{"id":4302,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4302"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:01","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:01","slug":"06-jnana-60-61-51-vol-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10\/06-jnana-60-61-51-vol-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-06_jnana-60-61_51.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

you are unfit for yoga. Because, truly,
\nyou are not ready for yoga when you are in that state. It is a rudimentary
\nstate. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nJanuary 1961<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\n51 \u2013 When I hear of a
\nrighteous wrath, I wonder at man’s capacity for self-deception.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When one deceives oneself, one always does it in good faith. One is
\nalways acting for the good of others or for the welfare of humanity and to
\nserve you \u2013 that goes without saying! How does one deceive oneself?\u00b9<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I feel like asking you a question myself!
\nBecause your question can be understood in two ways. One can take it in the
\nsame spirit of irony and humour<\/span> that Sri Aurobindo
\nhas put in his Aphorism, when he marvels at man’s capacity for self-deception.
\nThat is to say, you are putting yourself in the place of someone who is
\ndeceiving himself and you say, \u201cBut I am acting in good faith! I always want
\nthe good of others, etc. \u2013 the welfare of humanity, to serve the Divine, that
\ngoes without saying! And how can I be deceiving myself?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But
\nactually there are two ways of deceiving oneself, which are very different. For
\nexample, you may very well be shocked by certain things, not for personal
\nreasons, but precisely in your goodwill and eagerness to serve the Divine, when
\nyou see people behaving badly, being selfish, unfaithful and treacherous. There
\nis a stage where you have overcome these things and no longer allow them to
\nmanifest in yourself, but to the extent that you are linked to the ordinary
\nconsciousness, the ordinary point of view, the ordinary life, the ordinary way
\nof thinking, they are still possible, they exist latently because they are the
\nreverse of the qualities that you are striving to attain. And this opposition<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Oral question and answer.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 80<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

still exists \u2013 until you rise above it and
\nno longer have either the quality or the defect. So long as you have the
\nvirtue, its opposite is always latent in you; it is only when you are above
\nboth the virtue and the defect that it disappears. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>So
\nthis kind of indignation that you feel comes from the fact that you are not
\naltogether above it; you are at the stage where you thoroughly disapprove and
\ncould not do it yourself. Up to that point there is nothing to say, unless you
\ngive a violent outer expression to your indignation. If anger intervenes, it is
\nbecause there is a complete contradiction between the feeling you want to have
\nand how you react to others. Because anger is a deformation of the vital power,
\nan obscure and wholly unregenerated vital, a vital that is still subject to all
\nthe ordinary actions and reactions. When this vital power is used by an
\nignorant and egoistic individual will and this will meets with opposition from
\nother individual wills around it, this power, under the pressure of opposition,
\nchanges into anger and tries to obtain by violence what cannot be achieved
\nsolely by the pressure of the force itself. <\/span><\/p>\n

Besides, anger, like every other kind of
\nviolence, is always a sign of weakness, impotence and incapacity. <\/span><\/p>\n

And here self-deception comes solely from
\nthe approval given to it or the flattering epithet attached to it \u2013 because
\nanger can only be something blind, ignorant and asuric<\/span>,
\nthat is to say, contrary to the light. <\/span><\/p>\n

But this is still the best case. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is another one. There are people who
\nwithout knowing it \u2013 or because they want to ignore it \u2013 always follow their
\npersonal interest, their preferences, their attachments, their conceptions;
\npeople who are not wholly consecrated to the Divine and who make use of moral
\nand yogic ideas to conceal their personal impulses. But these people are
\ndeceiving themselves doubly; not only do they deceive themselves in their external
\nactivities, in their relation with others, but they also deceive themselves in
\ntheir own personal movement; instead of serving <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 81<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the Divine, they serve their own egoism.
\nAnd this happens constantly, constantly! They serve their own personality,
\ntheir own egoism, while pretending to serve God. Then it is no longer even
\nself-deception, it is hypocrisy. <\/span><\/p>\n

