{"id":4260,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4260"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:38","slug":"19-05-february-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\/19-05-february-1958-vol-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","title":{"rendered":"-19_05 February 1958.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


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

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cThe
\nmetaphysical objection [to a teleological cosmos] is more serious; for it seems
\nself-evident that the Absolute can have no purpose in manifestation except the delight
\nof manifestation itself: an evolutionary movement in Matter as part of the
\nmanifestation must fall within this universal statement; it can be there only
\nfor the delight of the unfolding, the progressive execution, the objectless
\nseried self-revelation. A universal totality may also be considered as
\nsomething complete in itself; as a totality, it has nothing to gain or to add
\nto its fullness of being. But here the material world is not an integral
\ntotality, it is part of a whole, a grade in a gradation; it may admit in it,
\ntherefore, not only the presence of undeveloped immaterial principles or powers
\nbelonging to the whole that are involved within its Matter, but also a descent
\ninto it of the same powers from the higher gradations of the system to deliver
\ntheir kindred movements here from the strictness of a material limitation. A
\nmanifestation of the greater powers of Existence till the whole being itself is
\nmanifest in the material world in the terms of a higher, a spiritual creation,
\nmay be considered as the teleology of the evolution. This teleology does not
\nbring in any factor that does not belong to the totality; it proposes only the
\nrealisation of the totality in the part. There can be no objection to the
\nadmission of a teleological factor in a part movement of the universal
\ntotality, if the purpose, \u2013 not a purpose in the human sense, but the urge of
\nan intrinsic Truth-necessity conscious in the will of the indwelling Spirit, \u2013
\nis the perfect manifestation there of all the possibilities inherent in the
\ntotal movement. All exists here,<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 264<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

no doubt, for the delight of existence,
\nall is a game or Lila; but a game too carries within itself an object to be
\naccomplished and without the fulfilment of that object would have no
\ncompleteness of significance. A drama without denouement may be an artistic
\npossibility, \u2013 existing only for the pleasure of watching the characters and
\nthe pleasure in problems posed without a solution or with a forever suspended
\ndubious balance of solution; the drama of the earth evolution might conceivably
\nbe of that character, but an intended or inherently predetermined denouement is
\nalso and more convincingly possible. Ananda is the secret principle of all
\nbeing and the support of all activity of being: but Ananda does not exclude a
\ndelight in the working out of a Truth inherent in being, immanent in the Force
\nor Will of being, upheld in the hidden self-awareness of its
\nConsciousness-Force which is the dynamic and executive agent of all its
\nactivities and the knower of their significance.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Life Divine, pp. 834-35
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If one wants to state the problem in a way that\u2019s more easily
\naccessible to ordinary practical thinking, one could conceive that everything
\nexists from all eternity, and therefore simultaneously, but that this total,
\nsimultaneous, eternal existence is like the property, the possession of a
\nConsciousness which would take pleasure in travelling through its domains, find
\nits joy in an almost infinite or anyway indefinite journey throughout all its
\ndomains, and would go like this from discovery to discovery of things which
\nalready exist, which have always existed\u2026but which the Supreme had never
\nvisited. And the path he follows in his discovery could be an entirely free,
\nunexpected, unforeseen path according to his choice of the moment, so that,
\nalthough his whole domain is there from all eternity, existing for ever, he
\ncould visit it in an altogether unexpected, unpredictable way, <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 265<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and so open the door to all relationships and possibilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

