{"id":3759,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3759"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:03","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:03","slug":"10-love-and-bhakti-relationship-in-yoga-vol-02-second-series-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-other-editions\/letters-of-sri-aurobindo\/02-second-series-1949\/10-love-and-bhakti-relationship-in-yoga-vol-02-second-series-1949","title":{"rendered":"-10_Love and Bhakti Relationship in Yoga.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nSECTION EIGHT<\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nLOVE AND BHAKTI ˗ RELATIONSHIPS IN YOGA<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\n1. <\/font><\/b>
\n
\nLOVE
\nAND BHAKTI IN YOGA<\/span><\/a><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

\nII.
\nTHE TRUE MOVEMENT OF DEVOTION<\/span><\/a><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

\nIII.
\nHUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IN YOGA<\/span><\/a><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nI. LOVE AND BHAKTI IN YOGA<\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nImportance of Bhakti in Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is a misunderstanding to suppose that I am
\nagainst Bhakti or against emotional Bhakti
\n\u2014which comes to the same thing, since without
\nemotion there can be no Bhakti. It is rather
\nthe fact that in my writings on Yoga I have
\ngiven Bhakti the highest place. All that I have
\nsaid at any time which could account for this
\nmisunderstanding was against an unpurified emotionalism which, according to my experience, leads.
\nto want of balance, agitated and disharmonious
\nexpression or even contrary reactions and, at its.
\nextreme, nervous disorder. But the insistence on
\npurification does not mean that I condemn true
\nfeeling and emotion any more than the insistence on
\na purified mind or will means that I condemn
\nthought and will. On the contrary, the deeper the
\nemotion, the more intense the Bhakti, the greater is.
\nthe force for realisation and transformation. It is.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 203<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\noftenest through intensity of emotion that the psychic being awakes and there is an opening of the inner
\ndoors to the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n3-2-1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nEmotion in Sadhana<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nEMOTION is necessary in the Yoga and it is only the
\nexcessive emotional sensitiveness which makes one
\nenter into despondency over small things that has to
\nbe overcome. The very basis of this Yoga is bhakti
\nand if one kills one’s emotional being, there can be no
\nbhakti. So there can be no possibility of emotion
\nbeing excluded from the Yoga. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n20-10-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nVital and Psychic Emotion<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is only the ordinary vital emotions which waste
\nthe energy and disturb the concentration and peace
\nthat have to be discouraged. Emotion itself is not a <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 204<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbad thing; it is a necessary part of the nature, and
\npsychic emotion is one of the most powerful helps to
\nthe sadhana. Psychic emotion, bringing tears of love
\nfor the Divine or tears of Ananda, ought not to be
\nsuppressed: it is only a vital mixture that brings
\ndisturbance in the sadhana. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nState of Bhakti<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nBHAKTI is not an experience, it is a state of the heart
\nand soul. It is a state which comes when the psychic
\nbeing is awake and prominent. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nMental Knowledge and Bhakti<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTo know about the sadhana. with the mind is not
\nindispensable. If one has bhakti and aspires in the
\nheart’s silence, if there is the true love for the Divine,
\nthen the nature will open of itself, there will be the
\ntrue experience and the Mother’s power working
\nwithin you, and the necessary knowledge will come, <\/font><\/p>\n

\n14-3-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 205<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPersonal and Impersonal Divine<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE is always the personal and the impersonal side
\nof the Divine and the Truth and it is a mistake to
\nthink the impersonal alone to be true or important,?
\nfor that leads to a void incompleteness in part of the
\nbeing, while only one side is given satisfaction.
\nImpersonality belongs to the intellectual mind and
\nthe static self, personality to the soul and heart and
\ndynamic being. Those who disregard the personal
\nDivine ignore something which is profound and
\nessential, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn following the heart in its purer impulses
\none follows something that is at least as precious as
\nthe mind’s loyalty to its own conceptions of what the
\nTruth may be. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nMind and Heart<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is because it is the analysing mind that is active\u2014
\nthat always brings a certain dryness; the higher mind
\nor the intuition brings a much more spontaneous
\nand complete knowledge\u2014the beginning of the
\n<\/b>real <\/b>jnana<\/i> without this effort. The bhakti<\/i> which you feel
\nis psychic, but with a strong vital tinge; and it is <\/b> the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 206<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmind and the vital between them that bring in the
\nopposition between the bhakti<\/i> and the jnana.<\/i> The
\nvital concerned only with emotion finds the mental
\nknowledge dry and without rasa,<\/i> the mind finds the
\nbhakti to be a blind emotion, fully interesting only: when its character has been analysed and understood.
\nThere is no such opposition when the psychic: and the higher-plane knowledge act together predominantly\u2014-the psychic welcomes knowledge that
\nsupports its emotion, the higher thought consciousness rejoices in the Bhakti. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n22-1-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nBhakti and Atmajnana<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nSELF-SURRENDER<\/font> at first comes through love and
\nbhakti more than through Atmajnana. But it is true
\nthat with Atmajnana the complete surrender
\nBecomes more possible. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n5-6-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 207<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Vital’s Difficulty<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYOUR difficulty is that the vital has not yet arrived
\nat the secret of the self-existent Ananda of love, the
\nAnanda of love’s own pure truth, the inner beauty
\nof it for its own sake, the secret of the inner abiding
\necstasy; it cannot yet believe that the thing exists.
