{"id":3892,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3892"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:01","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:01","slug":"33-24-august-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\/33-24-august-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-33_24 August 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n24
\nAugust 1955 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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

Mother reads from Lights on Yoga, \u201cSurrender
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

and Opening\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

So? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, when we concentrate on one of your photos \u2013 there are many
\nphotos, each one with a different expression \u2013 does it make a difference for
\nus, the one on which we concentrate? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If you do it purposely, yes, of course. If
\nyou choose this photo for a particular reason or that other one for another
\nreason, surely. It has an effect. It is as though you were choosing to
\nconcentrate on one aspect of the Mother rather than another; for example, if
\nyou choose to concentrate on Mahakali or Mahalakshmi or on Maheshwari, the
\nresults will be different. That part of you which answers to these qualities
\nwill awaken and become receptive. So, it is the same thing. But somebody who
\nhas only one photo, whichever it may be, and concentrates, without choosing
\nthis one or that, because he has only one, then it is of no importance which
\none it is. For the fact of concentrating on the photograph puts one in contact
\nwith the Force, and that is what is necessary in the case of everyone who
\nresponds automatically.  <\/span><\/p>\n

It is only when the person who
\nconcentrates puts a special will, with a special relation, into his
\nconcentration that it has an effect. Otherwise the relation is more general,
\nand it is always the expression of the need or the aspiration of the person who
\nconcentrates. If he is absolutely neutral, if he does not choose, does not
\naspire for any particular thing, if he comes like this, like a white page and
\nabsolutely neutral, then it is the forces and aspects he needs which will
\nanswer to the concentration <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 275<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and perhaps even the person himself will
\nnot know what particular things he needs, because very few people are conscious
\nof themselves. They live in a vague feeling, they have a vague aspiration and
\nit is almost unseizable; it is not something organised, coordinated and willed,
\nwith a clear vision, for example, of the difficulties one wants to overcome or
\nthe capacities one wants to acquire; this, usually, is already the result of a
\nfairly advanced discipline. One must have reflected much, observed much,
\nstudied much in order to be able to know exactly what he needs. Otherwise it is
\nsomething hazy, this impression: one tries to catch it and it escapes… Isn’t
\nthat so?  <\/span><\/p>\n

Is that all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is outside the text<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Another child) Mother, here it is said: \u201cOne can relax and meditate instead of
\nconcentrating.\u201d<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not I who have said it! (Laughter<\/i>) Good. So? The difference between
\nmeditating and concentrating? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, Mother, because when one meditates, isn’t there a concentration of
\nthe consciousness? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Meditation! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There are all kinds of different meditations!
\nWhat people usually call meditation is, for example, choosing a subject or an
\nidea and following its development or trying to understand what it means. There
\nis a concentration but not as complete a concentration as in concentration
\nproper, where nothing should exist except the point on which one concentrates.
\nMeditation is a more relaxed movement, less tense than concentration. <\/span><\/p>\n

When one is trying to understand a problem
\nwhich comes up, a psychological problem or a circumstantial one, and he sits
\ndown and looks at and sees all the possibilities, compares them, <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 276<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

studies them, this is a form of
\nmeditation; and one does it spontaneously when the thing comes up. When one is
\nfacing a decision to be taken, for instance, and doesn’t know which one to
\ntake, well, ordinarily one reflects, consults his reason, compares all the
\npossibilities and makes his choice… more or less. Well, this is a form of
\nmeditation.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, there is the form of meditation which
\nconsists in a concentration on an idea and concentrating one’s attention upon
\nit to the extent that that alone exists; then this is the equivalent of a
\nconcentration, but instead of being total it is only mental. <\/span><\/p>\n

Total concentration implies a
\nconcentration also of all the movements of the vital and physical. The method
\nof gazing at a point is a very well-known one. So it is even physical, you see,
\none’s eyes are fixed on this point, and one does not move any more… nothing
\nmore… one sees nothing, doesn’t move his sight from that point, and the
\nresult usually is that one ends up by becoming that point. And I knew someone
\nwho used to say that one had to pass beyond the point, become this point, to
\nthe extent of passing to the other side, crossing the point, and that then one
\nopened to higher regions. But it is true that if one succeeds in concentrating
\ntotally on a point, there is a moment when the identification is absolute, and
\nthere is no more any separation between the one who is concentrating and the
\nthing upon which he is concentrated. There is a complete identification. One
\ncan’t distinguish between himself and the point. This is a total concentration,
\nwhile meditation is a particular concentration of the thought, a partial one. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The opening, Sweet Mother, for not thinking at all! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not thinking at all is not easy; but if
\none wants a perfect concentration it is essential that there are no thoughts
\nany more. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is there a relation, Sweet Mother, between concentration and
\ncontemplation? <\/span><\/i>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 277<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

