{"id":3913,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3913"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:09","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:09","slug":"04-26-january-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\/04-26-january-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-04_26 January 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n26 January 1955 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This talk is
\nbased upon Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Difficulty\u201d.
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, who is
\nthis \u201cMaster of forces\u201d who sees \u201cthe defects of the present machinery\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nis the divine Presence which sees from within what is incomplete and imperfect
\nin the working of the present being. The divine Consciousness is present in the
\npsychic being and it sees what is imperfect and at the same time it is aware of
\nthe attacks, and it knows what should be done to repulse them. But for this,
\none must be conscious of his psychic being. It is always the same thing. We
\nalways come back to the same thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why does one suffer when
\none commits suicide? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why
\ndoes one commit suicide? Because one is a coward\u2026When one is cowardly one
\nalways suffers. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the next life one
\nsuffers again? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The
\npsychic being comes with a definite purpose to go through a set of experiences
\nand to learn and make progress. Then if you leave before its work is finished
\nit will have to come back to do it again under much more difficult conditions.
\nSo all that you have avoided in one life you will find again in another, and
\nmore difficult. And even without leaving in this way, if you have difficulties
\nto overcome in life, you have what we usually call a test to pass, you see;
\nwell, if you don’t pass it or turn your back upon it, if you go away instead of
\npassing it, you will have to pass it another time and it will be much more
\ndifficult than before.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n23<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Now people, you know, are extremely ignorant and they think that it is
\nlike this: there is life, and then death; life is a bunch of troubles, and then
\ndeath is an eternal peace. But it is not at all like that. And usually when one
\ngoes out of life in an altogether arbitrary way and in an ignorant and obscure
\npassion, one goes straight into a vital world made of all these passions and
\nall this ignorance. So the troubles one wanted to avoid one finds again without
\neven having the protection which the body gives, for <\/span>\u2013<\/span> if you have ever had a
\nnightmare, that is, a rash excursion in the vital world, well, your remedy is
\nto wake yourself up, that is to say, to rush back immediately into your body.
\nBut when you have destroyed your body you no longer have a body to protect you.
\nSo you find yourself in a perpetual nightmare, which is not very pleasant. For,
\nto avoid the nightmare you must be in a psychic consciousness, and when you are
\nin a psychic consciousness you may be quite sure that things won’t trouble you.
\nIt is indeed the movement of an ignorant darkness and, as I said, a great
\ncowardice in front of the sustained effort to be made. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, why is it
\nthat all this happens only on Wednesdays (Mother’s classes, in which these
\n\u201dTalks\u201d were given, were held on Wednesdays\u00b9 – either the rain or noises or\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Well,
\nperhaps it is something which does not like our lessons. But still, today it is
\nbecause it’s the 26th of January;\u00b2 it has fallen on this day. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, why do men
\ntake pleasure in making a lot of noise? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In
\nmaking a noise? Because they like to deaden themselves. In silence they have to
\nface their own difficulties, they are in front <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 Mother\u2019s
\nclasses in which these \u201cTalks\u201d were given , were held on Wednesdays.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b2 Often, during
\nthe \u201cTalk\u201d, loud music and noises blared from the loudspeakers in the town. The
\n26th of January is the Republic Day of India.);<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n24<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of
\nthemselves, and usually they don’t like that. In the noise they forget
\neverything, they become stupefied. So they are happy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Constantly man rushes into external action in order not to have time to
\nobserve himself and how he lives. For him this is expressed by the desire to
\nescape from boredom. Indeed, for some people it is much more tiresome to remain
\nquiet\u00a0 <\/span>seated, or to be still. So for
\nthem it represents an escape from boredom: to make a lot of noise, to commit
\nmany stupidities, and become terribly restless; it is their way of escaping
\nboredom. And when they sit quietly and look at themselves, they are bored.
\nPerhaps because they are boring. That’s very likely. The more boring one is,
\nthe more one is bored. Very interesting people usually are not bored. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, if one is
\ncowardly and avoids a difficulty, if next time the difficulty is still greater,
\nthen how long does this continue? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It
\ncontinues until one stops being cowardly, till one understands that it’s not
\nsomething to be done. One can overcome one’s cowardice. There isn’t a thing one
\ncan’t overcome if one wants to. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One is cowardly because
\nof ignorance? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One
\nis cowardly because of what? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ignorance. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That
\nmeans one can consider ignorance the cause of all bad things. But I think that one
\nis cowardly because one is very tamasic and fears having to make an effort. In
\norder not to be cowardly, one must make an effort, begin by an effort, and
\nafterwards it becomes very interesting. But the best thing is to make the
\neffort to overcome this kind of flight out of oneself. Instead of facing the
\nthing, one recoils, runs away, turns one’s back and<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n25<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