\nBut it is travelling towards it and this feeling was
\nprobably a stage\u2014a groping after a purer vital emotion on the way to the purest of all which is one with
\nthe Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nAnanda in the Vital<\/i><\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE Ananda you describe is evidently that of the
\ninner vital when it is full of the psychic influence
\nand floods with it the external vital also. It is the true
\nAnanda and there is nothing in it of the old vital
\nnature. When the psychic thus uses the vital to express itself, this kind of intense ecstasy is the natural
\nform it takes. This intensity and the old vital excitement are two quite different things and must not be
\nconfused together. Where there is the intensity with
\na pure and full satisfaction, contentment and <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 208 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ntude, leaving no room for claim, demand or depressing reaction, that is the true vital movement. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n6- 12- 1931<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nVital Demand and Psychic Love<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT he describes is a vital demand of the ego for
\nemotional self-satisfaction; it is Maya. It is not true
\nlove, for true love seeks for union and self-giving and
\nthat is the love one must bring to the Divine. This
\nvital (so-called) love brings only suffering and disappointment; it does not bring happiness; it never
\ngets satisfied and, even if it is granted something that
\nit asks for, it is never satisfied with it. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is perfectly possible to get rid of this Maya of
\nthe vital demand, if one wishes to do it, but the will
\nto do it must be sincere. If he is sincere in his will,
\nhe will certainly get help and protection. He must get
\nhis basis changed from the vital to the psychic centre. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n20-3-1932 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 209<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nRejection of Vital Mixture<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nI THINK it needful at this stage of your sadhana to
\nrepeat my previous warning about, not allowing any
\nvital mixture. It is the crudity of the unregenerated
\nvital that prevents the psychic from remaining
\nalways at the front. You have now seen clearly the
\ntwo different consciousnesses\u2014the psychic and the
\nvital. To get rid of the old vital nature is one of the
\npressing needs of your sadhana. You are trying to
\nget rid of the vital attachments and to turn entirely
\nto the Mother. At this juncture you must be
\ncareful not to allow the movements of the old vital
\nnature to enter into your relations with the Mother; if you do, the vital will begin to play, to create
\ndemands and desires, and that would push your
\npsychic being into the background and spoil the
\nwhole truth of your sadhana. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n13-7-1931 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nNeed of Reaching the Psychic<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is quite true that by going above one can get
\nout of all problems, for they no longer exist, but the
\nproblems are there below and it is difficult to be <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 210<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nalways above with so much unsolved and calling
\nfor solution. But just as one can go high above, so
\none can go deep within and it is this going deep
\nwithin that is needed. What happened was at the
\nsurface of the emotional being and if one simply
\nstays there the difficulties of the emotional can
\ncome, but what has to be done is not to stay on
\nthe surface but go deep within. For the psychic is
\nthere behind the emotional surface, deep behind
\nthe heart-centre. Once one reaches it, these things
\ncan no longer touch; what will be there is the inner
\npeace and happiness, the untroubled aspiration,
\nthe presence or nearness of the Mother. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-11-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nSurface Vital and True Vital<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHAT is the psychic aspiration, the psychic fire.
\nWhere the vital comes in is in the impatience for
\nresult and dissatisfaction if the result is not immediate. That must cease. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is in the nature of the unregenerated vital part
\non the surface to do like that. The true vital is different, calm and strong and a powerful instrument <\/font><\/p>\n

\n. Page – 211<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsubmitted to the Divine. But for that to come forward it is necessary first to get this fixed poise above
\nin the mind\u2014when the consciousness is there and
\nthe mind calm, free and wide, then the true vital
\ncan come forward. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n25-10-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nViraha<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nVIRAHA is a transitional experience on the plane of
\nthe vital seeking for the Spirit\u2014there is no reason
\nwhy it should not be possible at a quite early stage.
\nIt is the realisations without any uneasiness, realisations in pure Ananda, that belong to the more
\ndeveloped sadhana. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n7-3-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nAbhiman<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE sooner you get rid of abhiman<\/i> the
\nbetter. Anyone who indulges abhiman<\/i> puts himself under the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – <\/font>212<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ninfluence of the hostile forces. Abhiman<\/i> has nothing
\nto do with true love; it is, like jealousy, a part of
\nthe vital egoism. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nMastery of Emotions<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTo indulge in the emotions, love, grief, sorrow,
\ndespair, emotional joy etc. for their own sake with
\na sort of mental-vital over-emphasis on them is
\nwhat is called sentimentalism. There should be
\nin deep feeling a calm, a control, a purifying restraint and measure. One should not be at the mercy
\nof one’s feelings and sentiments, but master of oneself always. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n22-10-1933 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 213<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nII.
\nTHE TRUE MOVEMENT OF DEVOTION<\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nDemand for Experience before Seeking
\nthe Divine<\/i><\/font> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nYOUR whole-hearted acceptance of the Vaishnava
\nidea and Bhakti becomes rather bewildering when
\nit is coupled with an insistence that love cannot be
\ngiven to the Divine until one has experience of
\nthe Divine. For what is more common in the
\n<\/i>Vaishnava attitude than the joy of Bhakti for its
\nown sake? "Give me Bhakti", it cries, "whatever
\nelse you may keep from me. Even if it is long before
\nI can meet you, even if you delay to manifest
\nyourself, let my Bhakti, my seeking for you, my cry,
\nmy love, my adoration be always there." How
\nconstantly the Bhakta has sung, "All my life I
\nhave been seeking you and still you are not there,
\nbut still I seek and cannot cease to seek and love
\nand adore." If it were really impossible to love
\nGod unless you first experience him, how could
\nthis be? In fact, your mind seems to be putting
\nthe cart before the horse. One seeks after God first
\nwith persistence or with passion, one finds him
\nafterwards, some sooner than others, but most after <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 214 . <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\na long seeking. <\/b> One does not find him first, then
\nseek after him. Even a glimpse often comes only
\nafter long or fervent seeking. <\/b> One has the love or<\/font><\/p>\n

\nGod or at any rate some heart’s desire for him and
\nafterwards one becomes aware of God’s love, its
\nreply to the heart’s desire, its response of the supreme
\njoy and Ananda. One does not say to God, "Show
\nyour love from the first, shower on me the experience of yourself, satisfy my demand, then I will
\nsee whether I can love you so long as you deserve
\nit." It is surely the seeker who must seek and love
\nfirst, follow the quest, become impassioned for the
\nSought,\u2014then only does the veil move aside and
\nthe Light appear and the Face manifest that alone
\ncan satisfy the soul after its long sojourn in the desert.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThen again you may say, "Yes, but whether I
\n"love or not, I want, I have always wanted and
\nnow I want more and more, but I get nothing."
