{"id":3902,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:05","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3902"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:05","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:05","slug":"46-30-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\/46-30-november-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-46_30 November 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n30 November 1955<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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

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

\u00a0<\/font><\/span>\u201cThe Four Aids<\/font><\/span>\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

How is Time a friend? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It depends on how you look at it. Everything
\ndepends on the relation you have with it. If you take it as a friend, it
\nbecomes a friend. If you consider it as an enemy, it becomes your enemy. <\/span><\/p>\n

But that’s not what you are asking. What
\nyou are asking is how one feels when it is an enemy and how when it is a
\nfriend. Well, when you become impatient and tell yourself, \u201cOh, I must succeed
\nin doing this and why don’t I succeed in doing it?\u201d and when you don’t succeed
\nimmediately in doing it and fall into despair, then it is your enemy. But when
\nyou tell yourself, \u201cIt is all right, I didn’t succeed this time, I shall
\nsucceed next time, and I am sure one day or another I shall do it\u201d, then it
\nbecomes your friend. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is time only subjective or it is something concrete like a personality? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps this also depends on how you
\nconsider it. All forces are personal; all things in Nature are personal. But if
\nwe consider them as impersonal things, our relation with them is impersonal. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take for instance what has just happened.
\nIf you are a meteorologist and have calculated all the wind-currents and all
\nthat, and say, \u201cGiven that this has happened, that will happen, and there will
\nbe so many days of rain, and all that.\u201d So this is a force for you, which we
\nare compelled to call a force of Nature, and you can do nothing about it except
\nlook on quietly and wait for the number of days to pass. But if it happens that
\nyou have this personal relation with the little conscious entities <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 385<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

which are behind the wind, behind the
\nstorm, behind the rain, the thunder, behind all these so-called forces of
\nNature, which are forces and personal forces, if you have a personal relation
\nwith them and can create a kind of friendship through this relation, instead of
\nconsidering them as enemies and inexorable mechanisms which you have to put up
\nwith without being able to do anything, perhaps you could manage to establish a
\nslightly more friendly relation and have an influence over them and ask them:
\n\u201cWhy do you feel like blowing and making the rain fall, why don’t you do it
\nelsewhere?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And with my own eyes I have seen… I have
\nseen this here, seen it in France, seen it in Algeria… the rain falling at a
\nparticular, altogether fixed place, and it was exactly a place where it
\nabsolutely needed to rain, because it was dry and there was a field which
\nneeded watering, and at another place there was… at a distance from here to
\nthe end of the hall, at the other place there was a small sunlit spot,
\neverything was dry, because to have the sun there was necessary. Naturally, if you
\nseek the scientific point of view, they will explain this to you very
\nscientifically. But I indeed have seen it as the result of an intervention…
\nsomeone who knew how to ask it and obtained it. <\/span><\/p>\n

In Algeria I saw not a few things like
\nthat, very interesting ones. And there, just because there was a certain
\natmosphere of a little more real knowledge it could be said, there were little
\nentities, as for example entities which handled snow, you see, which produced
\nsnow, and which could come, enter a room and tell someone, \u201cNow snow should
\nfall here!\u201d (It had never snowed in that country, never.) \u201cSnow! You are
\njoking. So near the Sahara it is going to snow?\u201d \u201cIt must, because they have
\nplanted fir trees on the mountain, and when we see fir trees, we come. The fir
\ntrees are there to call us; so we come.\u201d And so, you see, there was a
\ndiscussion, and the little being went away with the permission to bring snow,
\nand when it had gone, there was a little pool of snow water on the floor,
\nmelted snow which had turned into water. It was physical… and the mountain
\nwas <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 386<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

covered with snow. In Algeria! It is very near<\/i> the Sahara, you go down a few
\nkilometres and you are at the Sahara. Someone had playfully covered all the
\nhills with fir trees. \u201cThe fir tree belongs to cold countries. Why do you call
\nus? We are coming.\u201d All this is a true story, it is not an invention. <\/span><\/p>\n