runs
\naway. For the initial effort is difficult. And so, what prevents you from
\nmaking an effort is the inert, ignorant nature. <\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as you enter the rajasic nature, you like effort. And at least
\nthe one advantage of rajasic people is that they are courageous, whereas
\ntamasic people are cowards. It is the fear of effort which makes one cowardly.
\nFor once you have started, once you have taken the decision and begun the
\neffort, you are interested. It is exactly the same thing which is the cause of
\nsome not liking to learn their lessons, not wanting to listen to the teacher;
\nit is tamasic, it is to be asleep, it avoids the effort which must be made in
\norder to catch the thing and then grasp it and keep it. It is half-somnolence.
\nSo it is the same thing physically, it is a somnolence of the being, an
\ninertia. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are people who\u2026 I have known people who were physically very
\ncourageous, and were very, very cowardly morally, because men are made of
\ndifferent parts. Their physical being can be active and courageous and their
\nmoral being cowardly. I have known the opposite also: I have known people who
\nwere inwardly very courageous and externally they were terrible cowards. But
\nthese have at least the advantage of having an inner will, and even when they
\ntremble they compel themselves. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once I was asked a question, a psychological question. It was put to me
\nby a man who used to deal in wild animals. He had a menagerie, and he used to
\nbuy wild animals everywhere, in all countries where they are caught, in order
\nto sell them again on the European market. He was an Austrian, I think. He had
\ncome to Paris, and he said to me, \u201cI have to deal with two kinds of tamers. I
\nwould like to know very much which of the two is more courageous. There are
\nthose who love animals very much, they love them so much that they enter the
\ncage without the least idea that it could prove dangerous, as a friend enters a
\nfriend’s house, and they make them work, teach them how to do things, make them
\nwork without the slightest fear. I knew some who did not even have a whip in
\ntheir hands; they
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n26<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

went
\nin and spoke with such friendliness to their animals that all went off well.
\nThis did not prevent their being eaten up one day. But still <\/span>\u2013<\/span> this is one kind. The
\nother sort are those who are so afraid before entering, that they tremble, you
\nknow, they become sick from that, usually. But they make an effort, they make a
\nconsiderable moral effort, and without showing any fear they enter and make the
\nanimals work.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Then he told me, \u201cI have heard two opinions: some say that it is much
\nmore courageous to overcome fear than not to have any fear\u2026 Here’s the problem.
\nSo which of the two is truly courageous?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

There is perhaps a third kind, which is truly courageous, still more
\ncourageous than either of the two. It is the one who is perfectly aware of the
\ndanger, who knows very well that one can’t trust these animals. The day they are
\nin a particularly excited state they can very well jump on you treacherously.
\nBut that’s all the same to them. They go there for the joy of the work to be
\ndone, without questioning whether there will be an accident or not and in full
\nquietude of mind, with all the necessary force and required consciousness in
\nthe body. This indeed was the case of that man himself. He had so terrific a
\nwill that without a whip, simply by the persistence of his will, he made them
\ndo all that he wanted. But he knew very well that it was a dangerous
\nprofession. He had no illusions about it. He told me that he had learnt this
\nwork with a cat <\/span>\u2013<\/span> a cat! <\/span><\/p>\n

