{"id":4154,"date":"2013-07-13T01:53:48","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4154"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:53:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:53:48","slug":"01-7-oct-1964-vol-11-notes-on-the-way-volume-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/11-notes-on-the-way-volume-11\/01-7-oct-1964-vol-11-notes-on-the-way-volume-11","title":{"rendered":"-01_7 Oct 1964.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nNotes On The Way<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n7 October
\n 1964<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Things have clearly taken a turn for the better, not from the
\nordinary point of view but from the higher. Yet the material consequences are
\nstill there \u2013 all the difficulties are as though aggravated. Only, the power of
\nthe consciousness is greater \u2013 clearer, more precise, and also the action upon
\nthose who are of good will; they make quite considerable progress. But the
\nmaterial difficulties are as though aggravated, that is to say, it is… to see
\nif we can stand the test!<\/span><\/p>\n

It is like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

It isn’t long (since yesterday), something has cleared in the
\natmosphere. But the way is still long \u2013 long, long. I feel it is very long. One
\nmust last \u2013 hold on, above all, that is the impression \u2013 one must have
\nendurance. These are the two absolutely indispensable things: endurance, and a
\nfaith that nothing can shake, even an apparently complete negation, even if you
\nsuffer, even if you are miserable (I mean to say, in the body), even if you are
\ntired \u2013 to last. To hold on and to last \u2013 to endure. That is it.<\/span><\/p>\n

But according to what I have been told, I mean by people who
\nlisten to the radio, read newspapers (all the things that I do not do), the
\nwhole world seems to be undergoing an action… which for the moment is
\nupsetting. It seems that the number of the \u201capparently mad\u201d is increasing
\nconsiderably. In America, for example, the entire youth seems to have taken up
\nwith a sort of curious brain-wave which would be disquieting for reasonable
\npeople, but which is certainly an indication that an unusual force is at work.
\nIt is the breaking up of all habits and all rules <\/span>― <\/span>it is good. For the moment, it is rather \u201cstrange”, but it is
\nnecessary.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The true attitude, at
\npresent, is it not to try to be as transparent as possible?<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 1<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Transparent,
\nreceptive to the new force.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I put the question to
\nmyself because the impression is that this transparence is transparent, but it
\nis somewhat like nothingness, a nothingness that is full; all the same it is
\nnothingness, one does not know. One does not know if it is a kind of higher
\ntamas, or …<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Above all,
\nto be confident. The big difficulty in Matter is that the material
\nconsciousness (that is to say, the mind in Matter) has been formed under the
\npressure of difficulties \u2013 difficulties, obstacles, sufferings, struggles. It
\nhas been, so to say, \u201cworked out” by these things and that has left upon it a
\nstamp, almost of pessimism, defeatism, which is certainly the greatest
\nobstacle.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is of this that I am conscious in my own work. The most
\nmaterial consciousness, the most material mind is accustomed to act, to make an
\neffort, to advance through whippings; otherwise, it is tamas. <\/i>And then, so far as it imagines, it imagines always
\ndifficulty, always the obstacle or always the opposition, and that slows down
\nthe movement terribly. Very concrete, very tangible and often repeated <\/i>experiences are needed to convince it that behind
\nall its difficulties there is a Grace, behind all its failures there is the
\nVictory, behind all its pains, its sufferings, its contradictions, there is
\nAnanda. Of all efforts it is this one which has to be repeated most often; all
\nthe while you are obliged to stop or to remove, to convert a pessimism, a doubt
\nor an imagination altogether defeatist.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am speaking exclusively of the material consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Naturally, when something comes down from
\nabove, that makes, well… a crash, like that (Mother makes a gesture of flattening<\/i>), then all is silent, all
\nstops and waits. But… I understand well why the Truth, the Truth<\/span>\u2013<\/span>Consciousness does not express itself more constantly, because the
\ndifference between its <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 2<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Power and
\nthe power of Matter is so great that the power of Matter is, as it were,
\nannulled <\/span>―
\n<\/span>but then that does not mean transformation, that means crushing.
\nThat is what they used to do in ancient times \u2013 they crushed all this material
\nconsciousness under the weight of a Power against which nothing can struggle,
\nwhich nothing can oppose. And then one had the impression: \u201cThere you are! It
\nhas been done.” But it has not been done, not at all! for the rest, down
\nbelow, remained as before, without changing.<\/span><\/p>\n

