{"id":3537,"date":"2013-07-13T01:49:14","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3537"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:49:14","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:49:14","slug":"001-experiences-and-realisations-vol-on-yoga-2-tome-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/on-yoga-2-tome-two\/001-experiences-and-realisations-vol-on-yoga-2-tome-two","title":{"rendered":"-001_Experiences and Realisations.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

 Part Three<\/i><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

     Section One<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/i>EXPERIENCES AND
\nREALISATIONS
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

      EXPERIENCES
\nAND REALISATIONS
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     
\nI
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Experience is a
\nword that covers almost all’ the happenings in yoga; only when something gets
\nsettled, then it is no longer an experience but part of the siddhi; e.g. peace
\nwhen it comes and goes is an experience\u2014when it is settled and goes no more it
\nis a siddhi. Realisation is different\u2014it is when something for which you are
\naspiring becomes real to you; e.g. you have the idea of the Divine in all, but
\nit is only an idea, a belief; when you feel or see the Divine in all, it becomes
\na realisation.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      All this is to
\nmake unnecessary distinctions. An experience of a truth in the substance of
\nmind, in the vital or the physical, wherever it may be, is the beginning of
\nrealisation. When I experience peace, I begin to realise what it is. Repetition
\nof the experience leads to a fuller and more permanent realisation. When it is
\nsettled anywhere, that is the full realisation of it in that place or that part
\nof the being.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   *                                                              
\n*<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It is
\nspirituality when you begin to become aware of another consciousness than the
\nego and begin to live in it or under its influence more and more. It is that
\nconsciousness wide, infinite,<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-5<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

self-existent, pure of ego etc. which is
\ncalled Spirit (Self, Brahman, Divine), so this necessarily must be the meaning
\nof spirituality. Realisation is this and all else that the experience and growth
\nof this greater consciousness brings with it.\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The yogi is one
\nwho is already established in realisation\u2014the sadhak is one who is getting or
\nstill trying to get realisation.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      There is no law
\nthat a feeling cannot be an experience; experiences are of all kinds and take
\nall forms in the consciousness. When the consciousness undergoes, sees or feels
\nanything spiritual or psychic or even occult, that is an experience\u2014in the
\ntechnical yogic sense, for there are of course all sorts of experiences that are
\nnot of that character. The feelings themselves are of many kinds. The word
\nfeeling is often used for an emotion, and there can be psychic or spiritual
\nemotions which are numbered among yogic experiences, such as a wave of
\nśuddha bhakti <\/i>or the rising of love towards the Divine. A feeling also
\nmeans a perception of something felt\u2014a perception in the vital or psychic or in
\nthe essential substance of the consciousness. I find even often a mental
\nperception when it is very vivid described as a feeling. If you exclude all
\nthese feelings and kindred ones and say that they are feelings, not experiences,
\nthen there is very little room left for. experiences at all. Feeling and vision
\nare the main forms of spiritual experience. One sees and feels the Brahman
\neverywhere; one feels a force enter or go out from one; one feels or sees the
\npresence of the Divine within or around one; one\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage-6<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

feels or sees the descent of Light; one feels
\nthe descent of Peace or Ananda. Kick out all that on the ground that it is only
\na feeling and you make a clean sweep of most of the things that we call
\nexperience. Again, we feel a change in the substance of the consciousness or the
\nstate of consciousness. We feel ourselves spreading in wideness and the body as
\na small thing in the wideness (this can be seen also); we feel the
\nheart-consciousness being wide instead of narrow, soft instead of hard,
\nillumined instead of obscure, the head-consciousness also, the vital, even the
\nphysical; we feel thousands of things of all kinds and why are we not to call
\nthem experience? Of course it is an inner sight, an inner feeling, subtle
\nfeeling, not material, like the feeling of a cold wind or a stone or any other
\nobject, but as the inner consciousness deepens it is not less vivid or concrete,
\nit is even more so.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      In a more deep
\nand spiritual sense a concrete realisation is that which makes the thing
\nrealised more real, dynamic, intimately present to the consciousness than any
\nphysical thing can be. Such a realisation of the personal Divine or of the
\nimpersonal Brahman or of the Self does not usually come at the beginning of a
\nsadhana or in the first years or for many years. It comes so to a very few. But
\nto expect and demand it so soon would be taken in the eyes of any experienced
\nyogi or sadhak as a rather rash and abnormal impatience. Most would say that a
\nslow development is the best one can hope for in the first years and only when
\nthe nature is ready and fully concentrated towards the Divine can the definitive
\nexperience come. To some rapid preparatory experiences can come at a
\ncomparatively early stage, but even\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-7<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

they cannot escape the labour of the
\nconsciousness which will make these experiences culminate in the realisation
\nthat is enduring and complete. It is not a question of liking or disliking, it
\nis a matter of fact and truth and experience. It is the fact that people who are
\ncheerful and ready to go step by step, even by slow steps, if need be, do
\nactually march faster and more surely than those who are impatient and in haste.
\nIt is what I have always seen.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

      It
\n[self-realisation] is not a long process! The whole life and several lives more
\nare often not enough to achieve it. Rama-krishna’s Guru took 30  years to
\narrive and even then he did not claim that he had realised it.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      What I meant
\nabout the experiences was simply this that you have created your own ideas about
\nwhat you want from the yoga and have always been measuring what began to come by
\nthat standard and because it was not according to expectations or up to that
\nstandard, telling yourself after a moment, "It is nothing, it is nothing". That
\ndissatisfaction laid you open at every step to a reaction or a recoil which
\nprevented any continuous development. The yogin who has experience knows that
\nthe small beginnings are of the greatest importance and have to be cherished and
\nallowed with great patience to develop. He knows, for instance, that the neutral
\nquiet so dissatisfying to the vital eagerness of the sadhak is the first step
\ntowards the peace that passeth all understanding, the small current or thrill of
\ninner delight the first trickling 0<\/sub>f the ocean of Ananda, the play of
\nlights or colours \n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-8<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

the key of the doors of the inner vision and
\nexperience, the descent that stiffens the body into a concentrated stillness the
\nfirst touch of something at the end of which is the presence of the Divine. He
\nis not impatient; he is rather careful not to disturb the evolution that is
\nbeginning. Certainly some sadhaks have strong and decisive experiences at the
\nbeginning, but these are followed by a long labour in which there are many empty
\nperiods and periods of struggle.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      I don’t say
\nthat these experiences are always of no value, but they are so mixed and
\nconfused that if one runs after them without any discrimination at all they end
\nby either leading astray, sometimes tragically astray, or by bringing one into a
\nconfused nowhere.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      That does not
\nmean that all such experiences are useless or without value. There are those
\nthat are sound as well as those that are unsound; those that are helpful, in the
\ntrue hue, sometimes sign-posts, sometimes stages on the way to realisation,
\nsometimes stuff and material of the realisation. These naturally and rightly one
\nseeks for, calls, strives after, or at least one opens oneself in the confident
\nexpectation that they will sooner or later arrive. Your own main experiences may
\nhave been few or not continuous, but I <\/b>
\ncannot say that they were not sound or unhelpful. I would say that it is better
\nto have a few of these than a multitude of others. My only meaning in what I
\nwrote was not to be impressed by mere wealth of experiences or to think that
\nthat is sufficient to constitute a great sadhak or that not to have this wealth
\nis necessarily an inferiority, a lamentable deprivation or a poverty of the one
\nthing desirable.\n<\/p>\n

  
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-9<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

