not sufficiently purified through work, it is difficult to bear the
\ndescent of the divine forces.” <\/p>\n

It is not the descent of the higher or divine forces that upsets
\na sadhak, it is his acceptance of forces of falsehood through ambition, vanity, desire to be a great Yogi or an attachment to his experiences without regard to their truth or their source. <\/p>\n

It is not well to spend the whole time or the greater part of the time in meditation unless one is very strong in mind 
\n\u2014for one gets into a habit of living in an inner world entirely and losing touch with external realities 
\n\u2014this brings in a onesided inharmonious movement and may lead to disturbance of balance. To do both meditation and work and dedicate both to
\nthe Mother is the best thing.<\/p>\n

\n

6 August 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My thoughts, emotions and sensations are all turned towards
\nthe Mother. But how can I make them serve her in practical life? I still make mistakes and do not always get the right
\ninspiration. <\/p>\n

That depends on the physical mind. It has to learn to stop listening to itself and following its own ideas and to call seriously and persistently for the inspiration of the Mother 
\n\t\u2014your physical
\nmind has to become a portion of hers, answering at once and accurately to whatever comes from her. <\/p>\n

27 December 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

X <\/i>says that he cannot feel your presence during work as he can during meditation. He does not understand how work can
\nhelp him. <\/p>\n

\n\tHe has to learn to consecrate his work and feel the Mother’s <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 251<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

power working through it. A purely sedentary subjective realisation is only a half realisation. <\/p>\n

23 January 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I pray that I may feel the Mother’s protection while working. I feel happy to work. I am not able to meditate every day, but
\nas long as I am working I feel that the work itself is sadhana. <\/p>\n

Work for the Mother done with the right concentration on her
\nis as much a sadhana as meditation and inner experiences.<\/p>\n

\n

14 March 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During physical pursuits, I find that the Mother’s Force takes
\nthem up. But when I am not working, what should I aspire for? <\/p>\n

For the Mother’s power to work and bring down by the proper
\nstages the higher consciousness. Also for the system to be more and more fit 
\n\t\u2014quiet, egoless, surrendered. <\/p>\n

5 June 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not our experience that by meditation alone it is possible to change the nature, nor has retirement from outward activity and
\nwork much profited those who have tried it; in many cases it has been harmful. A certain amount of concentration, an inner
\naspiration in the heart and an opening of the consciousness to the Mother’s presence there and to the descent from above are
\nneeded. But without action, without work the nature does not really change; it is there and by contact with men that there is
\nthe test of the change in the nature. As for the work one does, there is no higher or lower work; all work is the same provided
\nit is offered to the Mother and done for her and in her power. <\/p>\n

You have probably taken too much work on yourself by
\nadding to the rest accounts, etc. That was not necessary. There is no reason why you should not do a normal amount and have
\ntime and energy for meditation as well. If you wish, however, to change, Mother may consider it, though she does not just now
\nsee how to arrange.<\/p>\n

\n

6 October 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\n  
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 252<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

This [experience of the true attitude<\/i>] happens when the work is always associated with the Mother’s thought, done as an offering
\nto her, with the call to do it through you. All ideas of ego, all association of egoistic feelings with the work must disappear.
\nOne begins to feel the Mother’s force doing the work; the psychic grows through a certain inner attitude behind the work and the
\nadhar becomes open both to the psychic intuitions and influences from within and to the descent from above. Then the result of
\nmeditation can come through the work itself.<\/p>\n

\n

5 May 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just as you give yourself through work to the Mother doing all
\nfor her, so there is an inner giving or consecration. Ordinarily the mind and vital live for themselves, want this or that, seek
\nafter it and feel dissatisfied and unfulfilled if they do not get it. But when they give themselves, this ceases. Whatever the Mother
\ndoes with them that they accept  \u2014ask for nothing, rely on her entirely, live for her will and not for their desires. Then they
\nbegin to be empty of their old selves and old movements, fill with the presence of the Mother, the will of the Mother, the
\nworkings of the Mother  \u2014that becomes all their life.<\/p>\n

\n

27 July 1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once in an interview the Mother told me, “Why do you make
\nany difference between me and work?” I am not sure if I have been able to reproduce the exact words, but they are almost
\nlike that. I pray to you to make the idea a little more explicit. <\/p>\n