And it is also his own self-discovery, for this domain is himself;
\nand a discovery which could be made according to immediate decisions, without a
\npreconceived plan such as would be mentally thought out, with all the delight
\nof complete freedom and of the unexpectedness of every second \u2013 an eternal
\njourney within his own being. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Everything is
\nabsolutely determined, for everything is from all eternity, and yet the path
\ntraversed has a freedom and unpredictability which is also absolute. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And this is how there
\ncan exist simultaneously worlds which have no apparent relationship with each
\nother, and which nevertheless coexist, but are discovered gradually and so give
\nthe impression of a new creation.\u2026Seeing things in this way, one could easily
\nunderstand that simultaneously with this physical world as we know it with all
\nits imperfections, all its limitations, all its ignorance, there are one or
\nseveral other worlds which exist in their own zones and are so different in
\nnature from ours here, that for us they are as if non-existent, for we have no
\nrelation with them. But the moment the great eternal Voyage passes from this
\nworld to that, by the very fact of this passage of the eternal Consciousness,
\nthe link will necessarily be created, and the two worlds will gradually enter
\ninto relation with each other. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Truly speaking this is
\nwhat is actually happening, and we can say with certainty that the supramental
\nworld already exists, but the time has come for it to become the object of the
\njourney of the supreme Consciousness, and then, gradually, a conscious link
\nwill be formed between this world and that, and they will have a new relation
\nas a result of this new orientation of the journey. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This explanation is as
\ngood as any other and perhaps it is easier to understand for people who are not
\nmetaphysicians.\u2026At least, I like it! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, you
\nsaid that everything was absolutely<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i>determined;
\nthen where does personal effort come from?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 266<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

I told you just a moment ago that the Great Traveller chooses at
\neach instant the course of his journey, therefore it is an absolute freedom of
\nchoice, and this is what gives the universal unfolding that unpredictable air
\nand that possibility of change, for the Supreme is entirely free to change his
\ncourse if he wants to do so. On the contrary, this is absolute freedom. But
\neverything is there, and since everything is there, everything is absolutely
\ndetermined\\has always existed but it is discovered in an altogether unforeseen
\nway. And in this discovery lies freedom. <\/span><\/p>\n

You are taking a walk and, suddenly, well, you feel like going
\nthis way instead of that, so the course you take is completely new, but in the
\nplaces you are going to, the things were already there, they existed and were
\ntherefore determined \u2013 but not your discovery. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Surely only a
\nconsciousness identified with the supreme Consciousness can have this feeling
\nof absolute freedom. So long as you are not one with the supreme Consciousness,
\nyou necessarily have the impression or the feeling or idea that you are subject
\nto the law of a higher Will, but the moment you are identified with this Will
\nyou are perfectly free. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This amounts to
\nsaying what Sri Aurobindo has always said: in union with the Supreme true
\nfreedom is realised. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 267<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


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

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Mother,
\nsince in each new life the mind and vital as well as the body are new, how can
\nthe experiences of past lives be useful for them? Do we have to go through all
\nthe experiences once again? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That depends on people! <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not the mind and vital which develop and progress from life
\nto life \u2013 except in altogether exceptional cases and at a very advanced stage
\nof evolution\\is the psychic. So, this is what happens: the psychic has alternate
\nperiods of activity and rest; it has a life of progress resulting from
\nexperiences of the physical life, of active life in a physical body, with all
\nthe experiences of the body, the vital and the mind; then, normally, the
\npsychic goes into a kind of rest for assimilation where the result of the
\nprogress accomplished during its active existence is worked out, and when this
\nassimilation is finished, when it has absorbed the progress it had prepared in
\nits active life on earth, it comes down again in a new body bringing with it
\nthe result of all its progress and, at an advanced stage, it even chooses the
\nenvironment and the kind of body and the kind of life in which it will live to
\ncomplete its experience concerning one point or another. In some very advanced
\ncases the psychic can, before leaving the body, decide what kind of life it
\nwill have in its next incarnation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>When it has become an
\nalmost completely formed and already very conscious being, it presides over the
\nformation of the new body, and usually through an inner influence it chooses
\nthe elements and the substance which will form its body in such a way that the
\nbody is adapted to the needs of its new experience. But this is at a rather
\nadvanced stage. And later, when it is fully formed and returns to earth with
\nthe idea of service, of collective help and participation in the divine Work,
\nthen it is <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 268<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