All depends on your relation. This too, it
\nis quite possible the meteorologist scholars would have been able to explain, I
\nknow nothing about it, they explain everything one wants. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(A
\nquestion was put to Mother about the regularity of the seasons, but was not
\nrecorded clearly enough for transcription<\/i>.)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What, in fact, is regularity? I know that from
\nthe time I have come here I have seen all possible things, and only on a few
\ndays \u2013 very few \u2013 I could say, \u201cLook! We are at the height of summer, it’s
\nsummer weather\u201d, and that was at the beginning of November. It was much hotter
\nthan it was in May this year. Only we think like that: \u201cNow it is summer; after
\nthat comes autumn, then winter will come.\u201d And so we adapt ourselves, but it is
\nnot true. Well, look! There are things like that. The people of the country
\ntold me… I came in the month of April the second time… the first time, the
\nfirst time, as we know it was on the 29th of March, that is, April follows. In
\nthose days it was understood: it never<\/i>
\nrained here for at least three months \u2013 not a drop of water; all used to become
\ndry, the leaves which are put on the roofs used to dry up so much that suddenly
\none day they burst into flames, it was like that. I come, and a terrific<\/i> rainfall! Then the people
\nlooked at me (here they have a little of something like a feeling that things
\nare not altogether mechanical, you see). \u201cHow does it happen to rain?\u201d Then I
\nanswered, \u201cI don’t know, it’s not I, but I have friendship with the rain.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I went to Pau in the South of France at a
\ntime when it never rains there \u2013 that is, people who could remember from <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 387<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

their very infancy had never seen a drop
\nof water \u2013 it rained in torrents. <\/span><\/p>\n

I went to South Algeria, naturally it was
\ndry and there was torrid heat \u2013 it began to rain! (Laughter<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

And then here the same thing happened, and
\nthey said that it had been seen only once before… I don’t know any more…
\nsomething like two hundred years ago. They remembered this, and that someone
\nhad come and it had rained, and they had taken it as an absolutely auspicious
\nsign, you see, that it was the sign of an exceptional destiny. They have ideas
\nhere about auspicious and inauspicious hours, and auspicious events and
\ninauspicious events. Well, when someone arrives at a time when it does not rain
\nand the rain falls, it seems to be a very auspicious event. <\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore things are as one looks at them.
\nBut I have seen other things which are like this, but not very pleasant. It is
\nfrom the time men have invented \u2013 not invented but discovered \u2013 and begun to
\nplay like babies with things they did not know, and have made atom bombs and
\nother worse things still. This has truly disturbed terribly<\/i> all these little entities which lived indeed according to
\na certain rhythm which was their own, and were in the habit of commanding at
\nleast events that can be foreseen. This has disturbed them very very much, they
\nhave suffered terribly from it, and it has made them lose their heads, they no
\nlonger know what they are doing. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was a time at the end of the War,
\nwhen things had truly become terribly<\/i>
\nchaotic up there, they lived in a kind of absurdity; and as these unfortunate
\nexperiences continue, they have not yet come out of their panic. They are
\npanic-stricken. Truly men play with things which they know only from outside,
\nthat is, don’t know at all. They know just enough to make a wrong use of them.
\nAnything may happen, including, alas, catastrophes which were foretold long
\nago. It may happen… It depends… on what will intervene. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is something to be done. I told you
\nthis. I said, \u201cIf <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 388<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>you
\ndon’t want it to rain, pray.\u201d You took it as a joke.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the cause of this rain? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! It seems… there must have been a
\nfault somewhere. Someone has been displeased… Who is displeased? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What we do on the first\u00b9 can anger somebody? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not what we do. Surely not that. Perhaps
\nsomething in the way we do it. You want me to tell you something… my
\nexperience of things… because all this interests me, and I observe it.
\nUnfortunately I am a spectator, I don’t intervene. It is very difficult to make
\nme intervene in these things. Still, I wanted to know and I observed… and
\nthis… today I saw, saw this… how to put it?… it is neither heard nor
\nseen, it is at once heard and seen and known and everything else you may like. <\/span><\/p>\n

