{"id":4256,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4256"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:36","slug":"28-05-november-1958-vol-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/09-questions-and-answers-volume-09\/28-05-november-1958-vol-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","title":{"rendered":"-28_05 November 1958.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n5 November 1958<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSpiritual
\ntruth is a truth of the spirit, not a truth of the intellect, not a mathematical
\ntheorem or a logical formula. It is a truth of the Infinite, one in an infinite
\ndiversity, and it can assume an infinite variety of aspects and formations: in
\nthe spiritual evolution it is inevitable that there should be a many-sided
\npassage and reaching to the one Truth, a many-sided seizing of it; this
\nmany-sidedness is the sign of the approach of the soul to a living reality, not
\nto an abstraction or a constructed figure of things that can be petrified into
\na dead or stony formula. The hard logical and intellectual notion of truth as a
\nsingle idea which all must accept, one idea or system of ideas defeating all
\nother ideas or systems, or a single limited fact or single formula of facts
\nwhich all must recognise, is an illegitimate transference from the limited
\ntruth of the physical field to the much more complex and plastic field of life
\nand mind and spirit.\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cIn the evolution of the spiritual
\nman there must necessarily be many stages and in each stage a great variety of
\nindividual formations of the being, the consciousness, the life, the
\ntemperament, the ideas, the character. The nature of instrumental mind and the
\nnecessity of dealing with the life must of itself create an infinite variety
\naccording to the stage of development and the individuality of the seeker. But,
\napart from that, even the domain of pure spiritual self-realisation and
\nself-expression need not be a single white monotone, here can be a great
\ndiversity in the fundamental unity; the supreme Self is one, but the souls of
\nthe Self are many and, as is the soul\u2019s formation of nature, so will be its
\nspiritual self-expression.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 422<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>A diversity in oneness is the law of the
\nmanifestation; the supramental unification and integration must harmonise these
\ndiversities, but to abolish\u00a0 <\/span>them is not
\nthe intention of the Spirit in Nature.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Life Divine, pp. 886-88<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

From the point of view of individual development and for those who
\nare still at the beginning of the path, to know how to remain silent before
\nwhat one does not understand is one of the things which would help most in the
\nprogress \u2013 to know how to remain silent, not only externally, without uttering
\na word, but also to know how to be silent within, so that the mind does not
\nassert its ignorance with its usual presumptuousness, does not try to
\nunderstand with an instrument that is incapable of understanding, that it may
\nknow its own weakness and open simply, quietly, waiting until the time has come
\nfor it to receive the light, because only the Light, the true Light, can give
\nit understanding. It is not all that it has learnt nor all that it has observed
\nnor all its so-called experience of life, it\u00a0
\n<\/span>is something else which is completely beyond it. And until this
\nsomething else \u2013 which is the expression of the Grace \u2013 manifests within it,
\nif, very quietly, very modestly the mind remains silent and does not try to
\nunderstand and, above all, to judge, things would go much] faster. <\/span><\/p>\n

The noise made by all the words, all the ideas in your head is so
\ndeafening that it prevents you from hearing the truth when it wants to
\nmanifest. <\/span><\/p>\n

To learn to be quiet and silent\u2026When you have a problem to solve,
\ninstead of turning over in your head all the possibilities, all the
\nconsequences, all the possible things one should or should not do, if you
\nremain quiet with an aspiration for goodwill, if possible a need for goodwill,
\nthe solution comes very quickly. And as you are silent you are able to hear it.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

