{"id":3870,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3870"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","slug":"16-27-april-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/07-questions-and-answers-volume-07\/16-27-april-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-16_27 April 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\n27 April 1955*<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span>
\n
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This talk is based
\nupon Bases of Yoga<\/i>, Chapter 5, <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPhysical
\nConsciousness, etc.\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, what is the difference
\nbetween a symbolic dream and a vision? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Usually one has a
\nvision when one is not asleep, when one is awake. When one is awake and enters within
\noneself \u2013 whether in meditation or concentration \u2013 one has visions. Or at night
\nyou can’t sleep\u2026 remain stretched out, remain quiet, don’t sleep and you may
\nhave visions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dreams come when one is asleep, that is, when one has no longer the
\nwaking consciousness; whereas in vision one is in the waking consciousness, but
\none quietens or immobilises it, and it is another more inner consciousness
\nwhich awakens; yet one is not asleep, the body is not asleep, it is just made
\nquiet. <\/span><\/p>\n

One can have visions even while remaining active. Some people have
\nvisions even amidst activity. Vision is another plane of perception which
\nawakes. It is the senses in the mind or vital or physical which wake up and
\nmanage to pass their experiences to the outer consciousness. It is as though
\none had another pair of eyes behind these, eyes which could see in the vital
\ninstead of seeing in the physical. And this is always there. Only, as one is
\nconcentrated on the most material life, one doesn’t notice it. But some
\nchildren have the two conjointly, they see even physically all kinds of things
\nwhich are not physical. Usually they are told that they are saying stupid
\nthings; so they stop speaking about them. But they don’t see just this, only
\nphysically, they see other things behind. One can have visions with closed
\neyes, one can have visions with open eyes; while when dreaming one is always
\nasleep. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

*No class was held
\non the 20th of April.<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 129<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Any other
\nquestions? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can we distinguish between a symbolic
\ndream and other dreams? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

For each one it is
\ndifferent; but it is a question of the impression one has. Usually the symbolic
\ndream is much clearer, more precise, more coordinated, and carries with it a
\nkind of consciousness of something which is true\u2026 I don’t know\u2026 one remembers
\nit better, it is not distorted in the remembrance. <\/span><\/p>\n

And then, that’s all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, there’s a question of
\nJyotindra’s. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! What does he
\nwant to know, that child? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

He wanted to know: when one is in much pain
\nor is very irritated, how can one sleep peacefully? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This indeed needs
\na certain yogic power. The best way \u2013 and this one is absolute \u2013 is to go out
\nof one’s body. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the body is in pain, when one has fever or is ill, you see, or the
\nbody is very ill, the only thing to do is to come out of it, to bring out one’s
\nvital being. And then, if one is a yogi and knows, one rises just above \u2013 so as
\nto see his body; the vital being, if it has come out in a fairly material form,
\ncan see the body; one sees his own physical body, and then at that moment, with
\nthe consciousness one has and the force one has, one can direct the rays of
\nthese forces on the place in the body which is ill. But this of course is the
\npeak, it is the surest way of curing oneself; and if one has the power and the
\nknowledge, it is infallible. <\/span><\/p>\n

One can cure oneself of anything whatever in a very short time. Only,
\nall this means a great practice, a training of the being. It does not come all
\nat once, you see. But in fact when <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 130<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the pain is
\nintolerable and people faint, they do this instinctively. To faint is to go out
\nof one’s body. So some people, who are not too closely tied to their body, when
\nsomething goes wrong, becomes too painful or is not all right, they faint. <\/span><\/p>\n

