{"id":3879,"date":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3879"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:51:56","slug":"42-2-november-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\/42-2-november-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-42_2 November 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n2
\nNovember 1955 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe Four Aids\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Now then, your question? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe process of Yoga is a turning of the human soul from the egoistic
\nstate of consciousness absorbed in the outward appearances \u201cI did not quite understand
\n\u201cthe egoistic state of consciousness absorbed in the outward appearances\u201d. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

People are occupied with outward things.
\nThat means that the consciousness is turned towards external things \u2013 that is,
\nall the things of life which one sees, knows, does \u2013 instead of being turned
\ninwards in order to find the deeper truth, the divine Presence. This is the
\nfirst movement. You are busy with all that you do, with the people around you,
\nthe things you use; and then with life: sleeping, eating, talking, working a
\nlittle, having a little fun also; and then beginning over again: sleeping,
\neating, etc., etc., and then it begins again. And then what this one has said,
\nwhat that one has done, what one ought to do, the lesson one ought to learn,
\nthe exercise one ought to prepare; and then again whether one is keeping well,
\nwhether one is feeling fit, etc. This is what one usually thinks about. <\/span><\/p>\n

So the first movement \u2013 and it is not so
\neasy \u2013 is to make all that pass to the background, and let one thing come
\ninside and in front of the consciousness as the<\/i>
\nimportant thing: the discovery of the very purpose of existence and life, to
\nlearn what one is, why one lives, and what there is behind all this. This is
\nthe first step: to be interested more in the cause and goal than in the
\nmanifestation. That is, the first movement is a withdrawal of the consciousness
\nfrom this total identification <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 354<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

with outward and apparent things, and
\na kind of inward concentration on what one wants to discover, the Truth one
\nwants to discover. This is the first movement. <\/span><\/p>\n

Many people who are here forget one thing.
\nThey want to begin by the end. They think that they are ready to express in
\ntheir life what they call the supramental Force or Consciousness, and they want
\nto infuse this in their actions, their movements, their daily life. But the
\ntrouble is that they don’t at all know what the supramental Force or
\nConsciousness is and that first of all it is necessary to take the reverse
\npath, the way of interiorisation and of withdrawal from life, in order to find
\nwithin oneself this Truth which has to be expressed. <\/span><\/p>\n

 For as long as one has not found it,
\nthere is nothing to express. And by imagining that one is living an exceptional
\nlife, one lives only in the illusion of one’s exceptional state. Therefore, at
\nfirst not only must one find one’s soul and the Divine who possesses it, but
\none must identify oneself with it. And then later, one may begin to come back
\nto outward activities, and then transform them; because then one knows in what
\ndirection to turn them, into what to transform them. <\/span><\/p>\n

One can’t jump over this stage. One must
\nfirst find one’s soul, this is absolutely indispensable, and identify oneself
\nwith it. Later one can come to the transformation. Sri Aurobindo has written
\nsomewhere: \u201cOur Yoga begins where the others end.\u201d Usually yoga leads precisely
\nto this identification, this union with the Divine \u2013 that is why it is called
\n\u201cyoga\u201d. And when people reach this, well, they are at the end of their path and
\nare satisfied. But Sri Aurobindo has written: we begin when they finish; you
\nhave found the Divine but instead of sitting down in contemplation and waiting
\nfor the Divine to take you out of your body which has become useless, on the
\ncontrary, with this consciousness you turn to the body and to life and begin
\nthe work of transformation \u2013 which is very hard labour. It’s here that he
\ncompares it with cutting one’s way through a virgin forest; because as nobody
\nhas done it before, one must make one’s <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 355<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

path where there was none. But to try to
\ndo this without having the indispensable directive of the union with the Divine
\nwithin, within one’s soul, is childishness. There. <\/span><\/p>\n

I am speaking of yoga. I am not speaking
\nof your life, of you all, you children here. That’s different. You are here to
\ndevelop yourselves. And when you are developed and have a precise thought of
\nyour own, a vision of your own, when you have enough knowledge to be able to
\nchoose freely what life you want to lead, then at that time you will take a decision.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

But those who have already taken the
\ndecision, well for them it is first of all indispensable to find their soul and
\nunite with their psychic being, and with the Divine who is within it. This is
\nan absolutely indispensable beginning. One can’t leap over that bridge; it is
\nnot possible. It can be done very quickly if you know how to use the help
\nthat’s given to you; but it has to be done. <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s all? <\/span><\/p>\n

Has anyone anything to ask? <\/span><\/p>\n

Pavitra is looking for his soul! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, here Sri Aurobindo says: \u201c… the same problem has to be
\napproached from a new starting-point.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

