{"id":3871,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3871"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:52","slug":"27-13-july-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\/27-13-july-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-27_13 July 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n13 July 1955<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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

Mother reads from Lights on Yoga, \u201cPlanes and<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Parts of the Being\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Now then! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, what does \u201ccosmic spirit and cosmic Nature\u201d mean? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Universal. Cosmic is the synonym of
\nuniversal. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But what does \u201ccosmic spirit\u201d mean? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Cosmic spirit? It is the cosmic spirit, it
\nis the universal spirit, it is the spirit that’s in the whole universe. There
\nis a universe. You know what the universe is? Well, this universe has a spirit,
\nand this spirit is the cosmic spirit; this universe has a consciousness and its
\nconsciousness is the cosmic, universal consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

One may very well imagine that the
\nuniverse is only an entity in something which is still vaster, as the
\nindividual is only an entity in a much vaster totality. Now, each unit has its
\nconsciousness and its own spirit which contains all the others, as a group
\nconsciousness is made up of all the individual consciousnesses which constitute
\nit and as a national consciousness is made up of all the individual
\nconsciousnesses which constitute it, and something more. The individual is only
\nan element in the whole, even as the earth is a part of the solar system, and
\nthe solar system makes a part of all the systems of the universe. So just as
\nthere is an individual consciousness, there is a group consciousness and a
\nconsciousness of the system, a universal consciousness which is made up of the
\nset of all the consciousnesses composing it, plus something, something \u2013
\nsomething more subtle. Just like you: you have lots of cells in  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 236<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

your body; each cell has its own
\nconsciousness and you have a consciousness which is the consciousness of your
\ntotal individuality, though made up of all these small cellulary consciousnesses.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, here it is written: \u201c… there is a wall of separative ignorance
\nbetween\u201d the individual and the cosmic consciousness. Then how to break down
\nthis wall? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Get rid of the ignorance, enter the
\nknowledge.  <\/span><\/p>\n

First of all you must know what I have
\njust told you, that you are a part of the whole, that this whole is a part of a
\ngreater whole, and that this greater whole is a part of a still greater whole,
\nright up to its forming one single totality. Once you know that, you begin to
\nbecome aware that in reality there cannot be any separation between you and
\nsomething greater than you of which you are a part. This is the beginning. Now,
\nyou must come to the point not only of thinking this but of feeling it and even
\nliving it, and then the wall of ignorance tumbles: one feels this unity
\neverywhere and realises that he is only a more or less fragmentary part of a
\nwhole much vaster than he, which is the universe. Then one begins to have a
\nmore universal consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Silence<\/i>)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

That’s all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, what does to be possessed by the Divine mean? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You don’t know? What do you think, that it
\nis you who possess the Divine or the Divine who possesses you? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What does it mean? <\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 237<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It means that the Divine enters into you
\nand governs you, becomes the master of your consciousness and movements. This
\nindeed is called being possessed by the Divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, it is the separation of Sat, Chit and Ananda which has
\nbrought about ignorance, suffering. Then… <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why did they separate? (Laughter<\/i>)  <\/span><\/p>\n

Probably they had no moral notions! (Laughter<\/i>)  <\/span><\/p>\n

(Long silence)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is probable that if they had not
\nseparated, there would have been no universe as we have it. It was perhaps a
\nnecessity. But what you are asking is how it was not foreseen that it would
\nhappen in this way. Perhaps it was foreseen. It could have turned out well, it
\nturned out badly. There! There are accidents.  <\/span><\/p>\n

You know, so long as you want to apply
\nyour mental, moral notions to the creation of the universe, you will never
\nunderstand anything about it, never. Because from all sides and in all ways it
\ngoes beyond these conceptions \u2013 conceptions of good and evil, and these things.
\nAll the mental, moral conceptions we have cannot explain the universe. And for
\nthis part of ourselves which indeed lives in a total ignorance, all that can be
\nsaid is: \u201cThings are like that because they are like that\u201d, one can’t explain
\nthem, because the explanations one gives are those of ignorance and explain
\nnothing at all.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The mind explains one thing by another,
\nthis other which needs to be explained is explained by another still, and that
\nother which needs explanation is explained by another, and if you continue in
\nthis way you can go all round the universe and return to the starting-point
\nwithout having explained anything at all. (Laughter<\/i>)
\nSo you have to pierce a hole, rise in the air <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 238<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and see things in another way. Then like
\nthat one can begin to understand. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How to do it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How to do it? (Laughter<\/i>)  <\/span><\/p>\n

