{"id":3874,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3874"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:53","slug":"47-7-december-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\/47-7-december-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-47_7 December 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n7
\nDecember 1955 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother reads from {The Synthesis of Yoga},
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeIf-Consecration\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, one can make an offering of oneself only when one reaches quite
\na high level, but when one is leading a more or less unconscious life, the
\nself-giving becomes more or less mental, doesn’t it? And it is not effective.
\nWhat should one do? Can one begin from the very beginning by self-giving? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It depends on people, my child. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are people in whom the psychic movement,
\nthe emotional impulse is stronger than intellectual understanding. They feel an
\nirresistible attraction for the Divine without knowing, without having the
\nslightest idea of what it is, of what it can be, what it represents \u2013 nothing,
\nno intellectual notion \u2013 but a kind of impulse, attraction, a need, an
\ninevitable need. <\/span><\/p>\n

And these people who have that, if, I may
\nsay as a result of the Grace, they have a mind which does not trouble them,
\ndoes not question, does not discuss, go very fast. <\/span><\/p>\n

And then, what is quite miraculous
\naccording to ordinary ideas is that as soon as they reach that degree of
\nconsecration which identifies them through their psychic being with the Divine
\nPresence, suddenly they become endowed with capacities of expression absolutely
\nunknown to their nature. <\/span><\/p>\n

I had a case like this in France, a long
\ntime ago, of a young, very young girl who had never had any education so to
\nsay, any instruction; she was an Opera dancer, a very good one, and had been
\nput to study there at the age of eight, as they are always put, that is, as a
\nchild; and she had learnt to dance instead of learning history, geography,
\nmathematics and the rest. She almost did not know how to express herself, and
\nher intelligence,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 399<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

though evident, was untrained.
\nWell, she was attracted like that and felt an imperious need to seek the
\nDivine, to consecrate herself to Him. And she began to dance in His honour at
\nfirst, like the juggler of Notre Dame; and she truly danced most remarkably.
\nAnd then, suddenly, she wanted to express what she was feeling: she began
\nwriting letters which were wonderfully poetic; she said surprising things and
\nin a still more surprising way; page followed page, and she wrote all with an
\nextraordinary facility.<\/span><\/p>\n

It happened that, due to certain
\ncircumstances, she had some difficulties, there was something in her nature
\nwhich pulled her back towards the old nature she had given up \u2013 which made her
\npractical and materialistic, made her see things externally. And immediately
\nshe became incapable of putting two words together, she could not write a line
\nwithout making numberless spelling mistakes. <\/span><\/p>\n

When she was in the state of inspiration
\nshe wrote without a mistake, like a great writer; and as soon as she came out of
\nthat state and fell back into her down-to-earth consciousness \u2013 the needs of
\nlife, the necessities of each minute, etc. \u2013 everything disappeared, she could
\nnot even write a single line without making mistakes and it was totally
\nunrefined stuff. <\/span><\/p>\n

So you see, this proves that if one
\nattains the true consciousness, there is no longer any problem to solve. What
\nyou have to be, you become. What you have to know, you know. And what you have
\nto do, you have the power to do. And it naturally follows that all those
\nso-called difficulties immediately vanish.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case I am speaking about, what
\npulled her down was not something in herself, it was in another person. And
\nunfortunately that’s what happens most often: one takes on in life the burden
\nof certain responsibilities and they prevent him from advancing. <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s my story. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are others who understand first, who
\nare very intellectual,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 400<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

have studied, can play with words and
\nideas, who will give you brilliant lectures on all the philosophies, all the
\nreligions, all human conceptions and who, perhaps, will take years to advance
\none step. Because all that goes on in the head. <\/span><\/p>\n

Many things go on in the head. I have told
\nyou this already several times, the head is like a public square. Anything at all
\ncan enter there, come, cross over, go out, and create a lot of disorder. And
\npeople who are in the habit of playing with ideas are the ones most hampered
\nfrom going farther. It is a game that’s pretty, attractive; it gives you the
\nimpression that you are not altogether ordinary, at the level of ordinary life,
\nbut it cuts the wings. <\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not the head which has wings: it’s
\nthe heart. It’s this… yes, this inevitable need. Nothing else counts. That’s
\neverything. Only that. <\/span><\/p>\n

And so, after all, one doesn’t care a rap
\nfor obstacles and difficulties. What can that do to you?… It doesn’t count.
\nOne laughs at time also. What does it matter to you if it takes long? For a
\nmuch longer time you will have the joy of aspiration, of consecration, of
\nself-giving. <\/span><\/p>\n

