{"id":4321,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4321"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:11","slug":"04-on-dreams-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02\/04-on-dreams-vol-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","title":{"rendered":"-04_On Dreams.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n
\nOn Dreams <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n                A<\/font><\/span>t first
\nsight one might think that the subject of dreams is an altogether secondary
\none; this activity generally seems to have very little importance compared to
\nthe activity of our waking state. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, if we examine the question a
\nlittle more closely, we shall see that this is not at all the case. <\/span><\/p>\n

To begin with, we should remember that
\nmore than one third of our existence is spent in sleeping and that,
\nconsequently, the time devoted to physical sleep well deserves our attention. <\/span><\/p>\n

I say physical sleep, for it would be
\nwrong to think that our whole being sleeps when our bodies are asleep. <\/span><\/p>\n

A study based on certain experiments
\nconducted according to the strictest scientific methods, was published some
\ntwenty years ago by Dr. Vaschid<\/span> in a book entitled
\n\u201cSleep and Dreams\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

The doctors who carried out these
\nexperiments were led to the conclusion that mental activity never really
\nceases; and it is this activity which is more or less confusedly transcribed in
\nour brains by what we know as dreams. Thus, whether we are aware of it or not,
\nwe always dream. <\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly, it is possible to suppress this
\nactivity completely and to have a total, dreamless sleep; but to be able in
\nthis way to immerse our mental being in a repose similar to the repose of our
\nphysical being, we must have achieved a perfect control over it, and this is
\nnot an easy thing to do. <\/span><\/p>\n

In most cases, this activity is even
\nheightened, because, as the body is asleep, the internal faculties are no
\nlonger focussed<\/span> on or used by the physical life. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is sometimes said that in a man’s sleep
\nhis true nature is revealed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, it often happens that the sensory
\nbeing, which throughout the whole day has been subjected to the control of the
\nactive will, reacts all the more violently during the night
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-30<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

when this constraint is no longer effective. <\/span><\/p>\n

All the desires that have been repressed
\nwithout being dissolved \u2013 and this dissociation can only be obtained after much
\nsound and wide-ranging analysis \u2013 seek satisfaction while the will is dormant. <\/span><\/p>\n

And since desires are true dynamic centres<\/span> of formation, they tend to organise<\/span>,
\nwithin and around us, the combination of circumstances that is most favourable
\nto their satisfaction. <\/span><\/p>\n

In this way the fruit of many efforts made
\nby our conscious thought during the day can be destroyed in a few hours at
\nnight. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is one of the main causes of the
\nresistances which our will for progress often encounters within us, of the
\ndifficulties which sometimes appear insurmountable to us and which we are
\nunable to explain, because our goodwill seems so integral to us. <\/span><\/p>\n

We must therefore learn to know our
\ndreams, and first of all to distinguish between them, for they are very varied
\nin nature and quality. In the course of one night we may often have several
\ndreams which belong to different categories, depending on the depth of our
\nsleep. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a general rule, each individual has a
\nperiod of the night that is more favourable for dreams, during which his
\nactivity is more fertile, more intellectual, and the mental circumstances of
\nthe environment in which he moves are more interesting. <\/span><\/p>\n

The great majority of dreams have no other
\nvalue than that of a purely mechanical and uncontrolled activity of the
\nphysical brain, in which certain cells continue to function during sleep as
\ngenerators of sensory images and impressions conforming to the pictures
\nreceived from outside. <\/span><\/p>\n

These dreams are nearly always caused by
\npurely physical circumstances \u2013 state of health, digestion, position in bed,
\netc. <\/span><\/p>\n

With a little self-observation and a few
\nprecautions, it is easy to avoid this type of dream, which is as useless as it
\nis tiring, by eliminating its physical causes. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are also other dreams which are nothing
\nbut futile <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-31<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

manifestations of the erratic activities of certain mental
\nfaculties, which associate ideas, conversations and memories that come together
\nat random. <\/span><\/p>\n