\nYes, but wanting is not all. As you now begin to
\nsee, there are conditions that have to be met\u2014like
\nthe purification of the heart. Your thesis was, "Once I want God, God must manifest to me, come
\nto me, at least give glimpses of himself to me, the
\nreal, solid, concrete experience, not mere vague things
\nwhich I can’t understand or value. God’s Grace
\nmust answer my call for it, whether I yet deserve
\nit or not\u2014or else there is no Grace." God’s Grace <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 215 <\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmay indeed do that in certain eases, but where does
\nthe "must" come in? If God must do it, it is no
\nlonger God’s Grace, but God’s duty or an obligation
\nor a contract or a treaty. The Divine looks into
\nthe heart and removes the veil at the moment which
\nhe knows to be the right moment to do it. You
\nhave laid stress on the Bhakti theory that one has
\nonly to call his name and he must reply, he must
\nat once be there. Perhaps, but for whom is this
\ntrue? For a certain kind of Bhakta surely who feels
\nthe power of the Name, who has the passion of the
\nName and puts it into his cry. If one is like that,
\nthen there :may be the immediate reply\u2014if not,
\none has to become like that, then there will be the
\nreply. But some go on using the Name for years,
\nbefore there is an answer. Ramakrishna’ himself
\ngot it after a few months, but what months! and
\nwhat a condition he had to pass through before he
\ngot it! Still he succeeded quickly because he had
\na pure heart already\u2014and that divine passion in it.
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is not surely the Bhakta but the man of knowledge
\nwho demands experience first. He can say, "How
\ncan I know without experience?" but he too goes on
\nseeking like Tota Puri even though for thirty years,
\nstriving for the decisive realisation. It is really the
\nman of intellect, the rationalist who says, "Let God,
\nif he exists, prove himself to me first, then I will <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 2I6 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nbelieve, then I will make some serious and prolonged
\neffort to explore him and see what he is like." <\/font><\/p>\n

\nAll this does not mean that experience is irrelevant
\nto sadhana\u2014I certainly cannot have said such
\na stupid thing. What I have said is that the love
\nand seeking of the Divine can be and ordinarily is
\nthere before the experience comes\u2014it is an instinct,
\nan inherent longing in the soul and it comes up as
\nsoon as certain coverings of the soul disappear or
\nbegin to disappear. The next thing I have said
\nis that it is better to get the nature ready first (the
\npurified heart and all that) before the "experiences"
\nbegin rather than the other way round and I base
\nthat on the many cases there have been of the danger
\nof experiences before the heart and vital are ready
\nfor the true experience. Of course, in many cases
\nthere is a true experience first, a touch of the Grace,
\nbut it is not something that lasts and is always there
\nbut rather something that touches and withdraws
\nand waits for the nature to get ready. But this is
\nnot in every case, not even in the majority of cases,
\nI believe. One has to begin with the soul’s inherent
\nlonging, then the struggle with the nature to get
\nthe temple ready, then the unveiling of the Image,
\nthe permanent Presence in the sanctuary. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n9-3-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 217<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nThe Sunlit Path of Reliance<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPEACE was the very first thing that the Yogis and
\nseekers of old asked for and it was a quiet and silent
\nmind\u2014and that always brings peace\u2014-that they
\ndeclared to be the best condition for realising the
\nDivine. A cheerful and sunlit heart is the fit vessel
\nfor the Ananda and who shall say that Ananda, or
\nwhat prepares it, is an obstacle to the Divine union?
\nAs for despondency, it is surely a terrible burden
\nto carry on the way. One has to pass through it
\nsometimes, like Christian of the Pilgrim’s Progress
\n<\/i>through the Slough of Despond but its constant
\nreiteration cannot be anything but an obstacle. The
\nGita specially says, "Practise the Yoga with an
\nundespondent heart\u2014anirvinnena chetasa." <\/i>I know
\nperfectly well that pain and suffering and struggle
\nand excesses of despair are natural\u2014though not
\ninevitable on the way\u2014not because they are helps
\nbut because they are imposed on us by the darkness
\nof this human nature out of which we have to
\nstruggle into the Light. I do not suppose Ramakrishna or Vivekananda would have recommended
\nthe incidents you allude to as an example for others
\nto follow\u2014they would surely have said that faith,
\nfortitude, perseverance were the better way. That
\nafter all was what they stuck to in the end in spite <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 218<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nof these bad moments… .At any rate Ramakrishna
\ntold the story of Narada and the ascetic Yogi and
\nVaishnava Bhakta with approval of its moral. I
\nput it in my own language but keep the substance: Narada on his way to Vaikuntha met a Yogi practising hard tapasya on the hills. "0 Narada," cried
\nthe Yogi, "you are going to Vaikuntha and will
\nsee Vishnu. I have been practising terrific austerities all my life and yet I have not even now attained
\nto him. Ask him at least for me when I shall reach
\nhim." Then Narada met a Vaishnava, a bhakta
\nwho was singing songs to Hari and dancing to his
\nown singing, and he cried also: "0 Narada, you
\nwill see my Lord Hari. Ask him when I shall
\nreach him and see his face." On his way back
\nNarada came first to the Yogi. "I have asked
\nVishnu," said the sage, "you will realise him after
\nsix more lives." The Yogi raised a cry of loud lamentation: "What! So many austerities! Such gigantic
\nendeavours! And how hard to me is the Lord
\nVishnu!" Next Narada met again the bhakta and
\nsaid to him: "I have no good news for you. You
\nwill see the Lord but only after a lakh of lives." But
\nthe bhakta leapt up with a great cry of rapture: "Oh, I shall see my Lord Hari ! After a lakh of lives
\nI shall see my Lord Hari! How great is the grace
\nof the Lord!" And he began dancing and singing <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 219<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nin a renewed ecstasy. Then Narada said, "Thou
\nhast attained. Today thou shalt see the Lord."
\nWell, you may say: "What an extravagant story
\nand how contrary to human nature!" Not so contrary as all that and in any case
\nhardly more extravagant than the stories of Harishchandra and Shivi.
\nStill, I do not hold up the bhakta as an example,
\nfor I myself insist on the realisation in this life and
\nnot after six or a lakh of births more. But the
\npoint of these stories is in the moral and surely
\nwhen Ramakrishna told it, he was not ignorant that
\nthere was a sunlit path of Yoga. He even seems
\nto say that it is the quicker way as well as the better.