For this is the one true joy. And this joy
\nfades away when there is something egoistic, and because there is a demand \u2013
\nwhich one calls a need \u2013 which is mixed in the consecration. Otherwise the joy
\nnever disappears. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the first thing one obtains, and the
\nlast one realises. And it is the sign of Victory. <\/span><\/p>\n

So long as you can’t be in joy, a
\nconstant, calm, peaceful, luminous, invariable joy, well, it means that you
\nhave still to work to purify yourself, and sometimes work hard. But this is the
\nsign. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is with the sense of separation that
\npain, suffering, misery, ignorance, and all incapacities have come. It is with
\nan absolute self-giving, self-forgetfulness in a total consecration that
\nsuffering disappears and is replaced by a joy which nothing can veil.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And only when this joy is established here
\nin this world can <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 401<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

it be truly transformed and there be a new
\nlife, a new creation, a new realisation. The joy must first be established in
\nthe consciousness and then later the material transformation will take place;
\nbut not before. <\/span><\/p>\n

Truly speaking, it is with the Adversary
\nthat suffering came into the world. And it’s only joy which can vanquish him,
\nnothing else \u2013 vanquish him definitively, finally.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

(Long
\nsilence<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

It is Delight which has created, and it is
\nDelight which will accomplish.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

Note that I am not speaking of what men
\ncall joy, which is not even a caricature, which, I think, is a diabolic
\ninvention in order to make one lose the way: the joy which comes from pleasure,
\nfrom forgetfulness, from indifference.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I am speaking of a joy which is perfect
\npeace, shadowless light, harmony, total beauty and an irresistible power, that
\njoy which is the divine Presence itself, in its essence, in its Will and its
\nRealisation. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, you say that for conquering, it is only joy which can conquer
\nthe Adversary. But to attain the joy one must first conquer the Adversary! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why no! One must go beyond him and ignore
\nhim. <\/span><\/p>\n

 There is one thing you must begin by
\ndoing, it is true, that is to free yourself from his influence. But there is a
\ndifference between freeing oneself from the Adversary’s influence and
\nconquering the Adversary. To conquer the Adversary is not a small<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 402<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

thing. One must have a greater power than
\nhis to vanquish him. But one can liberate oneself totally from his influence.
\nAnd from the minute one is completely free from his influence, one’s
\nself-giving can be total. And with the self-giving comes joy, long before the Adversary
\nis truly vanquished and disappears. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Adversary will disappear only when he
\nis no longer necessary in the world. And we know very well that he is
\nnecessary, as the touch-stone for gold: to know if it is pure. <\/span><\/p>\n

But if you, whoever it may be, become
\ntruly sincere \u2013 what I call sincere, you see, what Sri Aurobindo calls sincere,
\nthat is, when nothing in the being contradicts the aspiration and the will to
\nconsecration, nothing disguises itself to continue living its own independent
\nlife… The disguises are countless, they are full of craftiness and malice,
\nvery deceptive, and unfortunately the human being has a very great innate
\ntendency to deceive himself; and the more one deceives himself, the less one
\nrecognises the self-deception. But if one is really<\/i> sincere, the Adversary can’t even approach him any longer;
\nand he doesn’t try it, because that would be courting his own destruction. <\/span><\/p>\n

Only, some people have in them a kind of fighting
\ninstinct and they are not content to liberate themselves and come out of the
\ninfluence; indeed they think they have the capacity to go to war and fight with
\nthe Adversary. So sometimes, if they are not quite ready, they go and land in
\nvery bad situations, difficult predicaments. <\/span><\/p>\n

These are saved only by their trust in the
\ndivine Grace. Because, even if they act foolishly and land in difficult
\nsituations, there will always be something which comes and pulls them out of
\nthe hole at the last moment. A little like the mother cat catching its young
\none which is going to drown because it has made a mistake and wanted to walk
\nupon water \u2013 she catches it, pulls it, brings it out. A little like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it is always said that one must not
\ntempt God. One should not do something through \u2013 how to put it sweetly \u2013
\npremature boldness, with the idea: \u201cOh, it doesn’t matter, the <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 403<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Divine will always pull me out of the
\ndifficulty.\u201d This is not good. Because instead of helping the work, it
\ncomplicates it. <\/span><\/p>\n

There we are. Is that all? <\/span><\/p>\n

You want to try to be silent for a few
\nminutes? I mean inside. Yes? <\/span><\/p>\n

 (Meditation<\/i>)<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 404<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

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