Such dreams are already more significant,
\nfor these erratic activities reveal to us the confusion that prevails in our
\nmental being as soon as it is no longer subject to the control of our will, and
\nshow us that this being is still not organised or ordered within us, that it is
\nnot mature enough to have an autonomous life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Almost the same in form to these, but more
\nimportant in their consequences, are the dreams which I mentioned just now,
\nthose which arise from the inner being seeking revenge when it is freed for a
\nmoment from the constraint that we impose upon it. These dreams often enable us
\nto perceive tendencies, inclinations, impulses, desires of which we were not
\nconscious so long as our will to realise our ideal kept them concealed in some
\nobscure recess of our being. <\/span><\/p>\n

You will easily understand that rather
\nthan letting them live on unknown to us, it is better to bring them boldly and
\ncourageously to the light, so as to force them to leave us for ever. <\/span><\/p>\n

We should therefore observe our dreams
\nattentively; they are often useful instructors who can give us a powerful help
\non our way towards self-conquest. <\/span><\/p>\n

No one knows himself well who does not
\nknow the unconfined activities of his nights, and no man can call himself his
\nown master unless he has the perfect consciousness and mastery of the numerous
\nactions he performs during his physical sleep. <\/span><\/p>\n

But dreams are not merely the malignant
\ninformers of our weaknesses or the malicious destroyers of our daily effort for
\nprogress. <\/span><\/p>\n

Although there are dreams which we should
\ncontend with or transform, there are others which should on the contrary be
\ncultivated as precious auxiliaries in our work within and around us. <\/span><\/p>\n

There can be no doubt that from many
\npoints of view our subconscient<\/span> knows more than our
\nhabitual consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-32<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Who has not had the experience of a
\nmetaphysical, moral or practical problem with which we grapple in vain in the
\nevening, and whose solution, impossible to find then, appears clearly and
\naccurately in the morning on waking? <\/span><\/p>\n

The mental enquiry had been going on
\nthroughout the period of sleep and the internal faculties, freed from all
\nmaterial activity, were able to concentrate solely on the subject of their
\ninterest. <\/span><\/p>\n

Very often, the work itself remains
\nunconscious; only the result is perceived. <\/span><\/p>\n

But at other times, by means of a dream,
\nwe participate in all the mental activity in its smallest details. Only the
\ncerebral transcription of this activity is often so childish that we normally
\npay no attention to it. <\/span><\/p>\n

From this point of view, it is interesting
\nto note that there is nearly always a considerable disparity between what our
\nmental activity is in fact and the way in which we perceive it, and especially
\nthe way in which we remain conscious of it. In its own medium, this activity
\nproduces vibrations which are transmitted by repercussion to the cellular
\nsystem of our organic brain, but in our sleeping brain, the subtle vibrations
\nof the suprasensible<\/span> domain can affect only a very
\nlimited number of cells; the inertia of most of the organic supports of the
\ncerebral phenomenon reduces the number of active elements, impoverishes the
\nmental synthesis and makes it unfit to transcribe the activity of the internal
\nstates, except into images which are most often vague and inadequate. <\/span><\/p>\n

To make this disparity more tangible to
\nyou, I shall give you an example, one among many, which has come to my
\nknowledge. <\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, a writer was preoccupied with a
\nhalf-written chapter which he was unable to finish. <\/span><\/p>\n

His mind, particularly interested in this
\nwork of composition, continued the chapter during the night, and the more it
\nphrased and rephrased the ideas making up the various para-<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-33<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

graphs, it became aware that these ideas were not expressed in the
\nmost rational order and that the paragraphs had to be rearranged. <\/span><\/p>\n

All this work was transcribed in the
\nconsciousness of our writer in the following dream: he was in his study with
\nseveral armchairs which he had just brought there and was arranging and
\nrearranging them in the room, until he found the most suitable place for each
\none. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the knowledge that certain people may
\nhave had of such inadequate transcriptions, we can find the origin of the
\npopular beliefs, the \u201cdream-books\u201d which are the delight of so many simple
\nsouls. <\/span><\/p>\n

