{"id":4060,"date":"2013-07-13T01:53:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4060"},"modified":"2013-12-01T10:56:50","modified_gmt":"2013-12-01T18:56:50","slug":"42-conjugate-verses-2-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/03-questions-and-answers-volume-03\/42-conjugate-verses-2-vol-03-questions-and-answers-volume-03","title":{"rendered":"-42_Conjugate Verses 2.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nConjugate Verses (b)<\/font><\/span>  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But first of all it is not so easy to distinguish what is true
\nfrom what is not, then to recognise, that is to say, to admit that a certain
\nthing is true; and above all it is more difficult still perhaps to recognise
\nthat a certain thing is false. <\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, in order to discern exactly
\nwhat is false requires such sincerity in the aspiration, such resolution in the
\nwill to be true that even this little phrase \u201cto know the true to be true and
\nthe false to be false\u201d means a very considerable realisation. And the
\nconclusion, \u201cthey attain the supreme goal\u201d is a great promise.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are teachings which say that one
\nmust have no desire at all; they are the ones that aim at a complete withdrawal
\nfrom life in order to enter into the immobility of the Spirit, the absence of
\nall activity, all movement, all form, all external reality. To attain that one
\nmust have no desire at all, that is to say, one must completely leave behind
\nall will for progress; progress itself becomes something unreal and external.
\nBut if in your conception of Yoga you keep the idea of progress, and if you
\nadmit that the whole universe follows a progression, then what you have to do
\nis to shift the objective of desire; instead of turning it towards things that are
\nexternal, artificial, superficial and egoistical, you must join it as a force
\nof realisation to the aspiration directed to the truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

These few words, \u201cthey pursue right
\ndesires\u201d, are a proof that the teaching of the Buddha, in its essence, did not
\nturn away from the realisation upon earth, but only from what is false in the
\nconception of the world and in activities as they are carried on in the world.
\nThus when he teaches that one must escape from life, it is not to escape from a
\nlife that would be the expression of the truth but from the illusory life as it
\nis ordinarily lived in the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo tells us that in order to
\nreach the Truth and to have the power of realising this Truth you must join the
\nspiritual consciousness to a progressive mental consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

And these few words certainly prove that
\nsuch was the original conception of the Buddhist teaching.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

6
\n December 1957<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 194<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Just
\nas the rain penetrates through the thatch of a leaking roof, so the passions
\npenetrate an unbalanced mind.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>There are innumerable small
\nBuddhist sects of all kinds, in <\/span>China<\/span>, in <\/span>Japan<\/span>, in <\/span>Burma<\/span>, and each one follows its own methods;
\nbut the most widespread among them are those whose sole practice is to make the
\nmind quiet.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

They sit down for a few hours in the day
\nand even at night and quiet their mind. This is for them the key to all
\nrealisation–a quiet mind that knows how to keep quiet for hours together
\nwithout roving. You must not believe however that it is a very easy thing to
\ndo, but they have no other object. They do not concentrate upon any thought,
\nthey do not try to understand better, to know more, nothing of the kind; for
\nthem the only way is to have a quiet mind and sometimes they pass through years
\nand years of effort before they arrive at this result \u2013 to silence the mind, to
\nkeep it absolutely silent and still; for, as it is said here in the Dhammapada,
\nif the mind is unbalanced, then this constant movement of ideas following one
\nanother, sometimes without any order, ideas contradicting and opposing each
\nother, ideas that speculate on things, all that jostles about in the head,
\nmakes holes in the roof, as it were. So through these holes all undesirable
\nmovements enter into the consciousness, as water enters into a house with a leaky
\nroof. <\/span><\/p>\n

However that may be, I believe it is a
\npractice to be recommended to everyone: to keep a certain time every day for
\ntrying to make the mind quiet, even, still. And it is an undeniable fact that
\nthe more mentally developed one is, the quicker one succeeds; and the more the
\nmind is in a rudimentary state, the more difficult it is. <\/span><\/p>\n

Those who are at the bottom of the scale,
\nwho have never trained their minds, find it necessary to speak in order to
\nthink. It happens even that it is the sound of their voice which enables them
\nto associate ideas; if they do not express them, <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 195<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

they do not think. At a higher level there are those who still
\nhave to move words about in their heads in order to think, even though they do
\nnot utter them aloud. Those who truly begin to think are those who are able to
\nthink without words, that is to say, to be in contact with the idea and express
\nit through a wide variety of words and phrases. There are higher degrees \u2013 many
\nhigher degrees \u2013 but those who think without words truly begin to reach an
\nintellectual state and for them it is much easier to make the mind quiet, that
\nis to say, to stop the movement of associating the words that constantly move
\nabout like passers-by in a public square, and to contemplate an idea in
\nsilence. <\/span><\/p>\n