All this work which you have done, which has
\ntaken almost a year, all these efforts you have made, all the difficulties you
\nhave overcome, all this you have done as an offering to the divine Work, you
\nsee, with all your sincerity and goodwill, the best of your ability and a
\ncomplete good-heartedness. Yes, you have put into it all that you could, you
\nhave succeeded to a certain extent, in any case you have done things as well as
\nyou could. Then \u201cthis\u201d added with a smile which, indeed, was a little impish:
\n\u201cWhat is it to you whether a few stupid fools see what you have done or not?
\nNow you have done the work, you have accomplished it, you have shown what you
\ncould do. What is it to you whether a few foolish spectators see it or not?\u201d It
\nwas clear<\/i>, you see. I am expressing
\nit; in expressing it I take away something from it. It was a state of
\nconsciousness, and then, indeed, it troubled me a little, because… trouble!
\nthat’s a way of <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>December 1 is the day of the Annual Programme of Sri
\nAurobindo International Centre of Education. In 1955 it took place in the
\nPlayground where the spectators had to sit in the open.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 389<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

speaking… I told myself: \u201cHeavens! If it
\nis like that after all, we can’t be sure that the rain will stop. For if truly it
\nis of no importance that some thousand odd people should see what we have done,
\nif our offering has been accepted as an offering made as well as possible and
\nwith all our heart, the attitude is not to be anxious about the result \u2013 we do
\nnot care for the result. Then, perhaps, the rain will continue.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

I am continuing my investigation, I don’t
\nknow what is going to happen. But in any case, I ought to tell you that I have
\nnot yet taken any decision to stop the rain. I am still at the stage of looking
\non. We shall see. In any case, it was charming. I said, \u201cWas there someone who
\nintroduced an egoistic or self-interested feeling into this, and who did not do
\nthe thing as it ought to be done, in the right spirit? Where is the fault?\u201d and
\nall that. There was nothing of all this. We were perfectly satisfied with what
\nwe had done. It was work well done, done in the right spirit, as well as we
\ncould do it. Everybody was happy. There was some impishness somewhere. Was it
\nimpishness? It was something much higher than that: it was an observation. So
\nwe are going to see. As for me, it interests me, these things. Unfortunately it
\nis like this, I can’t take sides, I look on, and it amuses me. (Laughter<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

I ought to say that if I consider all the
\neffort you have made, and made so well, I tell myself, \u201cOh, they are very
\nsweet. Truly they should be able to show it.\u201d But it’s like that, you see, it’s
\nlike that, it is not a will which wakes up and says, \u201cNow that’s it!\u201d When that<\/i> wakes up, everything goes well,
\neverybody obeys, even the little entities up there. And that is why I told you,
\n\u201cYou must pray to them\u201d, because if you begin praying, you, I shall naturally
\nbe with you in your prayer. That is it, that’s the trick. (Laughter<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Was the effort really satisfactory? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, you see, if I place myself at the
\noutward point of view of <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 390<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

human capacity and of what can be done, I
\nam obliged to say, \u201cOne can do better.\u201d But this<\/i>
\nthing does not look at that. It’s the thing I spoke to you about yesterday,
\nwhich, you see, takes the effort in its deeper sense, as the offering that’s
\nmade.<\/span><\/p>\n

We know, we have said this many a time,
\nthat all work is a prayer made with the body and that the true attitude in work
\nis an offering to the Divine. Well, this<\/i>
\nwas satisfied with the way the thing was done. For I was looking on, to see, as
\nI said, if there were things which were not as they should have been. But in
\nany case, to the eye of this consciousness which was looking on, it was
\nsatisfying. Materially, you see, I said, \u201cIn the outer human consciousness this
\ncan be done much better.\u201d That of course is understood, we haven’t reached the
\nheight of perfection, far from that, but it must also be said that it is only a
\nvery small part of our activity… that we are trying much more than this, that
\nit is only one of the movements of our sadhana, you see. We are busy with many
\nother things besides this… one thing among many others… and to put up
\nsomething like this according to the accomplishment which the laws of human
\nperfection demand, infinitely more time, infinitely more work and infinitely
\nmore means would have been necessary. But we are not seeking an exclusive
\nperfection in one thing or another, we are trying to make everything go forward
\ntogether to a common, integral perfection. And these things have their place
\nand importance, but they don’t have an exclusive place and importance.
\nTherefore, from the external point of view, one may criticise and find
\nsomething to say and all that; but it is not that, the true point of view. Inwardly,
\nit is well. <\/span><\/p>\n