When you are caught in a difficulty, try this method: instead of
\nbecoming agitated, turning over all the ideas and actively seeking solutions,
\nof worrying, fretting, running here and there <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 423<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\ninside your head \u2013 I don\u2019t
\nmean externally, for externally you probably have enough common sense not to do
\nthat! but inside, in your head \u2013 remain quiet. And according to your nature,
\nwith ardour or peace, with intensity or widening or with all these together,
\nimplore the Light and wait for it to come. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this way the path would be considerably shortened. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 424<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\n12 November 1958<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is
\nthe sole intention of Nature in the evolution of the spiritual man to awaken him
\nto the supreme Reality and release him from herself, or from the Ignorance in
\nwhich she as the Power of the Eternal has masked herself, by a departure into a
\nhigher status of being elsewhere, if this step in the evolution is a close and
\nan exit, then in the essence her work has been already accomplished and there
\nis nothing more to be done. The ways have been built, the capacity to follow
\nthem has been developed, the goal or last height of the creation is manifest;
\nall that is left is for each soul to reach individually the right stage and
\nturn of its development, enter into the spiritual ways and pass by its own
\nchosen path out of this inferior existence. But we have supposed that there is
\na farther intention, \u2013 not only a revelation of the Spirit, but a radical and
\nintegral transformation of Nature. There is a will in her to effectuate a true
\nmanifestation of the embodied life of the Spirit, to complete what she has
\nbegun by a passage from the Ignorance to the Knowledge, to throw off her mask
\nand to reveal herself as the luminous Consciousness-Force carrying in her the
\neternal Existence and its universal Delight of being. It then becomes obvious
\nthat there is something not yet accomplished, there becomes clear to view the
\nmuch that has still to be done, <\/span><\/i>bhūri<\/span><\/span> aspasta<\/span> kartvam<\/span>; there is a height still to be reached, a
\nwideness still to be covered by the eye of vision, the wing of the will, the
\nself-affirmation of the Spirit in the material universe. What the evolutionary
\nPower has done is to make a few individuals aware of their souls, conscious of
\ntheir selves, aware of the eternal being that they are, to put<\/i><\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 425<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>them into communion with the Divinity or the
\nReality which is concealed by her appearances: a certain change of nature
\nprepares, accompanies or follows upon this illumination, but it is not the
\ncomplete and radical change which establishes a secure and settled new
\nprinciple, a new creation, a permanent new order of being in the field of
\nterrestrial Nature. The spiritual man has evolved, but not the supramental\u00a0 <\/span>being who shall thenceforward be the leader
\nof that Nature.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Life Divine, pp. 889-90<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Sweet
\nMother, how can one find the right stage and turn of one\u2019s development? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can you find it!\u2026You must look for it. You must want it
\npersistently. It must be the important thing for you. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What happens most often when one makes the inner effort that\u2019s
\nneeded to discover one\u2019s soul, to unite with it and allow it to govern one\u2019s
\nlife, is a kind of marvellous enchantment with this discovery, as a result of
\nwhich the first instinct is to tell oneself, \u201cNow I have what I need, I have
\nfound infinite delight!\u201d and no longer to be concerned with anything else. <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact this is what has happened to almost all those who have
\nmade this discovery, and some of them have even set up this experience as a
\nprinciple of realisation and said, \u201cWhen you have done that, everything is
\ndone, there is nothing more to do; you have reached the goal and the end of the
\nroad.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, a great courage is necessary to go farther; this soul one
\ndiscovers must be an intrepid warrior soul which does not at all rest satisfied
\nwith its own inner joy while comforting itself for the unhappiness of others
\nwith the idea that sooner or later everybody will reach that state and that it
\nis good for others to <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 426<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nmake the same effort that
\none has made or, at best, that from this state of inner wisdom one can, with
\n\u201cgreat benevolence\u201d and \u201cdeep compassion\u201d help others to reach it, and that when
\neverybody has attained it, well, that will be the end of the world and that\u2019s
\nso much the better for those who don\u2019t like suffering! <\/span><\/p>\n

But\u2026there is a \u201cbut\u201d. Are you sure that this was the aim and
\nintention of the Supreme when he manifested? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The whole creation, the whole universal manifestation appears at
\nbest like a very bad joke if it only comes to this. Why begin at all if it is
\nonly to get out of it! What is the use of having struggled so much, suffered so
\nmuch, of having created something which, at least in its external appearance,
\nis so tragic and dramatic, if it is simply to teach you how to get out of it \u2013
\nit\u00a0 <\/span>would have been better not to begin
\nat all. <\/span><\/p>\n