Aspiration is like an arrow, like this (gesture<\/i>). So you aspire, want very
\nearnestly to understand, know, enter into the truth. Yes? And then with that
\naspiration you do this\u00a0 <\/span>(gesture<\/i>). Your aspiration rises, rises,
\nrises, rises straight up, very strong and then it strikes against a kind of…
\nhow to put it? … lid which is there, hard like iron and extremely thick, and
\nit does not pass through. And then you say, \u201cSee, what’s the use of aspiring?
\nIt brings nothing at all. I meet with something hard and cannot pass!\u201d But you
\nknow about the drop of water which falls on the rock, it ends up by making a
\nchasm: it cuts the rock from top to bottom. Your aspiration is a drop of water
\nwhich, instead of falling, rises. So, by dint of rising, it beats, beats,
\nbeats, and one day it makes a hole, by dint of rising; and when it makes the
\nhole suddenly it springs out from this lid and enters an immensity of light,
\nand you say, \u201cAh, now I understand.\u201d  <\/span><\/p>\n

It’s like that.  <\/span><\/p>\n

So one must be very persistent, very
\nstubborn and have an aspiration which rises straight upwards, that is, which
\ndoes not go roaming around here and there, seeking all kinds of things.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Only this: to understand, understand,
\nunderstand, to learn to know, to be.  <\/span><\/p>\n

When one reaches the very top, there is
\nnothing more to understand, nothing more to learn, one is, and it’s when one is
\nthat one understands and knows. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, when one understands, what is it in us that understands? <\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 239<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It’s the like that knows the like. So it
\nis only because you carry the thing in yourself that you discover it. Because
\nyou understand very well that my story is an image, don’t you, that all this is
\nan image; it corresponds quite well with something, but it’s an image all the
\nsame, because one can find it as well within as above, you see. It’s only
\nbecause we have physical notions about the different material planes, material
\ndimensions; because when we understand, it is in another order of dimensions,
\nabsolutely. Now this other dimensional order does not correspond to space.  <\/span><\/p>\n

But you cannot understand and be something
\nunless it is in you in some way or other or you are in it \u2013 it’s the same
\nthing, isn’t it? However, to make you understand more easily, I can say it’s
\nbecause it is in you, because it’s a part of your consciousness, somewhere,
\notherwise you could never become aware of it. If one did not carry the Divine
\nwithin oneself, in the essence of one’s being, one could never become aware of
\nthe Divine; it would be an impossible venture. And then if you reverse the
\nproblem, the moment you conceive and feel in some way or other, or even, to
\nbegin with, admit that the Divine is in you, as well as you are in the Divine,
\nthen already this opens the door to realisation, just a little, not much \u2013
\nslightly ajar. Then if later the aspiration comes, the intense need to know and
\nto be, then that intense need widens the opening until one can creep in. Then
\nwhen one has crept in, one becomes aware of what he is. And that’s exactly what
\nSri Aurobindo says, that one has forgotten, that due to this separation of Sat,
\nChit, Ananda, forgetfulness comes, forgetfulness of what one is; one thinks
\noneself to be somebody, you see, anyone at all, a boy, a girl, a man, a woman,
\na dog, a horse, anything at all, a stone, the sea, the sun; one believes
\noneself to be all this, instead of thinking oneself the One Divine \u2013 because,
\nin fact, if one had continued thinking oneself the One Divine, there would have
\nbeen no universe at all.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

That was what I wanted to tell him (indicating a child<\/i>), <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 240<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that this phenomenon of separation seems
\nto be indispensable for a universe to be there, otherwise it would always have
\nremained as it was. But if we re-establish the unity, after having made it pass
\nthrough this curve, you see, if we re-establish the unity, having benefited
\nfrom the multiplicity, the division, then we have a unity of a higher quality,
\na unity which knows itself instead of the unity which doesn’t have to know
\nitself, for there’s nothing which may know the other. When the Oneness is
\nabsolute, who can know the Oneness? We must at least be able to have an image,
\nan appearance of something which is not it in order to understand what it is. I
\nbelieve that this is the secret of the universe. Perhaps the Divine wanted
\nreally to know Himself, so He threw Himself out and then looked at Himself, and
\nnow He wants to enjoy this possibility of being Himself with the full knowledge
\nof Himself. This becomes much more interesting.  <\/span><\/p>\n