But it is easy to understand that this
\nclumsy transcription has a particular form for each individual; each one makes
\nhis own distortion. <\/span><\/p>\n

Consequently, an excessive generalisation
\nof certain interpretations which may have been quite correct for the person
\napplying them to his own case, merely gives rise to vulgar and foolish
\nsuperstitions. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is as if the writer we have just
\nmentioned were to impart as a great secret to his friends and acquaintances
\nthat every time they saw themselves arranging armchairs in a dream, it was a
\nsign that the next day they would at some moment reverse the order of the
\nparagraphs in a book. <\/span><\/p>\n

The cerebral transcription of the
\nactivities of the night is sometimes warped to such an extent that phenomena
\nare perceived as the opposite of what they really are. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, when you have a bad thought
\nagainst someone and when this bad thought, left to itself, gathers full force
\nduring the night, you dream that the person in question is beating you, is
\ndoing you some bad turn, or even wounding you or trying to kill you. <\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, as a general rule, we should
\ntake great intellectual precautions before interpreting a dream, and above all,
\nwe should review exhaustively all the subjective explanations before<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-34<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

we assign to it the value of an objective reality. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, especially in those who have
\nunlearnt the habit of always directing their thoughts towards themselves, there
\nare cases where we can observe events outside ourselves, events which are not
\nthe reflection of our personal mental constructions. And if we know how to
\ntranslate into intellectual language the more or less inadequate images into
\nwhich the brain has translated these events, we can learn many things that our
\ntoo limited physical faculties do not allow us to perceive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people, by a special culture and
\ntraining, are even able to become and remain conscious of the deeper activities
\nof their inner being, independently of their own cerebral transcription, and
\nthus to evoke them and know them in the waking state with the full range of their
\nfaculties. <\/span><\/p>\n

Many interesting observations could be
\nmade on this topic, but perhaps it is better to allow each one to experience
\nfor himself the many possibilities which lie within man’s reach in a field of
\nactivity which he too often leaves undeveloped. <\/span><\/p>\n

Uncultivated lands produce weeds. We do
\nnot want any weeds in ourselves, so let us cultivate the vast field of our
\nnights. <\/span><\/p>\n

You must not think that this can be in the
\nleast harmful to the depth of your sleep and the efficacy of a repose which is
\nnot only indispensable but beneficial. On the contrary, there are many people
\nwhose nights are more tiring than their days, for reasons which often elude
\nthem; they should become conscious of these reasons so that their will can
\nbegin to act on them and remove their effects, that is, to put a stop to these
\nactivities which in such cases are nearly always useless and even harmful.<\/span><\/p>\n

If our night has enabled us to gain some
\nnew knowledge \u2013 the solution of a problem, a contact of our inner being with
\nsome centre of life or light, or even the accomplishment of some useful task \u2013
\nwe shall always wake up with a feeling of strength and well-being. <\/span><\/p>\n

The hours that are wasted in doing nothing
\ngood or useful are the most tiring.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-35<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

But how can we cultivate this field of
\naction, how can we become conscious of our nocturnal activities? <\/span><\/p>\n