Too great a pain makes you faint away, that is, you go out of your body,
\nyou really go out and leave the body very inert; and provided someone is there
\nwho has enough knowledge not to shake you like this (gesture<\/i>) to wake you up, it is a means of escape from suffering. Of
\ncourse, if you have beside you someone who is panic-stricken and sprinkles cold
\nwater on your head or shakes you, then the result can be disastrous, but
\notherwise one can\u2026 And little by little, naturally, as there is no longer any
\nconsciousness there to record the suffering, it becomes calm, and in almost
\nevery case the body becomes motionless enough to be able to rest even in spite
\nof the suffering. It doesn’t feel it at all any longer. This is the best way. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are minor methods and they have smaller results; they are not very
\neasy either, that is, the knowledge of the power to cut the connection between
\nthe suffering part and the recording brain. One cuts the connection, then the
\nbrain does not register. That’s what one does, what the doctors do with
\nanaesthetics. They cut the connection of the nerves between the spot that’s ill
\nand the brain; so the brain no longer perceives anything or it is reduced to a
\nminimum. And it always comes back to the same thing, one way or another; and
\nall this calls for an occult power or a training. Some people have it
\nspontaneously; there are not many of these \u2013 very few. But obviously, without
\ngoing so far, there is one thing that one can try to do: it is not to
\nconcentrate on one’s pain, to turn the attention away as much as possible, not
\nthink at all of one’s pain, think as little as possible and above all not be
\nconcentrated on it, not to pay attention \u2013 \u201cOh, I’m in pain\u201d, then it becomes a
\nlittle worse; \u201cOh, I’m in still greater pain\u201d, then it becomes still worse,
\nlike that, because one is concentrated on it; and this is the mistake one
\nalways makes: to think, be there, attentive, awaiting the <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 131<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

sign of pain; then
\nnaturally it comes, it comes increased by the concentration of the attention
\ngiven to it. That is why, when one is not well the best thing to do is to read
\nor have something read, you see; it depends on the condition one is in. But if
\none can turn one’s attention away, one no longer suffers.<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, that’s all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, do we need to dream? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Do we what?\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2026need to dream?\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Need to dream! But
\nit’s not a question of need, my child, one always dreams. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But why do we dream? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why do you walk on
\nyour feet, with the head in the air, and why do you eat and sleep? It is like
\nthat. There is no why about it. There is no why, it is part of the general
\nfunctioning. <\/span><\/p>\n

Dreams are not something imposed upon you like that, artificially. It is
\nnot as when you are sent to school to learn something, not like that. They are
\na part of your normal working, that is, usually it is the head, the brain which
\ngoes on working. Sometimes, when one is in slightly higher states, it is an
\ninner being that enters into activity, goes to its own domain and lives there
\nits own life. But all these things are not artificially organised for some
\nreason or other. They are a part of the body’s functioning. Dreams are as
\nnatural as the activities of the day; and then in a dream one finds out more or
\nless that one understands nothing about it, but in life it’s exactly the same
\nthing because \u2013 no matter what happens \u2013 you are always asking yourself
\nhundreds of questions to know why, how and what it <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 132<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

is that’s
\nhappened. You know nothing about it. Only, you are in the habit of its being like
\nthat.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s all. No questions? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have a question still. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Still one? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, when one sleeps the
\nconsciousness is different from the waking consciousness\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, and so \u201cWhy?\u201d
\n(Laughter<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How is it different? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But you have never
\nnoticed that it is different? For example, your physical consciousness or your
\nsubtle physical consciousness, your vital consciousness or the consciousness of
\nyour higher or lower vital, your psychic consciousness, your mental
\nconsciousness, each one is completely different! So when you sleep you have one
\nconsciousness, and when you are awake you have another. In your waking state
\nyou look at things projected outside you, in your sleep state you see them
\ninteriorised. So it is as though in one case you were pushed altogether outside
\nyourself, in front, and in the other it is as though you were looking at
\nyourself in an inner mirror. <\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t understand? Not very well! <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, it’s something one must learn to distinguish, one’s states of
\nconsciousness, because otherwise one lives in a perpetual confusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, it is the first step on the path, it is the beginning of the
\nthread, if one doesn’t hold on to the end of the thread, one is lost on the
\nway. This is only to hold the end of the thread. <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s all? <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 133<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Sweet Mother, when one sees oneself dead
\nin a dream, what does it signify? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! I have already
\nbeen asked this several times. It depends on the context. <\/span><\/p>\n