So there we are. Another question? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, last time you spoke about the imagination, didn’t you? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Then, is it through the imagination that one can realise desires or
\naspirations? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That means? What exactly do you want to say?
\nImagining that the desire is realised and in this way help its realisation? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly, quite certainly. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

And ideals also? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Only usually, yes, almost totally what
\npeople don’t have at their <\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n
\n

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

disposal is the time it takes. But for
\ninstance, if you have a very powerful imagination and build up the realisation
\nof your desire, build it up well with all its details and everything, like an
\nadmirably made formation existing in itself, totally, you see… well, you may
\nbe sure that if you live long enough the thing will be realised. It can be
\nrealised the next day, it can be realised the next minute, it can take years,
\nit can take centuries. But it is sure to be realised. And then, if to this
\nimaginative power you add a kind of creative vital strength, you make a very
\nliving force of it; and as all living forces tend towards realisation, it will
\nput a pressure upon terrestrial events in order to be able to realise itself
\nsooner, and it is realised.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Only, as I said, there are two things.
\nFirst, as regards desires, personal circumstances, one is not very…
\npersistent or very steady, and after some time what interested you very
\nstrongly doesn’t interest you any longer. You think of something else, have
\nanother desire, and make another formation. But now the first thing one
\nimagined is very well formed; after following its curve in space it is
\nrealised. But by then the person has started another construction because for
\nsome reason or other the thing doesn’t interest him any more, and he is face to
\nface with the realisation of his first desire, while having already embarked
\nupon the second, the third or the fourth. So he is absolutely annoyed: \u201cBut
\nwhy, I don’t want this any longer, why does it come?\u201d without his being
\nconscious that quite simply it is the result of a previous deed. If, however,
\ninstead of being desires they are aspirations for spiritual things and one
\ncontinues his line with a regular progress, then one is absolutely sure to
\nobtain one day what he has imagined. The day may be slightly far-off if there
\nare many obstacles on the path, for example if the formation that you have made
\nis still very alien to the state of the earth atmosphere; well, it takes some
\ntime to prepare the conditions for its advent. But if it is something which has
\nalready been realised several times on earth and does not imply too categorical
\na transformation, you may have it quite quickly, <\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n
\n

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

provided that you follow the same line
\npersistently. And if you add to this the ardour of a faith and trust in the
\ndivine Grace and that kind of self-giving to the Grace which makes you expect
\neverything from It, then it can become tremendous; you can see things being
\nrealised more and more, and the most surprising ones can be realised one after
\nanother. But for this there are conditions to be fulfilled. <\/span><\/p>\n

One must have a great purity and a great
\nintensity in one’s self-giving, and that absolute trust in the supreme wisdom
\nof the divine Grace, that It knows better than we do what is good for us, and
\nall that. Then if one offers one’s aspiration to It, truly gives it with enough
\nintensity, the results are marvellous. But one must know how to see them, for
\nwhen things are realised most people find it absolutely natural, they don’t
\neven see why and how it has happened, and they tell themselves, \u201cYes, naturally
\nit had to be like that.\u201d So they lose the joy of… the joy of gratitude,
\nbecause, in the last analysis, if one can be filled with gratitude and
\nthanksgiving for the divine Grace, it puts the finishing touch, and at each
\nstep one comes to see that things are exactly what they had to be and the best
\nthat could be.  <\/span><\/p>\n

There.  <\/span><\/p>\n

And so Sat-Chit-Ananda begins to come
\ntogether, to form its unity once more.  <\/span><\/p>\n

There we are, my children. That’s all?  <\/span><\/p>\n

Finished.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n


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

13 July 1955 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mother reads from Lights on Yoga, \u201cPlanes and Parts of the Being\u201d.   Now then!   Sweet Mother, what does \u201ccosmic…<\/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-3871","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\/3871","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=3871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}