You see, it happens all the time to the
\nnewcomers, strangers, visitors, to those who come with all ordinary human
\nmental constructions. They come here and say, \u201cBah, bah, bah, there is nothing
\nso remarkable, it’s not so extraordinary, all their capacities are of the
\naverage kind.\u201d But this is because they think like what I call dull-witted
\nfellows, with an altogether ordinary consciousness; but if they could see
\nbehind the appearances<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 391<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the reality of things, they would see
\nthat it is not as easy as that, that there is something else which is advancing
\nall together towards a realisation which goes infinitely beyond all their
\nlittle conceptions; this they cannot see. And that is why, probably… this
\nthing which was answering me said, \u201cBut what is it to you whether a thousand
\nodd fools see or not the effort you have made?\u201d For it is truly… one thing is
\ncertain, that if you see the deep law of things and are in contact with a
\nhigher consciousness in order to realise something that far surpasses all human
\nconceptions, what can a human opinion mean to you? It is as though you asked a
\ndog the value of a problem of science you have solved. It wouldn’t occur to
\nyou, would it? You know that the dog doesn’t have the elements necessary for
\njudging your scientific problem. But here there’s a still greater difference…
\npeople haven’t even the slightest notion of what the spiritual life is and the
\ndivine realisation, and naturally because of their very ignorance they come and
\njudge all this with a perfect ease, what you do or don’t do and the way of
\ndoing it and how you live, because they understand nothing about it and see
\nnothing at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why to those who come and ask what
\nqualifications are obtained at <\/span>Sri<\/span> <\/span>Aurobindo<\/span> <\/span>International<\/span> <\/span>University<\/span>,\u00b9 I reply: \u201cGo then, go and see, there
\nare numerous universities which are infinitely<\/i>
\nbetter than ours, much better equipped, much better organised. Ours is nothing,
\nyou see, it is just a drop of water in the ocean. Go then, there are others
\neverywhere, there are many even in <\/span>India<\/span>, there are many in all the great
\ncountries, infinitely more important universities, better than ours. Go there
\nthen. You will have much more of what you need.\u201d This is why we do not try to
\nenter into competition with other institutions. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Then, Mother, what attitude should we have before these spectators?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Now the Sri Aurobindo International Centre
\nof Education. <\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 392<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

To love them with all your heart, my
\nchildren, and wish that they may be born to the light, that’s the only thing,
\nthat’s the only way of solving the problem. If they begin to talk
\nthoughtlessly, you can be polite and not contradict them \u2013 not say anything at
\nall to them. You must avoid above all discussing and trying to convince them, because
\nthat’s an impossible attempt. You must be absolutely indifferent to their
\ncompliments and their criticisms. It is much easier to be indifferent to
\ncriticism than to compliments. <\/span><\/p>\n

When Mme. David-Neel \u2013 I have spoken to
\nyou about her, haven’t I? Mme. David-Neel who is a militant Buddhist and a
\ngreat Buddhistic luminary \u2013 when she came to India she went to meet some of
\nthose great sages or gurus \u2013 I shan’t give you the names, but she went to one
\nwho looked at her and asked her… for they were speaking of yoga and personal
\neffort and all that… he looked at her and asked her, \u201cAre you indifferent to
\ncriticism?\u201d Then she answered him with the classical expression, \u201cDoes one care
\nabout a dog’s barking?\u201d But she added to me when telling me the story, very wittily:
\n\u201cFortunately he did not ask me whether I was indifferent to compliments,
\nbecause that<\/i> is much more difficult!\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, there we are. Naturally you must
\navoid thinking that you are in the least superior, and I am going to tell you
\nwhy. For I have just spoken to you about something and about an inner
\nrealisation, but except for a few vague and imprecise phrases, you would be
\nalmost absolutely incapable of telling me what I spoke about. You know vaguely,
\nlike that, that we are in the course of doing something, but what it is and
\nwhat it’s leading to and what are the inner changes which can set us a little
\napart from ordinary humanity, you are not conscious of, and you would feel
\nextremely uneasy if I asked you to explain to me what it is. So, as in a being
\nit is only the consciousness which counts, you must not think yourselves at all
\nsuperior. <\/span><\/p>\n