It can mean that one has made enough progress to get rid totally of an
\nold way of being which has no longer any reason for existing. This, I think, is
\nthe most frequent case. Otherwise it depends absolutely on the context, that
\nis, the circumstances surrounding the dream. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is\u2026 one sees himself dead\u2026 How does he see himself dead? Does he
\nsimply see the inert body or himself already dead, or does he take for dead
\nwhat is not dead? <\/span><\/p>\n

You see, if you leave your body \u2013 by going out of the body as I
\nexplained a while ago \u2013 if you have gone out materially enough, in a very
\nmaterial vital, well, the body which is lying on the bed seems absolutely dead,
\nbut it is not dead for all that. But if you look at it or see it while you are
\noutside and you don’t know, it seems absolutely dead, it is in a cataleptic
\nstate. Then if you know what is necessary and what you ought to do it is very
\neasy; but if you don’t know and the imagination starts roaming, then you open
\nthe door to fear and anything may happen. <\/span><\/p>\n

But in fact, I don’t think that once in a million times it is a
\npremonitory dream. I think it much more likely that it is a fragment of the
\nbeing which has stopped being useful and so disappears; so the fragment takes
\nthe form of the whole and one sees himself dead because this fragment has
\nstopped existing in him. This is the most frequent and the most logical
\ninstance. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, one may see not a death but, for example, an accident or an
\nassassination or things like that\u2026 Then it is a very real violent dream, you
\nknow, and this may mean that one is attacked by bad forces sent by someone with
\na precise purpose. Then one has only to strike hard and react violently. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 134<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Sweet Mother, sometimes when one is
\nasleep, he knows that he is asleep but he can’t open his eyes. Why? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This happens when one
\nhas gone out of his body, and one must not force things, one must quite simply,
\nslowly, concentrate his consciousness in his body and wait a while for the
\nfusion to be made normally; one must not force things. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes the eyes are a little open and
\none can also see things\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

And one can’t
\nmove! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It means that only
\na fragment of the consciousness has come back, not enough to bring back the
\nfull movement in the body. You must not shake yourself, because you risk losing
\na bit of yourself. You must remain quite still and concentrate slowly, slowly,
\non your body; it can take a minute or two at the most. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What can one lose? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Anything at all,
\nsomething that has gone out, you see. It’s because one part of the being has
\ngone out; so if you shake yourself, it doesn’t have the time to get back. Why,
\nthere’s someone behind you (Nolini<\/i>)
\nwho has had an experience of this kind – someone startled him out of his sleep,
\nand when he came back he had truly the feeling that something was missing.
\nIsn’t that so? (Mother turns to Nolini<\/i>)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Nolini) Yes. <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Then I told him to
\nconcentrate quietly; it came back. Only, if <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 135<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

one is afraid it
\ncan become complicated, you see. <\/span><\/p>\n

But one must never startle anyone out of his sleep because he must have time
\nto get back into his body. It is not good, for instance, when getting up to
\njump out of bed \u2013 hop! You must remain quiet for a while, like this (gesture<\/i>), as though you were bringing
\nyourself back into yourself, like that, quietly\u2026 quietly. When you are quite
\ncalm, when you feel that everything is there, then you get up and it is over.
\nBut you must never jump out of bed abruptly, it is not good. Besides, sometimes
\nit happens that those who wake up abruptly and jump out of bed feel giddy and
\nrisk falling. You must always make a movement like this (gesture<\/i>), as though you were gathering your consciousness or all
\nkinds of things which may be gathered in one’s body; you remain very quiet for
\na few seconds of assimilation and when it is done properly, you get up quietly,
\ncomposedly. <\/span><\/p>\n

What else? Nothing? <\/span><\/p>\n

So it is finished!<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 136<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

27 April 1955* \u00a0   This talk is based upon Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, \u201cPhysical Consciousness, etc.\u201d.   Sweet Mother, what is the difference…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","wpcat-112-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870","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=3870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}