\nSo the possibility of the sunlit path is not a discovery or original invention of mine. The very first
\nbooks on Yoga I. read more than thirty years ago
\nspoke of the dark and sunlit way and emphasised
\nthe superiority of the latter over the former. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n20-12-1941 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nThe True Movement<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE true movement is a pure aspiration and surrender. After all, one has not a right to call on the
\nDivine to manifest himself; it can come only as a <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 220<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nresponse to a spiritual or psychic state of consciousness or to a long course of sadhana rightly done; or
\nif it comes before that or without any apparent
\nreason, it is a Grace; but one cannot demand or
\ncompel Grace. Grace is something spontaneous
\nwhich wells out from the Divine Consciousness
\nas a free flow of its being. The bhakta looks for
\nit, but he is ready to wait in perfect reliance\u2014even
\nif need be, all his life\u2014knowing that it will come, never varying in his love
\nand surrender because it does not come now or soon. That is the
\nspirit of so many songs of devotees which you have
\nsung yourself; I heard one such song from you in a
\nrecord sometime ago and very beautiful it was and
\nbeautifully sung\u2014"Even if I have not won Thee, O Lord, still I adore." , <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWhat prevents you from having that is the restless element of vital impatience and ever-recurring
\nand persisting disappointment at not having what you want from the Divine. It is
\nthe idea, "I wish so
\nmuch for it, surely I ought to have it, why is it withheld from me?" But wanting, however strongly, is
\nnot a passport to getting; there is something more to
\nit than that. Our experience is that too much vital
\neagerness, too much insistence often blocks the way, it makes a sort of
\nobstructing mass or a whirl of restlessness and disturbance which leaves no quiet space <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 221<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfor the Divine to get in or for the thing asked for to
\ncome. Often it does come, but when the impatience
\nhas been definitely renounced and one waits, quietly
\nopen, for whatever may be (or, for the time, not be)
\ngiven. But so often when you are preparing the way
\nfor a greater progress in the true devotion, the habit
\nof this vital element starts up and takes hold and
\ninterrupts the progress made. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe joylessness also comes from the vital. It is
\npartly due to the disappointment but not solely; for
\nit is a very common phenomenon that when there is
\na. pressure from the mind and soul on the vital, it often gets a rajasic or tamasic vairagya instead of
\nthe sattwic kind, refuses to take joy in anything,
\nbecomes dry, listless or unhappy, or it says, "Well,
\nwhy don’t I get the realisation you promised me?
\nI can’t wait." To get rid of that, it is best, even
\nwhile observing it, not to identify oneself with it; if
\nthe mind or some part of the mind sanctions or justifies, it will persist or recur. If sorrow there must be,
\nthe other kind you described in the previous letter is
\npreferable: the sadness that has a sweetness in it\u2014
\nno despair, only the psychic longing for the true
\nthing to come. That must come by the increase of
\nthe pure and true Bhakti. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n5-6-1943 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 222 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nWay out of the Impasse<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs for the way out of the impasse you speak of, I
\nknow only of the quieting of the mind which makes
\nmeditation effective, purification of the heart which
\nbrings the Divine touch and in time the Divine
\nPresence, humility before the Divine which liberates
\nfrom egoism and pride of the mind and of the vital
\n\u2014-the pride that imposes its own reasonings on the
\nways of the Spirit and the pride that refuses or is
\nunable to surrender,\u2014sustained persistence in the
\ncall within and reliance on the Grace above.
\nMeditation, japa, prayer or aspiration from the
\nheart can all succeed, if they are attended by these
\nor at least some of these things. I fully believe that
\none who has the call in him cannot fail to arrive
\nif he follows patiently the way towards the
\nDivine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have surely never said that you should not
\nwant the Divine response. One does Yoga for that.
\nWhat I have said is that you should not expect
\nor insist on it at once or within an early time. It
\ncan come early or it can come late, but come it will
\nif one is faithful in one’s call: for one has not only
\nto be sincere but to be faithful through all. If I deprecate insistence, it is because I have always found that it creates difficulties and delays owing <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 223<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nto a strain and restlessness which are created in the
\nnature and the despondencies and revolts of the
\nvital when the insistence is not satisfied. The Divine knows best and one has to have trust in his
\nwisdom and attune oneself with his will. Length
\nof time is no proof of an ultimate incapacity to
\narrive: it is only a sign that there is something in
\noneself which has to be overcome, and if there
\nis the will to reach the Divine, it can be
\novercome. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf one wishes to escape from life altogether, it
\ncan only be by the way of a complete inner renunciation or merging oneself in the Silence of the
\nAbsolute or by a bhakti that becomes absolute or
\nby a Karmayoga that gives up one’s own will and
\ndesires to the will of the Divine. I have said also
\nthat Grace can at any moment act suddenly, but
\nover that one has no control, because it comes by
\nan incalculable will which sees things that the mind
\ncannot see. It is precisely the reason why one
\nshould never despair, that and also because no
\nsincere aspiration to the Divine can fail in the end. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n29-5-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 224<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nLogic of Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE is only one logic in spiritual things: that
\nwhen a demand is there for the Divine, a sincere
\ncall, it is bound one day to have its fulfilment. It
\nis only if there is a strong insincerity somewhere, a hankering after something else\u2014power, ambition etc.\u2014which counterbalances the inner call that the logic is no longer applicable. In your case
\nit is likely to come through the heart, through increase of bhakti or psychic purification of the heart: that is why I was pressing the psychic way upon you. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nDo not allow these wrong ideas and feelings to
\ngovern you or your state of depression to dictate
\nyour decisions: try to keep a firm central will for
\nthe realisation; you can do so if you make up your
\nmind to it, these things are not impossible. You
\nwill find that the spiritual difficulty disappears in
\nthe end like a mirage. It belongs to the physical
\nself and, where the inner call is sincere, cannot hold
\neven the outer consciousness always: its apparent
\nsolidity will dissolve. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nYou are no doubt right about asking for the
\nbhakti, for I suppose it is the master claim of
\nyour nature: for that matter, it is the strongest
\n.motive force that sadhana can have and the best <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 225<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmeans for all else that has to come. It is why I
\nsaid that it is through the heart that spiritual
\nexperience must come to you. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n21-5-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nInsincerity<\/i>\u2014Vital Purification<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nYou speak of insincerity in your nature. If insincerity
\nmeans the unwillingness of some part of the being to
\nlive according to the highest light one has or to equate
\nthe outer with the inner man, then this part is always
\ninsincere in all. The only way is to lay stress on the
\ninner being and develop in it the psychic and spiritual consciousness till that comes down in it which
\npushes out the darkness from the outer man also. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nI have never said that the vital is to have no part
\nin the love for the Divine, only that it must purify
\nand ennoble itself in the light of the psychic being.
