{"id":3920,"date":"2013-07-13T01:52:12","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=3920"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:52:12","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:52:12","slug":"02-12-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\/02-12-january-1955-vol-07-questions-and-answers-volume-07","title":{"rendered":"-02_12 January 1955.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n12 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

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTo question, to resist in some part of the being increases trouble and
\ndifficulties.\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

For
\ninstance, when the guru tells you to do something, if you begin to ask, \u201cWhy
\nshould I do it? What is the necessity of doing it? Explain to me what I must
\ndo. Why do I have to do it?\u201d This is called questioning. <\/span><\/p>\n

To resist means to try to evade the order and not accomplish it. So
\nnaturally this increases the difficulties very much. There is the explanation
\nlater. Sri Aurobindo says that this was the reason why an absolute
\nunquestioning surrender was demanded; no argument was allowed in those days.
\nYou were told, \u201cDo this\u201d; it had to be done. You were told, \u201cDon’t do it\u201d; it
\nhad not to be done, and nobody had the right to ask why. If one didn’t
\nunderstand, so much the worse for him. <\/span><\/p>\n

It’s not like that here. You have the right to ask all that you want.
\nOnly, it is true that there are times when it doesn’t help. If one begins to
\nargue in his mind, \u201cWhy have we been told to do this? Why are we told not to do
\nthat?\u201d and so on, this does not help. It increases difficulties very much, it
\nhardens the consciousness, it puts a thick shell over it and so prevents it
\nfrom being receptive. It is as though you were putting a varnish upon something
\nto prevent its being touched. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Does the mind aspire? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That
\nmeans? When the mind aspires, it aspires. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span><\/i>\u2026the mental will and the psychic
\naspiration must be your support.\u201d<\/i> <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 8<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

 Yes,
\nbut the mind also can aspire. But psychic aspiration is more powerful than
\nmental aspiration, and the mind must have its own will. If one speaks of the
\nmental will and the psychic aspiration it does not mean that the mind has no
\naspiration and the psychic no will. It is just saying what is the most
\nimportant thing in each of these. But it doesn’t mean that it has only this. It
\ncan have all the other movements too. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes when I want to
\nknow something, it seems to me that a door is closed in my heart, and then it
\nopens and everything becomes very clear. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes,
\nthat’s quite true. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What
\nis it? It is because you have no contact with your psychic being when the door
\nis closed. And if the door opens, then naturally you will benefit by all the
\npsychic consciousness, and will know the things you want to. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, here Sri
\nAurobindo says, \u201c\u2026the difficulty faced in the right spirit and conquered, one
\nfinds that an obstacle has disappeared.\u201d What is the right spirit? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah,
\nI was expecting this question. The right spirit means what he has explained in
\nthe following sentence: to keep one’s trust, to remain quiet \u2013 I think it is
\nthere a little farther off \u2013 wait patiently for the attack to pass, keep one’s
\ntrust. It is not there? Then it is in another passage. In any case the right
\nspirit means not to lose courage, not to lose one’s faith, not to be impatient,
\nnot to be depressed; to remain very quiet and peaceful with as much aspiration
\nas one can have, and not worry about what is happening. To have the certitude
\nthat this will pass and all will
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n9 <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