We shall find the way to do so very
\nbroadly outlined in a passage from a book devoted to the study of our inner
\nlife: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe same discipline of concentration
\nwhich enables man not to remain a stranger to the inner activities of the
\nwaking state also provides him with a way to escape from his ignorance of the
\neven richer activities of the various states of sleep. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese activities usually leave behind
\nthem only a few rare and confused memories. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, it is noteworthy that a chance
\ncircumstance, an impression received, a word pronounced, is sometimes enough to
\nbring suddenly back to the consciousness a whole long dream of which we had no
\nrecollection a moment before. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can infer from this simple fact that
\nthe conscious activity has taken only a very minor part in the phenomena of the
\nsleeping state, since in the normal state of things they would have remained
\nlost for ever in the subconscient<\/span> memory. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn this domain, the practice of
\nconcentration should therefore focus both on the special faculty of memory and
\non the participation of the consciousness in the activities of the sleeping
\nstate. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone who wishes to recover the memory
\nof a forgotten dream should first of all focus his attention on the vague
\nimpressions which the dream may have left behind it and in this way follow its
\nindistinct trace as far as possible. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis regular exercise will enable him to
\ngo further every day towards the obscure retreat of the subconscient<\/span>
\nwhere these forgotten phenomena of sleep take refuge, and thus trace out an
\neasily followed path between these two domains of consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne useful remark to be made from this
\npoint of view is that the absence of memories is very often due to the
\nabruptness of the return to the waking consciousness. (The waking should not be
\ntoo abrupt.) <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a matter of fact, at that moment, the
\nnew activities <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-36<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

breaking into the field of consciousness force out everything that
\nis unfamiliar to them and add to the difficulty of the subsequent work of
\nconcentration needed to recall the things which have been expelled in this way.
\nOn the other hand, this work will be made easier whenever certain mental and
\neven physical precautions are observed for a quiet transition from one state to
\nanother. (If possible, do not make any abrupt movements in bed at the time of
\nwaking.) <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this special training of the
\nfaculty of memory can only transform into conscious phenomena in the waking
\nstate the phenomena which have already been made conscious, even if only
\nfleetingly, during sleep. For where there is no consciousness, there can be no
\nmemory. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cConsequently, in the second place, we
\nmust work to extend the participation of the consciousness to a greater number
\nof activities in the sleeping state. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe daily habit of reviewing with interest the various dreams of
\nthe night, whose traces will gradually become transformed into precise
\nmemories, as well as the habit of noting them down on waking, will be found
\nmost helpful from this point of view.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy these habits, the mental faculties
\nwill be led to adapt their mechanism to phenomena of this kind and to exercise
\non them their attention, their curiosity and power of analysis. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA kind of intellectualisation<\/span>
\nof our dreams will then occur, with the double result of making the conscious
\nactivities intervene more and more closely in the play of the formerly disorganised<\/span> activities of the sleeping state, and of
\nprogressively increasing their scope by making them more and more rational and
\ninstructive. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDreams will then take on the nature of
\nprecise visions and sometimes of revelations, and useful knowledge of a whole
\nimportant order of things will be gained.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font><\/span>25
\n March 1912<\/span> <\/span><\/font>
\n <\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-37<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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


\n
\nThe
\nSupreme Discovery <\/font> <\/a> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nI<\/font><\/span>f we want to
\nprogress integrally, we must build within our conscious being a strong and pure
\nmental synthesis which can serve us as a protection against temptations from
\noutside, as a landmark to prevent us from going astray, as a beacon to light
\nour way across the moving ocean of life. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each individual should build up this
\nmental synthesis according to his own tendencies and affinities and
\naspirations. But if we want it to be truly living and luminous, it must be
\ncentred on the idea that is the intellectual representation symbolising<\/span>
\nThat which is at the centre of our being, That which is our life and our light.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

This idea, expressed in sublime words, has
\nbeen taught in various forms by all the great Instructors in all lands and all
\nages. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Self of each one and the great
\nuniversal Self are one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since all that is exists from all eternity
\nin its essence and principle, why make a distinction between the being and its
\norigin, between ourselves and what we place at the beginning? <\/span><\/p>\n

The ancient traditions rightly said: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur origin and ourselves, our God and
\nourselves are one.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And this oneness should not be understood
\nmerely as a more or less close and intimate relationship of union, but as a
\ntrue identity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, when a man who seeks the Divine
\nattempts to reascend<\/span> by degrees towards the
\ninaccessible, he forgets that all his knowledge and all his intuition cannot
\ntake him one step forward in this infinite; neither does he know that what he
\nwants to attain, what he believes to be so far from him, is within him. <\/span><\/p>\n