Yes. That’s exactly what I have just said.
\nThe problem remains the same… <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The problem… <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is to find one’s soul and
\nunite with the Divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But, Mother, was it the same during the Vedic times also? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

To find their soul and the Divine? Of
\ncourse. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 356<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

But they did not succeed?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, Sri Aurobindo says that in the Vedic
\nage they tried to bring the spiritual life into the physical life, but he says that
\nthe means they employed, the paths they followed at that time are no longer any
\ngood now. Just imagine us before an altar making a Puja<\/i>!… It won’t do now, it is not suitable. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is their goal and ours the same? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I think so. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, there were several ages in
\nthe earth’s history in which there was given a kind of example, as a promise,
\nof what would be there one day. These were called the golden ages. But
\ncertainly there were times in which a more or less complete representation of
\nwhat had to be was as though lived out. Only it was just a demonstration, an
\nexample, which the world was completely unfit to take up as a realisation. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was only to say: you see, this is how it
\nwill be, but not like this in all its details, like this in essence. And I
\nthink it did not last very long. In any case the memory of the thing is very
\nlimited, very localised and extremely short. There was an intensity, there was
\na great beauty in the expression, but it was something as though altogether
\nindependent of the whole of terrestrial life: an example… almost an example
\nwhich is not to be followed, which cannot be followed, and which was always
\naccompanied by a promise: \u201cIt will be like this\u201d… a promise which has been
\nrepeated in very different words, of the New Earth or the Divine World or a New
\nCreation, etc. <\/span><\/p>\n

And I think it was perhaps at the
\nbeginning… not exactly the beginning of humanity but the beginning of the
\nconscious evolution of humanity towards a realisation. We said last time that
\nfor a very long time humanity was very static and as though undergoing a
\npreparation so slow, so invisible that it has taken perhaps millions of years.
\nBut these promises and examples<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 357<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

 were like starting-points, like the
\nfirst push given to begin the evolution of the consciousness towards a higher
\nrealisation.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think the Vedic age was the latest.
\nThere were others before it, but of a very short duration. <\/span><\/p>\n

Something over there? <\/span><\/p>\n

A question?… Is that all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It’s still that fellow asking questions! <\/span><\/p>\n

What do you want to know? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When Vivekananda spoke of \u201cthe essential unity which would find its
\nperfect state\u201d, did he think about it vaguely or… <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Vivekananda, as far as I know, was not
\nmuch for a material realisation. He belonged rather to the order of those who
\nwant to escape from life, cure themselves of this illness. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But at the end of his life he was sorry he had not succeeded. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I had once read something, I don’t know
\nwhere now, because it was in France, it was a translation in a book, perhaps
\none of those theosophical books which make translations of Indian things. I had
\nread an incident recounted about Vivekananda who had been deeply shocked and
\nhad scolded a disciple because the latter had told him: \u201cOh! Look how
\nmagnificent is the sunset!\u201d This had shocked him deeply. I remember I read this
\nin France and it struck me; I still remember it because it seemed to me… it
\nwas his remark that seemed scandalous to me! He said, \u201cOh! Is it beautiful? If
\nyou appreciate the beauty of Nature you will never attain the Divine.\u201d I don’t
\nknow, by the <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 358<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

way, whether this was true or had been
\ninvented by the one who narrated it, I know nothing about it. I am only saying I
\nhad read it and that it struck me so much that many times when I look at the
\nsunset or sunrise or a lovely effect of light I still recall this and tell
\nmyself, \u201cWhy! Such a dissociation… how strange that one can’t live the
\nspiritual life if one admires Nature!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

So if it is true that he was like that, he
\nwas certainly at the other end of our programme. I am telling you I don’t know
\nwhether it is true, but still, I am giving it to you for what it’s worth. And
\nall that I read about him was like this: that he had a deep contempt for all
\nphysical things, that he took them at the most as a means of self-development
\nand liberation \u2013 nothing more. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, you said that the Vedic age was like a promise. A promise to
\nwhom? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

To the Earth and men. <\/span><\/p>\n

They left a kind of oral document of their
\nexperience. It was transmitted \u2013 and this was the promise. <\/span><\/p>\n

 They used an imaged language. Some
\npeople say that it was because they wanted it to be an initiation which would
\nbe understood only by the initiates. But it could also be an absolutely
\nspontaneous expression without a precise aim to veil things, but which could
\nnot be understood except by those who had the experience. For it is quite
\nobviously something that is not mental, which came spontaneously \u2013 as though it
\nsprang from the heart and the aspiration \u2013 which was the completely spontaneous
\nexpression of an experience or knowledge, and naturally, an expression which
\nwas poetic, which had its own rhythm, its own beauty and could be accessible
\nonly to those who had an identical experience. So it was veiled of itself,
\nthere was no need to add a veil upon it. It is more than likely that it
\nhappened like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 359<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