be
\nwell. This indeed is the best thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not to be depressed
\nmeans\u2026 ? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not
\nto be depressed \u2013 is extremely important. Depression is a sign of weakness, of
\na bad will somewhere, and bad will in the sense of a refusal to receive help,
\nand a kind of weakness that’s content to be weak. One becomes slack. The bad
\nwill is obvious, because there’s a part of your being which tells you at that
\nmoment, \u201cDepression is bad.\u201d You know that you shouldn’t get depressed; well,
\nthe reply of that part which is depressed is almost, \u201cShut up! I want my depression.\u201d
\nTry, you will see, you can try. It is always like that. Eh, it is not true? And
\nthen later one says again, \u201cAfterwards, afterwards I shall see for the moment I
\nwant it, and besides I have my reasons.\u201d There you are. It is a kind of revolt,
\na weak revolt, the revolt of something weak in the being. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Here he speaks of \u201cthe
\nchange of which this depression is a stage\u2026 \u201c <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes.
\nWhen one comes out of the depression and one’s bad will, well, then one
\nrealises that there was an attack and that some progress had to be made, and
\nthat in spite of everything something within has made progress, that one has
\ntaken a step forward. Usually, hardly consciously, it is something which needs
\nto progress but doesn’t want to, and so takes this way; like a child who sulks,
\nbecomes low-spirited, sad, unhappy, misunderstood, abandoned, helpless; and
\nthen, refusing to collaborate, and as I just said, indulging in his depression,
\nto show that he is not happy. It is specially in order to show that one is not
\nsatisfied that one becomes depressed. One can show it to Nature, one can show
\nit (that depends on the case, you see), one can show it to the Divine, one can
\nshow it to the people around one, but it is always a kind of way of expressing
\none’s dissatis-<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n10<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

faction.
\n\u201cI am not happy about what you demand\u201d, but this means, \u201cI am not happy. And I
\nshall make you too see it, that I am not happy.\u201d There you are. <\/span><\/p>\n

But when it is over, and when for some reason or other one has made the
\nnecessary effort to come out of it, and has come out, one usually realises that
\nsomething in the being has changed, because, in spite of all bad will, most
\noften the progress was accomplished \u2013 not very swiftly, not very brilliantly,
\nnot for one’s greater glory, surely, but still the progress was made. Something
\nhas changed. That’s all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, here Sri
\nAurobindo has spoken of \u201cthe formation of ego-individuality\u201d. Ego-individuality
\nmeans\u2026? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nare individual egos and collective egos. For example, the national ego is a collective
\nego. A group may have a collective ego. The human race has a collective ego. It
\nis bigger or smaller. The individual ego is the ego of a particular person; it
\nis the smallest kind of ego. Oh, there is of course a vital ego, a mental ego
\nand a physical ego but these are minor individual egos. But this means the ego
\nof a particular person. <\/span><\/p>\n

One has many egos inside oneself. One becomes aware of them when one
\nbegins to destroy them: when one has destroyed an ego, that which was most
\ntroublesome, usually it creates a kind of inner cyclone. When one comes out of
\nthe storm, one feels, \u201cAh, now it is over, everything is done, I have destroyed
\nthe enemy inside me, all is finished.\u201d But after a while, one notices that
\nthere is another, and another still, and yet again another, and that in fact
\none is made of a heap of little egos which are absolutely a nuisance and which
\nmust be overcome one after another.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ego means what? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nthink it is the ego that makes each one a separate being, in all <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n11<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

possible
\nways. It is the ego which gives the sense of being a person separate from
\nothers. It is certainly the ego which gives you the sense of the \u201cI\u201d, \u201cI am\u201d,
\n\u201cI want\u201d, \u201cI do\u201d, \u201cI exist\u201d, even the very famous \u201cI think therefore I am\u201d which
\nis\u2026 I am sorry but I think it is a stupidity \u2013 but still it is a celebrated
\nstupidity \u2013 well, this too is the ego. What gives you the impression that you
\nare Manoj is the ego, and that you are altogether different from this one and
\nthat one; and what prevents your body from melting away like that, dissolving
\nin a common mass of physical vibrations, is the ego; what gives you a definite
\nform, a definite character, a separate consciousness, the sense that you exist
\nin yourself, independently of all others, indeed, something like that; if one
\ndoes not reflect, spontaneously one has the sense that even if the world
\ndisappeared, one would be there, one would remain what one is. This of course
\nis the super-ego. <\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly, if one were to lose one’s ego too soon, from the vital and
\nmental point of view one would again become an amorphous mass. The ego is
\nsurely the instrument for individualisation, that is, until one is an
\nindividualised being, constituted in himself, the ego is an absolutely
\nnecessary factor. If one had the power of abolishing the ego ahead of time, one
\nwould lose one’s individuality. But once the individuality has been formed, the
\nego becomes not only useless but harmful. And only then comes the time when it
\nmust be abolished. But naturally, as it has taken so much trouble to build you,
\nit does not give up its work so easily, and it asks for the reward of its
\nefforts, that is, to enjoy the individuality. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Even the physical
\nformation is an ego? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes,
\nI tell you. What can it be due to if not to the ego? <\/span><\/p>\n