For how could he know anything of the
\norigin until he becomes conscious of this origin in himself? <\/span><\/p>\n

It is by understanding himself, by
\nlearning to know himself, that he can make the supreme discovery and cry out in
\nwonder <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-38<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>like the patriarch in the
\nBible, \u201cThe house of God is here and I knew it not.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why we must express that sublime
\nthought, creatrix of the material worlds, and make known to all the word that fills
\nthe heavens and the earth, \u201cI am in all things and all beings.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

When all shall know this, the promised day
\nof great transfigurations will be at hand. When in each atom of Matter men
\nshall recognise the indwelling thought of God, when in each living creature
\nthey shall perceive some hint of a gesture of God, when each man can see God in
\nhis brother, then dawn will break, dispelling the darkness, the falsehood, the
\nignorance, the error and suffering that weigh upon all Nature. For, \u201call Nature
\nsuffers and laments as she awaits the revelation of the Sons of God.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This indeed is the central thought epitomising<\/span> all others, the thought which should be ever
\npresent to our remembrance as the sun that illumines all life. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why I remind you of it today. For
\nif we follow our path bearing this thought in our hearts like the rarest jewel,
\nthe most precious treasure, if we allow it to do its work of illumination and
\ntransfiguration within us, we shall know that it lives in the centre of all
\nbeings and all things, and in it we shall feel the marvellous oneness of the
\nuniverse. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then we shall understand the vanity and
\nchildishness of our meagre<\/span> satisfactions, our foolish
\nquarrels, our petty passions, our blind indignations. We shall see the
\ndissolution of our little faults, the crumbling of the last entrenchments of
\nour limited personality and our obtuse egoism. We shall feel ourselves being
\nswept along by this sublime current of true spirituality which will deliver us
\nfrom our narrow limits and bounds. <\/span><\/p>\n

The individual Self and the universal Self
\nare one; in every world, in every being, in every thing, in every atom is the
\nDivine Presence, and man’s mission is to manifest it. <\/span><\/p>\n

In order to do that, he must become
\nconscious of this Divine <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-39<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Presence within him. Some individuals must undergo a real
\napprenticeship in order to achieve this: their egoistic being is too
\nall-absorbing, too rigid, too conservative, and their struggles against it are
\nlong and painful. Others, on the contrary, who are more impersonal, more
\nplastic, more spiritualised, come easily into contact with the inexhaustible
\ndivine source of their being. But let us not forget that they too should devote
\nthemselves daily, constantly, to a methodical effort of adaptation and
\ntransformation, so that nothing within them may ever again obscure the radiance
\nof that pure light. <\/span><\/p>\n

But how greatly the standpoint changes
\nonce we attain this deeper consciousness! How understanding widens, how
\ncompassion grows! <\/span><\/p>\n

On this a sage has said: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI would like each one of us to come to
\nthe point where he perceives the inner God who dwells even in the vilest of
\nhuman beings; instead of condemning him we would say, `Arise, O resplendent
\nBeing, thou who art ever pure, who knowest<\/span> neither
\nbirth nor death; arise, Almighty One, and manifest thy nature.’ <\/span><\/p>\n

Let us live by this beautiful utterance
\nand we shall see everything around us transformed as if by miracle. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the attitude of true, conscious
\nand discerning love, the love which knows how to see behind appearances,
\nunderstand in spite of words, and which, amid all obstacles, is in constant
\ncommunion with the depths. <\/span><\/p>\n

What value have our impulses and our
\ndesires, our anguish and our violence, our sufferings and our struggles, all
\nthese inner vicissitudes unduly dramatised<\/span> by our
\nunruly imagination \u2013 what value do they have before this great, this sublime
\nand divine love bending over us from the innermost depths of our being, bearing
\nwith our weaknesses, rectifying our errors, healing our wounds, bathing our whole
\nbeing with its regenerating streams? <\/span><\/p>\n