\nThe results of self-loving love between human beings
\nare so poor and contrary in the end\u2014that is what
\nI mean by the ordinary vital love\u2014that I want
\nsomething purer and nobler and higher in the vital
\nalso for the movement towards the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 226 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nCentral Sincerity<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nIT is true that a central sincerity is not enough except
\nas a beginning and a base; the sincerity must spread
\nas you describe through the whole nature. But still
\nunless there is a double nature (without a central
\nharmonising consciousness), the basis is usually sufficient for that to happen. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nYogic Capacity, the Inner and the Outer Being<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHEN one enters into the true (Yogic) consciousness
\nthen you see that everything can be done, even if at
\npresent only a slight beginning has been made; but
\na beginning is enough, since the Force, the Power
\nare there. It is not really on the capacity of the
\nouter nature that success depends, (for the outer
\nnature all self-exceeding seems impossibly difficult),
\nbut on the inner being and to the inner being all is
\npossible. One has only to get into contact with the inner being and change the
\nouter view and consciousness from the inner; that is the work of the sadhana
\nand it is sure to come with sincerity, aspiration and
\npatience. : <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 227<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nApproach to Krishna<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs for Krishna, why not approach simply and
\nstraight? The simple approach means trust. If you
\n.pray, trust that he hears. If the reply takes long in coming, trust that he
\nknows and loves and that he is wisest in the choice of the time. Meanwhile
\nquietly
\nclear the ground, so that he may not have to trip
\nover stone and jungle when he comes. That is my suggestion and I know what I am
\nsaying\u2014for whatever you may say, I know very well all human difficulties and struggles and I know of the cure. That
\nis why I press always on the things that would minimise and shorten the struggles and difficulties,\u2014the
\npsychic turn, faith, perfect and simple confidence
\nand reliance. These, let me remind you, are tenets
\nof the Vaishnava Yoga. Of course, there is the other
\nVaishnava way which swings between yearning and
\ndespair\u2014-ardent seeking and the pangs of viraha.
\n<\/i>It is that you seem to be following and I do not deny
\nthat one can arrive by that as one can by almost
\nany way, if followed sincerely. But then those who
\nfollow it find a rasa<\/i> even in viraha,<\/i> in the absence and
\nthe caprice of the Divine Lover. Some of them have
\nsung that they have followed after him all their lives
\nbut always he has slipped away from their vision
\nand even in that they find a rasa<\/i> and never cease; <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 228<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nfollowing. But you find no rasa<\/i> in it. So you cannot
\nexpect me to approve of that for you. Follow after
\nKrishna by all means, but follow with the determination to arrive: don’t do it with the expectation of
\nfailure or admit any possibility of breaking off
\nhalf-way. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nKrishnabhakti and Purification<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nI HAVE no objection at all to the worship of Krishna
\nor the Vaishnava form of devotion, nor is there any incompatibility between Vaishnava Bhakti
\nand my supramental Yoga. There is in fact no special
\nand exclusive form of supramental Yoga: all ways
\ncan lead to the Supermind, just as all ways can
\nlead to the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf you persevere, you cannot fail to get the permanent bhakti you want and the realisation you
\nwant, but you should learn to put an entire reliance
\non Krishna to give it when he finds all ready and
\nthe time come. If he wants you to clear out imperfections and impurities first,
\nthat is after all understandable. I don’t see why you should not succeed <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 229<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nin doing it, now that your attention is being so
\nconstantly turned on it. To see them clearly and
\nacknowledge them is the first step, to have the firm
\nwill to reject them is the next, to separate yourself
\nfrom them entirely so that if they enter at all it will
\nbe as foreign elements, no longer parts of your normal
\nnature but suggestions from outside, brings their
\nlast state; even, once seen and rejected, they may
\nautomatically fall away and disappear; but for most
\nthe process takes time. These things are not peculiar
\nto you; they are parts of universal human nature; but they can, do and will disappear. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n16-9-1944 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nKrishna’s Call\u2014Adhikaribheda<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs to the point that puzzles you, it only arises from
\na confusion between the feeling of a devotee and the
\nobservation of the observer. Of course, the devotee
\nloves Krishna because Krishna is lovable and not for any other reason: that is
\nhis feeling and his true feeling. He has no time to bother his head about what
\nin himself made him able to love; the fact that he
\ndoes love is sufficient for him and he does not need <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 230<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nto analyse his emotions. The Grace of Krishna
\nconsists for him in Krishna’s lovableness, in his showing himself to the devotee, in his call, the cry of the
\nflute. That is enough for the heart, or if there is
\nanything more, it is the yearning that others or all
\nmay hear the flute, see the face, feel all the beauty
\nand rapture of this love. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is not the heart of the devotee but the mind of
\nthe observer that questions how it is that the Gopis
\nwere called or responded at once and others\u2014the
\nBrahmin women, for instance\u2014were not called and
\ndid not respond at once. Once the mind puts the
\nquestion, there are two possible answers: the mere
\nwill of Krishna without any reason, what the mind
\nwould call his absolute divine choice or his arbitrary
\ndivine caprice or else the readiness of the heart that is called: and that amounts to adhikaribheda.<\/i> A
\nthird reply would be: circumstances, as for instance,
\n"the parking off the spiritual ground into close preserves" as R puts it.
\nBut then how can circumstances prevent the Grace from acting? In spite of
\nparking off it works: Christians, Mohammedans do
\nanswer to the Grace of Krishna. Tigers, ghouls
\nmust love if they see him, hear his flute? Yes, but
\nwhy do some hear it and see him, others not? We
\nare thrown back on two alternatives: Krishna’s Grace calls whom it wills to call without any <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 231<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndetermining reason for the choice or the rejection, it is
\nall his mercy or else he calls the hearts that are
\nready to vibrate and leap up at his call\u2014and even
\nthere he waits till the moment has come. To say that it does not depend on
\noutward merit or appearance of fitness is no doubt true: the something that
\nwas ready to wake in spite, it may be, of many hard
\nlayers in which it was enclosed, may be something
\nvisible to Krishna and not to us. It was there
\nperhaps long before the flute began to play, but
\nKrishna was busy melting the hard layers so that
\nthe heart in its leap might not be pressed back by
\nthem when the awakening notes came. The Gopis
\nheard and rushed out into the forest\u2014the others
\ndid not or did they think it was only some rustic
\nmusic or some rude cowherd-lover fluting to his
\nsweetheart: not a call that learned and. cultured
\npr virtuous ears could recognise as the call of the
\nDivine? There is something to be said after all for
\nthe adhikaribheda.<\/i> But, of course, it must be understood in the large sense: some may have the adhikar
\n<\/i>for recognising Krishna’s flute, some for the call
\nof Christ, some for the dance of Shiva\u2014to each his
\nown way and his nature’s answer to the Divine Call.