This mental habit of always endowing
\neverything with a very favourable appearance, of giving a favourable
\nexplanation to all movements \u2013 sometimes it is rather subtle, but sometimes it
\nis so crude that nobody is deceived except oneself. It is a habit of excusing
\noneself, the habit of giving a favourable mental excuse, a favourable mental
\nexplanation to everything one does, to everything one says, to everything one
\nfeels. For example, those who have no self-control and slap someone’s face in
\ngreat indignation would call that an almost divine wrath! <\/span><\/p>\n

It is amazing, amazing \u2013 this power of
\nself-deception, the mind’s skill in finding an admirable justification for any
\nignorance, any stupidity whatsoever. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is not an experience that comes only
\nnow and then. It is something which you can observe from minute to minute. And
\nyou usually see it much more easily in others! But if you look at yourself
\nclosely, you catch yourself a thousand times a day, looking at yourself just a
\nlittle indulgently: \u201cOh! But it is not
\nthe same thing.\u201d<\/i> Besides, it is never the same for you as it is for your neighbour<\/span>! \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\nJanuary 1961<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n52<\/a> \u2013 <\/sub>This is a miracle that men can love God, yet fail to
\nlove humanity. With whom are they in love then? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it possible to reach the Divine through philanthropy?<\/span><\/i>\u00b9 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It depends on what you mean by
\nphilanthropy. Normally, we<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/span> <\/span><\/font>Written question and answer.
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 82<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

call philanthropists those who do
\ncharitable works. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Here Sri Aurobindo does not use the word
\nphilanthropy, for, as it is usually understood, philanthropy is a social and
\nconventional attitude, a kind of magnified egoism which is not love but a
\ncondescending pity which assumes a patronising<\/span> air. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this Aphorism Sri Aurobindo refers to
\nthose who follow the ascetic path in solitary search of a solitary God, by
\ntrying to cut themselves off completely from the world and men.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for Sri Aurobindo men form part of the
\nDivine; and if you truly love the Divine, how can you not love men, since they
\nare an aspect of Himself? \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n18 January 1961 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n53<\/a> \u2013 The quarrels of religious sects are like the disputing of pots,
\nwhich shall be alone allowed to hold the immortalising<\/span>
\nnectar. Let them dispute, but the thing for us is to get at the nectar in
\nwhatever pot and attain immortality. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\n54 \u2013 You say that the flavour<\/span> of the pot
\nalters the liquor. That is taste; but what can deprive it of its immortalising<\/span> faculty? <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

(1)<\/span>  
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/i>
\nWhat is this immortalising<\/span> nectar of which Sri
\nAurobindo speaks? What, in this nectar, gives us the power of immortality? Is
\nit physical immortality? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