able to bring to the body in formation certain elements of the mind
\nand vital from previous lives which, having been organised and impregnated with
\npsychic forces in previous lives, could be preserved and, consequently, can
\nparticipate in the general progress. But this is at a very, very advanced
\nstage. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the psychic is fully developed and very conscious, when it
\nbecomes a conscious instrument of the divine Will, it organises the vital and
\nthe mind in such a way that they too participate in the general harmony and can
\nbe preserved. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>A high degree of
\ndevelopment allows at least some parts of the mental and vital beings to be
\npreserved in spite of the dissolution of the body. If, for instance, some parts
\n\u2013 mental or vital \u2013 of the human activity have been particularly developed,
\nthese elements of the mind and vital are maintained even \u201cin their form\u201d \u2013 in
\nthe form of the activity which has been fully organised \u2013 as, for example, in
\nhighly intellectual people who have particularly developed their brains, the
\nmental part of their being keeps this structure and is preserved in the form of
\nan organised brain which has its own life and can be kept unchanged until a
\nfuture life so as to participate in it with all its gains. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In artists, as for
\ninstance in certain musicians who have used their hands in a particularly
\nconscious way, the vital and mental substance is preserved in the form of
\nhands, and these hands remain fully conscious, they can even use the body of
\nliving people if there is a special affinity \u2013 and so on. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Otherwise, in ordinary
\npeople in whom the psychic form is not fully developed and organised, when the
\npsychic leaves the body, the mental and vital forms may persist for a certain
\ntime if the death has been particularly peaceful and concentrated, but if a man
\ndies suddenly and in a state of passion, with numerous attachments, well, the
\ndifferent parts of the being are dispersed and live for a shorter or longer
\ntime their own life in their own domain, then disappear. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The centre of
\norganisation and transformation is always the <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 269<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

presence of the psychic in the body. Therefore, it is a very big
\nmistake to believe that the progress continues or even, as some believe, that
\nit is more complete and rapid in the periods of transition between two physical
\nlives; in general, there is no progress at all, for the psychic enters into a
\nstate of rest and the other parts, after a more or less ephemeral life in their
\nown domain, are dissolved. <\/span><\/p>\n

Earthly life is the place for progress. It is here, on earth, that
\nprogress is possible, during the period of earthly existence. And it is the
\npsychic which carries the progress over from one life to another, by organising
\nits own evolution and development itself. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 270<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\n19 February 1958<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother reads her comments upon an experience she had on February
\n3: <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Between the beings of the supramental world and men, almost the
\nsame separation exists as between men and animals. Some time ago I had the
\nexperience of identification with animal life, and it is a fact that animals do
\nnot understand us; their consciousness is so constructed that we elude them
\nalmost entirely. And yet I have known pet animals \u2013 cats and dogs, but
\nespecially cats \u2013 that used to make an almost yogic effort of consciousness to
\nreach us. But usually, when they see us as we live and act, they do not
\nunderstand, they do not see<\/i> us as we
\nare and they suffer because of us. We are a constant enigma to them. Only a
\nvery tiny part of their consciousness has a link with us. And it is the same
\nthing for us when we try to look at the supramental world. Only when the link
\nof consciousness is established shall we see it \u2013 and even then only the part
\nof our being which has undergone transformation in this way will be able to see
\nit as it is \u2013 otherwise the two worlds would remain apart like the animal and
\nhuman worlds. <\/span><\/p>\n

The experience I had on the third of February is a proof of this.
\nBefore that I had had an individual subjective contact with the supramental
\nworld, whereas on the third of February I moved in it concretely, as concretely
\nas I once used to walk in <\/span>Paris<\/span>, in a world that exists in
\nitself,<\/i> outside all subjectivity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It is like a bridge
\nbeing thrown between the two worlds. Here is the experience as I dictated it
\nimmediately afterwards: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The supramental world exists
\npermanently and I am there permanently in a supramental body. I had the proof
\nof this even today when my earth-consciousness went there and remained
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 271<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

there consciously between two and <\/span>three o\u2019clock<\/span> in the afternoon. Now, I know that what is lacking for the two
\nworlds to unite in a constant and conscious relation, is an intermediate zone
\nbetween the physical world as it is and the supramental world as it is. This
\nzone remains to be built, both in the individual consciousness and the objective
\nworld, and it is being built. When I used to speak of the new world which is
\nbeing created, it was of this intermediary zone that I was speaking. And
\nsimilarly, when I am on this side, that is, in the field of the physical
\nconsciousness, and I see the supramental power, the supramental light and
\nsubstance constantly penetrating matter, it is the construction of this zone
\nwhich I see and in which I participate.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was on a huge boat which was a symbolic representation of the
\nplace where this work is going on. This boat, as large as a city, is fully
\norganised, and it had certainly already been functioning for some time, for its
\norganisation was complete. It is the place where people who are destined for
\nthe supramental life are trained. These people \u2013 or at least a part of their
\nbeing \u2013 had already undergone a supramental transformation, for the boat itself
\nand everything on board was neither material nor subtle-physical nor vital nor
\nmental\\was a supramental substance. This substance was of the most material
\nsupramental, the supramental substance which is closest to the physical world,
\nthe first to manifest. The light was a mixture of gold and red, forming a
\nuniform substance of a luminous orange. Everything was like that \u2013 the light
\nwas like that, the people were like that \u2013 everything had that colour, although
\nwith various shades which made it possible to distinguish things from each
\nother. The general impression was of a world without shadows; there were shades
\nbut no shadows. The atmosphere was full of joy, calm, order; everything went on
\nregularly and in silence. And at the same time one could see all the details of
\nan education, a training in all fields, by which the people on board were being
\nprepared. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 272<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