As it stands, it has no meaning. What Mother must have said is
\n“Why do you make any separation between me and work?” It is she who is doing the work, she is there in it, so it is a mistake
\nto make an opposition between concentration on her and the work. Her presence is there in both. <\/p>\n

1936 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThis state of mind, described in your letter, must be due to a tension created
\nby an urge in the psychic to make a complete<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 253<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

surrender to the Mother and some obstruction in the vital mind and surface intellect. This mind supports the obstruction by an
\nexcessive self \u2014depreciation (not well \u2014founded as a sound and just self \u2014examination would be) and a questioning of all you
\ndo so that you can see only defects and wrong motives. That creates unrest, doubt and strain and hampers your sadhana and
\nprevents the psychic impulse from acting freely. <\/p>\n

You should do your work simply in the confidence that it
\nis accepted and appreciated by the Mother, as indeed it is,  \u2014for your work has been very good and helpful to her. Let the
\npsychic movement express itself simply and spontaneously in action without allowing the outer mind to interfere; that would
\nvery likely release the tension and then your sadhana could proceed in a quiet cheerfulness, confident of its own truth and the
\nMother’s loving acceptance.<\/p>\n

\n

6 December 1943 <\/p>\n


\nWork for the Mother as Karmayoga
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He should carry on his work and do all things else in the right
\nconsciousness, offering all he does to the Mother and keeping in inner touch with her. All work done in that spirit and with that
\nconsciousness becomes Karmayoga and can be regarded as part of his sadhana. <\/p>\n

10 March 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What you received and kept in the work is indeed the true basic consciousness of Karmayoga 
\n\u2014the calm consciousness from
\nabove supporting and the strength from above doing the work, with that the Bhakti which feels it to be the Mother’s consciousness present and working. You know now by experience what is the secret of Karmayoga. <\/p>\n

15 September 1936 <\/p>\n

\n\tFollowing the Mother’s Will
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The conditions for following the Mother’s will are to turn to her for Light and Truth and Strength, to aspire that no other force
\nshall influence or lead you, to make no demands or conditions  
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 254<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

in the vital, to keep a quiet mind ready to receive the Truth but not insisting on its own ideas and formations, 
\n\u2014finally, to keep
\nthe psychic awake and in front, so that you may be in constant contact and know truly what her will is; for the mind and vital
\ncan mistake other impulsions and suggestions for the Divine Will, but the psychic once awakened makes no mistake. <\/p>\n

A perfect perfection in working is only possible after supramentalisation; but a relative good working is possible on the
\nlower planes if one is in contact with the Divine and careful, vigilant and conscious in mind and vital and body. That is a
\ncondition, besides, which is preparatory and almost indispensable for the supramentalisation. <\/p>\n

23 February 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can I become master of myself and keep self \u2014discipline? <\/p>\n

Observe yourself so that nothing passes without being conscious
\nof it. Do not allow yourself to be moved by the forces of nature without the inner consent. Obey the Mother’s will always; let
\nyour consent or refusal to the movement of forces be in consonance with her Truth. <\/p>\n

10 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can the will be made one with the Mother’s Will? <\/p>\n

The will can be made one with the Mother’s by establishing a
\nconstant contact of the consciousness with hers.<\/p>\n

\n

24 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Does “constant contact of the consciousness” mean mental
\ncontact or psychic? <\/p>\n

It means the whole 
\n\t\u2014with the psychic as the base. <\/p>\n

25 June 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI have been thinking that to change one’s nature first one<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 255<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

must restrain one’s desire, then one must act according to the Mother’s will and gradually there will be no will of one’s
\nown any more  \u2014all will happen by the Mother’s will. Am I right? <\/p>\n

At first one must put one’s will in unison with the Mother’s will knowing that it is an instrument only and that it is the Mother’s
\nwill behind that alone can give the result. Afterwards, when one becomes conscious fully of the Mother’s force working within,
\nthen the personal will is replaced by the divine.<\/p>\n

\n

15 July 1935 <\/p>\n


\nThe Mother’s Consciousness and the Divine Law
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I seek is the total transformation of myself, so that no
\nmovement can be outside the Divine Law. <\/p>\n

Establish the Divine Consciousness (the Mother’s consciousness)
\nin you and the Divine Law will flow from that.<\/p>\n