I emphasise this fact because there are
\nquite a few people who, when mental silence has been transmitted to them by
\noccult means, are immediately alarmed and afraid of losing their intelligence.
\nBecause they can no longer think, they fear they may become stupid! But to
\ncease thinking is a much higher achievement than to be able to spin out
\nthoughts endlessly and it demands a much greater development. <\/span><\/p>\n

So from every point of view, and not only
\nfrom the spiritual point of view, it is always very good to practise silence
\nfor a few minutes, at least twice a day, but it must be a true silence, not
\nmerely abstention from talking. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now let us try to be completely silent for
\na few minutes. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

(\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Meditation<\/i>\u00a0 <\/span>)<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n


\n
\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/i>13 December 1957<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Just
\nas the rain cannot penetrate a house well covered with thatch, so also the
\npassions cannot penetrate a balanced mind. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>(It begins to rain.<\/i>) That’s it. The mind of the sky must be out of
\nbalance. (Laughter<\/i>) It is raining. <\/span><\/p>\n

So I think the sky has no balance and it
\nis better for you <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 196<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

to go home. (It rains harder.) Well, there is nothing to be done! <\/span><\/p>\n

The balance is not being restored. You
\nshould all go home and meditate on the necessity of having a balanced mind.
\nThat’s all.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

20
\n December 1957<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

In
\nthe two worlds, in this world and in the other, one who does evil grieves. He
\nlaments and suffers as he recalls his evil deeds.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is quite evident that when you act in an ugly and mean way,
\nnaturally you are unhappy; but to be unhappy because you are conscious of the
\nugliness of your actions seems to me to be already a very advanced stage, for
\none needs to be very conscious in order to be aware of the evil that one does,
\nand to be conscious of the evil that one does is already a first step towards
\nnot doing it any more. <\/span><\/p>\n

Generally, people are altogether blind to
\nthe ugliness of their own actions. They do wrong through ignorance, through
\nunconsciousness, through smallness, through that sort of doubling back on
\noneself which comes from unconsciousness and ignorance, that obscure instinct
\nof self-preservation which makes one ready to sacrifice the whole world for the
\nsake of one’s own well-being. And the smaller one is, the more natural appears
\nthe sacrifice offered to one’s smallness. <\/span><\/p>\n

One must be very much higher on the scale
\nto see that what one does is ugly. One must already have at the core of oneself
\na kind of foreknowledge of what beauty, nobility, generosity are, to be able to
\nsuffer from the fact that one doesn’t carry them within oneself. <\/span><\/p>\n

I think the Dhammapada speaks here of
\nthose who already know what is beautiful and noble and who do evil wilfully,
\ndeliberately. For them life becomes terribly painful indeed. To do persistently
\nwhat one knows should not be done, is at the cost <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 197<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of all peace, all possible tranquillity, all the well-being that
\none can have. He who lies is constantly uneasy in the fear that his lie may be
\ndiscovered; he who has acted wrongly is in a constant anxiety at the idea that
\nperhaps he will be punished; he who tries to deceive has no peace lest it
\nshould be found out that he deceives. <\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, even for a purely egoistic
\nreason, to do good, to be just, straight, honest is the best means to be quiet
\nand peaceful, to reduce one’s anxiety to a minimum. And if, besides, one could
\nbe disinterested, free from personal motives and egoism, then it would be
\npossible to become truly happy.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You carry with you, around you, in you,
\nthe atmosphere created by your actions, and if what you do is beautiful, good
\nand harmonious, your atmosphere is beautiful, good and harmonious; on the other
\nhand, if you live in a sordid selfishness, unscrupulous self-interest, ruthless
\nbad will, that is what you will breathe every moment of your life and that
\nmeans misery, constant uneasiness; it means ugliness that despairs of its own
\nugliness. <\/span><\/p>\n

And you must not believe that by leaving
\nthe body you will free yourself of this atmosphere; on the contrary, the body
\nis a kind of a veil of unconsciousness which diminishes the intensity of the
\nsuffering. If you are without the protection of the body in the most material
\nvital life, the suffering becomes much more acute and you no longer have the
\nopportunity to change what is to be changed, to correct what is to be
\ncorrected, to open yourself to a higher, happier and more luminous life and
\nconsciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

You must make haste to do your work here,
\nfor it is here that you can truly do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Expect nothing from death. Life is your
\nsalvation. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is in life that you must transform
\nyourself. It is upon earth that you progress and it is upon earth that you
\nrealise. It is in the body that you win the Victory. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0<\/span><\/i>27
\n December 1957<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 198<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

