{"id":3894,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:02","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3894"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:02","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:02","slug":"49-21-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\/49-21-december-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-49_21 December 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n21
\nDecember 1955 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/font><\/span>\u201cSelf-Consecration\u201d.
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOften he (the sadhak) finds that even after he has won persistently his
\nown personal battle, he has still to win it over and over again\u2026.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Then does this mean that others profit by his sadhana? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You understand, it’s like that for
\neveryone. <\/span><\/p>\n

If there was only one, it could be like
\nthis: that he alone could do it for all; but if everybody does it… you
\nunderstand… <\/span><\/p>\n

You are fifty persons doing the Integral
\nYoga. If it is only one of the fifty who is doing it, then he does it for all
\nthe fifty. But if each one of the fifty is doing it, each doing it for all the
\nfifty, he does it actually for one person alone, because all do it for all. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But the work is much longer?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One must widen oneself. <\/span><\/p>\n

The work is more complicated, it is more
\ncomplete, it asks for a greater power, a greater wideness, a greater patience,
\na greater tolerance, a greater endurance; all these things are necessary. But
\nin fact, if each one does perfectly what he has to do, it is no longer only one
\nsingle person who does the whole thing: not one single person who does it for
\nall, but all now form only one person who does it for the whole group. <\/span><\/p>\n

This ought to form a kind of sufficient
\nunity among all those who are doing it, so that they no longer feel the
\ndistinction. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 413<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

This is indeed the ideal way of doing it:
\nthat they now form only one single body, one single personality, working at
\nonce each for himself and for the others without any distinction. <\/span><\/p>\n

Truly speaking, it was the first question
\nwhich came up when I met Sri Aurobindo. I think I have already told you this; I
\ndon’t remember now, but I spoke about it recently. Should one do one’s yoga and
\nreach the goal and then later take up the work with others or should one
\nimmediately let all those who have the same aspiration come to him and go
\nforward all together towards the goal? <\/span><\/p>\n

Because of my earlier work and all that I
\nhad tried, I came to Sri Aurobindo with the question very precisely formulated.
\nFor the two possibilities were there: either to do an intensive individual
\nsadhana by withdrawing from the world, that is, by no longer having any contact
\nwith others, or else to let the group be formed naturally and spontaneously,
\nnot preventing it from being formed, allowing it to form, and starting all
\ntogether on the path. <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, the decision was not at all a mental
\nchoice; it came spontaneously. The circumstances were such that there was no
\nchoice; that is, quite naturally, spontaneously, the group was formed in such a
\nway that it became an imperious necessity. And so once we have started like
\nthat, it is finished, we have to go to the end like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning there were five, ten, not
\nmore. There were five or six for a long time. It became ten, twelve, about
\ntwenty; then thirty, thirty-five. That remained for quite a long while. And
\nthen suddenly, you know, it started; and then here we are! The last figure was
\nmore than eleven hundred. We are growing. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, among these there are many who do not
\ndo the sadhana, then the problem does not come up. But for all those who do it,
\nit is like this, it is as Sri Aurobindo has described it here. And if one wants
\nto do the thing in a solitary way, it is absolutely impossible to do it
\ntotally. For every physical being, however complete he may be, is only partial
\nand limited; he re- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 414<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

presents only one law in the world; it can
\nbe a very complex law, but it is only one law; what is called in India, you
\nknow, the Dharma, one Truth, one Law. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each individual being, even if he be of a
\ncompletely higher kind, even if he is made for an absolutely special work, is
\nonly one individual being; that means, the totality of the transformation
\ncannot take place through one single body. And that is why, spontaneously, the
\nmultiplication came about. <\/span><\/p>\n

One can reach, alone and solitary, his own
\nperfection. One can become in one’s consciousness infinite and perfect. But
\nwhen it is a question of a work, it is always limited. <\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know if you understand me well.
\nBut personal realisation has no limits. One can become inwardly in himself
\nperfect and infinite. But the outer realisation is necessarily limited, and if
\none wants to have a general action, at least a minimum number of physical
\nbeings is needed. <\/span><\/p>\n

In a very old tradition it was said that
\ntwelve were enough; but in the complexities of modern life it doesn’t seem
\npossible. There must be a representative group. Which means that… you know
\nnothing about it or you don’t imagine it very well, but each one of you
\nrepresents one of the difficulties which must be conquered for the
\ntransformation. And this makes many difficulties! (Mother laughs<\/i>) I have written somewhere… I have said that, more
\nthan a difficulty, each one represents an impossibility to be solved. And it is
\nthe whole set of all these impossibilities which can be transformed into the
\nWork, the Realisation. Each case is an impossibility to be solved, and it is
\nwhen all these impossibilities are resolved that the Work will be accomplished.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

But now I am more gentle. I take away
\n\u201cimpossibility\u201d and put \u201cdifficulty\u201d. Perhaps they are no longer
\nimpossibilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