\n

25 March 1932 <\/p>\n


\nOpening to the Mother in Work
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Demands should not be made. What you receive freely from the
\nMother helps you; what you demand or try to impose on her is bound to be empty of her force. <\/p>\n

The Mother deals with each person differently according to his true need (not what he himself fancies to be his need) and
\nhis progress in the sadhana and his nature. <\/p>\n

For you the most effective way to get the strength you need
\nwould be to do the work conscientiously and scrupulously, allowing nothing to interfere with its exact discharge. If you did
\nthat, opening yourself at the same time to the Mother in your work, you would receive more constantly the grace and would
\ncome to feel her power doing the work through you; you would thus be able to live constantly with the sense of her presence.
\nIf on the contrary you allow your fancies or desires to interfere with your work or are careless and negligent, you interrupt the
\nflow of her grace and give room for sorrow and uneasiness and other foreign forces to enter into you. Yoga through work is the
\n  
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 256<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

easiest and most effective way to enter into the stream of this sadhana. <\/p>\n

8 March 1930 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even the most purely physical and mechanical work cannot be properly done if one accepts incapacity, inertia and passivity.
\nThe remedy is not to confine yourself to mechanical work, but to reject and throw off incapacity, passivity and inertia and
\nopen yourself to the Mother’s force. If vanity, ambition and self \u2014conceit stand in your way, cast them from you. You will not
\nget rid of these things by merely waiting for them to disappear. If you merely wait for things to happen, there is no reason why
\nthey should happen at all. If it is incapacity and weakness that oppose, still, as one opens oneself truly and more and more to
\nthe Mother’s force, the strength and capacity necessary for the work will be given and will grow in the adhar. <\/p>\n

11 March 1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is owing to the good psychic condition in which you are that this lightness and power of work comes into you; for then you
\nare open to the Mother’s Force and it is that that works in you, so that there is no fatigue. You felt the fatigue formerly
\nafter <\/i>the
\nwork was over because your vital was open and the vital energy was the instrument of the work, but the body consciousness was
\nnot quite open and had some strain. This time the physical seems to have opened also. <\/p>\n

1932 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the ordinary condition of the body if you oblige the body to do too much work, it can do with the support of vital force. But
\nas soon as the work is done, the vital force withdraws and then the body feels fatigue. If this is done too much and for too long
\na time, there may be a breakdown of health and strength under the overstrain. Rest is then needed for recovery. <\/p>\n

\nIf however the mind and the vital get the habit of opening to the Mother’s
\nForce, they are then supported by the Force and may even be fully filled with it 
\n\u2014the Force does the work<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 257<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

and the body feels no strain or fatigue before or after. But even then, unless the body itself is open and can absorb and keep the
\nForce, sufficient rest in between the work is absolutely necessary. Otherwise although the body may go on for a very long time,
\nyet in the end there can be a danger of a collapse. <\/p>\n

The body can be sustained for a long time when there is
\nthe full influence and there is a single \u2014minded faith and call in the mind and the vital; but if the mind or the vital is disturbed
\nby other influences or opens itself to forces which are not the Mother’s, then there will be a mixed condition and there will be
\nsometimes strength, sometimes fatigue, exhaustion or illness or a mixture of the two at the same time. <\/p>\n

Finally, if not only the mind and the vital, but the body also is open and can absorb the Force, it can do extraordinary things
\nin the way of work without breaking down. Still, even then rest is necessary. That is why we insist on those who have the impulse
\nof work keeping a proper balance between rest and labour. <\/p>\n

A complete freedom from fatigue is possible, but that comes
\nonly when there is a complete transformation of the law of the body by the full descent of a supramental Force into the
\nearth \u2014nature. <\/p>\n

\n\tRemembering the Mother in Work
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is only by an inner development that you can remember in the midst of work. Meanwhile offer all your work inwardly to the
\nMother.<\/p>\n

\n

21 May 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to remember the Mother during work? I have tried to
\nfollow a mental rule, without success. Perhaps it is the inner consciousness that remembers while the outer is busy? <\/p>\n

One starts by a mental effort 
\n\u2014afterwards it is an inner consciousness that is formed which need not be always
\nthinking <\/i>of
\nthe Mother because it is always conscious of her.<\/p>\n

\n

31 May 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\n  
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 258<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