 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Now it is being given the full
\npossibility to change; well, for that you must allow it full play and not
\ninterpose a Power that crushes it \u2013 this I understand very well. But this
\nconsciousness has the obstinacy of the imbecile. How many times during a
\nsuffering, for example, when a suffering is there, acute, and one has the
\nimpression that it is going to become unbearable, there is the little inner
\nmovement (within the cells) of Call-the cells send their S.O.S. <\/span>― <\/span>everything stops, the suffering disappears, and often (now more
\nand more) it is replaced by a feeling of blissful well-being; but the very
\nfirst reaction of this imbecile material consciousness is: \u201cAh! We shall see
\nhow long that is going to last”, and naturally, by this movement it demolishes
\neverything \u2013 one must begin all over again.<\/span><\/p>\n

I believe that for the effect to be lasting <\/span>― <\/span>not a miraculous effect that comes, dazzles and goes away \u2013 it
\nmust really be the effect of a
\ntransformation.<\/i> One must be very, very patient <\/span>― <\/span>we have to deal with a consciousness very slow, very heavy, very
\nobstinate, which is not able to advance rapidly, which clings to what it has,
\nto what has appeared to it as truth; even if it is quite a tiny truth, it
\nclings to that and does not want to move. Then to cure that, one must have very
\nmuch patience \u2013 much patience.<\/span><\/p>\n

The whole thing is to hold on, to endure, to endure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo has said this many times in many forms: Endure and
\nyou’ll conquer… bear <\/span>―
\n<\/span>bear and you’ll vanquish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Triumph comes to the most enduring.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 3<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0 <\/span>So then, that seems to be
\nthe lesson for these conglomerates here (Mother
\npoints to her body<\/i>) <\/span>―
\n<\/span>bodies appear to me simply as conglomerates and so long as there
\nis a will behind to keep them together for some reason or other, they remain
\ntogether…. In the last few days, yesterday or the day before, there was this
\nexperience: a kind of consciousness wholly decentralised<\/span>
\n(I am speaking always of the physical <\/i>consciousness,
\nnot of the higher consciousness at all), a decentralised<\/span>
\nconsciousness which happened to be here, there, there, in this body, in that
\nbody (in what people call \u201cthis person” and \u201cthat person”, but this notion
\ndoes not exist very much any more), then there was a kind of intervention of a
\nuniversal consciousness with regard to the cells, as though it asked those
\ncells for what reason they wanted to keep this combination, if one can call it
\nso, or that conglomerate. Indeed, they were made to understand or feel the
\ndifficulties coming from the number of years, the wear and tear, the external
\ndifficulties, in sum, all the deterioration caused by friction and usage \u2013 but
\nthat seemed to them quite unimportant. The answer was rather interesting in the
\nsense that they did not seem to attach importance to anything other than the capacity to remain in conscious contact
\nwith the higher Force. <\/i>It was like an aspiration (not formulated in words,
\nnaturally), what is called in English \u201ca yearning”, \u201ca longing” for this
\ncontact with the divine Force, the Force of Harmony, the Force of Truth, the
\nForce of Love. And it is because of that that they appreciate the present
\ncombination.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is altogether another point of view.<\/span><\/p>\n

I express it with the words of the mind, for there is no other
\nway, but it was in the domain of sensation rather than any other thing. And it
\nwas very clear <\/span>―
\n<\/span>it was very clear and very continuous, there were no fluctuations.
\nAt that moment, this universal consciousness intervened, saying,<\/span>\u201c<\/span>There! <\/span>―
\n<\/span>the obstacles”, and these obstacles were clearly seen (this kind
\nof pessimism of the mind <\/span>―
\n<\/span>a formless mind which is about to be born and organise<\/span>
\nitself in the cells), but the cells themselves cared nothing <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 4<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