There can always be a relation between
\neverything, but usually one means by contemplation a kind of opening upwards.
\nIt is rather a state of passive opening upwards. It is a fairly passive form of
\naspiration. One makes this movement rather like something opening, opening in
\nan aspiration; but if the contemplation is sufficiently total, it becomes a
\nconcentration. Yet it is not necessarily a concentration. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When it is a concentration, then the part which concentrates…
\nconcentration is limited or rather… <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A concentration is essentially a limiting.
\nOne can’t concentrate on several points at once, it is no longer a
\nconcentration. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, I mean during a contemplation. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, you just said that it is a limited
\nconcentration; a concentration is necessarily limited. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, in the \u201cBulletin\u201d you have written: \u201cPoetry is the
\nsensuousness of the spirit.\u201d What does that mean? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What does it mean?… It’s because poetry
\nis related to the forms and images of ideas: forms, images, sensations,
\nimpressions, emotions of ideas, all this is the sensuous side of things. All
\nthe relation with forms and sensations, images, impressions, all that is the
\nsensuousness of things. And poetry is this side of thought; it is this way of
\napproaching the world, approaching the world of thought, by the images of these
\nthoughts, the forms, appearances, emotions and sensations and the play of these
\nthings, the play of appearances, of ideas. It is not at all like philosophy or
\nmetaphysics, which seek the heart of the idea, the principle of the idea.
\nPoetry is not poetic unless it evokes. It is the world of form and sensation.
\nSo we just take an expression that’s a <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 278<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

little… how to put it?… epigrammatic,
\nand we may say, \u201cIt is the sensuousness of the spirit\u201d \u2013 just as those who are
\nexclusively busy with the sensations of all that the material world expresses
\nthrough its forms, and the whole side of the forms of sensations of the
\nphysical life, are men who live in their senses; and when they enjoy all these
\nthings, well, we call them sensuous. <\/span><\/p>\n

Here, instead of being applied to the
\nouter physical life, it is applied to the life of the spirit, to ideas and what
\nis beyond ideas. And all that world, seen under the aspect of the beauty of its
\nform \u2013 this is poetry. It expresses the beauty of ideas, the harmony of
\nthoughts, and gives to it all a form which becomes concrete, images, the play
\nof images, the play of sounds, the play of words. <\/span><\/p>\n

 So, instead of being the
\nsensuousness of matter it is the sensuousness of the spirit. It is not taken in
\na pejorative sense nor a moral one \u2013 not at all, it is simply descriptive. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But while concentrating on the form and the beauty of ideas, doesn’t one
\nrisk missing the truth? <\/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 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But that’s what I said. It is not
\npejorative, I did not say that it prevents you from seeing the truth of things.
\nIt is the way, the manner of approaching the subject. Certainly, if I had to
\nchoose between reading a beautiful poem and a book of metaphysics, I would
\nprefer to read the poem; it would be less tiring. It is not pejorative, it is
\ndescriptive. It’s just to say: \u201cIt is like that.\u201d It is a statement, nothing
\nmore.  <\/span><\/p>\n

What is surprising is that people have
\nnever thought about it. If they moved in the spirit with the freedom of full
\nconsciousness, this would not surprise them at all, because they would know it
\nvery well, that it is like that, that it is a sensuous way of approaching the
\ntruth. Only, you see, in this domain they are not yet absolutely independent,
\nso usually they think in a classical or traditional or habitual manner, or in
\naccordance with <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 279<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

what they have learnt or read, but without
\nthe freedom of independence.<\/span><\/p>\n

 It is simply a slightly paradoxical
\nway of saying things, in order to strike, strike the thought \u2013 that’s all. But you
\nmust not think that it is a condemnation of poetry. It’s very far from that. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, when can we say that a poet is inspired? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why shouldn’t he be? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Then he doesn’t think when he is writing a poem? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Doesn’t think? That means\u2026? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It comes from above! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not that. You mean: when do we say
\nthat a poet is inspired? Usually we say that a poet is inspired when he
\nreceives inspirations. (Laughter<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