This immense ship had just reached the shore of the supramental
\nworld and a first group of people who were destined to become the future
\ninhabitants of this supramental world were to disembark. Everything had been
\narranged for this first landing. At the wharf several very tall beings were
\nposted. They were not human beings, they had never been men before. Nor were
\nthey the permanent inhabitants of the supramental world. They had been
\ndelegated from above and posted there to control and supervise the landing. I
\nwas in charge of the whole thing from the beginning and all the time. I had
\nprepared all the groups myself. I stood on the boat at the head of the gangway,
\ncalling the groups one by one and sending them down to the shore. The tall
\nbeings who were posted there were inspecting, so to say, those who were
\nlanding, authorising those who were ready and sending back those who were not
\nand who had to continue their training on board the ship. While I was there
\nlooking at everybody, the part of my consciousness which came from here became
\nextremely interested; it wanted to see and recognise all the people, see how
\nthey had changed and check which ones were taken immediately and which ones had
\nto remain to continue their training. After a while, as I stood there
\nobserving, I began to feel that I was being pulled back so that my body might
\nwake up \u2013 a consciousness or a person here \u2013 and in my consciousness I
\nprotested, \u201cNo, no, not yet, not yet! I want to see the people!\u201d I was seeing
\nand noting everything with intense interest.\u2026Things continued in this way until
\nsuddenly the clock here began to strike three, and this brought me back
\nviolently. There was a sensation of suddenly falling into my body. I came back
\nwith a shock because I had been called back very suddenly, but with all my
\nmemory. I remained quiet, without moving, until I could recollect the whole
\nexperience and keep it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>On the boat the nature
\nof objects was not the one we know on earth; for instance, clothes were not
\nmade of cloth and what looked like cloth was not manufactured: it formed a part
\nof the body, it was made of the same substance which took different
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 273<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

forms. It had a kind of plasticity. When a change had to be made,
\nit took place, not by any artificial and external means but by an inner
\noperation, an operation of consciousness which gave form or appearance to the
\nsubstance. Life created its own forms. There was one single<\/i> substance in everything; it changed the quality of its
\nvibration according to need and use. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Those who were sent
\nback for fresh training were not of a uniform colour, it was as if their body
\nhad greyish, opaque patches of a substance resembling earthly substance; they
\nwere dull, as if they had not been entirely permeated with light, not
\ntransformed. They were not like that everywhere, only in places. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The tall beings on
\nthe shore were not of the same colour, at least they did not have that orange
\ntint; they were paler, more transparent. Except for one part of their body, one
\ncould only see the outline of their form. They were very tall, they seemed not
\nto have any bones and could take any form according to their need. Only from
\nthe waist down had they a permanent density, which was not perceptible in the
\nrest of their body. Their colour was much lighter, with very little red, it was
\nmore golden or even white. The parts of whitish light were translucent; they
\nwere not positively transparent but less dense, more subtle than the orange
\nsubstance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>When I was called
\nback and while I was saying \u201cNot yet\u201d, each time I had a brief glimpse of
\nmyself, that is, of my form in the supramental world. I was a mixture of the
\ntall beings and the beings aboard the ship. My upper part, particularly the
\nhead, was only a silhouette whose contents were white with an orange fringe.
\nGoing down towards the feet, the colour became more like that of the people on
\nthe boat, that is, orange; going upwards, it was more translucent and white and
\nthe red grew less. The head was only a silhouette with a sun shining within it;
\nrays of light came from it which were the action of the will. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>As for the people I
\nsaw on board the ship, I recognised them all. Some were from here, from the
\nAshram, some came from elsewhere, but I know them too. I saw everybody but as I
\nknew <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 274<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that I would not remember them all when I returned, I decided not
\nto give any names. Besides, it is not necessary. Three or four faces were very
\nclearly visible, and when I saw them, I understood the feeling I had here on
\nearth when looking into their eyes: there was such an extraordinary joy.\u2026People
\nwere mostly young, there were very few children and they were about fourteen or
\nfifteen, certainly not below ten or twelve \u2013 I did not remain long enough to
\nsee all the details. There weren\u2019t any very old people, apart from a few
\nexceptions. Most of the people who went ashore were middle-aged, except a few.
\nAlready, before this experience, some individual cases had been examined
\nseveral times at a place where people capable of being supramentalised were
\nexamined; I had a few surprises and noted them; I even told some people about
\nit. But the ones whom I put ashore today, I saw very distinctly; they were
\nmiddle-aged, neither young children nor old people, apart from a few rare
\nexceptions, and that corresponded fairly well with what I expected. I decided
\nnot to say anything, not to give any names. As I did not remain until the end,
\nit was not possible for me to get an exact picture; the picture was not
\nabsolutely clear or complete. I do not want to say things to some and not to
\nothers. <\/span><\/p>\n