(2)<\/span>  
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/span><\/i>
\nWhen we find this nectar, what happens to the religious sects?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Do they reach their goal?<\/span><\/i>\u00b9 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The immortalising<\/span>
\nnectar is the supreme Truth, the supreme Knowledge, the Union with the Supreme
\nwhich gives the consciousness of immortality. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each religious sect has its own way of
\napproaching the<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Written question and answer.<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 83<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Divine and this is why Sri Aurobindo
\ncompares them to different pots. But he says: No matter which path you follow,
\nthe goal alone is important, and the goal is the same whatever the path you
\nfollow. The nectar is the same in whichever pot it is contained. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Some say that the flavour<\/span>
\nof the pot, the path you follow changes the taste of the nectar, that is to
\nsay, affects your union with the Divine. Sri Aurobindo answers: The approach
\nmay be different, each one chooses the one he prefers or which most suits his
\ntaste, but the nectar itself, the union with the Divine, always keeps its power
\nof immortality. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now when we say that by union with the
\nDivine we gain the consciousness of immortality, it means that the
\nconsciousness in us unites with what is immortal and therefore feels itself to
\nbe immortal. We become conscious of the domains where immortality exists. But
\nthis does not imply that our physical substance is transformed and becomes
\nimmortal. For that quite another procedure has to be followed. You must not
\nonly first obtain this consciousness, but bring it down into the material world
\nand let it work not only on the transformation of the physical consciousness,
\nbut also on the transformation of the physical substance, which is quite a considerable
\ntask. <\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, you must not confuse personal
\nrealisation with the realisation of humanity as a whole. When we have found the
\nnectar we are above all religious sects; they no longer have any meaning or use
\nfor us. But in a general way, for men in general, these things continue to have
\ntheir value and usefulness as a path, until they achieve realisation.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n28 January 1961 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n55<\/a> \u2013 Be wide in me, O Varuna<\/span>; be mighty in me,
\nO Indra; O Sun, be very bright and luminous; O Moon, be full of charm and sweetness.
\nBe fierce and terrible, O Rudra; be impetuous and swift, O Maruts<\/span>;<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 84<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nbe strong and bold, O Aryama<\/span>; be voluptuous
\nand pleasurable, O Bhaga<\/span>; be tender and kind and
\nloving and passionate, O Mitra<\/span>. Be bright and
\nrevealing, O Dawn; O Night, be solemn and pregnant. O Life, be full, ready and
\nbuoyant; O Death, lead my steps from mansion to mansion. Harmonise all these, O
\nBrahmanaspati<\/span>. Let me not be subject to these gods, O
\nKali. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

Why does Sri Aurobindo give more importance to Kali?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

It is good and necessary to possess all
\nthe divine qualities that these gods represent and symbolise<\/span>;
\nthat is why Sri Aurobindo invokes them and asks them to take possession of his
\nnature. But for one who wants union with the Supreme, for one who aspires for
\nthe supreme Realisation, this cannot be sufficient. This is why at the end he
\ncalls upon Kali to give him the power to go beyond them all. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For
\nKali is the most powerful aspect of the universal Mother and her power is
\ngreater than that of all the gods in her creation. To unite with her means
\ntherefore to become more vast, more complete, more powerful than all the gods
\ntogether and that is why Sri Aurobindo places union with her above and beyond
\nall the others. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>2 February 1961
\n<\/font><\/span> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n56<\/a> \u2013 When, O eager disputant, thou hast prevailed in a debate, then art
\nthou greatly to be pitied; for thou hast lost a chance of widening knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

What is the use of discussions? What is the best way to make other
\npeople understand what one feels to be true?<\/span><\/i>\u00b9 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Oral question and answer.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 85<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

In general, those who like to discuss
\nthings are those who need the stimulant of contradiction to clarify their
\nideas. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is obviously the sign of an elementary
\nintellectual stage. <\/span><\/p>\n

But if you can attend a discussion as an
\nimpartial spectator \u2013 even while you are taking part in it and while the other
\nperson is talking with you \u2013 you can always benefit from this opportunity to
\nconsider a question or a problem from several points of view; and by attempting
\nto reconcile opposite views, you can widen your ideas and rise to a more
\ncomprehensive synthesis. <\/span><\/p>\n

As for the best way of proving to others
\nwhat one feels to be true, one must live it \u2013 there is no other way.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How is it that we lose a chance to widen our knowledge by prevailing in
\na debate?<\/span><\/i>\u00b9 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A debate is never anything but a conflict
\nof opinions; and opinions are nothing but very fragmentary aspects of the
\ntruth. Even if you were able to put together and synthesise<\/span>
\nall opinions on a given subject, you still would not achieve anything but a
\nvery imperfect expression of the truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>If
\nyou prevail in a debate, it means that your opinion has prevailed over the
\nopinion of another, not necessarily because yours was truer than his, but because
\nyou were better at wielding the arguments or because you were a more stubborn
\ndebater. And you come out of the discussion convinced that you are right in
\nwhat you assert; and so you lose a chance to see a view of the question other
\nthan your own and to add an aspect of the truth to the one or the ones you
\nalready possess. You remain imprisoned in your own thought and refuse to widen
\nit. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n17 March 1961 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