When one has a true experience which is
\nnot the result of a preliminary thought constructing and obtaining the
\nexperience by a special effort, when it is a direct and spontaneous experience,
\nan experience that comes from the very intensity of the aspiration, it is
\nspontaneously formulated into words. When it is total and complete enough, it
\nis formulated into words… which are not thought out, which are spontaneous,
\nwhich come out spontaneously from the consciousness. Well, it is more than
\nlikely that the Vedas were like that. But only those who have had the
\nexperience, had the same state of consciousness, can understand what it means. <\/span><\/p>\n

 There are those sentences which seem
\nabsolutely banal and ordinary, in which things seem to be said in an almost
\nchildish way and which are written out or heard and then noted down, like that.
\nWell, when read with an ordinary consciousness, they seem sometimes even
\naltogether banal. But if one has the experience, one sees that there is a power
\nof realisation and a truth of expression which give you the key to the
\nexperience itself. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it seems obvious that the modern equivalent,
\nat present, of the Rishi of the olden days… even his spontaneous Vedic
\nexpression will be very different in its formulation. For the terrestrial
\ndevelopment and human development change the conditions of expression. The way
\nof saying of those times and the way of saying today cannot be the same; and
\nyet the experience can be the same experience of something which cannot be
\nthought about but comes as its living expression. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, were the Vedic Rishis men who had evolved to that state or were
\nthey special manifestations? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What do you mean? Whether they were
\nevolutionary beings or involutionary beings? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

They were probably… no… they were
\nsurely involutionary beings. But the body was the result of evolution. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it is absolutely certain that they
\nwere involutionary beings,<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 360<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that is, beings who had come down from
\nhigher regions and used these bodies, who had identified themselves with these
\nbodies. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is it, what I said the other day, you
\nknow, that what has changed the course of terrestrial and human development
\ntotally is bodies becoming perfected enough to be able to serve as instruments
\nfor beings of higher regions who have come to incarnate in them in order to use
\nthem. And it seems obvious that the Rishis were of these \u2013 if not all at least
\nthose who were the leaders, those who were at the head. But very probably they
\nformed a group which must have had its own realisation, very independent of the
\nsurroundings. They lived, besides, quite isolated, if what is reported is
\ncorrect. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 That’s all?… Nothing more? No? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, will the evolution continue or will it be replaced by
\ninvolution? That is… <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, I understand… But what I don’t
\nunderstand is the point of your question \u2013 whether the process of terrestrial
\ndevelopment will continue by an evolution… <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

… or whether it will be replaced by an involution. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes… but there is one thing you forget.
\nThat Sri Aurobindo has said that each new species which appeared upon earth was
\nthe result of an involution. So there has always been the combination of the
\ntwo. A double work: a work that goes from below upward, and an answer which
\ncomes from above downward. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, isn’t the evolution the inherent Divine manifesting himself?
\nThen why is it necessary? <\/span><\/i>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 361<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Involution or evolution?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Evolution. That is, for example, there was first the evolution of the
\nanimal mind. So it was said that the mind was already… <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In principle… <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Hidden, in principle. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In principle, yes. And what prepares it is
\nthis: you see, it has been called by all kinds of names: a divine spark, a
\nPresence, etc., which is infused in the darkness of matter in order to start
\nthe evolution. But there is something else: there is a descent and
\nidentification of beings, of conscious beings, individualities, in the forms
\nproduced by the evolution \u2013 and so there is a union which takes place between
\nbeings of higher regions and the forms evolved by this divine Presence. And the
\nidentification takes place between this immanent godhead and this being which
\ncomes down. You see, it is when the psychic being, for instance, identifies
\nitself with a personality of a higher order, a divine emanation, a vibhuti<\/i> who comes to get identified with
\na psychic being \u2013 that is it, this is the thing. But it is not just this one or
\nthe other. One does a work of this kind, as I say, a work of development from
\nwithin outwards; and the other is something which comes down and takes
\npossession of what the first has prepared. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Usually these are individual
\nphenomena. These identifications are individual phenomena. Usually. I don’t say
\nthat it is impossible for it to be a collective phenomenon; but still, usually
\nthey are individual phenomena. <\/span><\/p>\n

 However, it is enough to have the
\nexperience and one understands. It becomes very clear. <\/span><\/p>\n

 So, one must not speak, one must
\nact. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 Good night, my children.  <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/font><\/span>Page \u2013 362<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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