       
\nThere are two classes of things that happen in yoga, realisations and
\nexperiences. Realisations are the reception in the consciousness and the
\nestablishment there of the fundamental truths of the Divine, of the Higher or
\nDivine Nature, of the world-consciousness and the play of its forces, of one’s
\nown self and real nature and the inner nature of things, the power of these
\nthings growing in one till they are a part of one’s inner life and existence,\u2014as
\nfor instance, the realisation of the Divine Presence, the descent and settling
\nof the higher Peace, Light, Force, Ananda in the consciousness, their workings
\nthere, the realisation of the divine or spiritual love, the perception of one’s
\nown psychic being, the discovery of one’s own true mental being, true vital
\nbeing, true physical being, the realisation of the overmind or the supramental
\nconsciousness, the clear perception of the relation of all these things to our
\npresent inferior nature and their action on it to change that lower nature. The
\nlist, of course, might be infinitely longer. These things also are often called
\nexperiences when they only come in flashes, snatches or rare visitations; they
\nare spoken of as full realisations only when they become very positive or
\nfrequent or continuous or normal.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Then there are
\nexperiences that help or lead towards the realisation of things spiritual or
\ndivine or bring openings or progressions in the sadhana or are supports on the
\nway,\u2014experiences of a symbolic character, visions, contacts of one kind or
\nanother with the Divine or with the workings of higher Truth, things like the
\nwaking of the Kundalini, the opening of the Chakras, messages, intuitions,
\nopenings of the inner powers, etc. The one thing that one has to be careful
\nabout is to see that they are genuine and sincere and that depends on one’s own
\nsincerity\u2014for if one is not sincere, if one is more concerned with the ego or
\nbeing a big yogi or becoming a superman than with meeting the Divine or\n<\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-10<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

getting the Divine consciousness which enables
\none to live in or with the Divine, then a flood of pseudos or mixtures comes in,
\none is led into the mazes of the intermediate zone or spins in the grooves of
\none’s own formations. There is the truth of the whole matter.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Then why does X
\nsay that one should not hunt after experiences, but only love and seek the
\nDivine? It simply means that you have not to make experiences your main aim, but
\nthe Divine only your aim, and if you do that, you are more likely to get the
\ntrue helpful experiences and avoid the wrong ones. If one seeks mainly after
\nexperiences, his yoga may become a mere self-indulgence in the lesser things of
\nmental, vital and subtle physical worlds or in spiritual secondaries, or it may
\nbring down a turmoil or maelstrom of the mixed and the whole or half-pseudo and
\nstand between the soul and the Divine. That is a very sound rule of sadhana. But
\nall these rules and statements must be taken with a sense of measure and in
\ntheir proper limits, \u2014it does not mean that one should not welcome helpful
\nexperiences or that they have no value. Also when a sound line of experience
\nopens, it is perfectly permissible to follow it out, keeping always the central
\naim in view. All helpful or supporting contacts in dream or vision, such as
\nthose you speak of, are to be welcomed and accepted. Experiences of the right
\nkind are a support and help towards the realisation; they are in every way
\nacceptable.\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Do not be
\nover-eager for experiences; for experiences you can always get, having once
\nbroken the barrier between the physical mind and the subtle planes. What you
\nhave to aspire for most\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-11<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

is the improved quality of the recipient
\nconsciousness in you, discrimination in the mind, the unattached impersonal
\nWitness look on all that goes on in you and around you, purity in the vital,
\ncalm equanimity, enduring patience, absence of pride and the sense of
\ngreatness\u2014and more especially, the development of the psychic being in
\nyou\u2014surrender, self-giving, psychic humility, devotion. It is a consciousness
\nmade up of these things, cast in this mould, that can bear without breaking,
\nstumbling or deviation into error the rush of lights, power and experiences from
\nthe supraphysical planes. An entire perfection in these respects is hardly
\npossible until the whole nature from the higher mind to the subconscient
\nphysical is made one in the light that is greater than the mind, but a
\nsufficient foundation and a consciousness always self-observant, vigilant and
\ngrowing in these things is indispensable\u2014for perfect purification is the basis
\nof the perfect Siddhi.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      I don’t think
\nthere is any cause for dissatisfaction with the progress made by you.
\nExperiences come to many before the nature is ready to make full profit from
\nthem; to others a more or less prolonged period of purification and preparation
\nof the stuff of the nature or the instruments comes first, while experiences are
\nheld up till this process is largely or wholly over. The latter method which
\nseems to be adopted in your case is the safer and sounder of the two. In this
\nrespect we think it is evident that you have made considerable progress, for
\ninstance, in control over the violence and impatience and heat natural to the
\nvolcanic energy of your temperament, in sincerity also in curbing the devious
\nand errant impulses of an enormously active mind and\n<\/p>\n

  \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-12<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

temperament, in a greater quiet and harmony in
\nthe being as a whole. No doubt, the process has to be completed, but something
\nvery fundamental seems to have been done. It is more important to look at the
\nthing from the positive rather than the negative side. The things that have to
\nbe established are\u2014brahmacaryam śamah satyam praśāntir ātmasamyama:
\nbrahmacarya, <\/i>complete sex-purity; śamah, <\/i>quiet and harmony in the
\nbeing, its forces maintained but controlled, harmonised, disciplined; satyam, <\/i>
\ntruth and sincerity in the whole nature; praśāntih, <\/i>a general state of
\npeace and calm; ātmasamyama, <\/i>the power and habit to control whatever
\nneeds control in the movements of the nature. When these are fairly established,
\none has laid the foundation on which one can develop the yoga consciousness and
\nwith the yoga consciousness there comes an easy opening to realisation and
\nexperience.\n<\/p>\n

    \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      But why be
\noverwhelmed by any wealth of any kind of experiences? What does it amount to,
\nafter all? The quality of a sadhak does not depend on that; one great spiritual
\nrealisation direct and at the centre will often make a great sadhak or yogi, an
\narmy of intermediate yogic experiences will not, that has been amply proved by a
\nhost of instances…. You need not therefore compare that wealth to your
\npoverty. To open yourself to the descent of the higher consciousness (the true
\nbeing) is the one thing needed and that, even if that comes after long effort
\nand many failures, is better than a hectic gallop leading nowhere.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Experience in
\nthe sadhana is bound to begin with the mental plane,\u2014all that is necessary is
\nthat the experience should be\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-13<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

sound and genuine. The pressure of
\nunderstanding and will in the mind and the Godward emotional urge in the heart
\nare the two first agents of yoga, and peace, purity and calm (with a lulling of
\nthe lower unrest) are precisely the first basis that has to be laid; to get that
\nis much more important in the beginning than to get a glimpse of the
\nsupraphysical worlds or to have visions, voices and powers. Purification and
\ncalm are the first needs in the yoga. One may have a great wealth of experiences
\nof that kind (worlds, visions, voices, etc.) without them, but these experiences
\noccurring in an unpurified and troubled consciousness are usually full of
\ndisorder and mixture.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      At first the
\npeace and calm are not continuous, they come and go, and it usually takes a long
\ntime to get them settled in the nature. It is better therefore to avoid
\nimpatience and to go on steadily with what is being done. If you wish to have
\nsomething beyond the peace and calm, let it be the full opening of the inner
\nbeing and the consciousness of the Divine Power working in you. Aspire for that
\nsincerely and with a great intensity but without impatience and it will come.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Quite correct.
\nUnless the Adhar is made pure, neither the higher truth (intuitive, illumined,
\nspiritual) nor the overmental nor the supramental can manifest; whatever forces
\ncome down from them get mixed with the inferior consciousness and the half-truth
\ntakes the place of the Truth or even sometimes a dangerous error.\n<\/p>\n

  \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-14<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