\n \u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Written question and answer.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 86<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n57<\/a> \u2013 Because the tiger acts according to his nature and knows not
\nanything else, therefore he is divine and there is no evil in him. If he
\nquestioned himself, then he would be a criminal. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

What would be the truly natural state for man? Why does he question
\nhimself?<\/span><\/i>\u00b9 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

On earth\u00b2 in essence man is a universal being,
\nbut he has a special manifestation on earth. man is a transitional being.
\nTherefore, in the course of his evolution, he has had several natures in
\nsuccession, which have followed an ascending curve and will continue to follow
\nit until he reaches the threshold of the supramental nature and is transformed
\ninto the superman. This curve is the spiral of mental development. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We
\ntend to call \u201cnatural\u201d any spontaneous manifestation which is not the result of
\na choice or a preconceived decision, that is to say, without the intrusion of
\nany mental activity. This is why when a man has a vital spontaneity which is
\nvery little mentalised<\/span>, he seems more \u201cnatural\u201d in
\nhis simplicity. But this naturalness is very much like that of the animal and
\nis at the very bottom of the human evolutionary scale. He will only regain this
\nspontaneity free from mental intrusion when he attains to the supramental
\nstage, that is to say, when he transcends mind and emerges into the higher
\nTruth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Until then all his behaviour<\/span>
\nis, naturally, natural! But with the mind evolution has become, one cannot say
\ntwisted, but distorted, because by its very nature the mind was open to
\nperversion and almost from the beginning it became perverted, or, to be more
\nprecise, it was perverted by the Asuric forces. And this state of perversion
\ngives us the impression that it is unnatural. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why does he question himself? Simply
\nbecause this is the nature of the mind! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Oral question and answer.
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b2 <\/font> <\/span>Mother added: \u201cThis precise detail is not
\nsuperfluous; I said \u2018on earth\u2019 meaning that man does not belong merely to
\nearth.\u201d<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 87<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

With the mind individualisation began and
\na very acute feeling of separation, and also a kind of impression, more or less
\nprecise, of freedom of choice \u2013 all that, all these psychological states are
\nthe natural consequences of mental life and they open the door to everything we
\nsee now, from aberrations to the most rigorous principles. Mind has the
\nimpression that it can choose between one thing and another, but this
\nimpression is the distortion of a true principle which would be completely realisable<\/span> only when the soul or psychic being appears in
\nthe consciousness and if the soul were to take up the governance of the being.
\nThen man’s life would truly become the manifestation of the supreme Will
\nexpressing itself individually, consciously. But in the normal human state this
\nis something extremely exceptional which to the ordinary human consciousness
\ndoes not seem at all natural \u2013 it seems almost supernatural! <\/span><\/p>\n

Man questions himself because the mental
\ninstrument is intended to see all possibilities. And the immediate consequence
\nof this is the concept of good and evil, or of what is right and what is wrong,
\nand all the miseries that follow from that. One cannot say that it is a bad
\nthing; it is an intermediate \u2013 stage not a very pleasant one, but still\u2026 one
\nwhich was certainly inevitable for the complete development of the mind.
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n17 March 1961 <\/span>
\n<\/font> <\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n58<\/a> \u2013 The animal, before he is corrupted, has not yet eaten of the tree
\nof the knowledge of good and evil; the god has abandoned it for the tree of
\neternal life; man stands between the upper heaven and the lower nature. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it true that there was an earthly paradise? Why was man driven out of
\nit?<\/span><\/i>\u00b9<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Oral question and answer.<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 88<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