for it; it
\nappeared to them as a kind of disease (the word deforms, but they had the
\nimpression as of an accident or an inevitable disease or something which did not<\/i> form a normal part of their development
\nand which was imposed upon them). Then,
\nat that moment,<\/i> there was born a kind of lower<\/i> power to act upon these things (this physical mind); that has
\ngiven a material<\/i> power to separate
\nitself from that and reject it. And it is after that that there was this
\nturning of which I spoke just now, the turning in the circumstances as a whole,
\nas if truly something decisive had happened. There was as though a confident
\njoy: \u201cAh! We are free from this nightmare.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And at the same time, a relief <\/span>― <\/span>a physical relief, as though the air was easier to breathe <\/span>― <\/span>yes, a little as though one was closed in a shell <\/span>― <\/span>a suffocating shell <\/span>― <\/span>and that… in any case
\nan opening has been made within. And you breathe. I do not know if it is more
\nthan that, but it is as though a fissure was made, an opening, and you breathe.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And it was an altogether material,
\ncellular action. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But as you descend into that domain, the
\ndomain of the cells, even of the very constitution of the cells, how it seems
\nless heavy! This sort of heaviness of Matter disappears <\/span>― <\/span>it begins again to be fluid, vibrant. This would tend to prove
\nthat the heaviness, thickness, inertia, immobility, is something added, it is
\nnot a quality essential to… it is the false Matter, that which we think and
\nfeel, but not Matter itself, as it is. This was clearly felt.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Silence<\/i>)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The best one can do is not to take
\nsides, not to have preconceived ideas or principles <\/span>― <\/span>oh! The moral principles, the set rules of conduct, what one must do
\nand what one must not and the preconceived ideas from the moral point of view,
\nfrom the point of view of progress, and all the social and mental
\nconventions… no worse obstacle than that. There are people, I<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 5<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

know people
\nwho have lost decades in surmounting one such mental construction!… If one
\ncan be like that, open <\/span>―
\n<\/span>truly open in a simplicity, well, the simplicity that knows that
\nit is ignorant <\/span>―
\n<\/span>like that (gesture upward, of self-abandon), ready to receive
\nwhatever comes. Then something can happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And naturally, the thirst for progress, the
\nthirst for knowledge, the thirst for transformation and, above all, the thirst
\nfor Love and Truth <\/span>―
\n<\/span>if one keeps that, one goes quicker. Truly a thirst, a need, a
\nneed. <\/span><\/p>\n

 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>All the rest has no importance; it is that<\/i> one has need of.<\/span><\/p>\n

 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>To cling to something one believes that
\none knows, to cling to something that one feels, to cling to something that one
\nloves, to cling to one’s habits, to cling to one’s so \u2013 called needs, to cling
\nto the world as it is, it is that which binds you. You must undo all that, one
\nthing after another. Undo all the ties. And it has been said thousands of times
\nand people continue to do the same thing…. Even they who are most eloquent
\nand preach that to others, do c-l-i<\/span>-n-g-they cling to
\ntheir way of seeing, their way of feeling, their habit of progress, which seems
\nfor them the only one.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>No more bonds <\/span>― <\/span>free, free. Always ready to change everything, except one thing:
\nto aspire, this thirst.<\/span><\/p>\n

 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I understand well, there are people who
\ndo not like the idea of a<\/span> <\/span>\u201cDivine\u201d, because immediately it gets mixed up with all those
\nEuropean or Occidental conceptions (which are horrible) and then that
\ncomplicates their life somewhat <\/span>― <\/span>but you are not in need of
\nthat! <\/span>―
\n<\/span>the "Something" one is in need of, the Love one is in need of,
\nthe Truth one is in need of, the supreme Perfection one is in need of <\/span>― <\/span>and that is all. The formulas… the fewer formulas there are the
\nbetter. But that: a need, which the<\/i>
\nThing alone can satisfy <\/span>―
\n<\/span>nothing else, no half-measure, only that. And then, you go!…
\nYour way will be your way, that has no importance <\/span>― <\/span>whatever the way, it does not matter, it does not matter; even the
\nextravagances of the modern American youth can be a way; that has no
\nimportance.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 6<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

As Sri
\nAurobindo says: \u201cIf you cannot make God love you, make Him fight you. If He
\nwill not give you the embrace of the lover, compel Him to give you the embrace
\nof the wrestler.\u00b9<\/sup> For He is sure to conquer you.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/sup> <\/font> <\/span>Thoughts and Aphorisms, Cent. Vol. 17, p. 130.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 7<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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