At a certain stage of the sadhana, in the
\nbeginning (or near it) of the more intense experiences, it sometimes happens
\nthat there is the intense realisation of some aspect of the Divine, a sort of
\ncommunion with it, and that is seen everywhere and all as that. It is a
\ntransitory phase and afterwards one gets the larger experience of the Divine in
\nall its aspects and beyond all aspects. Throughout the experience there should
\nbe one part of the being that observes and understands\u2014for, sometimes ignorant
\nsadhaks are carried away by their experience and stop short there or fall into
\nextravagance. It must be taken as an experience through which you are passing.\n<\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The special
\nexperiences you are having are glimpses of what is to be and what is growing and
\npreparing and are helping to make the consciousness ready for it. It is not
\ntherefore surprising that they change and are replaced by others\u2014that is what
\nusually happens; for it is not these forms that are to be perpetuated, but the
\nessence of the tiling which they are bringing. Thus the one thing that has to
\ngrow most now is the silence, the quietude, the peace, the free emptiness into
\nwhich experiences can come, the sense of coolness and release. When that is in
\npossession of the consciousness fully, then something else will come into it
\nwhich is also essential to the true consciousness and fix itself \u2014it proceeds
\nusually like that. There is nothing strange therefore in the special forms of
\nexperience ceasing and being followed by others after you have written about or
\nbrought them to the Mother. When the more permanent forms of realisation begin
\nto come, it will no longer be like that.\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

   
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-15<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

I do not question at all the personal
\nintensity or concreteness of your internal experiences, but experiences can be
\nintense and yet be very mixed in their truth and their character. In your
\nexperience your own subjectivity, sometimes your ego-pushes interfere very much
\nand give them their form and the impression they create on you. It is only if
\nthere is a pure psychic response that the form given to the experience is likely
\nto be the right one and the mental and vital movements will then present
\nthemselves in their true nature. Otherwise the mind, the vital, the ego give
\ntheir own colour to what happens, their own turn, very usually their own
\ndeformation. Intensity <\/i>is not a guarantee of entire truth and correctness
\nin an experience; it is only purity <\/i>of the consciousness that can give an
\nentire truth and correctness.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The Mother’s
\npresence is always there; but if you decide to-act on your own\u2014your own idea,
\nyour own notion of things, your own will and demand upon things, then it is
\nquite likely that her presence will get veiled; it is not she who withdraws from
\nyou, but you who draw back from her. But your mind and vital don’t want to admit
\nthat, because it is always their preoccupation to justify their own movements.
\nIf the psychic were allowed its full predominance, this would not happen; it
\nwould have felt the veiling, but it would at once have said, "There must have
\nbeen some mistake in me, a mist has arisen in me," and it would have looked and
\nfound the cause.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It is perfectly
\ntrue that so long as there is not an unreserved self-giving in both the internal
\nand external, there will always-be veilings, dark periods and difficulties. But
\nif there is unreserved self-giving in the internal, the unreserved self-giving
\nin the external would naturally follow; if it does not, it means that the
\ninternal is not unreservedly surrendered;\n<\/p>\n

   
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-16<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

there are reservations in some part of the
\nmind insisting on its own ideas and notions; reservations in some part of the
\nvital insisting on its own demands, impulses, movements, ego-ideas, formations;
\nreservations in the internal physical insisting on its own old habits of many
\nkinds, and all claiming consciously, half-consciously or subconsciously that
\nthese should be upheld, respected, satisfied, taken as an important element in
\nthe work,, the "creation" or the yoga.\n<\/p>\n

    \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Experiences on
\nthe mental and vital and subtle physical planes or thought formations and vital
\nformations are often represented as if they were concrete external happenings;
\ntrue experiences are in the same way distorted by mental and vital accretions
\nand additions. One of the first needs in our yoga is a discrimination and a
\npsychic tact distinguishing the false from the true, putting each thing in its
\nplace and giving it its true value or absence of value, not carried away by the
\nexcitement of the mind or the vital being.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     
\nII <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Merely to have
\nexperiences of the higher consciousness will not change the nature. Either the
\nhigher consciousness has to make a dynamic descent into the whole being and
\nchange it; or it must establish itself in the inner being down to the inner
\nphysical so that the latter feels itself separate from the outer and is able to
\nact freely upon it; or the psychic must come forward and change the nature; or
\nthe inner will must awake and force the\n<\/p>\n

   
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-17<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

nature to change. These are the four ways in
\nwhich change can be brought about.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The difficulty
\nof the yoga is not in getting experiences or a subjective realisation of the
\nTruth; it is in objectivising the Truth, that is in making the outer
\nconsciousness down to the material an expression of the inner Truth. So long as
\nthat is not done the attacks of the lower Nature can always intervene.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The cosmic
\nconsciousness, the overmind knowledge and experience is an inner knowledge\u2014but
\nits effect is subjective. As long as one has that one can be free in soul, but
\nto transform the external nature more is necessary.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Subjective does
\nnot mean false. It only means that the Truth is experienced within, but it has
\nnot yet taken hold of the dynamic relations with the outside existence. It is an
\ninner experience of the cosmic consciousness and the overmind knowledge.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      I have told you
\nonce before that your experiences are subjective \u2014and in the subjective sphere
\nthey are correct in substance so far as they go. But to enter the supermind,
\nsubjective experience\n<\/p>\n

  
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-18<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

is not sufficient. Some sufficient application
\nof intuition and overmind to life must first be done.\n<\/p>\n

    \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What do you mean by true? You have a
\nsubjective experience belonging to a higher plane of consciousness. When you
\ndescend, you come down with it into the material and the whole of existence is
\nseen by you in the truth of that consciousness\u2014just as when a man sees the
\nvision of the Divine everywhere, he sees all down to the material world as the
\nDivine.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It happens so
\nin the sadhak’s own subjective consciousness. Of course it does not mean that
\nthe whole world becomes like that\u2014everybody’s consciousness….If your
\nexperience were objective, then that would mean that the world had changed,
\neverybody became conscious, no sorrow or suffering anywhere. Needless to say,
\nthe material world has not changed objectively in that way, only in your own
\nconsciousness subjectively you see the Divine everywhere, all disharmony
\ndisappears, sorrow and suffering become impossible for the time at least\u2014that is
\na subjective experience.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It depends on
\nwhat you mean by subjective and objective. Knowledge and Ignorance are in their
\nnature subjective. But from the personal point of view, the Force of Ignorance
\nmay manifest as something objective outside oneself so that even when\n<\/p>\n

     
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-19<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

one has Knowledge for oneself one cannot
\nremove the environing Ignorance. If that is so, Ignorance is not merely a
\nsubjective force in oneself, it is there in the world.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It seems to
\nhave been a series of experiences of the different Bhavas of bhakti and it came
\nfor experience only\u2014or for a manifold development of the bhakti. These, of
\ncourse, are purely subjective experiences meant to educate the consciousness and
\nhave no definite value for the actual manifestation. It is merely for subjective
\nexperience and knowledge.\n<\/p>\n

  \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The golden
\nlight is usually a light from the supermind\u2014a light of Truth-Knowledge (it may
\nsometimes be the supramental Truth-Knowledge turned into overmind or intuitive
\ntruth). Orange often indicates occult power. You have a strong power of
\n(subjective) creative formation, mostly, I think, in the mental but partly too
\non the vital plane. This kind of formative faculty can be used for objective
\nresults if accompanied by a sound knowledge of the occult forces and their
\nworkings; but by itself it results more often in one’s building up an inner
\nworld of one’s own in which you can live very well satisfied, as long as you
\nlive in yourself, apart from any close contact with external physical life; but
\nit does not stand the test of objective experience.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      In each plane
\nthere is an objective as well as a subjective side. It is not the physical plane
\nand life alone that are objective.\n<\/p>\n