For \u2013 one of two things \u2013 you cannot think
\nyourselves superior unless you are unconscious. The minute you are truly
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 393<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

conscious you lose this notion of
\nsuperiority and inferiority completely. So, in both the cases, you must not
\nfeel yourselves superior \u2013 for it is a smallness and a meanness \u2013 but feel full
\nof goodwill and sympathy and not care at all for what people say or don’t say,
\nbut be polite, because it is always preferable to be polite rather than
\nimpolite, for you put yourself into contact with more harmonious forces and can
\nfight much better against the forces of destruction and ugliness, for no other
\nreasons than these, because we like harmony and it is better to keep that; but
\nessentially you should be far above all this and feel interested only in your
\nrelation with the Divine, what He expects from you and what you want to do for
\nHim. For this<\/i> is the only thing which
\nmatters. All the rest has no importance. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are people who want to show their
\nsuperiority. This proves that they are quite small. The more one wants to show
\nhis superiority, the more it proves that he is quite small. You see, a little
\nchild who lives simply without looking at itself and how it lives, is much
\ngreater than you because it is spontaneous.<\/span><\/p>\n

There, then. Now, you have something to
\nask me? <\/span><\/p>\n

No, nothing? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How is it possible that something almost perfectly done by a mass of
\ngoodwills can be spoilt by one single little ill-will? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That the little ill-will disturbs all the
\nwork of goodwill? Who said that? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It happens very often. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Mother did not hear the disciple well)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It always happens? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the <\/span><\/i>Letters Sri Aurobindo says it: The Supermind<\/i><\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 394<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

could have descended but because of the ill-will of the people in the
\nAshram it was obliged to withdraw.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But surely I have never seen this. I admit
\nthat I don’t understand. I rather find it just the other way, that even when
\nthere is a mass of bad wills, if there is only one good will somewhere (laughter<\/i>), it makes the Grace act and
\neverything goes well. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What you just said… <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That has nothing to do with this. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If there is a concentration\u2026\u00b9<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What did I say? Why, I am forgetting… I am
\nhearing impossible things. What was it? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Pavitra) An observation.<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

An observation of what? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(The disciple mutters an answer which Mother does not hear.)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you understand what he is saying? I
\ndon’t. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(A child) He took this for ill-will.<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

He hasn’t understood anything at all,
\nunderstood absolutely nothing of what I said. Absolutely nothing. It is not at
\nall that. It is not at all that. It did not come from below, it came from a
\nmuch higher plane than your consciousness can reach. It is not ill-will,
\ninfinitely far from that…<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>The disciple having only vaguely heard the French word
\n\u201cconstatation\u201d mistook it for \u201cconcentration\u201d.<\/font><\/span>  <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 395<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

That’s how people understand what I say! I
\nmust be really careful! Is there anyone else who has understood in this way? (To a child<\/i>) You too understood it like
\nthis, didn’t you? (Laughter<\/i>)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Look, it never even occurred to me. I
\nunderstood nothing<\/i> of what he wanted
\nto say. It was so different. If for a moment I had thought it could be
\nunderstood like this, I would never have said anything. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Then, that’s all, I think that’s enough
\nfor today… <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can one become indifferent to criticism? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