Only, from the beginning, and still more
\nnow that our group has grown so considerably, each time someone comes to tell
\nme, \u201cI come for my<\/i> yoga\u201d, I say, \u201cOh,
\nno! Then don’t come. It is much more difficult here than anywhere else.\u201d And
\nthe reason <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 415<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

is what Sri Aurobindo has written here.<\/span><\/p>\n

If someone comes to tell me, \u201cI come to
\nwork, I come to make myself useful\u201d, it is all right. But if someone comes and
\nsays, \u201cI have many difficulties outside, I can’t manage to overcome these
\ndifficulties, I want to come here because it will help me\u201d, I say, \u201cNo, no, it
\nwill be much<\/i> more difficult here;
\nyour difficulties will increase considerably<\/i>.\u201d
\nAnd that is what it means, because they are no longer isolated difficulties;
\nthey are collective difficulties. <\/span><\/p>\n

So in addition to your own personal
\ndifficulty you have all the frictions, all the contacts, all the reactions, all
\nthe things which come from outside. As a test. Exactly on the weak point, the
\nthing that’s most difficult to solve; it is there that you will hear from
\nsomeone the phrase which was just the one you did not want to hear; someone
\nwill make towards you that gesture which was exactly the one which could shock
\nyou; you find yourself facing a circumstance, a movement, a fact, an object,
\nanything at all \u2013 just the things which… \u201cAh, how I should have liked this
\nnot to happen!\u201d And it’s that which will happen. And more and more. Because you
\ndo not do your yoga for yourself alone. You do the yoga for everybody \u2013 without
\nwanting to \u2013 automatically. <\/span><\/p>\n

So when people come and tell me, \u201cI come
\nhere for peace, quietness, leisure, to do my yoga\u201d, I say, \u201cNo, no, no! Go away
\nimmediately somewhere else, you will be much more peaceful anywhere else than
\nhere.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

If someone comes and says, \u201cWell, here I
\nam, I feel that I should consecrate myself to the divine Work, I am ready to do
\nany work at all that you give me\u201d, then I say, \u201cGood, that’s all right. If you
\nhave goodwill, endurance, and some capacity, it is all right. But to find the
\nsolitude necessary for your inner development it is better to go somewhere
\nelse, anywhere else<\/i>, but not here.\u201d
\nThere we are. <\/span><\/p>\n

I said all this just today; I had the
\noccasion to do so. And at the same time I said, \u201cThere is an exception to this
\nrule: <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 416<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that’s the children.\u201d Because here the
\nchildren have the advantage of living from the time when they are still
\nunconscious, in an atmosphere which helps them to find themselves. And this one
\ndoesn’t have outside. I am saying what I just said to people who are… not
\nnecessarily old but still… formed, who are past the age not only of childhood
\nbut of their first youth. <\/span><\/p>\n

But all those who are quite small, the
\nyounger they are, the better it is for them \u2013 because from their young and most
\ntender childhood they are in the most favourable atmosphere for an integral
\ndevelopment, and so they can grow up, develop more and more in the right
\natmosphere. It is only when one comes out of the personal development and wants
\nto begin to do the yoga that the problem comes up. But for those who have been
\nentirely brought up here, the problem is much less difficult, because from
\ntheir very first childhood they have already been members of a whole, without
\nknowing it, without being aware of it; and they move with the whole towards the
\nRealisation. So it is no longer something absolutely new, which adds to the
\ndifficulty; on the contrary it is something that helps them. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, you see, when the problem comes up,
\nit is for them to know whether they want to do the yoga or not. I have already
\ntold you this several times. You see, a moment comes when… \u201cWell, now I am
\ngoing out into life to have my experience.\u201d \u2013 \u201cGo, my children, with my
\nblessings; and try to see that it is not too unpleasant.\u201d (Mother laughs<\/i>) But those who say, \u201cNo, now I have taken my
\ndecision, I want to do yoga\u201d, then, well, I don’t hide it from them that the
\ndifficulty begins. From this moment, special qualities are necessary; and they
\nmust know how to profit by all the preparation that has been given to them. They
\nare in a better position than the poor people who come from outside; much
\nbetter! But all the same they will have to make an effort, because without
\neffort nothing succeeds \u2013 unless they have learnt from the time they were very
\nsmall to let themselves be carried. But there are very few who are<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 417<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

mature enough, it can be said, or old
\nenough, in the sense of eternity, to be able to allow themselves to be carried
\nall at once, like that, at a single go, without needing to receive all the
\nblows from outside in order to know that it
\nthis<\/i> is the true thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

This depends a great deal on what they are
\nwithin themselves. Here, really, comes in the question of the predestined one,
\nthe one born for this. Then indeed it is much easier. <\/span><\/p>\n

There we are. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, do you think that we make enough effort for the chance you
\nhave given us? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! This, my child, is an affair between
\nyou and your own conscience. It is not I who shall say anything at all about
\nit. I cannot answer this. This is for you to observe. <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, it is quite obvious that if each one
\nof you could see this in the true light… <\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t know if you have had this
\nexperience, when reading one of the wonderful stories of mankind, and of those
\nwho came to help humanity \u2013 you have perhaps heard this more here in India than
\npeople in other countries \u2013 those stories in which there was an intervention
\nfrom above, there was one of those chances, one of those miraculous Graces. <\/span><\/p>\n