 
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-20<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

      When you have
\nthe power of formation of which I spoke, whatever is suggested to the mind, the
\nmind constructs and establishes a form of it in itself. But this power can cut
\ntwo ways; it may tempt the mind to construct mere images of the reality and
\nmistake them for the reality itself. It is one of the many dangers of a too
\nactive mind.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      You make a
\nformation in your mind or on the vital plane in yourself\u2014it is a kind of
\ncreation, but subjective only; it affects only your own mental or vital being.
\nYou can create by ideas, thought-forms, images, a whole world in yourself or for
\nyourself; but it stops there.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Some have the
\npower of making consciously formations that go out and affect the mind, actions,
\nvital movements, external lives of others. These formations may be destructive
\nas well as creative.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Finally, there
\nis the power to make formations that become effective realities in the
\nearth-consciousness here, in its mind, life, physical existence. That is what we
\nusually mean by creation.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     
\nIII <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mental realisation is useful at the beginning
\nand prepares spiritual experience.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It can help too
\nat the beginning\u2014but also it can hinder. It depends on the sadhak.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wordsworth’s experience also was mental.
\nMental experiences are of course a good preparation, but to stop there leaves
\none far away from the real thing.\n<\/p>\n

    \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-21<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

It [realisation of the Divine in the mind] is
\na certain kind of living cognition\u2014of which there are two parts\u2014the living
\nperception in thought rising as far as intuition or revelation, the vivid mental
\nfeeling and reproduction of what is thus known in the substance of mind. Thus
\nthe One in all is felt, seen, realised by the mind by a sort of inner mental
\nsense. The spiritual realisation is more concrete than that\u2014one has the
\nknowledge by a kind of identity in one’s very substance.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      You have to
\nknow by experience. The mental perception and mental realisation are different
\nfrom each other\u2014the first is only an idea, in the second the mind in its very
\nsubstance reflects or reproduces the truth. The spiritual experience is more
\nthan the mental\u2014it is in the very substance of the being that the experience
\ntakes place.\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      A mental or
\nvital sense of oneness has not the same essentiality or the same effect as a
\nspiritual realisation of oneness\u2014just as the mental perception of the Divine is
\nnot the same thing as the spiritual realisation. The consciousness of one plane
\nis different from the consciousness of another. Spiritual and psychic love are
\ndifferent from mental, vital or physical love\u2014so with everything else. So too
\nwith the perception of oneness and its effects. That is why the different planes
\nhave their importance; otherwise their existence would have no meaning.\n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-22<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

Yes, so long as the attitude is mental it is
\ninsecure because it is something imposed on the nature\u2014a mental direction and
\ncontrol But with the spiritual experience what begins is a change in the stuff
\nof the consciousness itself and by that, as it proceeds to settle and confirm
\nitself, begins naturally what we call the transformation of the nature.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No, the phrase ["stuff of consciousness"]
\nsimply means "substance of consciousness", the consciousness in itself.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      As the yogic
\nexperience develops, consciousness is felt as something quite concrete in which
\nthere are movements and formations which are what we call thoughts, feelings
\netc.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your feeling is quite correct. All spiritual
\nexperience is a substantial experience\u2014consciousness, Ananda even are felt as
\nsomething substantial. It is also true that it is felt so by something deeper
\nthan mind; it is the mind that turns concrete realities into abstractions.\n<\/p>\n

    \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These disadvantages of mental knowledge no
\ndoubt exist. But I doubt whether anybody could mentally simulate to himself the
\nexperience of the One everywhere or the downflow of peace. He might mistake a
\nfirst mental realisation for the deeper spiritual one or think the descent was
\nin his physical when it was in\n<\/p>\n

  
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-23<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

his mental influencing the body through the
\nmental sheath of the subtle body\u2014but those who have no mental knowledge can also
\nmake these mistakes. The disadvantage of the one who does not know mentally is
\nthat he gets the experience without understanding it and this may be a hindrance
\nor at least retardatory to development while he would not get so easily out of a
\nmistake as one more mentally enlightened.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Usually they
\n[who do not have the mental knowledge about the universal Self] feel first
\nthrough the psychic centre by union with the Mother and do not call it the
\nSelf\u2014or else they simply feel a wideness and peace in the head or in the heart.
\nPrevious mental knowledge is not indispensable. I have seen in more cases than
\none sadhaks getting the Brahman realisation and asking "what is
\nthis?"\u2014describing it with great vividness and exactness but without any of the
\nknown terms.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Just after
\nwriting this I read a letter from a sadhika in which she writes "I see that my
\nhead is becoming very quiet, pure, luminous, universal, viśvamaya." <\/i>Well
\nthat is the beginning of the realisation of the universal Brahman\u2014Self in the
\nmind, but if I put it to her in that language she would understand nothing.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Even imagined
\nexperiences (honestly imagined) can help to mental realisation and mental
\nrealisation can be a step to total realisation.\n<\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPagee-24<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

When one is living in the physical mind, the
\nonly way to escape from it is imagination. Incidentally, that is why poetry and
\nart, etc. have so strong a hold. But these imaginations are often really shadows
\nof supraphysical experience and once the barrier of the physical mind is broken
\nor even swung a little open, there come the experiences themselves, if the
\ntemperament is favourable. Hence are born visions and other such phenomena\u2014all
\nthose that are miscalled psychic phenomena.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      As for prayer,
\nno hard and fast rule can be laid down. Some prayers are answered, all are not.
\nYou may ask, why should not then all prayers be answered? But why should they
\nbe? it is not a machinery: put a prayer in the slot and get your asking.
\nBesides, considering all the contradictory things mankind is praying for at the
\nsame moment, God would be in a rather awkward hole if he had to grant all of
\nthem; it wouldn’t do.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     
\nIV <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      There is no
\nimpossibility in the purification of the heart which was the thing you were
\ntrying for, and when the heart is purified, other things which seemed impossible
\nbefore become easy\u2014even the inner surrender which now seems to you
\nimpracticable.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It is the usual
\nexperience that if the humility and resignation are firmly founded in the heart,
\nother things like trust come naturally afterwards. If once the psychic light and
\nhappiness which is the boon of these things is founded, it is not easy for other
\nforces to cloud that state and not possible for them to destroy it. That is the
\ncommon experience.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Purification
\nand consecration are two great necessities of sadhana. Those who have
\nexperiences before purification run a great risk: it is much better to have the
\nheart pure first, for\n<\/p>\n

  
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-25<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

then the way becomes safe. That is why I
\nadvocate the psychic change of the nature first\u2014for that means the purification
\nof the heart: the turning of it wholly to the Divine, the subjection of the mind
\nand the vital to the control of the inner being, the soul. Always, when the soul
\nis in front, one gets the right guidance from within as to what is to be done,
\nwhat avoided, what is the wrong thing or the true thing in thought, feeling,
\naction. But this inner intimation emerges in proportion as the consciousness
\ngrows more and more pure.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The
\nstumbling-block of X was ambition, pride, vanity\u2014the desire to be a big yogi
\nwith occult powers. To try to bring down occult powers into an unpurified mind,
\nheart and body\u2014well, you can do it if you want to dance on the edge of a
\nprecipice. Or you can do it if your aim is not to be spiritual but to be an
\noccultist, for then you can follow the necessary methods and get the help of the
\noccult powers. On the other hand, the true occult spiritual forces and mysteries
\ncan be called down or can come down without calling, but this must be made
\nsecondary to the one true thing, the seeking for the Divine, and if it is part
\nof the Divine plan in you. Occult powers can only be for the spiritual man an
\ninstrumentation of the Divine Power that uses-him: they cannot be the aim or an
\naim of his sadhana. Many people have a habit of doing yoga according to their
\nown ideas without caring for the guidance of the Guru\u2014from whom, however, they
\nexpect an entire protection and success in sadhana even if they prance or gambol
\ninto the wrongest paths possible.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      What I mean by
\nsubtle methods is psychological, non-mechanical processes, e.g., concentration
\nin the heart, surrender, self-purification, working out by inner means the
\nchange of the consciousness. This does not mean that there is no outer change:
\nthe outer change is necessary but as a part of the inner change.\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-26<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