From the historical point of view \u2013 I am
\nnot speaking from the psychological but from the historical point of view \u2013 if
\nI base myself on my memories \u2013 only I cannot prove it; nothing can be proved,
\nand I do not think there is any truly historical proof, that is to say, one
\nwhich has been preserved, or at any rate none has yet been found, \u2013 but
\naccording to what I remember, there was certainly a moment in earth’s history
\nwhen there existed a kind of earthly paradise, in the sense that it was a
\nperfectly harmonious and natural life; that is to say, the manifestation of the
\nmind was in accord, was\u00a0 <\/span>still in
\ncomplete accord with the ascending march of Nature and totally harmonious, without
\nperversion or distortion. This was the first stage of mind’s manifestation in
\nmaterial forms.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>How
\nlong did it last? It is difficult to say. But for man it was a life that was
\nlike a kind of outflowering<\/span> of animal life. I have a
\nmemory of a life in which the body was perfectly adapted to its natural
\nenvironment and the climate adapted to the needs of the body, the body to the
\nneeds of the climate. Life was wholly spontaneous and natural, just as a more
\nluminous and more conscious animal life would be; but there were none of the
\ncomplications and distortions that the mind brought in later in the course of
\nits development. I have the memory of that life \u2013 I had it, I relived it when I
\nbecame conscious of the life of the earth as a whole. But I cannot say how long
\nit lasted nor what area it covered. I do not know. I can only remember the
\ncondition, the state, what material Nature was like, what the human form and
\nthe human consciousness were like at that time and this kind of harmony with
\nall the other elements on earth \u2013 harmony with animal life, and such a great
\nharmony with plant life. There was a kind of spontaneous knowledge of how to
\nuse the things of Nature, of the properties of plants, of fruits and everything
\nvegetable Nature could provide. No aggressiveness, no fear, no contradictions nor
\nfrictions and no perversions at all \u2013 the mind was pure, simple, luminous,
\nuncomplicated. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is only with the progress of evolution,
\nthe march of evo<\/span><\/span>lution<\/span><\/span>, <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 89<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

when the mind began to develop in
\nitself,\u00a0 <\/span>for itself, that all the
\ncomplications and distortions began.So<\/span> that the story
\nof Genesis which seems so childish contains some truth. In the old traditions
\nlike that of Genesis, each letter\u00b9 stood for a specific knowledge, it was a
\ngraphic summary of the traditional knowledge of that time. But apart from that,
\neven the symbolic story had a reality in the sense that there truly was a
\nperiod of life on earth \u2013 the first manifestation of mentalised<\/span>
\nmatter in human forms \u2013 which was still in complete harmony with all that
\npreceded it. It was only later\u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>And
\nthe symbol of the tree of knowledge represents the kind of knowledge which is
\nno longer divine, the material knowledge that comes from the sense of division
\nand which started spoiling everything. How long did this period last? Because
\nin my memory too it was like an almost immortal life, and it seems that it was
\nan accident of evolution that made it necessary for forms to disintegrate\u2026 for
\nprogress. So I cannot say how long it lasted. And where? According to certain
\nimpressions \u2013 but they are only impressions \u2013 it would seem that it was in the
\nvicinity of\u2026 I do not know exactly whether it was on this side of Ceylon and
\nIndia or on the other (Mother points to
\nthe Indian Ocean, first to the west of Ceylon and India and then to the east,
\nbetween Ceylon and Java<\/i>), but it was certainly a place which no longer
\nexists, which has probably been swallowed up by the sea. I have a very clear
\nvision of this place and a very clear awareness of this life and its forms, but
\nI cannot give any material details. To tell the truth, when I relived these
\nmoments I was not curious about details. One is in a different state of mind
\nand one has no curiosity about these material details; everything changes into
\npsychological factors. And it was\u2026 it was something so simple, so luminous, so
\nharmonious, beyond all our preoccupations \u2013 precisely beyond all these
\npreoccupations with time and place. It was a spontaneous, extremely beautiful
\nlife, and so close to Nature, like a natural flowering<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Of the Hebrew alphabet.<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 90<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of the animal life. And there were no
\noppositions, no contradictions, or anything like that \u2013 everything happened in
\nthe best way possible. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