For the inner Godhead never imposes
\nherself, she neither demands nor threatens; she offers and gives herself,
\nconceals and forgets herself in the heart of all beings and things; she never<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-40<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

accuses, she neither judges nor curses nor condemns, but works
\nunceasingly to perfect without constraint, to mend without reproach, to
\nencourage without impatience, to enrich each one with all the wealth he can
\nreceive; she is the mother whose love bears fruit and nourishes, guards and
\nprotects, counsels and consoles; because she understands everything, she can
\nendure everything, excuse and pardon everything, hope and prepare for
\neverything; bearing everything within herself, she owns nothing that does not
\nbelong to all, and because she reigns over all, she is the servant of all; that
\nis why all, great and small, who want to be kings with her and gods in her,
\nbecome, like her, not despots but servitors among their brethren. <\/span><\/p>\n

How beautiful is this humble role of
\nservant, the role of all who have been revealers and heralds of the God who is
\nwithin all, of the Divine Love that animates all things…<\/span><\/p>\n

And until we can follow their example and
\nbecome true servants even as they, let us allow ourselves to be penetrated and
\ntransformed by this Divine Love; let us offer Him, without reserve, this
\nmarvellous instrument, our physical organism. He shall make it yield its utmost
\non every plane of activity. <\/span><\/p>\n

To achieve this total self-consecration,
\nall means are good, all methods have their value. The one thing needful is to
\npersevere in our will to attain this goal. For then everything we study, every
\naction we perform, every human being we meet, all come to bring us an
\nindication, a help, a light to guide us on the path. <\/span><\/p>\n

Before I close, I shall add a few pages
\nfor those who have already made apparently fruitless efforts, for those who
\nhave encountered the pitfalls on the way and seen the measure of their weakness,
\nfor those who are in danger of losing their self-confidence and courage. These
\npages, intended to rekindle hope in the hearts of those who suffer, were
\nwritten by a spiritual worker at a time when ordeals of every kind were
\nsweeping down on him like purifying flames.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-41<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

You who are weary, downcast and bruised,
\nyou who fall, who think perhaps that you are defeated, hear the voice of a
\nfriend. He knows your sorrows, he has shared them, he has suffered like you
\nfrom the ills of the earth; like you he has crossed many deserts under the
\nburden of the day, he has known thirst and hunger, solitude and abandonment,
\nand the cruellest<\/span> of all wants, the destitution of
\nthe heart. Alas! he has known too the hours of doubt, the errors, the faults,
\nthe failings, every weakness. <\/span><\/p>\n

But he tells you: Courage! Hearken to the
\nlesson that the rising sun brings to the earth with its first rays each
\nmorning. It is a lesson of hope, a message of solace. <\/span><\/p>\n

You who weep, who suffer and tremble, who
\ndare not expect an end to your ills, an issue to your pangs, behold: there is
\nno night without dawn and the day is about to break when darkness is thickest;
\nthere is no mist that the sun does not dispel, no cloud that it does not gild,
\nno tear that it will not dry one day, no storm that is not followed by its
\nshining triumphant bow; there is no snow that it does not melt, nor winter that
\nit does not change into radiant spring. <\/span><\/p>\n

And for you too, there is no affliction
\nwhich does not bring its measure of glory, no distress which cannot be
\ntransformed into joy, nor defeat into victory, nor downfall into higher
\nascension, nor solitude into radiating centre of life, nor discord into harmony
\n\u2013 sometimes it is a misunderstanding between two minds that compels two hearts
\nto open to mutual communion; lastly, there is no infinite weakness that cannot
\nbe changed into strength. And it is even in supreme weakness that almightiness
\nchooses to reveal itself! <\/span><\/p>\n