What you mean but don’t say… it’s those
\nwho go beyond thought, silence their thoughts, those who have an absolutely
\nsilent and immobile mind, who open to inner regions and write almost
\nautomatically what comes to them from above. That’s what you meant but didn’t
\nsay. But that’s quite a different thing, and it happens once in a thousand
\nyears. It’s not a frequent phenomenon. First of all one must be a yogi to be
\nable to do all that. But an inspired poet, as we call him… that’s something
\nabsolutely different. All men of some genius, that is, those who have an
\nopening upon a world slightly higher than the ordinary mind, are called
\n\u201cinspired\u201d. One who makes some discoveries is also inspired. Each time one is
\nin contact with something a little higher than the ordinary human field, one is
\ninspired. So when one is not altogether limited by the ordinary conscious- <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 280<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

ness one receives inspirations from above;
\nthe source of his production is higher than the ordinary mental consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, sometimes one feels a silence, but feels himself outside this silence.
\nWhy is it like that? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One feels a silence, and then? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In things. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No. If you, in your consciousness, reach a
\nstate of silence, you perceive your state of silence everywhere, but others don’t
\nnecessarily perceive it. You perceive it because you are in that state. It is
\nthe same as with those who become aware of the Divine in themselves: they see
\nthe Divine everywhere, but others are not necessarily conscious of that. It’s
\nbecause you have entered into that state; as you are conscious of this state,
\nyou are conscious of it wherever it is; and in fact it is everywhere,
\nsomewhere, not superficially and outwardly, but inwardly. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One feels that one is outside the silence, that it is not in me. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That one is outside the silence? Then one
\nis in the noise! I don’t quite understand what… <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I mean that the silence is in things, but not in myself. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Probably because you are more in things
\nthan in yourself at that time. It means that you have become aware of the
\nsilence more outside yourself than within yourself. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, sometimes it happens that one was not ready for a
\nmeditation or concentration and then<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 281<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>suddenly one is forced into
\nsomething and obliged to be silent; even if one wanted to get out then, one
\ncan’t; one remains like that, sometimes for a long time, absolutely carried
\naway by the torrent of things. Does this enter the category of meditation? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This simply means that one suddenly comes
\nunder the influence of a higher force of which one is not conscious; one is
\nconscious only of the effect, but not of the cause. That’s all. It’s nothing
\nmore than that. If you were conscious you would know what makes you silent,
\nwhat makes you meditate, what kind of force has entered into you or acts upon
\nyou or influences you and puts you in the silence. But as you are not
\nconscious, you are aware only of the effect, the result, that is, the silence
\nthat comes into you. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But one can become conscious, Sweet Mother, can’t one? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Fully! But for this one must work a little
\nwithin oneself. One must withdraw from the surface. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Almost totally, everybody lives on
\nthe surface, all the time, all the time on the surface. And for them it’s even
\nthe only thing which exists \u2013 the surface. And when something compels them to
\ndraw back from the surface, some people feel that they are falling into a hole.
\nThere are people who, if they are drawn back from the surface, suddenly feel
\nthat they are crumbling down into an abyss, so unconscious they are! <\/span><\/p>\n

 They are conscious only of a kind of
\nsmall thin crust which is all that they know of themselves and things and the
\nworld, and it is so thin a crust! Many! I have experienced, I don’t know how
\noften… I tried to interiorise some people and immediately they felt that they
\nwere falling into an abyss, and at times a black abyss. Now this is the
\nabsolute inconscience. But a fall, a fall into something which for them is like
\na non-exist- <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 282<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

ence, this happens very often. People are
\ntold: \u201cSit down and try to be silent, to be very quiet\u201d; this frightens them
\nterribly.  <\/span><\/p>\n

A fairly long preparation is needed in
\norder to feel an increase of life when one goes out of the outer consciousness.
\nIt is already a great progress. And then there is the culmination, that when
\none is obliged for some reason or other to return to the outer consciousness,
\nit is there that one has the impression of falling into a black hole, at least
\ninto a kind of dull, lifeless greyness, a chaotic mixture of disorganised
\nthings, with the faintest light, and all this seems so dull, so dim, so dead
\nthat one wonders how it is possible to remain in this state \u2013 but this of
\ncourse is the other end \u2013 unreal, false, confused, lifeless!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

So, shall we try to enter within, to see
\nif there is a black hole or not? <\/span><\/p>\n

Only… I would very much like nobody to
\nmove, get up or go away. <\/span><\/p>\n

Those who are not sure of being able to
\nremain still \u2013 I request them to go away immediately! For, if they get up
\nduring the meditation, they disturb everything.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s someone already moving over there.
\nHe has heard nothing and he is moving. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There are some who don’t understand French. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t speak French? If they don’t speak
\nFrench why are they here? I don’t speak in any other language except French
\nhere! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Meditation<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 283<\/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":"

24 August 1955 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mother reads from Lights on Yoga, \u201cSurrender and Opening\u201d.   So?   Sweet Mother, when we concentrate on one of your…<\/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-3892","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\/3892","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=3892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3892\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}