\nAdhikar<\/i> cannot be stated in rigid mental terms: it is something spiritual and subtle, something
\nmystic and secret between the called and the Caller. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 232<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nAs for the swelled head, the theory of Grace may
\nno doubt contribute to it, though I should imagine
\nthat the said head never felt the Grace but only
\nthe magnanimity of its own ego. The swelling may
\ncome equally in the road of personal effort as by the
\ncraving for Grace. It is fundamentally not due
\nto either, but to a natural predisposition to this
\nkind of oedema. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n15-1-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nSense of the Gopi-Symbol<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE Gopis are not ordinary people in the proper
\nsense of the Word: they are embodiments of a
\nspiritual passion, extraordinary by their extremeness
\nof love, personal devotion, unreserved self-giving.
\nWhoever has that, however humble his or her position in other respects
\n(learning, power of presentation, scholarship, external sanctity, etc.) can
\neasily follow after Krishna and reach him: that
\nseems to me the sense of the symbol of the Gopis.
\nThere are many other significances, of course\u2014
\nthat is only one among the many. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n4-1-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 233<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nKrishna’s Caprice<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nCERTAINLY<\/font> Krishna is credited with much caprice,
\ndifficult dealings and a playfulness (Lila!) which
\nthe played-with do not always immediately appreciate. But there is a reasoning as well as a hidden
\nmethod in his caprices, and when he does come out
\nof it and takes a fancy to be nice to you, he has a
\nsupreme attractiveness, charm and allurement which
\ncompensates and more than compensates for all
\nyou have suffered. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n17-9-1944 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nKrishna’s Love<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nIF Krishna was always and by nature cold and
\ndistant (Lord, what a discovery\u2014Krishna of all
\npeople!), how could human devotion and aspiration
\ncome near him\u2014he and it would soon be like the
\nNorth and South Pole, growing icier and icier,
\nalways facing each other but never seeing because
\nof the earth’s bulge. Also, if Krishna did not want
\nthe human Bhakta as well as the Bhakta wanting
\nhim, who could get at him?\u2014he would be always <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 234<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsitting on the snows of the Himalayas like Shiva.
\nHistory describes him otherwise and he is usually
\ncharged with being too warm and sportive. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n2-10-1944<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nKrishna’s Light<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nI DO not know that I can answer your question
\nabout what K means by Krishna’s Light. It is certainly not what is ordinarily
\nmeant by knowledge. He may mean the Light of the Divine
\nConsciousness or the light that comes from it or he
\nmay mean the luminous being of Krishna in which
\nall things are in their supreme truth,\u2014the truth of
\nknowledge, the truth of Bhakti, the truth of ecstasy
\nand Ananda, everything is there. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is also a manifestation of Light\u2014the
\nUpanishads speak of Jyotirbrahma,<\/i> the Light that
\nis Brahman. Very often the sadhak feels a flow
\nof light upon him and around him or a flow of light
\ninvading his centres or even his whole being and
\nbody, penetrating and illumining every cell and in
\nthat light there grows the spiritual consciousness
\nand one becomes open to all or many of its workings. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 235 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand realisations. Appositely, I have a review <\/b> of the book of Ramdas entitled "Vision" before me
\nin which is described such an experience, got by the
\nrepetition of the Rama mantra, but if I understand
\nrightly, after a long and rigorous self-discipline.
\n"The mantra having stopped automatically, he
\nbeheld a small circular light before his mental
\nvision. This yielded him thrills of delight. This experience having continued for some days,
\n<\/b>he <\/b>felt a dazzling light like lightning flashing his eyes,
\nwhich ultimately permeated and absorbed him.
\nNow an inexpressible transport of bliss filled every
\npore of his physical frame." It does not always come
\nlike that\u2014very often it comes by stages or at long
\nintervals, at first, working on the consciousness
\n<\/b>till <\/b>it is ready. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nWe speak here also of Krishna’s light\u2014Krishna’s
\nlight in the mind, Krishna’s light in the vital, etc.
\nBut it is a special light\u2014in the mind it brings clarity,
\nfreedom from obscurity, mental error and per-
\nversion; in the vital it clears out all perilous stuff
\nand where it is, there is a pure and divine happiness
\nand gladness. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut why limit oneself, insist on one thing alone and shut out every other? Whether it be by Bhakti
\nor by Light or by Ananda or by Peace or by any
\nother means whatsoever that one gets the initial <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 236<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nrealisation of the Divine, to get it is the thing and
\nall means are good that bring it. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf it is bhakti that one insists on, it is by the
\nbhakti that it comes and bhakti in its fullness is
\nnothing but an entire self-giving. But then all
\nmeditation, all tapasya, all means of prayer or
\nmantra must have that as its end and it is when
\none has progressed sufficiently in <\/i>that that the
\nDivine Grace descends and the realisation comes
\nand develops till it is complete. But the moment
\nof its advent is chosen by the wisdom of the Divine
\nalone and one must have the strength to go on till
\nit arrives, for when all is truly ready it cannot
\nfail to come. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-9-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nKrishna’s Colour<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nVIOLET is the colour of the light of Divine Compassion,
\nas also of Krishna’s Grace. It is also the radiance
\nof Krishna’s protection. Blue is his special and
\nsignificant colour, the colour of his aura when he
\nmanifests\u2014that is why he is called Mila Krishna.<\/i> The
\nadjective does not mean that he was blue or dark
\nin his physical body. . <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 237<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nExternal Worship<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT is meant by bahyapuja<\/i> (external worship)? If it is purely external, then of course it is the lowest
\nform; but if done with the true consciousness, it
\ncan bring the greatest possible completeness to the
\nadoration by allowing the body and the most external consciousness to share in the spirit and act of worship. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n28-4-1943 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nWorship in Integral Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHERE is no restriction in this Yoga to inward
\nworship and meditation only. As it is a Yoga for
\nthe whole being, not for the inner being only, no
\nsuch restriction could be intended. Old forms of
\nthe different religions may fall away, but absence of
\nall forms is not the rule of the sadhana. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n17-9-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 338<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPranapratishtha<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHAT you say is no doubt true, but it is better not
\nto take away the support that may still be there for
\nthe faith of those who need such supports. These
\nvisions and images and ceremonies are meant for
\nthat. It is a spiritual principle not to take away any
\nfaith or support of faith, unless the persons who have
\nit are able to replace it by something larger and
\nmore complete. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIf the Pranapratishtha brings down a powerful
\nPresence, that may remain there long after the one
\nwho has brought it has left his body. Usually
\n<\/b>it <\/b>is maintained by the bhakti of the officiant and the
\nsincerity of belief and worship of those who come to
\nthe temple for adoration. If these fail, there is likely be a withdrawal of the Presence. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n12-4-1937 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 239<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nIII. HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS IN YOGA<\/a>– <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nTransformation of Relationships
\nin Supramental Yoga.<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nYou seem not to have understood the principle
\nof this Yoga. The old Yoga demanded a complete
\nrenunciation extending to the giving up of the
\nworldly life itself. This Yoga aims instead at a new
\nand transformed life. But it insists as inexorably on
\na complete throwing away of desire and attachment in the mind, life and body. Its aim is to
\nrefound life in the truth of the spirit and for that
\npurpose to transfer the roots of all we are and do
\nfrom the mind, life and body to a greater Consciousness above the mind. That means that in the
\nnew life all the connections must be founded on
\na spiritual intimacy and a truth quite other than
\nany which supports our present connections. One
\nmust be prepared to renounce at the higher call
\nwhat are spoken of as the natural affections. Even
\nif they are kept at all, it can only be with a change
\nwhich transforms them altogether. But whether
\nthey are to be renounced or kept and changed must
\nbe decided not by the personal desires but by the <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 240 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ntruth above. All must be given up to the Supreme?