If there is impurity or insincerity within,
\nthe outer change will not be effective, but if there is a sincere inner working,
\nthe outer change will help it and accelerate the process….The most important
\nthing for the purification of the heart is an absolute sincerity. No pretence
\nwith oneself, no concealment from the Divine, or oneself, or the Guru, a
\nstraight look at one’s movements, a straight will to make them straight. It does
\nnot so much matter if it takes time: one must be prepared to make it one’s whole
\nlife-task to seek the Divine. Purifying the heart means after all a pretty
\nconsiderable achievement and it is no use getting despondent, despairful, etc.,
\nbecause one finds things in oneself that still need to be changed. If one keeps
\nthe true will and true attitude, then the intuitions or intimations from within
\nwill begin to grow, become clear, precise, unmistakable and the strength to
\nfollow them will grow also: and then before even you are satisfied with
\nyourself, the Divine will be satisfied with you and begin to withdraw the veil
\nby which he protects himself and his seekers against a premature and perilous
\ngrasping of the greatest thing to which humanity can aspire.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The automatic
\ntendency is a good sign as it shows that it is the inner being opening to the
\nTruth which is pressing forward the necessary changes.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      As you say, it
\nis the failure of the right attitude that comes in the way of passing through
\nordeals to a change of nature. The pressure is becoming greater now for this
\nchange of character even more than for decisive yoga experiences\u2014for if the
\nexperience comes, it fails to be decisive because of the want of the requisite
\nchange of nature. The mind, for instance, gets the\n<\/p>\n

  \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-27<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

experience of One in all, but the vital cannot
\nfollow, because it is dominated by ego-reaction and ego-motive or the habits of
\nthe outer nature keep up a way of thinking, feeling, acting, living which is
\nquite out of harmony with the experience, or the psychic and part of the mind
\nand emotional being feel frequently the closeness of the Mother, but the rest of
\nthe nature is un-offered and goes its own way prolonging division from her
\nnearness, creating distance. It is not enough, and there is great need that this
\nshould change.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      I do not know
\nwhat X said or in which article, I do not have it with me. But if the statement
\nis that nobody can have a successful meditation or realise anything till he is
\npure and perfect, I fail to follow it: it contradicts my own experience. I have
\nalways had realisation by meditation first and the purification started
\nafterwards as a result. I have seen many get important, even fundamental
\nrealisations by meditation who could not be said to have a great inner
\ndevelopment. Are all yogis who have meditated with effect and had great
\nrealisations in their inner consciousness perfect in their nature? It does not
\nlook like it to me. I am unable to believe in absolute generalisations in this
\nfield, because the development of spiritual consciousness is an exceedingly vast
\nand complex affair in which all sorts of things can happen and one might almost
\nsay that for each man it is different according to his nature and that the one
\nthing that is essential is the inner call and aspiration and the perseverance to
\nfollow always after it, no matter how long it takes, what are the difficulties
\nor impediments, because nothing else will satisfy the soul within us.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-28<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

      It is quite
\ntrue that a certain amount of purification is indispensable for going on, that
\nthe more complete the purification the better, because then when the
\nrealisations begin they can continue without big difficulties or relapses and
\nwithout any possibility of fall or failures. It is also true that with many
\npurification is the first need,\u2014certain things have to be got out of the way
\nbefore one can begin any consecutive inner experience. But the main need is a
\ncertain preparation of the consciousness so that it may be able to respond more
\nand more freely to the higher Force. In this preparation many things are
\nuseful\u2014the poetry and music you are doing can help, for it all acts as a sort of
\nśravana <\/i>and manana, <\/i>even, if the feeling roused is intense, a sort
\nof natural nididhyāsana. <\/i>Psychic preparation, clearing out of the grosser
\nforms of mental and vital ego, opening mind and heart to the Guru and many other
\nthings help greatly\u2014it is not perfection or a complete freedom from the
\ndualities or ego that is the indispensable preliminary, but preparedness, a
\nfitness of the inner being which makes spiritual responses and receiving
\npossible.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      There is no
\nreason therefore to take as gospel truth these demands which may have been right
\nfor X on the way he has trod, but cannot be imposed on all: the law of the
\nspirit is not so exacting and inexorable.\n<\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It is a mistake
\nto dwell too much on the lower nature and its obstacles, which is the negative
\nside of the sadhana. They have to be seen and purified, but preoccupation with
\nthem as the one important thing is not helpful. The positive side of experience
\nof the descent is the more important thing. If one waits for the\n<\/p>\n

   
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-29<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

lower nature to be purified entirely and for
\nall time before calling down the positive experience, one might have to wait for
\never. It is true that the more the lower nature is purified, the easier is the
\ndescent of the higher Nature, but it is also and more true that the more the
\nhigher Nature descends, the more the lower is purified. Neither the complete
\npurification nor the permanent and perfect manifestation can come all at once,
\nit is a matter of time and patient progress. The two (purification and
\nmanifestation) go on progressing side by side and become more and more strong to
\nplay into each other’s hands\u2014that is the usual course of the sadhana.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To change the nature is not easy and always
\ntakes time, but if there is no inner experience, no gradual emergence of the
\nother purer consciousness that is concealed by all these things you now see, it
\nwould be almost impossible even for the strongest will. You say that first you
\nmust get rid of all these things, then have the inner experiences. But how is
\nthat to be done? These things, anger, jealousy, desire are the very stuff of the
\nordinary human vital consciousness. They could not be changed if there were not
\na deeper consciousness within which is of quite another character. There is
\nwithin you a psychic being which is divine, directly a part of the Mother, pure
\nof all these defects. It is covered and concealed by the ordinary consciousness
\nand nature, but when it is unveiled and able to come forward and govern the
\nbeing, then it changes the ordinary consciousness, throws all these undivine
\nthings out and changes the outer nature altogether. That is why we want the
\nsadhaks to concentrate, to open this concealed consciousness\u2014it is by
\nconcentration of whatever\n<\/p>\n