He was a man who, apart from his work as a trader in wild animals, was
\nan artist. He loved to draw, loved painting, and he had a cat in his studio.
\nAnd it was in this way that he began becoming interested in animals. This cat
\nwas an extremely independent one, and had no sense of obedience. Well, he
\nwanted to make a portrait of his cat. He put it on a chair and went to sit down
\nat his easel. Frrr\u2026the cat ran away. So he went to look for it, took it back,
\nput it back on the chair without even raising his voice, without scolding it,
\nwithout saying anything to it, without hurting it of course or striking it. He
\ntook it up
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n27<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and
\nput it back on the chair. Now, the cat became more and more clever. In the
\nstudio in some nooks there were canvasses, canvasses on which one paints, which
\nwere hidden and piled on one another, behind, in the corners. So the cat went
\nand sat there behind them. It knew that its master would take some time to
\nbring out all those canvasses and catch it; the man, quietly, took them out one
\nby one, caught the cat and put it back in its place. <\/span><\/p>\n

He told me that once from sunrise to sunset he did this without stopping.
\nHe did not eat, the cat did not eat (laughter<\/i>),
\nhe did that the whole day through; at the end of the day it was conquered. When
\nits master put it on the chair it remained there (laughter<\/i>) and from that time onwards it never again tried to run
\naway. Then he told himself, \u201cWhy not try the same thing with the bigger
\nanimals?\u201d He tried and succeeded. <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course he couldn’t take a lion in this way and put it on a chair, no,
\nbut he wanted to get them to make movements <\/span>\u2013 <\/span>silly ones, indeed, such
\nas are made in circuses: putting their forefeet on a stool, or sitting down
\nwith all four paws together on a very small place, all kinds of stupid things,
\nbut still that’s the fashion, that’s what one likes to show; or perhaps to
\nstand up like a dog on the hind legs; or even to roar <\/span>\u2013<\/span> when a finger is held
\nup before it, it begins to roar <\/span>\u2013<\/span> you see, things like that, altogether stupid. It
\nwould be much better to let the animals go round freely, that would be much
\nmore interesting. However, as I said, that’s the fashion. <\/span><\/p>\n

But he managed this without any whipping, he never had a pistol in his
\npocket, and he went in there completely conscious that one day when they were
\nnot satisfied they could give him the decisive blow. But he did it quietly and
\nwith the same patience as with the cat. And when he delivered his animals – he
\ngave his animals to the circuses, you see, to the tamers – they were wonderful.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, those animals <\/span>\u2013<\/span> all animals <\/span>\u2013<\/span> feel it if one is afraid, even if one doesn’t show
\nit. They feel it extraordinarily,<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 28<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

with
\nan instinct which human beings don’t have. They feel that you are afraid, your
\nbody produces a vibration which arouses an extremely unpleasant sensation in
\nthem. If they are strong animals this makes them furious; if they are weak
\nanimals, this gives them a panic. But if you have no fear at all, you see, if
\nyou go with an absolute trustfulness, a great trust, if you go in a friendly
\nway to them, you will see that they have no fear; they are not afraid, they do
\nnot fear you and don’t detest you; also, they are very trusting. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not to encourage you to enter the cages of all the lions you go to
\nsee, but still it is like that. When you meet a barking dog, if you are afraid,
\nit will bite you, if you aren’t, it will go away. But you must really not be
\nafraid, not only appear unafraid, because it is not the appearance but the
\nvibration that counts. <\/span><\/p>\n

You have had enough of this noise, haven’t you? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, you didn’t
\nsay who is the most courageous? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I said it is a third kind who is the most courageous. Courage\u2026it is
\ncourage in different places. The one who is friendly with animals, who has no
\nfear <\/span>\u2013<\/span>
\nthis is because there is a great physical affinity between them, an intimacy
\nfor all kinds of reasons, you see, a spontaneous physical friendship. But we
\ndon’t know, if he suddenly awoke to a sense of danger whether he would keep up
\nhis courage. It is possible that he might lose it immediately. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the second one has no affinity with animals, and so
\nhe fears them. But within himself he has much courage and goodwill, a will and
\nmental courage and perhaps a vital one, which make him master his bodily fear
\nand act as though he were not afraid. But the fear is there in the body. Only
\nhe has controlled it. Now it is to be seen whether physical courage or moral
\ncourage is greater. One is not greater than
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n29<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the
\nother; it is courage in different domains. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some people move without a quiver in the midst of all dangers. They have
\nphysical courage. <\/span><\/p>\n