Just now you were asking why there is an individual
\nego\u2026\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\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\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

There is a family ego, and it is very interesting because it is the
\nfamily ego which makes all the members of a family resemble each other in some
\nway or other; they are not the same <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n12<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

but
\nresemble one another. One knows that they belong to the same family and if one
\ngoes far back to the ancestors, one sees that there is a similarity all down
\nthe line. Well, it is the family ego, which is much more lasting than the individual
\nego; and there is a national ego. And the families which are not much
\nintermixed, you see, which have remained without intermixing very much, as for
\nexample, in the time of the aristocrats, the aristocracy did not mix much, they
\nremained in one lineage, well, the characteristics of the ego are very clear;
\nfor instance, the Bourbon families, the families of\u2026 in France it is like that;
\nfrom top to bottom, we find them very similar among themselves in their
\nappearance. Naturally, as soon as races, species, nationalities intermix, it
\nproduces a mixture of egos. And then the horizon begins to widen. It is as when
\none tries to widen his mind, to understand many different things, study many
\nlanguages, the knowledge of many countries and ages, one widens his ego very
\nmuch, one begins to grow less narrow-minded. Naturally, with yoga one can
\novercome all this consciously. <\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

Does<\/span><\/i> the collective ego depend on the
\nindividual ego of the individuals who form the collectivity?<\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes.
\nUsually collective egos are inferior in quality to individual egos. Instead of
\nbeing a multiplication or even an addition, it becomes a diminution, usually.
\nPsychologically it is a well-known fact. Take men individually, they show
\ncommon sense. But put them all together, it makes a stupid human mass. <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can experience be
\npurified? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri
\nAurobindo has spoken at the beginning of experiences which become impure
\nthrough ambition or vanity or\u2026 he explains it. And so, purification of
\nexperience means to make the\u00a0 <\/span>experience
\nsincere and motiveless. To take away all one’s motives of
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n13<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

ambition
\nand vanity, of desire, power, etc. This is called purifying the experience,
\nmaking it sincere, spontaneous and not mixing it with desires and ambitions.
\nThere are spiritual ambitions, he speaks of them, and these are even the most
\ndangerous.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There we are. That’s all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, many people are
\nasking whether the crisis about which you spoke to X in reference to 1957 is
\nthe same as the one of this
\nyear or whether it is different? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The crisis about which
\nyou spoke to X in 1957 ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nhaven’t spoken about a crisis in 1957. That is a fulfilment, not a crisis. The
\ncrisis comes before, this is the result. It is a victory, it is not a crisis. I
\ndon’t know what he has written. I don’t remember now. But certainly I did not
\nspeak to him about a crisis.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a possibility
\nof a war between Russia and America over the question of India\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Mother
\nlooks surprised) In \u201957? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, Mother. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Never
\nin my life\u2026I never said this. And it is not there in what he has written,
\nbecause I would never have let it pass. There is the possibility of a war but I
\ndidn’t say ’57. (Silence<\/i>) There is
\nthe possibility of a war. Yes. Perhaps this is part of the difficulties I spoke
\nto you about last time. But I did not place it in ’57 at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Long silence)<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

There we are. That’s all? Finished. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013
\n14<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

12 January 1955   This talk is based upon Bases of Yoga, Chapter 3, \u201cIn Difficulty\u201d.   \u00a0\u201cTo question, to resist in some part of…<\/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-3920","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\/3920","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=3920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}