But if one goes to the very depth of things, if, stripped not only
\nof all egoism but also of the ego, one gives oneself totally, without reserve,
\nso completely and disinterestedly that one becomes capable of understanding the
\nplan of the Lord, then one knows that it is not a bad joke, not a tortuous path
\nby which you return, a little battered, to the starting-point; on the contrary,
\nit is to teach the entire creation the delight of being, the beauty of being,
\nthe greatness of being, the majesty of a sublime life, and the perpetual
\ngrowth, perpetually progressive, of that delight, that beauty, that greatness.
\nThen everything has a meaning, then one no longer regrets having struggled and
\nsuffered, one has only the enthusiasm to realise the divine goal, and one
\nplunges headlong into the realisation with the certitude ]of the goal and victory.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

But to know that, one must stop being egoistic, being a separate
\nperson turned in on oneself and cut off from the supreme origin. That is what
\nmust be done: to cast off one\u2019s ego. Then one can know the true goal \u2013 and this
\nis the only way! <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 427<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

To cast off one\u2019s ego, to let it fall off like a useless garment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The result is worth the efforts that must be made. And then, one
\nis not all alone on the way. One is helped, if one has trust. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you have had even a second\u2019s contact with the Grace \u2013 that
\nmarvellous Grace which carries you along, speeds you on the path, even makes
\nyou forget that you have to hurry \u2013 if you have had only a second\u2019s contact
\nwith that, then you can strive not to forget. And with the candour of a child,
\nthe simplicity of a child for whom there are no complications, give yourself to
\nthat Grace and let it do everything. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is necessary is not to listen to what resists, not to believe
\nwhat contradicts \u2013 to have trust, a real trust, a confidence which makes you
\ngive yourself fully without calculating, without bargaining. Trust! The trust
\nthat says, \u201cDo this, do this for me, I leave it to You.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

That is the best way. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 428<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\n26 November 1958<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs Mind is
\nestablished here on a basis of Ignorance seeking for Knowledge and growing into
\nKnowledge, so Supermind must be established here on a basis of Knowledge
\ngrowing into its own greater Light. But this cannot be so long as the
\nspiritual-mental being has not risen fully to Supermind and brought down its
\npowers into terrestrial existence. For the gulf between Mind and Supermind has
\nto be bridged, the closed passages opened and roads of ascent and descent
\ncreated where there is now a void and a silence. This can be done only by the
\ntriple transformation to which we have already made a passing reference: there
\nmust first be the psychic change, the conversion of our whole present nature
\ninto a soul-instrumentation; on that or along with that there must be the
\nspiritual change, the descent of a higher Light, Knowledge, Power, Force, Bliss,
\nPurity into the whole being, even into
\nthe lowest recesses of the life and body, even into the darkness of our subconscience<\/span>; last, there must supervene the supramental
\ntransmutation, \u2013 there must take place as the crowning movement the ascent into
\nthe Supermind and the transforming descent of the supramental Consciousness
\ninto our entire being and nature.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Life Divine, pp. 890-91<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>What
\nis the role of the spirit?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One might say that it is both the conscious intermediary between the
\nSupreme and the manifestation, and the meeting-place of the manifestation with
\nthe Supreme.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spirit is capable of understanding and communicating with <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 429<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the highest Godhead and at the same time it is the purest, one
\nmight say the least distorted intermediary of the highest Godhead in the
\noutermost manifestation. It is spirit which, with the help of the soul, turns
\nthe consciousness towards the Highest, the Divine, and it is in the spirit that
\nthe consciousness can begin to understand the Divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

It might be said that what is called \u201cspirit\u201d is the atmosphere
\nbrought into the material world by the Grace so that it may awaken to the
\nconsciousness of its origin and aspire to return to it. It is indeed a kind of
\natmosphere which liberates, opens the doors, sets the consciousness free. This
\nis what enables the realisation of the truth and gives aspiration its full
\npower of accomplishment. <\/span><\/p>\n