Others\u2026 you see, during the wars a phenomenon occurred, we have all the
\nstudy-cases possible. When the soldiers were in the trenches and were told to
\ncome out of their trench and go and occupy another, and they came out from the
\ntrench under enemy fire which was right in front of them\u2026 then naturally if you
\nvalue your life in the least, you cannot but be afraid <\/span>\u2013<\/span> if you set store by
\nyour life; or of course, there are some who could be fearless, but then they
\nwould be yogis. Usually soldiers are not yogis, they are ordinary people,
\nbecause everyone becomes a soldier. In the olden days, a very long time ago, it
\nwas those who loved battle who became soldiers. But it is no longer so. It is
\nall the most peaceful poor devils who are taken and turned into soldiers, and
\neveryone has to go in for it. So there isn’t one in a thousand who truly has
\nthe soldier’s temperament <\/span>\u2013<\/span> surely not. The great majority are people made for
\nthe ordinary life in the ordinary way, those who like quietness, you see, to
\nhave their little hum-drum routine of life. They don’t feel they are warriors
\nat all. Therefore, it is difficult to expect them to become heroes overnight.
\nHowever, as the officers have a pistol in their hands, and if not obeyed shoot
\none in the back, it is thought better to march on, you understand, than to be
\nkilled like a rat. There, the situation is like that. It is not very poetic but
\nit is like that. Well, some people, you see, fell literally ill with all this
\nwhen they had to get out <\/span>\u2013<\/span> ill, I can say, they had diarrhoea, they were
\nabsolutely ill. They had to get out all the same, and they did, and then
\nsometimes on the way they were seized by a great courage in face of the real
\ndanger. <\/span><\/p>\n

Others went out like a block of wood, without even knowing what was
\ngoing to happen, completely stupefied by the intensity of the danger. There
\nwere some who offered to go out when the order was not given to all, when it
\nwas a mission that <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n30<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

had
\nto be fulfilled; there were men who offered themselves. But these knew very well
\nwhat could be awaiting them. And so, here, these were courageous people, but
\nthere weren’t many of them. There never are many. <\/span><\/p>\n

Only, in the heat of action, when the atmosphere is at its utmost
\ntension, there is a kind of collective suggestion which makes heroes of men for
\nthe time being. Afterwards it is finished, but at that moment one is heroic.
\nBut this of course is a collective suggestion. <\/span><\/p>\n

True courage, in its deepest sense, is to be able to face everything,
\neverything in life, from the smallest to the greatest things, from material
\nthings to those of the spirit, without a shudder, without physically\u2026 without
\nthe heart beginning to beat faster, without the nerves trembling or the
\nslightest emotion in any part of the being. Face everything with a constant
\nconsciousness of the divine Presence, with a total self-giving to the Divine,
\nand the whole being unified in this will; then one can go forward in life, can
\nface anything whatever. I say, without a shudder, without a vibration; this,
\nyou know, is the result of a long effort, unless one is born with a special
\ngrace, born like that. But this indeed is still more rare. <\/span><\/p>\n

To overcome one’s fear means that there is one part of the being which
\nis stronger than the other, and which has no fear and imposes its own
\nintrepidity on the part which is afraid. But this doesn’t necessarily imply
\nthat one is more courageous than the one who has no fear to master. Because the
\none who doesn’t have any fear to master\u2026 this means that he is courageous
\neverywhere, in all the parts of his being. Now, there is an intrepidity which
\ncomes from unconsciousness and ignorance. Children, for example, who do not
\nknow about dangers, you see, do things they would not do if they had the
\nknowledge of this danger. This means that their intrepidity is an ignorant one.
\nBut true courage is courage with the full knowledge of the thing, that is, it
\nknows all the possibilities and is ready to face everything without exception.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>Page \u2013 31<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\t
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