Listen, my little child, you who today
\nfeel so broken, so fallen perhaps, who have nothing left, nothing to cover your
\nmisery and foster your pride: never before have you been so great! How close to
\nthe summits is he who awakens in the depths, for the deeper the abyss, the more
\nthe heights reveal themselves!
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-42<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Do you not know this, that the most
\nsublime forces of the vasts<\/span> seek to array themselves
\nin the most opaque veils of Matter? Oh, the sublime nuptials of sovereign love
\nwith the obscurest plasticities<\/span>, of the shadow’s
\nyearning with the most royal light! <\/span><\/p>\n

If ordeal or fault has cast you down, if
\nyou have sunk into the nether depths of suffering, do not grieve \u2013 for there
\nindeed the divine love and the supreme blessing can reach you! Because you have
\npassed through the crucible of purifying sorrows, the glorious ascents are yours.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

You are in the wilderness: then listen to
\nthe voices of the silence. The clamour<\/span> of flattering
\nwords and outer applause has gladdened your ears, but the voices of the silence
\nwill gladden your soul and awaken within you the echo of the depths, the chant
\nof divine harmonies! <\/span><\/p>\n

You are walking in the depths of night:
\nthen gather the priceless treasures of the night. In bright sunshine, the ways
\nof intelligence are lit, but in the white luminosities of the night lie the
\nhidden paths of perfection, the secret of spiritual riches. <\/span><\/p>\n

You are being stripped of everything: that
\nis the way towards plenitude. When you have nothing left, everything will be
\ngiven to you. Because for those who are sincere and true, from the worst always
\ncomes the best. <\/span><\/p>\n

Every grain that is sown in the earth
\nproduces a thousand. Every wing-beat of sorrow can be a soaring towards glory. <\/span><\/p>\n

And when the adversary pursues man
\nrelentlessly, everything he does to destroy him only makes him greater. <\/span><\/p>\n

Hear the story of the worlds, look: the
\ngreat enemy seems to triumph. He casts the beings of light into the night, and
\nthe night is filled with stars. He rages against the cosmic working, he assails
\nthe integrity of the empire of the sphere, shatters its harmony, divides and
\nsubdivides it, scatters its dust to the four winds of infinity, and lo! the
\ndust is changed into a golden seed, fertilising<\/span> the
\ninfinite and peopling it with worlds which now gravitate around their eternal
\ncentre in the larger orbit of space<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage-43<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u2013 so that even division creates a richer and deeper unity, and by
\nmultiplying the surfaces of the material universe, enlarges the empire that it
\nset out to destroy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Beautiful indeed was the song of the
\nprimordial sphere cradled in the bosom of immensity, but how much more beautiful
\nand triumphant is the symphony of the constellations, the music of the spheres,
\nthe immense choir that fills the heavens with an eternal hymn of victory! <\/span><\/p>\n

Hear again: no state was ever more
\nprecarious than that of man when he was separated on earth from his divine
\norigin. Above him stretched the hostile borders of the usurper, and at his
\nhorizon’s gates watched jailers armed with flaming swords. Then, since he could
\nclimb no more to the source of life, the source arose within him; since he could
\nno more receive the light from above, the light shone forth at the very centre
\nof his being; since he could commune no more with the transcendent love, that
\nlove offered itself in a holocaust and chose each terrestrial being, each human
\nself as its dwelling-place and sanctuary. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is how, in this despised and desolate
\nbut fruitful and blessed Matter, each atom contains a divine thought, each
\nbeing carries within him the Divine Inhabitant. And if no being in all the
\nuniverse is as frail as man, neither is any as divine as he! <\/span><\/p>\n

In truth, in truth, in humiliation lies
\nthe cradle of glory! <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>28
\n April 1912<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/span>Page-44<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Dreams                   At first sight one might think that the subject of dreams is an altogether secondary one; this activity generally seems to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-02-words-of-long-ago-volume-02","wpcat-123-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321","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=4321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}