What I can say is that the point of view,
\nthe judgment, was based exclusively<\/i>
\non the substance of which the people were made, that is, whether they belonged
\ncompletely to the supramental world, whether they were made of that very special
\nsubstance. The standpoint taken is neither moral nor psychological. It is
\nprobable that the substance their bodies were made of was the result of an
\ninner law or inner movement which at that time was not in question. At least it
\nis quite clear that the values are different. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>When I came back,
\nsimultaneously with the recollection of the experience I knew that the
\nsupramental world is permanent, that my presence there is permanent, and that
\nonly a missing link was necessary for the connection to be made in the
\nconsciousness and the substance, and it is this link which is now
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 275<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

being forged. I had the impression \u2013 an impression which remained
\nfor quite a long time, almost a whole day \u2013 of an extreme relativity \u2013 no, not
\nexactly that: the impression that the relation between this world and the other
\ncompletely changed the standpoint from which things should be evaluated or
\nappraised. This standpoint had nothing mental about it and it gave a strange
\ninner feeling that lots of things we consider good or bad are not really so. It
\nwas very clear that everything depended on the capacity of things, on their
\naptitude in expressing the supramental world or being in relation with it. It
\nwas so completely different, sometimes even altogether contrary to our ordinary
\nappraisal. I recollect one little thing which we usually consider to be bad;
\nhow strange it was to see that in truth it was something excellent! And other
\nthings we consider to be important have in fact absolutely no importance at
\nall: whether a thing is like this or like that is not at all important. What is
\nvery obvious is that our appraisal of what is divine or undivine is not right.
\nI even laughed to see certain things.\u2026Our usual feeling of what is anti-divine
\nseems artificial, seems based on something that\u2019s not true, not living \u2013
\nbesides, what we call life here did not seem living to me compared with that
\nworld \u2013 anyway, this feeling should be founded on our relation between the two
\nworlds and on how things make the relation between them easier or more
\ndifficult. This would make a great difference in our appraisal of what brings
\nus nearer to the Divine or what separates us from Him. In people too I saw that
\nwhat helps them to become supramental or hinders them from it, is very different
\nfrom what our usual moral notions imagine. I felt how\u2026ridiculous we are. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(End of the February 3
\nexperience<\/i>)<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Mother
\nspeaks to the children:) <\/span><\/i>There is a
\ncontinuation of this, a kind of consequence in my consciousness of the experience
\nof third February, but it seemed a little premature to read<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 276<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>it now. It will appear
\nlater in the April issue, \u00b9 following this\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One thing \u2013 I must insist on this \u2013 seems to me at the moment to
\nbe the most essential difference between our world and the supramental world \u2013
\nand it is only after having gone there consciously, with the consciousness
\nwhich normally operates here, that this difference has become apparent to me in
\nall its enormity, so to say \u2013 everything here, except what goes on within, very
\ndeep within, seemed to me absolutely artificial. None of the values of the
\nordinary physical life are based on truth. And just as to clothe ourselves we
\nhave to obtain some cloth and sew clothes to put on when we want to wear them,
\nso too to feed ourselves we need to take things from outside and put them
\ninside our bodies in order to be nourished. In everything our life is
\nartificial. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>A true, sincere,
\nspontaneous life like the one in the supramental world, is a springing forth of
\nthings from the action of the conscious will, a power over substance which
\nmakes it harmonise with what we decide should be. And one who has the power and
\nthe knowledge can obtain what he wants, whereas one who does not have them has
\nno artificial means of getting what he desires. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In ordinary life, everything <\/i>is artificial. According to
\nthe chance of birth or circumstance, you have a higher or lower position or a
\nmore or less comfortable life, not because it is the spontaneous, natural,
\nsincere expression of your way of being and your inner need, but because chance
\ncircumstances in life have brought you in contact with these things. An
\nabsolutely worthless man may be in a very high position and a man with a
\nmarvellous ability to create and organise may find himself toiling in an
\nabsolutely limited and inferior situation, whereas he would be a completely
\nuseful person if the world were sincere. <\/span><\/p>\n