\nMaster of the Yoga. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe power that works in this Yoga is of a,
\nthorough-going character and tolerates in the end nothing great or small that is
\nan obstacle to the Truth and its realisation. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nTrue Foundation of Harmony<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE inner loneliness can only be cured by the inner
\nexperience of union with the Divine; no
\nhuman association can fill the void. In the same way, for the spiritual life the harmony with others,
\nmust be founded not on mental and vital affinities,
\nbut on the divine consciousness and the union with
\nthe Divine. When one feels the Divine and feels,
\nothers in the Divine, then the real harmony comes.
\nMeanwhile what there can be is the goodwill and unity founded-on the feeling of a common divine
\ngoal and the sense of being all children of the 
\nMother. . . .Real harmony can come only from
\npsychic or a spiritual basis. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n27-11-1935 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 241<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nPersonal Relations in Sadhana<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nTHE idea that all sadhaks must be aloof from each
\nother and at daggers drawn is itself a preconceived
\nidea that must be abandoned. Harmony and not
\nstrife is the law of yogic living. This preconceived
\nidea arises perhaps from the old notion of Nirvana
\nas the aim; but Nirvana is not the aim here. The
\naim here is fulfilment of the Divine in life and for
\nthat, union and solidarity are indispensable. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe ideal of the Yoga is that all should be
\ncentred in and around the Divine and the life of
\nthe sadhaks must be founded on that firm foundation, their personal relations also should have the
\nDivine for their centre. Moreover, all relations
\nshould pass from the vital to the spiritual basis
\n.with the vital only as a form and instrument of
\nthe spiritual\u2014this means that, from whatever relations they have with each other, all jealousy, strife,
\nhatred, aversion, rancour and other evil vital
\nfeelings should be abandoned as these can be no
\npart of the spiritual life. So, also, all egoistic love and
\nattachment will have to disappear\u2014the love that
\nloves only for the ego’s sake and, as soon as the
\nego is hurt and dissatisfied, ceases to love or even
\ncherishes rancour and hate. There must be a real
\nliving and lasting unity behind the love. It is under- <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 242<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nstood of course that such things as sexual impurity
\nmust disappear also, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThat is the ideal, but as for the way of attainment, it may differ for different people. One way
\nis that in which one leaves everything else to follow
\nthe Divine alone. This does not mean an aversion
\nfor anybody any more than it means aversion for
\nthe world and life. It only means an absorption in one’s central aim, with the idea that once that
\nis attained it will be easy to found all relations on
\nthe true basis, to become truly united with others
\nin the heart and the spirit and the life, united in
\n:he spiritual truth and in the Divine. The other
\nway is to go forward from where one is, seeking the
\nDivine centrally and subordinating all else to that,
\nbut not putting everything else aside, rather seeking
\nto transform gradually and progressively whatever
\nis capable of such transformation. All the things
\nthat are not wanted in the relation\u2014sex impurity,
\njealousy, anger, egoistic demand\u2014drop away as the
\ninner being grows purer and is replaced by the
\nunity of soul with soul and the binding together
\nof the social life in the hoop of the Divine. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is not that one cannot have relations with
\npeople outside the circle of the sadhaks, but there
\ntoo if the spiritual life grows within, it must necessarily affect the relation and spiritualise it on the<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 243<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nsadhak’s side. And there must be no such attachment as would make the relation an obstacle or a
\nrival to the Divine. Attachment to family etc. often
\nis like that and, if so, it falls away from the sadhak.
\nThat is an exigence which, I think, should not be
\nconsidered excessive. All that, however, can be progressively done; a severing of existing relations is
\nnecessary for some, it is not so for all. A transformation, however gradual, is
\nindispensable, severance where severance is the right thing to do. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n10-11-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nP. S. I must repeat also that each case differs\u2014
\none rule for all is not practical or practicable,
\nWhat is needed by each for his spiritual progress
\nis the one desideratum to be held in view. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nNecessary Ideals in Relations between Sadhaks<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/p>\n

\nWELL, I have said already that quarrels, cuttings
\nare not a part of sadhana: the clashes and friction
\nyou speak of are, just as in the outside world, <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 244<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nrubbings of the vital ego. Antagonisms, antipathies dislikes, quarrellings can no more be proclaimed as
\npart of sadhana than sex-impulses or acts can
\n<\/b>be <\/b>part of sadhana. Harmony, goodwill, forbearance, equanimity are necessary ideals in the relation of
\nsadhak with sadhak. One is not bound to mix,
\nbut if one keeps to oneself, it should be for reasons
\nof sadhana, not out of other motives: moreover, it
\nshould be without any sense of superiority or
\ncontempt for others….. If somebody finds that
\nassociation with another for any reason raises
\nundesirable vital feelings in him or her\u2014he or she
\n:an certainly withdraw from that association as a
\nmatter of prudence until he or she gets over the
\nweakness. But. ostentation of avoidance or public
\ncuttings are not included in the necessity and
\nbetray feelings that equally ought to be overcome. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n25-10-1936 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\nFriendship in Yoga<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n(1)<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nFRIENDSHIP or affection is not excluded from <\/i>the Yoga. Friendship with the Divine is a recognised <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 245 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nrelation in the sadhana. Friendships between the
\nsadhaks exist and are encouraged by the Mother.