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

Repeatedly, in different circumstances,
\nseveral times, I have had the same memory. It was not exactly the same scene or
\nthe same images, because it was not something that I saw, it was a life that I
\nwas living. For some time, by night or by day, in a certain state of trance I
\nwent back to a life that I had lived and had the full consciousness that it was
\nthe outflowering<\/span> of the human form on earth \u2013 the
\nfirst human forms capable of embodying the divine Being. It was that. It was
\nthe first time I could manifest in an earthly form, in a particular form, in an
\nindividual form \u2013 not a \u201cgeneral\u201d life but an individual form \u2013 that is to say,
\nthe first time that the Being above and the being below were joined by the mentalisation<\/span> of this material substance. I lived this
\nseveral times, but always in similar surroundings and with a very similar
\nfeeling of such joyful simplicity, without complexity, without problems,
\nwithout all these questions; there was nothing, absolutely nothing of the kind!
\nIt was an outflowering<\/span> of the joy of living, simply
\nthat, in universal love and harmony \u2013 flowers, minerals, animals: all were in
\nharmony. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was only long afterwards \u2013 but this is
\na personal impression \u2013 long afterwards that things went wrong. Probably
\nbecause some mental crystallisations<\/span> were necessary,
\ninevitable for the general evolution, so that the mind might be prepared to
\nmove on to something else. This is where\u2026 Faugh! It is like falling into a
\nhole, into ugliness, into obscurity; everything becomes so dark afterwards, so
\nugly, so difficult, so painful, it is really \u2013 it really feels like a fall.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

(Silence<\/i>) <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 91<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>I
\nknew an occultist who used to say that it was not \u2013 how to put it? \u2013
\ninevitable. In the total freedom of the manifestation it is the deliberate
\nseparation from the Origin that is the cause of all disorder. But how to
\nexplain it? Our words are so poor that we cannot speak of these things. We can
\nsay that it was inevitable because it happened; but if we go outside the
\ncreation, we can conceive \u2013 or we could have conceived \u2013 of a creation in which
\nthis disorder would not have happened. Sri Aurobindo also said practically the
\nsame thing, that it was a kind of \u201caccident\u201d, if you like, but an \u201caccident\u201d
\nwhich has given the manifestation a much greater and much more complete
\nperfection than if it had never occurred. But this still belongs to the real of
\nspeculation and these speculations are useless, to say the least. In any case,
\nthe experience, the feeling is this: a\u2026 (Mother
\nindicates an abrupt fall<\/i>) oh! all of a sudden. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For
\nthe earth it probably happened like that, all of a sudden: a kind of ascent,
\nthen a fall. But the earth is only a very small point of concentration. For the
\nuniverse it is something else.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>So
\nthe memory of that time is preserved somewhere, in the earth’s memory, in the
\nregion where all the memories of the earth are recorded, and those who are able
\nto communicate with this memory can say that the earthly paradise still exists
\nsomewhere; but I know nothing about it, I do not see. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

What about the story of the serpent? Why does the serpent have such an
\nevil reputation? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Christians say that it is the spirit
\nof Evil.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nBut
\nall this is a misunderstanding.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 92<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

The occultist I spoke of used to say that
\nthe true interpretation of the Bible story about Paradise and the serpent is
\nthat man wanted to rise from a state of animal divinity \u2013 like the animals \u2013 to
\na state of conscious divinity through the development of the mind \u2013 and that is
\nwhat the symbol means when it is said that they ate of the fruit of the tree of
\nknowledge. And the serpent \u2013 he always used to say that it was iridescent, that
\nis to say, it was all the colours<\/span> of the rainbow \u2013 it
\nwas not at all the spirit of Evil, it was the evolutionary force, the force,
\nthe power of evolution, and of course it was the power of evolution that had
\nmade them taste of the fruit of knowledge. <\/span><\/p>\n