    
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-30<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

kind and the experiences it brings that one
\nopens and becomes aware within and the new consciousness and nature begin to
\ngrow and come out. Of course we want them also to use their will and reject the
\ndesires and wrong movements of the vital, for by doing that the emergence of the
\ntrue consciousness becomes possible. But rejection alone cannot succeed; it is
\nby rejection and by inner experience and growth that it is done.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      You say that
\nall these things were hidden within you. No, they were not deep within, they
\nwere in the outer or surface nature, only you were not sufficiently conscious of
\nthem because the other true consciousness had not opened and grown within you.
\nNow by the experiences you have had the psychic has been growing and it is
\nbecause of this new psychic consciousness that you are able to see clearly all
\nthat has to go. It does not go at once because the vital had so much the habit
\nof them in the past, but they will now have to go because your soul wants to get
\nrid of them and your soul is growing stronger in you. So you must both use your
\nwill aided by the Mother’s force to get rid of these things, and go on with your
\ninner psychic experiences \u2014it is by the two together that all will be done.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Once these
\nexperiences begin, they repeat themselves usually, whether the general condition
\nis good or not. But naturally they cannot make a radical change until they
\nsettle themselves and become normal in the whole being or at least in the inner
\npart of it. In the latter case the old movements can still come, but they are
\nfelt as something quite superficial and the sadhana increases in spite of them.
\nThere is no question of good or\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-31<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

wicked. If some part of the being even has
\nbeen opened the experiences come.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Yes, that is
\nthe truth of the working. At first what has to be established comes with
\ndifficulty and is felt as if abnormal, an experience that one loses
\neasily\u2014afterwards it comes of itself, but does not yet stay; finally it becomes
\na frequent and intimate state of the being and makes itself constant and normal.
\nOn the other hand all the confusions and errors once habitual to the nature are
\npushed out; at first they return frequently, but afterwards they in their turn
\nbecome abnormal and foreign to the nature and lose frequency and finally
\ndisappear.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     
\nV <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The up and down
\nmovement which you speak of is common to all ways of yoga. It is there in the
\npath of bhakti, but there are equally alternations of states of light and states
\nof darkness, sometimes sheer and prolonged darkness, when one follows the path
\nof knowledge. Those who have occult experiences come to periods when all
\nexperiences cease and even seem finished for ever. Even when there have been
\nmany and permanent realisations, these seem to go behind the veil and leave
\nnothing in front except a dull blank, filled, if at all, only with recurrent
\nattacks and difficulties. These alternations are the result of the nature of
\nhuman consciousness and are not a proof of unfitness or of predestined failure.
\nOne has to be prepared for them and pass through. They are the "day and night"
\nof the Vedic mystics.\n<\/p>\n

     
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-32<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

          
\nAs for surrender, everyone has his own first way of approach towards it; but if
\nit is due to fear, "form" or sense of duty, then certainly that is not surrender
\nat all; these things have nothing to do with surrender. Also, complete and total
\nsurrender is not so easy as some seem to imagine. There are always many and
\nlarge reservations; even if one is not conscious of them, they are there.
\nComplete surrender can best come by a complete love and bhakti. Bhakti, on the
\nother hand, can begin without surrender, but it naturally leads, as it forms
\nitself, to surrender.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      You are surely
\nmistaken in thinking that the difficulty of giving up intellectual convictions
\nis a special stumbling-block in you more than in others. The attachment to one’s
\nown ideas and convictions, the insistence on them is a common characteristic. It
\ncan be removed by a light of knowledge from above which gives one the direct
\ntouch of Truth or the luminous experience of it and takes away all value from
\nmere intellectual opinion, ideas or conviction and removes the necessity for it,
\nor by a right consciousness which brings with it right ideas, right feeling,
\nright action and right everything else. Or else it must come by a spiritual and
\nmental humility which is rare in human nature\u2014especially the mental, for the
\nmind is always apt to think its own ideas, true or false, are the right ideas.
\nEventually, it is the psychic growth that makes this surrender too possible and
\nthat again comes most easily by bhakti. In any case, the existence of this
\ndifficulty is not in itself a good cause for forecasting failure in yoga.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The reason why
\nthere are these alternations of which you complain is that the nature of the
\nconsciousness is like that; after a little spell of wakefulness it feels the
\nneed of a little sleep. Very<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-33<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

often in the beginning the wakings are brief,
\nthe sleeps long; afterwards it becomes more equal and later on the sleep periods
\nare shorter and shorter. Another cause of these alternations, when one is
\nreceiving, is the nature’s need of closing up to assimilate. It can take perhaps
\na great deal, but while the experience is going on it cannot absorb properly
\nwhat it brings, so it closes down for assimilation. A third cause comes in the
\nperiod of transformation,\u2014one part of the nature changes and one feels for a
\ntime as if there had been a complete and permanent change. But one is
\ndisappointed to find it cease and a period of barrenness or lowered
\nconsciousness follow. This is because another part of the consciousness comes up
\nfor change and a period of preparation and veiled working follows which seems to
\nbe one of un-enlightenment or worse. These things alarm, disappoint or perplex
\nthe eagerness and impatience of the sadhak; but if one takes them quietly and
\nknows how to use them or adopt the right attitude, one can make these
\nunenlightened periods also a part of the conscious sadhana. So the Vedic Rishis
\nspeak of the alternation of "Day and Night both suckling the divine Child." What
\nyou feel in the head is probably the first conscious descent into the body of
\nthe divine Force from above. Up to now it must have been working unfelt by you
\nfrom behind the heart. If the concentration takes place naturally in the head
\nyou must allow it to do so, but the possibility of this has been prepared by the
\nprevious concentration in the heart, so that also need not be discontinued
\nunless the force working in you insists on the upper concentration only.
\nAspiration can be continued in the same way until the conduct of the sadhana by
\nthe Mother’s power is clearly felt and becomes to you the normal thing.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

   
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-34<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

 An occasional
\nsinking of the consciousness happens to everybody- The causes are various, some
\ntouch from outside, something not yet changed or not sufficiently changed in the
\nvital, especially the lower vital, some inertia or obscurity rising up from the
\nphysical parts of nature. When it comes, remain quiet, open yourself to the
\nMother and call back the true conditions and aspire for a clear and undisturbed
\ndiscrimination showing you from within yourself the cause of the thing that
\nneeds to be set right.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      There are
\nalways pauses of preparation and assimilation between two movements. You must
\nnot regard these with fretfulness or impatience as if they were untoward gaps
\nin the sadhana. Besides, the Force rises up lifting part of the nature on a
\nhigher level and then comes down to a lower layer to raise it; this motion of
\nascent and descent is often extremely trying because the mind partial to an
\nascent in a straight line and the vital eager for rapid fulfilment cannot
\nunderstand or follow the intricate movement and are apt to be distressed by it
\nor resent it. But the transformation of the whole nature is not an easy thing to
\naccomplish and the Force that does it knows better than our mental ignorance or
\nour vital impatience.\n<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The entire
\noblivion of the experience means merely that there is still no sufficient bridge
\nbetween the inner consciousness which has the experience in a kind of samadhi
\nand the exterior waking consciousness. It is when the higher consciousness has\n<\/p>\n

     
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-35<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

made the bridge
\nbetween them that the outer also begins to remember.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Fluctuations of
\nthis kind cannot but come and when they come, one has to remain very quiet and
\ndetach oneself from the surface condition and wait for it to pass while calling
\nthe Mother’s force. A neutral condition of this kind serves a certain purpose in
\nthe economy of the purification and change\u2014it brings up things that have to be
\ntransformed or rejected, lifts up some part of the being in order to expose it
\nto the transforming force. If one can understand, remain quiet and detached from
\nthe surface movements, not identified, then it goes sooner, the Force can
\nquickly clear out what rises and afterwards it is found that something has been
\ngained and a progress made.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      These
\nfluctuations in the force of the aspiration and the power of the sadhana are
\nunavoidable and common to all sadhaks until the whole being has been made ready
\nfor the transformation. When the psychic is in front or active and the mind and
\nvital consent, then there is the intensity. When the psychic is less prominent
\nand the lower vital has its ordinary movements or the mind its ignorant action,
\nthen the opposing forces can come in unless the sadhak is very vigilant. Inertia
\ncomes usually from the ordinary physical consciousness, especially when the
\nvital is not actively supporting the sadhana. These things can only be cured by
\na persistent bringing down of the higher spiritual consciousness into all the
\nparts of the being.\n<\/p>\n