\nOnly, we seek to found them on a surer basis than that on which the bulk of
\nhuman friendships are
\ninsecurely founded. It is precisely because we hold
\nfriendship, brotherhood, love to be sacred things
\nthat we want this change\u2014because we do not want
\nto see them broken at every moment by the movements of the ego, soiled and
\nspoiled and destroyed
\nby the passions, jealousies, treacheries to which the
\nvital is prone\u2014it is to make them truly sacred and-.
\nsecure that we want them rooted in the soul, founded
\non the rock of the Divine. Our Yoga is not an ascetic
\nYoga: it aims at purity, but not at a cold austerity..
\nFriendship and love are indispensable notes in the
\nharmony to which we aspire. It is not a vain dream,
\nfor we have seen that even in imperfect conditions,.
\nwhen a little of the indispensable element is there
\nat the very root, the thing is possible. It is difficult
\nand the old obstacles still cling obstinately? But no
\nvictory can be won without a fixed fidelity to the aim.
\nand a long effort. There is no other way than to
\npersevere. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n9-10-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 246<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n(2) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nIn Yoga friendship can remain but attachment has to fall away or any such engrossing affection as
\nwould keep one tied to the ordinary life and consciousness. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n(3) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAs for turning all to the Divine, that is a counsel
\nof perfection for those who don’t care to carry any
\nluggage. But otherwise friendship between man and
\nman or man and woman or woman and woman is not
\nforbidden, provided it is the true thing and sex does
\nnot come in and also provided it does not turn one
\naway from the goal. If the central aim is strong, that
\nis sufficient…. When I spoke of personal relation,
\nI certainly did not mean pure indifference, for indifference does not create a
\nrelation: it tends to non-
\nrelation altogether. Emotional friendship need not
\nbe an obstacle. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 247 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nSpiritual Life and Marriage<\/i> <\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nREGARDING<\/font> your question about a complementary
\nsoul and marriage, the answer is easy to give; the
\nway of the spiritual life lies for you in one direction and marriage lies in quite another and opposite.
\nAll talk about a complementary soul is a camouflage
\nwith which the mind tries to cover the sentimental,
\nsensational and physical wants of the lower vital
\nnature. It is that vital nature in you which puts
\nthe question and would like an answer reconciling
\nits desires and demands with the call of the true
\nsoul in you. But it must not expect a sanction for any
\nsuch incongruous reconciliation from here. The way
\nof the supramental Yoga is clear; it lies not through
\nconcession to these things,\u2014not, in your case, through satisfaction, under a
\nspiritual cover if possible, of its craving for the comforts and gratifications
\nof a domestic and conjugal life arid the enjoyment of the ordinary emotional desires and physical
\npassions,\u2014but through the purification and transformation of the forces which these movements pervert.
\nand misuse. Not these human and animal demands,
\nbut the divine Ananda which is above and beyond
\nthem and which the indulgence of these degraded
\nforms would prevent from descending, is the great <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 248 . <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nthing that the aspiration of the vital being must
\ndemand in the sadhak. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\nTurning Away from the Past Vital Love<\/i> <\/font>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nWHATEVER may be the glamour of a vital love, once it falls away and one gets to a higher level, it should be seen to have been not the great thing one imagined. To keep this exaggerated estimate of it is to hold the consciousness back from the pull towards
\nI the greater thing with which that cannot for a moment compare. If one keeps an exaggerated feeling like that for an inferior past, it must make it more difficult to develop the entire person for a higher
\nI future. It is indeed not the Mother’s wish that anybody should look back in a spirit of enthusiastic appreciation to the old vital love. It was indeed "so little" in any true estimate of things. It is not at all a question of comparison or of extolling the vital passion of one at the expense of that of the other. It is the whole thing that must dwindle in its proportions and recede into the shadowy constructions of the past that have no longer any importance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 249 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\n
\nHuman and Divine Love<\/i> <\/font><\/p>\n

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

\n(I) . <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nHUMAN love is mostly vital and physical with a
\nmental support\u2014it can take an unselfish, noble and
\npure form and expression only if it is touched by
\nthe psychic. It is true, as you say, that it is more
\nusually a mixture of ignorance, attachment, passion
\nand desire. But whatever it may be, one who wishes
\nto reach the Divine must not burden himself with
\nhuman loves and attachments, for they form so many
\nfetters and hamper his steps, turning him away
\nbesides from the concentration of his emotions on
\nthe one supreme object of love. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere is such a thing as psychic love, pure, without
\ndemand, sincere in self-giving, but it is not usually
\nleft pure in the attraction of human beings to one
\nanother. One must also be on one’s guard against
\nthe profession of psychic love when one is doing
\nsadhana,\u2014for that is most often a cloak and justification for yielding to a
\nvital attraction or attachment. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nUniversal love is the spiritual founded on the sense
\nof the One and the Divine everywhere and the change of the personal into a wide
\nuniversal consciousness,
\nfree from attachment and ignorance. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 250<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nDivine Love is of two kinds\u2014the divine Love fop
\nthe creation and the souls that are part of itself, and .
\nthe love of the seeker and love for the Divine Beloved; it has both a personal and impersonal element, but
\nthe personal is free here from all lower elements.
\nor bondage to the vital and physical instincts. <\/font><\/p>\n

\n13-12-1934 <\/font><\/p>\n

\n(2) <\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nAnd let me say also that, as regards human love and
\ndivine love, I admitted the first as that from which we have to proceed and to arrive at the other,
\nintensifying and transforming into itself, not eliminating, human love. Divine Love, in my view of
\nit, is again not something ethereal, cold and far, but
\na. love absolutely intense, intimate and full of unity, closeness and rapture
\nusing all the nature for its expression. Certainly, it is without the confusions and
\ndisorders of the present lower vital nature which it
\nwill change into something entirely warm, deep and
\nintense; but that is no reason for supposing that it
\nwill lose anything that is true and happy in the
\ndements of love. <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 251<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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