And so, according to him, Jehovah was the
\nchief of the Asuras<\/span>, the supreme Asura, the egoistic
\ngod who wanted to dominate everything and have everything under his control.
\nAnd once he had taken the position of supreme lord in relation to earthly
\nrealisation, of course he was not pleased that man should make this mental
\nprogress, for it would bring him a knowledge that enabled him not to obey any
\nlonger! This made him furious! For it would enable man to become a god by the
\nevolutionary power of consciousness. And that is why they were driven out of
\nParadise. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is a good deal of truth in that, a
\ngood deal. <\/span><\/p>\n

And Sri Aurobindo fully agreed. He said
\nthe same thing. It is the evolutionary power \u2013 the power of the mind \u2013 that led
\nman towards knowledge, a separative knowledge. And it is a fact that man became
\nconscious of himself with the sense of good and evil. But, of course, that
\nspoiled everything and he could not stay there. He was driven out by his own
\nconsciousness. He could no longer stay there.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

But were they driven out by Jehovah or by their own consciousness? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is just two different ways of saying
\nthe same thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

According to me, all these old Scriptures
\nand these old tra<\/span><\/span>ditions<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 93<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

have different levels of meaning (Mother<\/i> makes a gesture to show the different levels<\/i> ); and according to
\nthe period, the people, the needs, one symbol or another has been selected and
\nused. But there comes a time \u2013 when you transcend all these things and see them
\nfrom what Sri Aurobindo calls \u201cthe other hemisphere\u201d \u2013 when you become aware that
\nthese are merely ways of speaking to establish a contact \u2013 a kind of bridge or
\nlink between the lower way of seeing and the higher way of knowing. <\/span><\/p>\n

And people who argue and say, \u201cOh, no! it
\nis like this; it is like that\u201d \u2013 there comes a time when it seems so funny, so
\nfunny! And just that, the spontaneous retort of so many people, \u201cOh, that is
\nimpossible\u201d \u2013 the word itself is so funny! For the slightest, I might even say,
\nthe most elementary intellectual development enables you to realise that you could
\nnot even think of it if it were not possible.  <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh! If we could only find that again, but
\nhow? <\/span><\/p>\n

Really, they have spoilt the earth, they
\nhave spoilt \u2013 it they have spoilt the atmosphere, they have spoilt everything!
\nAnd now, for the atmosphere to come back to what it should be \u2013 oh! we have a
\nlong way to go, and above all psychologically. But even the very structure of
\nmatter (Mother feels the air around her)<\/i>,
\nwith their bombs and experiments, oh, they have made a mess of it
\nall!\u2026They\u00a0 <\/span>have really made a mess of
\nmatter. <\/span><\/p>\n

Probably \u2013 no, not probably \u2013 is quite
\ncertain that it was necessary to knead it, to churn it, to prepare it so that
\nit can receive this, the new thing which is not yet manifested. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was very simple, very harmonious, very
\nluminous, but not complex enough. And this complexity has spoilt everything,
\nbut it will bring a realisation that is infinitely more conscious \u2013 infinitely.
\nAnd so when the earth again becomes so harmonious, simple, luminous, pure \u2013
\nsimple, pure, purely divine \u2013 and
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 94<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

with this complexity, then we shall be
\nable to do something. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

As the Mother was leaving she noticed a
\nbrilliant crimson Canna<\/span> flower. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There were so many flowers just like this
\nin the landscape of the earthly paradise, red, so beautiful. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>
\n11 March 1961<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

\n59<\/a> \u2013 One of the greatest comforts of religion is that you can get hold
\nof God sometimes and give him a satisfactory beating. People mock at the folly
\nof savages who beat their gods when their prayers are not answered; but it is the
\nmockers who are the fools and the savages.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