And so, if one reads that when one is
\nsmall, one says, \u201cOh, how I should like to have lived at that time!\u201d \u2013 I don’t
\nknow if you have had this experience… <\/span><\/p>\n

I knew people who had it. And then one
\ntells them, \u201cWell, try to imagine that you have it, this chance, what would be
\nyour reaction?\u201d And sometimes suddenly one perceives it; suddenly it seems as
\nif the heavens were opened, and that something has come which was not there
\nbefore. For how long, one can’t say, but in any case, it is one of those
\nextraordinary moments of earth-life and human life when things are not as they
\nordinarily are, dull and lifeless. So one has the feeling of living a miracle. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 418<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

If one can keep this, all goes well.
\nUnfortunately one forgets it very quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

If one has had it once, it is already
\nsomething; the door has been opened. Suddenly one has felt… yes, felt, it is
\nsomething, it is an infinite Grace, it is something marvellous. All those who
\nlived a century ago, two centuries ago, three centuries ago, hoped for it,
\nawaited it. They had only one chance, that was to live again in a new life and
\nin better conditions. <\/span><\/p>\n

But now, we have these conditions, they
\nare here: the Grace is here. <\/span><\/p>\n

If one can manage to have the experience \u2013
\nnot only a thought \u2013 the experience of the thing, and then keep it afterwards, then
\nall becomes easy. Unfortunately, one forgets very soon. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, here Sri Aurobindo has said: \u201cHe [the sadhak of the
\nintegral Yoga] has not only to conquer in himself the forces of egoistic
\nfalsehood and disorder, but to conquer them as representatives\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Listen, my child, I am sorry, but you
\ndon’t listen when I am speaking? This was exactly Tara’s question and I have
\nexplained everything to her. Then how do you ask a similar question? <\/span><\/p>\n

You did not understand? I have explained
\neverything.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, you said that each one represents animpossibility. In this case,
\neach one should concentrate on solving this impossibility, shouldn’t he? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not necessarily concentrate on that. But
\nhe has to face it, whether he knows it or not \u2013 an aspect of the problem. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have already said this once. When you
\nrepresent the possi- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 419<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

bility of a victory, you always have
\nwithin you the thing contrary to this victory, which is your perpetual trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each one has his own difficulty. And I
\nhave given the example already once, I think. For instance, a being who must
\nrepresent fearlessness, courage, you know, a capacity to hold on without giving
\nway before all dangers and all fights, usually somewhere in his being he is a terrible<\/i> coward, and he has to struggle
\nagainst this almost constantly because this represents the victory he has to
\nwin in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is like a being who ought to be good,
\nfull of compassion and generosity; somewhere in his being he is sharp, sour and
\nsometimes even bad; and he has to struggle against this in order to be the
\nother thing. And so on. It goes into all<\/i>
\nthe details. It’s like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

And when you see a very black shadow
\nsomewhere, very<\/i> black, something
\nthat’s truly painful, you know, you can be sure that you have in you the
\npossibility of the corresponding light. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why does it increase instead of diminishing? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What does that mean, \u201cit increases\u201d? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(The disciple can’t answer.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Here it increases? Yes. Because this is
\nthe place of the Realisation. <\/span><\/p>\n

In life you are unconscious, you pass all
\nyour life in an absolutely vague semi-consciousness, you know nothing about
\nyourself, except just an appearance, nothing more. And you will always be
\nincapable of fulfilling your mission and therefore you do not meet the obstacle
\nin the heart of the difficulty, only an appearance; you are all in the midst of
\nappearances. It’s simply that. So your faults are small, your virtues are
\nsmall, your capacities are mediocre and your difficulties are mediocre, you are <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 420<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

entirely mediocre, constantly. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is only when you begin to walk on the
\npath of Realisation that your possibilities become real, and your difficulties
\nbecome much greater \u2013 quite naturally. Things become intensified.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why I tell people, \u201cIf you can’t
\nfind peace and solitude in yourself, can’t isolate yourself sufficiently to
\nenter within yourself, if you can’t do this in the conditions of ordinary life,
\nit is certainly not here that you will be able to do it, because your first
\ndifficulty will be that you will feel invaded by everything and everybody, and
\nwill be absolutely unable to isolate yourself. If you have learnt to do it
\nbefore coming here, then it will be good. But if you don’t know how to do it,
\nyou will find it very difficult to do so here.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And for everything it is the same way.
\nPeople who are ill-natured, those who have no control over their anger, for
\ninstance, are much worse here than in the ordinary world, because in the
\nordinary world they are controlled by all the necessities of life and because,
\nfor example, when they go to an office, if they get into a temper against the
\nboss, they are thrown out. While here, we don’t throw them out; they are simply
\ntold, \u201cTry to control yourself.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 421<\/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":"

21 December 1955   Mother reads from {The Synthesis of Yoga}, \u00a0\u201cSelf-Consecration\u201d.   \u201cOften he (the sadhak) finds that even after he has won persistently…<\/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-3894","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\/3894","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=3894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}