By climbing somewhere up on the ladder \u2013
\nin one’s own consciousness \u2013 looking at things a little more vastly, a little
\nmore generally. For example, if at a particular moment there is something which
\nholds you, grips you like that, holds you tight, close pressed, and you
\nabsolutely want it to happen, and you are fighting against a terrible obstacle,
\nyou see, something which is preventing it from happening; if simply just at
\nthat moment you begin to feel, to realise the myriads and myriads of years
\nthere were before this present moment, and the myriads and myriads of years
\nthere will be after this present moment, and what importance this little event
\nhas in relation to all that \u2013 there is no need to enter a spiritual
\nconsciousness or anything else, simply enter into relation with space and time,
\nwith all that is before, all that is after and all that is happening at the
\nsame time \u2013 if one is not an idiot, immediately he tells himself, \u201cOh, well, I
\nam attaching importance to something which doesn’t have any.\u201d Necessarily so,
\nyou see. It loses all its importance, immediately. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you can visualise, you know, simply the
\nimmensity of the creation \u2013 I am not now speaking of rising to spiritual
\nheights \u2013 simply the immensity of the creation in time and space, and this
\nlittle event on which you are concentrated with an importance… <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 396<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

as though it were something of
\nsome importance… immediately it does this (gesture<\/i>) and it dissolves, if you do it sincerely. If, naturally,
\nthere is one part of yourself which tells you, \u201cAh, but for me it has an
\nimportance\u201d, then, there, you have only to leave that part behind and keep your
\nconsciousness as it is. But if sincerely you want to see the true value of
\nthings, it is very easy. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are other methods, you know. There
\nis a Chinese sage who advises you to lie down upon events as one floats on
\none’s back upon the sea, imagining the immensity of the ocean and that you let
\nyourself go floating upon this… upon the waves, you see, like something
\ncontemplating the skies and letting itself be carried away. In Chinese they
\ncall this Wu We<\/i> When you can do this
\nall your troubles are gone. I knew an Irishman who used to lie flat on his back
\nand look outside, as much as possible on an evening when stars were in the sky,
\nhe looked, contemplated the sky and imagined that he was floating in that immensity
\nof countless luminous points. <\/span><\/p>\n

And immediately all troubles are calmed. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are many ways. But sincerely, you
\nhave only to… have the sense of relativity between your little person and the
\nimportance you give to the things which concern you, and the universal
\nimmensity; this is enough. Naturally, there is another way, it is to free
\noneself from the earth consciousness and rise into a higher consciousness where
\nthese terrestrial things take their true place \u2013 which is quite small, you see.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

But… indeed, once, very long ago, when I
\nwas still in Paris and used to see Mme. David-Neel almost every day, she, you
\nsee, was full of her own idea and told me, \u201cYou should not think of an action,
\nit means attachment for the action; when you want to do something, it means
\nthat you are still tied to the things of this world.\u201d Then I told her, \u201cNo,
\nthere is nothing easier. You have only to imagine {everything} that has been
\ndone before and all that will be done later and all that is happening now, and
\nyou will then realise that your action is a breath, like
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 397<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

this, one second in eternity, and you can
\nno longer be attached to it.\u201d At that time I didn’t know the text of the Gita.
\nI had not read it completely yet, you see… (some words inaudible here<\/i>)… not this verse which I translate in
\nmy own way: \u201cAnd detached from all fruit of action, act.\u201d It is not like this,
\nbut still that’s what it means. This I did not know, but I said exactly what is
\nsaid in the Gita. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it is not because you believe in your
\naction that you ought to act; you act because you must act, that’s all. Only,
\nit is a condition which can sometimes be a little dangerous from the external
\npoint of view, because instead of willing with a sovereign authority that the
\nrain should stop, one looks on at what is happening. There we are. But I tell
\nyou, \u201cIf you like to pray, pray.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

We can pray now.<\/span><\/i> (Laughter)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

He is very witty! <\/span><\/p>\n

Good, then, lights off. We shall pray.<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 398<\/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":"

30 November 1955 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mother reads from {The Synthesis of Yoga}, \u00a0\u201cThe Four Aids\u201d.   How is Time a friend?   It depends on how…<\/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-3902","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\/3902","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=3902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}