This artificiality, this insincerity, this complete lack of truth
\nbecame so shockingly apparent to me that\u2026one wonders how, in so false a world,
\nwe can have any true evaluations.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n\u00b9 Bulletin<\/font><\/span><\/i>: April 1958. The text is given in an
\nappendix to this talk following this.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 277<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

But instead of making you sad, morose, rebellious,
\ndissatisfied, there is rather the feeling of what I was saying at the end, of
\nsomething so laughably ridiculous that for several days I was seized with
\nuncontrollable laughter when I saw things and people! \u2013 an uncontrollable
\nlaughter, absolutely inexplicable except to myself, at the ridiculousness of
\nthings. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>When I invited you to
\na journey into the unknown, a journey of adventure, I did not know I was so
\nclose to the truth, and I can promise those who are ready to attempt the
\nadventure that they will make very interesting discoveries. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 278<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

 <\/span>APPENDIX<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A few days after the experience of
\nFebruary 3,<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Mother had other experiences which were<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

a kind of the first one.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Each person carries with himself in his atmosphere what Sri
\nAurobindo calls the \u201cCensors\u201d; they are in a way permanent delegates of the
\nadverse forces. Their role is to criticise mercilessly every act, every
\nthought, the slightest movement of the consciousness, and to bring you face to
\nface with the most hidden springs of your actions, to bring to light the
\nslightest vibration of a lower kind accompanying what seem to be your purest
\nand highest thoughts and acts. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This is not a question
\nof morality. These gentlemen are not moralising agents although they know very
\nwell how to make use of morality. And when they are dealing with a scrupulous
\nconscience, they can harass it without mercy, whispering to it at every minute,
\n\u201cYou should not have done this, you should not have done that, you should have
\ndone this thing instead, said that thing; now you have spoilt everything,
\ncommitted an irreparable mistake; see how everything is irretrievably lost now
\nthrough your fault.\u201d They may even take possession of some people\u2019s
\nconsciousness: you chase away the thought, and there! it comes back two minutes
\nlater; you chase it away again and it is still there, all the time hammering
\naway at you. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Every time I meet
\nthese gentlemen I welcome them, for they compel you to be absolutely sincere,
\nthey track down the most subtle hypocrisy and make you at every moment face
\nyour most secret vibrations. And they are intelligent! \u2013 their intelligence
\ninfinitely surpasses ours: they know everything, they know how to turn against
\nyou the least thought, the least argument, the least action, with a truly
\nwonderful subtlety. Nothing escapes them. But what gives a hostile tinge to
\nthese beings is the fact that they are first and foremost defeatists. They
\nalways
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 279<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

paint the picture for you in the darkest colours; if need be they
\ndistort your own intentions. They are truly instruments of sincerity. But they
\nalways forget one thing, deliberately, something that they cast far behind as
\nif it did not exist: the divine Grace. They forget prayer, that spontaneous
\nprayer which suddenly springs up from the depths of the being like an intense
\ncall, and brings down the Grace and changes the course of things. <\/span><\/p>\n