     
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-36<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

These
\nvariations in the consciousness during the day are a thing that is common to
\nalmost everybody in the sadhana. The principle of oscillation, relaxation,
\nrelapse to a normal or a past lower condition from a higher state that is
\nexperienced but not yet perfectly stable, becomes very strong and marked when
\nthe working of the sadhana is in the physical consciousness. For there is an
\ninertia in the physical nature that does not easily allow the intensity natural
\nto the higher consciousness to remain constant, \u2014the physical is always sinking
\nback to something more ordinary; the higher consciousness and its force have to
\nwork long and come again and again before they can become constant and normal
\nin the physical nature. Do not be disturbed or discouraged by these variations
\nor this delay, however long and tedious; remain careful only to be quiet always
\nwith an inner quietude and as open as possible to the higher Power, not allowing
\nany really adverse condition to get hold of you. If there is no adverse wave,
\nthen the rest is only a persistence of imperfections which all have in
\nabundance; that imperfection and persistence the Force must work out and
\neliminate, but for the elimination time is needed.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      That is a
\nfrequent experience, (though I suppose it is not general) \u2014not only with peace,
\nbut other things; there is a tendency towards a lowering of the consciousness in
\nthe evening. On the other with some it is the opposite. I don’t know that it
\nactually depends on work and mixing, though these may have a wearing effect. I
\nfind more often that it is a sort of rhythm of rise and fall in the
\nconsciousness during the day. Even when peace is\n<\/p>\n

    
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-37<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

perfectly
\nestablished, there may be this rhythm for other things that are being developed.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The falling
\ndown of consciousness comes usually by some inertia coming in the consciousness
\nthrough fatigue or through mere habit of relaxation or it comes through some
\nvital reaction which one may or may not notice or it comes through a wrong
\nmovement of the mind. These are the positive lowering causes, but at the back of
\nthem is the fact that these alternations are almost inevitable so long as the
\nconsciousness is in any way subject to the old nature. The intervals of
\nnon-sadhana may, however, be long or short according to inner circumstances
\n(mainly the power of the will or the psychic or the higher being to restore
\nquickly the true poise).\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Usually it is
\nwhen something in the mind and vital accepts and indulges the lower forces that
\nthis inability to re-enter the true consciousness remains so obstinate. Physical
\ntamas can produce long interregnums of obscure consciousness, but not usually
\nwith such a violent obstruction, but it is usually dull and obstinate.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Intensities
\nlike that do not remain so long as the consciousness is not transformed\u2014there
\nhas to be a period of assimilation. When the being is unconscious, the
\nassimilation goes on behind.\n<\/p>\n

   
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-38<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

the veil or
\nbelow the surface and meanwhile the surface consciousness sees only dullness and
\nloss of what it had got; but when one is conscious, then one can see the
\nassimilation going on and one sees that nothing is lost, it is only a quiet
\nsettling in of what has come down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The vastness,
\nthe overwhelming calm and silence in which you feel merged is what is called the
\nAtman or the silent Brahman. It is the whole aim of many yogas to get this
\nrealisation of Atman or silent Brahman and live in it. In our yoga it is only
\nthe first stage of the realisation of the Divine and of that growing of the
\nbeing into the higher or divine Consciousness which we call transformation.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      After one has
\ngot to a certain stage the things gained are never lost\u2014they may be covered over
\nbut they return\u2014they have only gone inside and come back to the surface.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      When the
\nphysical consciousness prevails, often one does not feel any sign or effect even
\nif the experiences are there.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      How do you
\nexpect anything so obtuse and forgetful as the physical consciousness to have
\nthe effect if the experiences are not repeated? It is as when you learn a
\nlesson, you have to repeat it till the physical mind gets hold of it\u2014otherwise
\nit does not become a part of consciousness.\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-39<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

       All experiences
\nthat penetrate the centres are recorded in the body and seem to be the body’s
\nexperiences, but one has to distinguish between the reflection of the
\nexperiences there and the experiences that belong to the physical
\nbody-consciousness itself. It is a matter of consciousness and free discernment.
\nThere is no absolute law about the time.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      I spoke only of
\nthe fact that what one feels recorded in the physical body may be actually
\ntaking place only in the subtle body. Whether in a particular case it is that or
\na direct experience in the physical body also, is a matter to be seen in each
\ncase. One must distinguish for oneself what it is.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     Why "mere"
\nrecord? If you think the experiences in the subtle body are feeble vague things,
\nyou are mistaken\u2014they can be quite as intense, swift, palpable, massive as those
\nof the body.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Any reflection
\nor outflowing from the subtle body into the physical would also be felt as
\ntangible.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      All experiences
\ncan be brought into the smallest constituents of the being.\n<\/p>\n

   
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-40<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

       VI
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The emptiness
\nthat you described in your letter yesterday was no<\/sub>t a bad thing\u2014it is
\nthis emptiness inward and outward that often in yoga becomes the first step
\ntowards a new consciousness. Man’s nature is like a cup of dirty water\u2014the water
\nhas to be thrown out, the cup left clean and empty for the divine liquor to be
\npoured into it. The difficulty is that the human physical consciousness feels it
\ndifficult to bear this emptiness\u2014it is accustomed to be occupied by all sorts of
\nlittle mental and vital movements which keep it interested and amused or even if
\nin trouble and sorrow still active. The cessation of these things is hard to
\nbear for it. It begins to feel dull and restless and eager for the old interests
\nand movements. But by this restlessness it disturbs the quietude and brings back
\nthe things that had been thrown out. It is this that is creating the difficulty
\nand the obstruction for the moment. If you can accept emptiness as a passage to
\nthe true consciousness and true movements, then it will be easier to get rid of
\nthe obstacle.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      All in the
\nAshram are not suffering from the sense of dullness and want of interest, but
\nmany are because the Force that is descending is discouraging the old movements
\nof the physical and vital mind which they call life and they are not accustomed
\nto accept the renunciation of these things, or to admit the peace or joy of
\nsilence.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

          Emptiness is
\nnot in itself a bad condition, only if it is a sad and restless emptiness of the
\ndissatisfied vital. In sadhana emptiness is very usually a necessary transition
\nfrom one state to\n<\/p>\n

     
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-41<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

another. When
\nmind and vital fall quiet and their restless movements, thoughts and desires
\ncease, then one feels empty. This is at first often a neutral emptiness with
\nnothing in it, nothing in it either good or bad, happy or unhappy, no impulse or
\nmovement. This neutral state is often or even usually followed by the opening to
\ninner experience. There is also an emptiness made of peace and silence, when the
\npeace and silence come out from the psychic within or descend from the higher
\nconsciousness above. This is not neutral, for in it there is the sense of peace,
\noften also of wideness and freedom. There is also a happy emptiness with the
\nsense of something close or drawing near which is not yet there, e.g. the
\ncloseness of the Mother or some other preparing experience. What you describe is
\nthe neutral quiet. There is no need for anxiety. When it comes, one has only to
\nremain quiet and open and turned to the Mother till something develops from
\nwithin.\n<\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      To be an empty
\nvessel is a very good thing if one knows how to make use of the emptiness.\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      There is no
\nsuch thing as n\u00e9ant. <\/i>By "void" is meant emptiness clear of all contents
\nexcept existence pure and simple. Without that one cannot realise the silent
\nBrahman.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The usual
\nresult of voidness is to quiet down any vital\n<\/p>\n