How can one give a satisfactory beating to God? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Religion always tends to make God in the
\nimage of man, a magnified and aggrandised image, but in the end it is always a
\ngod with human qualities. This is what makes it possible for people to treat
\nhim as they would treat a human enemy. In some countries, when their god does
\nnot do what they want, they take him and throw him into the river! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But are these idols not merely human creations? Do they have any
\nexistence in themselves?<\/span><\/i>\u00b9<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever the image \u2013 what we disdainfully
\ncall an idol \u2013 whatever the external form of the deity, even if to our physical
\neye it appears ugly or commonplace or horrible, a caricature, there is always
\nwithin it the presence of the thing it represents. And there is always someone,
\na priest or an initiate, or a sadhu<\/span>, <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9 <\/font> <\/span>Mother replied orally to this second
\nquestion and in writing to the first and third questions.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 95<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

a sannyasin<\/span>, who
\nhas the power and who draws \u2013 this is usually the work of the priests \u2013 who
\ndraws the force, the presence within. And it is real: it is quite true that the
\nforce, the presence is there; and it is that, not the form of wood or stone or
\nmetal, which people worship \u2013 it is the presence. <\/span><\/p>\n

But people in Europe do not have this
\ninner sense, not at all. For them everything is like a surface \u2013 not even that,
\njust a thin outer film with nothing behind \u2013 so they cannot feel it. And yet it
\nis a fact that the presence is there; it is an absolutely real fact, I
\nguarantee it. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Many people say that the teaching of Sri Aurobindo is a new religion.
\nWould you say that it is a religion? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

People who say that are fools who don’t
\neven know what they are talking about. You only have to read all that Sri
\nAurobindo has written to know that it is impossible to base a religion on his
\nworks, because he presents each problem, each question in all its aspects,
\nshowing the truth contained in each way of seeing things, and he explains that
\nin order to attain the Truth you must realise a synthesis which goes beyond all
\nmental notions and emerge into a transcendence beyond thought. <\/span><\/p>\n

So the second part of your question is
\nmeaningless. Besides, if you had read what was published in the last Bulletin<\/i>,\u00b9 you could not have asked this
\nquestion.\u00a0 <\/span>I repeat that when we speak of
\nSri Aurobindo there can be no question of a teaching nor even of a revelation,
\nbut of an action from the Supreme; no religion can be founded on that. <\/span><\/p>\n

But men are so foolish that they can
\nchange anything into a religion, so great is their need of a fixed framework
\nfor their narrow thought and limited action. They do not feel secure unless
\nthey can assert this is true and that is not; but such an <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 \u201c<\/span>What Sri Aurobindo represents in the
\nworld’s history is not a teaching, not even a revelation; it is a decisive
\naction direct from the Supreme.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bulletin of Sri Aurobindo International
\nCentre of Education,<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

April 1961, p. 169<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 96<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

assertion becomes impossible for anyone
\nwho has read and understood what Sri Aurobindo has written. Religion and Yoga do
\nnot belong to the same plane of being and spiritual life can exist in all its
\npurity only when it is free from all mental dogma.1<\/sup>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n26 April 1961
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n60<\/a> \u2013 There is no mortality. It is only the Immortal who can die; the
\nmortal could neither be born nor perish.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Does a being carry his mental, vital and physical experiences from one
\nlife to another<\/span><\/i>?
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Each case is different. It all depends on
\nthe degree of the individual’s development in his different parts and on how
\nwell these parts are organised around the psychic centre. The more organised
\nthe being, the more consciously lasting it becomes. We can say in a general way
\nthat each person brings into his present life the consequences of his previous
\nlives, without, however, preserving the memory of these lives. Apart from a few
\nvery rare exceptions, only when you are united with your psychic being and
\nbecome fully conscious of it do you obtain, at the same time, the memory of
\npast lives, which the psychic preserves in its consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

Otherwise, even in those who are most
\nsensitive, these memories are fragmentary, uncertain and intermittent. Most
\noften they are hardly recognisable<\/span> and seem to be
\nnothing more than indefinable impressions. And yet a person who knows how to
\nsee through appearances will be able to perceive a kind of similarity in the
\nsequence of events in his life. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


\n4 May 1961<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 97<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n
\n
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you are unfit for yoga. Because, truly, you are not ready for yoga when you are in that state. It is a rudimentary state. \u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-on-thoughts-and-aphorisms-volume-10","wpcat-122-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302","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=4302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}