One
\nwho does good rejoices in the two worlds, in this world and in the other. He
\nrejoices more and more as he recalls his good deeds. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One
\nwho does evil suffers in the two worlds, in this world and in the other. \u201cI
\nhave done wrong\u201d: this thought torments him. And his torments increase still
\nmore as he follows the way which leads to the infernal world. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One
\nwho does good rejoices in the two worlds, in this world and in the other. \u201cI
\nhave done good\u201d: the thought rejoices him and his happiness increases more and
\nmore as he follows the way that leads to the celestial world. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It would almost seem from
\nthese texts that Buddhism accepts the idea of a hell and a heaven; but that is
\nquite a superficial way of understanding; for, in a deeper sense, this was not
\nthe thought of the Buddha. The idea on which he always insisted is that you
\ncreate, by your conduct and the state of your consciousness, the world in which
\nyou live. Everyone carries in himself the world in which he lives and in which
\nhe will continue to live even when he loses his body, because, according to the
\nBuddha’s teaching, there is, so to say, no difference between life in the body
\nand life outside the body. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some persons believe, some traditions
\nteach that to leave the body is a blessing and that all difficulties disappear,
\nprovided, however, you fulfil certain rites, as in some religions, and that is
\nalso why so much importance is given to the religious rites which are, as it
\nwere, a passport for going to a happier region once you have left the body.
\nSome even imagine that as soon as you leave the body you at once leave your
\nmiseries behind; but it is far from being true and this is what the Dhammapada
\npoints out here: what it calls the infernal world consists of <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 199<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

psychological ranges, particular states of consciousness you enter
\nwhen you do wrong, that is to say, when you stray away from all that is beautiful,
\npure, happy and you live in ugliness and wickedness. Nothing is more
\ndisheartening than to live in an atmosphere of wickedness. <\/span><\/p>\n

What the Dhammapada says here in an almost
\npuerile way is essentially true. Naturally, it does not refer to those who think,
\n\u201cOh, how good I am, how nice I am!\u201d and therefore feel happy. That is
\nchildishness. But when you are good, when you are generous, noble,
\ndisinterested, kind, you create in you, around you, a particular atmosphere and
\nthis atmosphere is a sort of luminous release. You breathe, you blossom like a
\nflower in the sun; there is no painful recoil on yourself, no bitterness, no
\nrevolt, no miseries. Spontaneously, naturally, the atmosphere becomes luminous
\nand the air you breathe is full of happiness. And this is the air that you
\nbreathe, in your body and out of your body, in the waking state and in the
\nstate of sleep, in life and in the passage beyond life, outside earthly life
\nuntil your new life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Every wrong action produces on the
\nconsciousness the effect of a wind that withers, of a cold that freezes or of
\nburning flames that consume. <\/span><\/p>\n

Every good and kind deed brings light,
\nrestfulness, joy \u2013 the sunshine in which flowers bloom.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0<\/span><\/i>3
\n January 1958<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Even
\nthough he may recite a great number of sacred texts, if he does not act
\naccordingly, the foolish one will be like the cowherd who counts the cows of
\nothers. He cannot share in the life of the disciples of the Blessed One. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Though
\nhe may recite only a tiny portion of the sacred texts, if he puts into practice
\ntheir teaching, having rejected all passion, all ill-will and all delusion, <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 200<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

he
\npossesses the true wisdom; his mind completely freed, no longer attached to
\nanything, belonging neither to this world nor to any other, he shares in the
\nlife of the disciples of the Blessed One. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The thing has been so often
\nsaid and repeated that it seems quite unnecessary to insist on the fact that a
\nmite of practice is infinitely more precious than mountains of talk. Surely,
\nall the energy that one spends in explaining a theory would be much better
\nutilised in overcoming in oneself a weakness or a defect.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore to conform to the wisdom of this
\nteaching, we shall consider the best means of rejecting all passion and
\nill-will and delusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

The delusion consists in taking the
\nappearance for the reality and transient things for the only thing worthy of
\npursuit, the everlasting Truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is rather interesting to note that the
\nDhammapada clearly underlines that it is not enough to be free from the bonds
\nof this world only, but of all the worlds. <\/span><\/p>\n

For the true and zealous Buddhists tell
\nyou that ordinary religions captivate you by enticing you with the glittering
\nadvantages that you will find after death in their <\/span>Paradise<\/span>, if you practise their principles.
\nBuddhism, on the other hand, has neither hell nor heaven. It does not terrify
\nyou with eternal punishment nor does it tempt you with celestial felicities. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is in the pure Truth that you will find
\nyour satisfaction and the reward of all your efforts.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0<\/span><\/i>10
\n January 1958<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 201<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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