{"id":3906,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:07","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3906"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:07","slug":"12-23-march-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\/12-23-march-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-12_23 March 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n


\n
\n23 March 1955 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This talk is based
\nupon Bases of Yoga<\/i>, Chapter 5, <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPhysical
\nConsciousness, etc.\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Here Sri Aurobindo says: \u201cAs for the
\nthings in our nature that are thrown away from us by rejection but come back,
\nit depends on where you throw them. Very often there is a sort of procedure
\nabout it.\u201d What is this procedure, Sweet Mother? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is what he
\ndescribes later. He explains afterwards that what is in the mind is thrown out
\ninto the vital, what is in the higher vital is thrown out into the lower vital,
\nand what is in the lower vital is thrown out into the physical, and what is in
\nthe physical is thrown out into the subconscient. He says it \u2013 all this. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But I thought there was a procedure for
\nrejection? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, this is the
\nprocedure, to reject always into a lower part of the being, and finally the
\nlast refuge, he says, is in the inconscient; and in order to get rid of
\nsomething, to tell the truth, you must go right into the inconscient; if one
\npursues it there, it cannot go lower down. So there is only one solution for
\nit, to transform itself. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Can’t one
\ntransform it without going further? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One can. But it is
\nquite difficult. But one can do it, because rejecting is not the best method.
\nYou see, to do this (gesture<\/i>) is the
\neasiest way; something troubles you, you do this (gesture<\/i>), as you do for flies; but it is a little as with the
\nflies, it takes a round and then comes back. <\/span><\/p>\n

But what is necessary is what I explained to you last time <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 95<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

in detail: to find
\nout why it comes, why it is there, and change it \u2013 the cause itself. Then it no
\nlonger returns, there is no affinity any longer. <\/span><\/p>\n

Things come to you because they have an affinity. There is something to which
\nthey can cling, a kind of sympathy somewhere, which may not be very conscious
\nor very open, but there is one. And if it were not there, the thing would no
\nlonger come. There is a whole set of things which never come to bother you any
\nlonger, once you have changed the essential points in your nature. <\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to ask, I\u2026 I ask you a question: What is the difference between
\nthe subliminal and the superconscient? Nolini is going to tell us this. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Nolini) The subliminal is what is
\nbehind\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Inside, and the
\nsuperconscient is above. Good, that’s what I thought. But I wasn’t sure. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now then! No questions this evening? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, when we learn something by
\nheart to recite it, what is the true way of learning, so that it remains? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The true way so
\nthat it remains is to understand, it is not to learn by heart. You learn
\nsomething by heart, it is mechanical, you see; but after some time it will be
\neffaced, unless you make use of it constantly. For example, you are made to
\nlearn by heart the multiplication tables; if you constantly use them, you will
\nremember them, but if by chance for years you remain without using them, you
\nwill forget them completely. But if you understand the principle, you will be
\nable to remember them. You see, the principle of multiplication, if you
\nunderstand it with a mathematical sense, you will no longer need to learn it by
\nheart, the operation will be done quite naturally in your <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 96<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

brain; and for
\neverything it is the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you understand the thing, if you have the sense of the principle
\nwhich is behind, you can remember it indefinitely, for hundreds of years if you
\nlive for hundreds of years; whereas something you have learnt by heart\u2026 after
\nsome time the brain-cells multiply, are replaced, and some things are wiped
\nout. You are still too small for experiences of this kind, but later one
\nrealises that in one’s life there are things which remain like landmarks, there
\nare others which are totally effaced to the extent that one doesn’t remember
\nthem at all, they are gone. But there are things like that, truly like
\nmilestones, like landmarks in life. Well, these things were conscious
\nexperiences, that is, they were understood; so the experience remains
\nindefinitely, and with just a tiny movement of the consciousness you can bring
\nit forward. But something that is learnt mechanically \u2013 unless, I tell you, you
\nmake use of it daily, it is effaced. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, things which come \u201cfrom the
\ngeneral Nature\u201d means\u2026 ? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What does it mean?
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I shall ask later! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There are movements
\nof certain vibrations which are vibrations of the species, you see, movements
\npeculiar to the species to which you belong \u2013 there is the human species as
\nthere are all kinds. Now, some of these movements are not personal movements at
\nall, they are movements of the species. <\/span><\/p>\n

The human species has certain ways of being which are particular to it,
\nwhich we reproduce almost automatically, as for example, walking upright, like
\nthis (gesture<\/i>), whereas a cat goes on
\nfour feet, you see. This instinct of standing on one’s two hind feet, upright,
\nis peculiar to man, it is a movement that belongs to the species; to sit as we
\ndo with the head up, you see, to lie <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 97<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

down as we do on
\nthe back\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