And each time you have made some progress, have passed on to a higher
\nlevel, they make you face once again all the acts of your past life, and in a
\nfew months, a few days or a few minutes, they make you go through all your
\nexams once again at a higher level. And it is not enough to brush the thought
\naside and say, \u201cOh! I know\u201d, and throw a little cloak over it so as not to see.
\nYou must face it and conquer, keep your consciousness full of light, without
\nthe least tremor, without a word, without the slightest vibration in the cells
\nof the body \u2013 and then the attack melts away. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But our ideas of good
\nand evil are so ridiculous! So ridiculous is our notion of what is close to the
\nDivine or far from the Divine! The experience I had the other day, on the third
\nof February, was for me revelatory, I came out of it completely changed. I
\nsuddenly understood very many things from the past, actions, parts of my life
\nwhich had remained inexplicable \u2013 in truth, the shortest way from one point to
\nanother is not the straight line that men imagine it is! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>And all the time the
\nexperience lasted, one hour \u2013 one hour of that time is long \u2013 I was in a state
\nof extraordinary joyfulness, almost in an intoxicated state.\u2026The difference
\nbetween the two states of consciousness is so great that when you are in one,
\nthe other seems unreal, like a dream. When I came back what struck me first of
\nall was the futility of life here; our little conceptions down here seem so
\nlaughable, so comical.\u2026We say that some people are mad, but their madness is
\nperhaps a great wisdom, from the supramental point of view, and their behaviour
\nis perhaps nearer to the truth of things \u2013 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 280<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nI am not speaking of the
\nobscure mad men whose brains have been damaged, but of many other
\nincomprehensible mad men, the luminous mad: they have wanted to cross the
\nborder too quickly and the rest has not followed. <\/span><\/p>\n

When one looks at the world of men from the supramental
\nconsciousness, the predominant feature is a feeling of strangeness, of
\nartificiality \u2013 of a world that is absurd because it is artificial. This world
\nis false because its material appearance does not at all express the deeper
\ntruth of things. There is a kind of disconnection between the appearance and
\nwhat is within. In this way, a man with a divine power in the depths of his
\nbeing may find himself in the position of a slave on the external plane. It is
\nabsurd! In the supramental world, on the other hand, it is the will which acts
\ndirectly on the substance and the substance is obedient to this will. You want
\nto cover yourself: the substance you live in immediately takes the form of a
\ngarment to cover you. You want to go from one place to another: your will is
\nenough to transport you without needing any conveyance, any artificial device.
\nThus, the boat in my experience had no need of any mechanism to move it; it was
\nthe will which modified the substance according to its needs. When it was time
\nto land, the wharf took shape of itself. When I wanted to send the groups
\nashore, those who were to land knew it automatically without my having to say a
\nword, and they came up in turn. Everything went on in silence, there was no
\nneed to speak to make oneself understood; but the silence itself on board the
\nship did not give that impression of artificiality it does here. Here, when one
\nwants silence, one must stop talking; silence is the opposite of sound. There
\nthe silence was vibrant, living, active and comprehensive, comprehensible. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The absurd thing here
\nis all the artificial means one must use. Any idiot at all has more power if he
\nhas more means to acquire the necessary artifices; whereas in the supramental
\nworld, the\u00a0 <\/span>more conscious one is and the
\nmore in touch with the truth of things, the more authority does the will have
\nover substance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 281<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

The authority is a true authority. If you want a garment you must
\nhave the power to make it, a real power. If you do not have this power, well,
\nyou remain naked. No device is there to make up for the lack of power. Here,
\nnot once in a million times is authority an expression of something true.
\nEverything is formidably stupid. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I came down again \u2013 \u201ccame down\u201d, it\u2019s a way of speaking, for
\nit is neither above nor below, neither inside nor outside; it is\u2026somewhere it
\ntook me some time to readjust myself. I even remember saying to someone, \u201cNow
\nwe are going to fall back into our usual stupidity.\u201d But I have understood many
\nthings and come back from there with a definitive force. Now I know that our
\nway of evaluating things down here, our petty morality, has no relation with
\nthe values of the supramental world. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>These surface things
\nhave nothing dramatic about them. They seem to me more and more like
\nsoap-bubbles, especially since the third of February.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There are people who
\ncome to me in despair, in tears, in what they call terrible psychological suffering;
\nwhen I see them like this, I slightly shift the needle in my consciousness
\nwhich contains you all, and when they go away they are completely comforted. It
\nis just like a compass needle; one shifts the needle a little in the
\nconsciousness and it is all over. Of course, it comes back later, out of habit.
\nThey are nothing but soap-bubbles. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I have known suffering
\nalso, but there was always a part of myself which knew how to stand behind,
\napart. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The only thing in the
\nworld which still seems intolerable to me now, is all the physical
\ndeterioration, the physical suffering, the ugliness, the inability to express
\nthat capacity for beauty which is in every being. But that too will be
\nconquered one day. There too the power will come one day to shift the needle a<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 282<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