     
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-42<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

disturbance
\nalthough it does not, unless it is complete, stop the mechanical recurrent
\naction of the mind.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      If it is a real
\nemptiness, one can rest in it for years together,\u2014 it is because the vital is
\nrestless and full of desires (not empty) that it is like that. Also the physical
\nmind is by no means at rest. If the desires were thrown out and the ego less
\nactive and the physical mind at rest, knowledge would come from above in place
\nof the physical mind’s stupidities, the vital mind could be calm and quiet and
\nthe Mother’s Force take up the action and the higher consciousness begin to come
\ndown. That is the proper sequel of emptiness.\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      Silence of the
\nbeing is the first natural aim of the yoga. X and some others do not find
\nsatisfaction in it because they have not overcome the vital mind which wants
\nalways some kind of activity, change, doing something, something to happen. The
\neternal immobility of the silent Brahman is a thing it does not relish. So when
\nemptiness comes, it finds it dull, inert, monotonous.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      There is no
\nreason why the void should be a dull or unhappy condition. It is usually the
\nhabit of the mind and vital to associate happiness or interest only with
\nactivity, but the spiritual consciousness has no such limitations.\n<\/p>\n

     \n<\/p>\n

\nPage-43<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

I really do not
\nknow what kind of joy you want. All experiences are not accompanied by joy.
\nInterest is another matter.\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      It is the
\ntendency of the physical to substitute its own inertia for the emptiness. The
\ntrue emptiness is the beginning of what I call in the Arya "śama"<\/i>\u2014the
\nrest, calm, peace of the eternal Self\u2014which has finally to replace tamas, the
\nphysical inertia. Tamas is the degradation of śama, <\/i>as rajas is the
\ndegradation of Tapas, the Divine Force. The physical consciousness is always
\ntrying to substitute its own inertia for the calm, peace or rest of the true
\nconsciousness, just as the vital is always trying to substitute its rajas for
\nthe true action of the Force.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The physical
\ndoes not get tired of the blankness. It may feel tamasic because of its own
\ntendency to inertia, but it does not usually object to voidness. Of course it
\nmay be the vital physical. You have only to reject it as a remnant of the old
\nmovements.\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      In the course
\nof the sadhana a state of blankness, of "neutral quiet" like this often
\ncomes\u2014especially when the sadhana is in the physical consciousness. It is not
\nthat the aspiration is gone, but that it does not manifest for the time being,
\nbecause all has become neutrally quiet. This condition is trying for the human
\nmind and vital which are accustomed to be in some kind of activity always and
\nregard this as a lifeless state. But one must\n<\/p>\n

     
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-44<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

not feel
\ndisturbed or disappointed when this comes, but remain calm in the full
\nconfidence that it is a stage only, a ground that has to be crossed in the sadhana. In whatever condition, the faith and the fixed idea of surrender must
\nbe kept before the mind. As for the brief movements of restlessness, they will
\nstill down if this is kept and the quiet mind and vital reassert themselves
\nquickly.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      What you
\ndescribe is the same neutral condition that you had before. It is a transitional
\nstate in which the old consciousness has ceased to be active, the new is
\npreparing behind a neutral quietude. One must take it quietly and wait for it to
\nturn into the spiritual peace and the psychic happiness which is quite different
\nfrom vital joy and grief. To have neither vital joy nor vital grief is
\nconsidered by the yogins to be a very desirable release,\u2014it makes it possible to
\npass from the ordinary human vital feelings to the true and constant inner
\npeace, joy or happiness. I suppose you have no time just now for sitting in
\nmeditation. The pressure of sleep is a pressure to go inside and the habit of
\nmeditation makes it possible to turn the sleep that comes into a kind of
\nsleep-samadhi in which one is conscious of various experiences and progresses in
\nthe inner being.\n<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The condition
\nwhich you feel is one which is very well known in sadhana. It is a sort of
\npassage or transition, a state of inwardness which is growing but not yet
\ncompleted\u2014at that time to speak or throw oneself outward is painful. What is
\nnecessary is to be\n<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

\nPage-45<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

very quiet and
\nremain within oneself all the time until the movement is completed,\u2014one should
\nnot speak or only a little and in a low quiet way nor concentrate the mind on
\noutward things. You should also not mind what people say or question,\u2014although
\nthey are practising sadhana, they know nothing about these conditions and if one
\nbecomes quiet or withdrawn they think one must be sad or ill. The Mother did not
\nfind you at all like that, sad or ill; it is simply a phase or temporary state
\nin the sadhana that she has experience of and knows very well.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The condition
\nlasts often for a number of days, sometimes many, until something definite
\nbegins. Remain confident and quiet.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      VII
\n<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The usual rule
\ngiven by yogis is that one should not speak of one’s experience to others except
\nof course the Guru while the sadhana is going on because it wastes the
\nexperience, there is what they call ksaya <\/i>of the tapasya. It is only long
\npast experiences that they speak of and even that not too freely.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      The Light left
\nyou because you spoke of it to someone who was not an adhikārī. <\/i>It is
\nsafest not to speak of these experiences except to a Guru or to one who can help
\nyou. The passing away of an experience as soon as it is spoken of is a frequent
\nhappening and for that reason many yogis make it a rule never to speak of\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 
\nPage-46<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

what happens
\nwithin them, unless it is a thing of the past or a settled realisation that
\nnothing can take away. A settled permanent realisation abides, but these were
\nrather things that come to make possible an opening in the consciousness to
\nsomething more complete\u2014to prepare it for realisation.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      I thought it
\nwas understood that what I wrote to you about persons was private. Experiences
\none’s own or others’ if one comes to know of them, should not be talked about or
\nmade a matter of gossip. It is only if there can be some spiritual profit to
\nothers and even then if they are experiences of the past that one can speak of
\nthem. Otherwise it becomes like news of Abyssinia or Spain, something common and
\ntrivial for the vital mass-mind to chew or gobble.\n<\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

     *                                                            
\n*<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

      General
\nknowledge is another matter, it is intellectual and the intellect gains by the
\nintellectual activity of teaching. Also if in yoga it were only a matter of
\nimparting intellectually one’s mental knowledge of the subject, that rule would
\nperhaps hold; but this mental aspect is only a small part of yoga. There is
\nsomething more complex which forms the bigger part of it. In teaching yoga to
\nanother one becomes to some extent a master with disciples. The yogis have
\nalways said that one who takes disciples, takes upon himself the difficulties of
\nhis disciples as well as one’s own\u2014that is why it is recommended not to take
\ndisciples unless and until one is siddha and even then only if one receives the
\nDivine authority to do it\u2014what Ramakrishna\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     
\nPage-47<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

called getting
\nthe chāprās. <\/i>Secondly, there is the danger of egoism\u2014when one is free
\nfrom that, then the objection no longer holds. There is a separate question and
\nthat is the telling of one’s own experiences to others. That too is very much
\ndiscouraged by most yogis\u2014they say it is harmful to the sadhana. I have
\ncertainly seen and heard of any number of instances in which people were having
\na flow of experiences and, when they told it, the flow was lost\u2014so there must be
\nsomething in this objection. I suppose however it ceases to apply after one has
\nreached a certain long-established stability in the experience, that is to say
\nwhen the experience amounts to a definite and permanent realisation, something
\nfinally and irrevocably added to the consciousness. I notice that those who keep
\ntheir experiences to themselves and do not put themselves out on others seem to
\nhave a more steady sadhana than others, but I don’t know whether it is an
\ninvariable rule. It would probably not apply any longer after a certain stage of
\nrealisation.\n<\/p>\n

    
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-48<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Part Three          Section One    EXPERIENCES AND REALISATIONS         EXPERIENCES AND REALISATIONS         I         Experience is a word…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-yoga-2-tome-two","wpcat-85-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3537","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=3537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3537\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}