From a higher standpoint, this could be put in another way: it is
\nthis action, this luminous and liberating influence that is known as \u201cspirit\u201d.
\nAll that opens to us the road to the supreme realities, pulls us out from the
\nmud of the Ignorance in which we are stuck, opens the doors to us, shows us the
\npath, leads us to where we have to go \u2013 this is what man has called \u201cspirit\u201d.
\nIt is the atmosphere created by the Divine Grace in the universe to save it
\nfrom the darkness into which it has fallen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The soul is a kind of individual concentration of this Grace, its
\nindividual representative in the human being. The soul is something particular
\nto humanity, it exists only in man. It is like a particular expression of the
\nspirit in the human being. The beings of the other worlds do not have a soul,
\nbut they can live in the spirit. One might say that the soul is a delegation of
\nthe spirit in mankind, a special help to lead it faster. It is the soul that
\nmakes individual progress possible. The spirit, in its original form, has a
\nmore general, more collective action. <\/span><\/p>\n

For the moment the spirit plays the part of a helper and guide,
\nbut it is not the all-powerful master of the material manifestation; when the
\nSupermind is organised into a new world, the spirit will become the master and
\ngovern Nature in a clear and visible way. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 430<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

What is called \u201cnew birth\u201d is the birth into the spiritual life,
\nthe spiritual consciousness; it is to carry in oneself something of the spirit
\nwhich, individually, through the soul, can begin to rule the life and be the
\nmaster of existence. But in the supramental world, the spirit will be the master
\nof this entire world and all its manifestations, all its expressions,
\nconsciously, spontaneously, naturally. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the individual existence, that is what makes all the
\ndifference; so long as one just speaks of the spirit and it is something one
\nhas read about, whose existence one vaguely knows about, but not a very
\nconcrete reality for the consciousness, this means that one is not born into
\nthe spirit. And when one is born into the spirit, it becomes something much
\nmore concrete, much more living, much more real, much more tangible than the
\nwhole material world. And this is what makes the essential difference between
\nbeings. When that becomes spontaneously real \u2013 the true, concrete existence,
\nthe atmosphere one can freely breathe \u2013 then one knows one has crossed over to
\nthe other side. But so long as it is something rather vague and hazy \u2013 you have
\nheard about it, you know that it exists, but\u2026it has no concrete reality \u2013 well,
\nthis means that the new birth has not yet taken place. As long as you tell yourself,
\n\u201cYes, this I can see, this I can touch, the pain I suffer from, the hunger that
\ntorments me, the sleep that makes me feel heavy, this is real, this is
\nconcrete…\u201d (Mother laughs), that means that you have not yet crossed over to
\nthe other side, you are not born into the spirit.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, the vast majority of men are like prisoners with all the
\ndoors and windows closed, so they suffocate, which is quite natural. But they have
\nwith them the key that opens the doors and windows, and they do not use
\nit.\u2026Certainly there is a time when they don\u2019t know they have the key, but long
\nafter they <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 431<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

have come to know it, long after they have been told about it,
\nthey hesitate to use it and doubt whether it has the power to open the doors
\nand windows or even that it is a good thing to open them! And even when they
\nfeel that \u201cafter all, it might be good\u201d, there remains some fear: \u201cWhat will
\nhappen when these doors and windows are opened?…\u201d and they are afraid. They
\nare afraid of being lost in that light and freedom. They want to remain what
\nthey call \u201cthemselves\u201d. They like their falsehood and their bondage. Something
\nin them likes it and goes on clinging to it. They still have the impression
\nthat without their limits they would no longer exist. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why the journey is so long, that is why it is difficult.
\nFor if one truly consented to cease to exist, everything would become so easy,
\nso swift, so luminous, so joyful \u2013 but perhaps not in the way men understand
\njoy and ease. In truth, there are very few people who do not enjoy fighting.
\nThere are very few who could accept the absence of night, few can conceive of
\nlight except as the opposite of darkness: \u201cWithout shadows there would be no
\npicture. Without struggle, there would be no victory. Without suffering there
\nwould be no joy.\u201d That is what they think, and so long as one thinks in this
\nway, one is not yet born into the spirit. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the
\nlast of the talks given in the Playground.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 432<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\nHome<\/a><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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