During mental activities my outer being never remembers the Mother. Please show me the way to remain conscious of her
\nin the midst of intellectual pursuits. <\/p>\n

It can be done when you become the witness detached from the
\nmental actions and not involved in them, not absorbed in them as the mental doer or thinker. <\/p>\n

20 March 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since yesterday I have always been in touch with the Mother during work. Not only do I remember her but the connection
\nwith her remains during work. Her Force constantly flows into the Adhar and the work is done automatically, but swiftly,
\nperfectly, unhesitatingly  \u2014without personal anxieties and responsibilities; instead, there is confidence, sureness, strength,
\ncalmness. I feel that if I can do work in this attitude, it will be perfect, flawless, the work of the Mother’s child, not of an
\negoistic man. Kindly let me know if I am correct. <\/p>\n

Yes, it is a very good progress and the first step towards the right
\nuse of the Power for action.<\/p>\n

\n

1 April 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The little experience I have of sadhana through works makes
\nme incline to the view that work as sadhana is the most difficult of all. I don’t remember any experience got through it nor
\ncan I remember that I am doing the Mother’s work; whereas in poetry, though I may be unlucky as regards experiences,
\nwhen one writes a poem one does try to think of her, at least mentally. I can even say that it is only by thinking of her that
\nI can compose the lines. <\/p>\n

Many find it easy to think of the Mother when working; but
\nwhen they read or write, their mind goes off to the thing read or written and they forget everything else. I think that is the
\ncase with most. Physical work on the other hand can be done with the most external part of the mind, leaving the rest free to
\nremember or to experience.<\/p>\n

\n

10 January 1936
\n  
\n260<\/i> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 259<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n


\nOffering Actions to the Mother
\n<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Whatever work you do, take it as the Mother’s and offer it to
\nthe Mother.<\/p>\n

\n

14 November 1933 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After finishing any activity, even eating and drinking, I make
\nan offering of it to the Mother, saying, “I offer this work done by me to Thee.” But now a sense is growing in me that all
\nworks are done by the Mother’s Power of Nature through the individual nature. Accordingly, can I substitute the wording in
\nthis way, “All the work that is done by the (or my) individual nature is wholeheartedly offered to Thee”? Or what to say? <\/p>\n

All that is done in me by Nature, I offer wholeheartedly for transformation to Thee, O Mother. <\/p>\n

5 March 1934 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have read in many places that we should refer all our actions to the Mother. But I don’t know how to refer them and get
\nher answer as to whether the actions should be done or not. <\/p>\n

There is no question of getting an answer. It is simply to offer
\nthe actions to the Mother and call her Force to guide or do what is necessary. <\/p>\n

13 January 1936 <\/p>\n

\n\tWork for the Mother and the Worker’s Ego
\n\t<\/a>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it always necessary for our work to be prompted or initiated by the Mother in an outward way? Could one not feel so
\nintensely that a thing has to be done that it is almost an inner prompting? <\/p>\n

It would be dangerous to take every “inner prompting” as if it were a prompting or initiation of action from the Mother. What
\nseems an inner prompting may come from anywhere, any Force good or bad seeking to fulfil itself. <\/p>\n

One may have ego about the work even if the work itself comes from the Mother. The ego of the instrument is one of the
\nthings against which there must be special care in the Yoga.  
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 260<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

When one is doing the work, usually the urge of the force that works and the preoccupation of doing it and getting it done
\nor the pleasure of doing it are sufficient and the mind does not think of anything else. Afterwards the sense of “I did it” comes
\nup. With some however the ego is active during the work itself.<\/p>\n

\n

3 November 1935 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In order to separate the being from the constant interference
\nof the ego, I propose to do only those actions that I feel are one with the Mother’s will. I know that the ego will still
\npresent itself, but it will be easy to recognise its interference as something coming from outside. <\/p>\n

Of course it is a way. But one has still to be careful about the ego. Even people who sincerely think they are doing only the
\nMother’s will are yet actuated by ego without knowing it.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t4 April 1936    <\/p>\n

\n\t <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/font>\u2013 261<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sadhana through Work for the Mother   Finding the Mother’s Force in Work and Action   Yesterday I worked with great vigour and after I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-32-the-mother-with-letters-on-the-mother","wpcat-56-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938","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=2938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}