little. Only, we must rise higher in consciousness: the deeper one
\nwants to go down into matter, the higher is it necessary to rise in
\nconsciousness. That will take time. Sri Aurobindo was surely right when he
\nspoke of a few centuries. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 283<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


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

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Sweet
\nMother, you have often spoken about the powers of the sun but you have never
\nsaid anything about the moon or the stars. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

From what point of view? Symbolically? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Yes, Mother.<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That depends on the schools of thought, the periods, the
\ncountries.\u2026In a general way, the moon is associated with spiritual force,
\nspiritual progress, spiritual aspiration. <\/span><\/p>\n

The waxing moon used to be considered as the symbol of spiritual
\naspiration for transformation, and spiritual plenitude was symbolised by the
\nfull moon. Moonlight has always been considered to be very favourable to
\nvisions, to poetic inspiration and all other-worldly activity. There are all
\nkinds of stories and legends about the stars \u2013 stars which appeared on the day a
\ndivine being was born.\u2026But all that is a rather literary kind of symbolism. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There is a fairly
\nwidespread belief that stars have a special influence on the destiny of men, to
\nthe extent that an entire system of knowledge is founded on this and, according
\nto the different positions of the stars in the sky, it makes quite complete
\npredictions about what will happen in your lifetime. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>At an elementary stage
\nof thought, this is expressed by saying that the stars have an influence on our
\nlives. It seems more logical and true to think that it is a sort of notation or
\nrecording of the destiny of an individual, for, in the universal unity,
\neverything is interrelated and, if you know how to read the relations between
\nthe individual and the universal, you may find in the universal positions of
\nthe stars a kind of diagram representing symbolically the life of one
\nindividual or another. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 284<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Experience proves that
\nthis notation which is called in astrology a horoscope is not something absolute
\nand that this destiny is not inevitable, for by taking up yoga and developing
\nspiritually, one escapes from the absolute law of these horoscopes. This would
\nbe a kind of notation on the material plane of the relations between universal
\nand individual life, and these relations can be altered by the introduction of
\na higher plane of consciousness into the material plane of consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>All this is what might
\nbe called a half-knowledge, which is a kind of very primitive attempt to grasp
\nthe links of interdependence between universal and individual existence. And
\nall these things are much more like languages which enable us to fix a certain
\nhalf-elaborated knowledge rather than absolute rules or the notation of
\nindisputable facts. They are attempts, endeavours to understand things as they
\nare, but very incomplete attempts \u2013 which have a certain attraction for some
\nminds but which are after all only very rough approximations to the truth of
\nthings. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>If we go deep enough into
\nmental human knowledge, we realise that all this knowledge as we have it
\nexternally in the mental consciousness is scarcely anything more than a
\nlanguage \u2013 a fairly complicated one \u2013 making it possible for us to understand
\neach other but corresponding only very remotely to the truth of things. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>There is a direct
\napproach by identity which is much more effective and, so to say, gives you the
\nconcrete key to the whole machinery of things, a direct key that needs no
\ncomplicated science to express itself \u2013 something that corresponds to movements
\nof consciousness and will, which would not need all the mental complications to
\nexpress themselves. Then the universal reality in its totality becomes a symbol
\nand can be directly perceived in its essence. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 285<\/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":"

5 February 1958   \u201cThe metaphysical objection [to a teleological cosmos] is more serious; for it seems self-evident that the Absolute can have no purpose…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[120],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-09-questions-and-answers-volume-09","wpcat-120-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260","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=4260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}