You have only to watch animals: they lie down curled up, don’t they?
\nAlmost all. It is with man that this way of lying on one’s back, stretched out,
\nbegins, I think; I don’t at all think that monkeys sleep like that, I think
\nthey sleep doubled up, that it is man who has started habits of this kind. And
\nthis reminds me\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I had a cat \u2013 in those days I used to sleep on the floor \u2013 which always
\ncame and slipped under the mosquito-net and slept beside me. Well, this cat
\nslept quite straight, it did not sleep as cats do; it put its head here and
\nthen lay down like this (gesture<\/i>),
\nalongside my legs with its two forepaws like this, and its two little hind legs
\nquite straight. And there was something very, very curious about it which I saw
\none night, like that. I used to ask myself why it was like this, and one night
\nI saw a little Russian woman of the people with a fur bonnet and three little
\nchildren, and this woman had a kind of adoration for her children and always
\nwanted to look for a shelter for them; I don’t know, I don’t know the story,
\nbut I saw that she had her three little children, very small ones, with her\u2026
\none like this, one like that, one like that (Mother shows the difference in height<\/i>), and she was dragging them
\nalong with her and looking for a corner to put them in safety. Something must
\nhave happened to her, she must have died suddenly with a kind of very animal
\nmaternal instinct of a certain kind, but all full of fear \u2013 fear, anguish and
\nworry \u2013 and this something must have come from there and in some way or other
\nhad reincarnated. It was a movement \u2013 was not a person, you know, it was a
\nmovement which belonged to this person and must have come up in the cat. It was
\nthere for some reason or other, you see, I don’t know how it happened, I know
\nnothing about it, but this cat was completely human in its ways. And very soon
\nafterwards it had three kittens, like that; and it was extraordinary, it didn’t
\nwant to leave them, it refused to leave them, it was entirely\u2026 it did not eat,
\ndid not go to satisfy its needs, it <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 98<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

was always with
\nits young. When one day it had an idea \u2013 nobody had said anything, of course \u2013
\nit took one kitten, as they take them, by the skin of the neck, and came and
\nput it between my feet; I did not stir; it returned, took the second, put it
\nthere; it took the third, it put it there, and when all three were there, it
\nlooked at me, mewed and was gone. And this was the first time it went out after
\nhaving had them; it went to the garden, went to satisfy its needs and to eat,
\nbecause it was at peace, they were there between my feet. And when it had its
\nyoung, it wanted to carry them on its back like a woman. And when it slept
\nbeside me, it slept on the back. It was never like a cat. <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, these things are habits of the species, movements of the species.
\nThere are many others of the kind, you see, but this is an example. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

These animals which are extraordinary like
\nthis one, after death do they come back in a human body? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

There was a cat\u2026 what its name was I don’t know; and I had many cats, you
\nknow, so I don’t remember now; there was one called Kiki, it was the first son
\nof this cat, and then there was another, its second son (that is to say, born
\nanother time) which was called Brownie. <\/span><\/p>\n

This one was admirable and it died of the cat disease \u2013 as there is a
\ndisease of the dogs, there is a disease of the kittens \u2013 I don’t know how it
\ncaught the thing, but it was wonderful during its illness and I was taking care
\nof it as of a child. And it always expressed a kind of aspiration. There was a
\ntime before it fell ill\u2026 we used to have in those days meditation in a room of
\nthe Library House, in the room there \u2013 Sri Aurobindo’s own room \u2013 and we used
\nto sit on the floor. And there was an armchair in a corner, and when we
\ngathered for the meditation this cat came every time and settled in the
\narmchair and <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 99<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

literally it
\nentered into a trance, it had movements of trance; it did not sleep, it was not
\nasleep, it was truly in a trance; it gave signs of that and had astonishing movements,
\nas when animals dream; and it didn’t want to come out from it, it refused to
\ncome out, it remained in it for hours. But it never came in until we were
\nbeginning the meditation. It settled there and remained there throughout the
\nmeditation. We indeed had finished but it remained, and it was only when I went
\nto take it, called it in a particular way, brought it back into its body, that
\nit consented to go away; otherwise no matter who came and called it, it did not
\nmove. Well, this cat always had a great aspiration, a kind of aspiration to
\nbecome a human being; and in fact, when it left its body it entered a human
\nbody. Only it was a very tiny part of the consciousness, you see, of the human
\nbeing; it was like the opposite movement from that of the woman with the other
\ncat. But this one was a cat which leaped over many births, so to say, many
\npsychic stages to enter into contact with a human body. It was a simple enough
\nhuman body, but still, all the same\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a difference in the development of a cat and of a human being<\/span><\/p>\n

It happens\u2026 I think these are exceptional cases, but still it happens. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In these cases is the psychic conscious? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The aspiration is
\nconscious, yes, conscious. The aspiration was very conscious in it, very
\nconscious. It is not a formed psychic as when the psychic becomes a completely
\nindependent being, it is not that; but it is an aspiration, it is an ardent
\naspiration for progress as we, you know, we have the aspiration to become
\nsupramental beings instead of remaining human beings, well, it was something
\nabsolutely similar: it was a cat doing yoga \u2013 exactly \u2013 to become a man. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was perhaps because its mother had in it a movement, a <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 100<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

formation, an
\nemanation of consciousness which had belonged to a human being; it is probably
\nthat which had left a kind of nostalgia for the human life which gave it this
\nintensity of aspiration. But truly it did yoga for that. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 101<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

23 March 1955     This talk is based upon Bases of Yoga, Chapter 5, \u201cPhysical Consciousness, etc.\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Here Sri Aurobindo says: \u201cAs for…<\/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-3906","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\/3906","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=3906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}