{"id":4356,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:26","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4356"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:26","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:26","slug":"32-17-march-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/04-questions-and-answers-volume-04\/32-17-march-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-32_17 March 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n17 March 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the workings of the universe whatever
\nhappens is the result of all that has happened before.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (26 May)<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

What do you mean by this? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

The universe is in
\nperpetual movement and it is the unfolding of the supreme Consciousness. So all that happens is conditioned by all that preceded it.<\/span>
\nThe universe continues to be what it is because of what it has been, and what
\nit has been was the result of what it was before. And what it will be… will
\nbe the consequence of what it is !<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Is the unfolding of the universe
\ncontinuous or does it stop somewhere ?<\/span> What is it that
\ngives us the impression of a beginning, of a decision to begin
\n?<\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

Where does the
\ndecision to begin come from?…<\/span> (laughing<\/i><\/span>) From the Supreme
\nprobably, I do not know !<\/span> It may be that one day He
\ndecided to have a universe of the type we have and He began to objectify
\nhimself in order to have a universe. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each element of
\nthis universe is eternal because the universe is the Eternal. Now, in the
\nEternal it is difficult to speak of a \u201cbeginning\u201d. Evidently It<\/span>
\nhas always been and It will always be. Only, take for example (this is an
\nimage, remember, do not make me say things I do not say), take a sphere which
\nis full of infinitesimal things in an incalculable number. If you change the
\nrelation of all these elements, well, the number is so great, the possibilities
\nof relations so many that you may easily speak of an infinite, although from a
\nphilosophical point of view it is not an infinite; yet from a descriptive point
\nof view one may say that it is infinite. Each element is eternal. All the
\ncombinations<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 217<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>are<\/span> infinite, but the
\nsame combination never repeats itself twice. Thus the universe is eternally new
\nand yet it is eternally the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

According to tradition it is said…<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, yes, but it
\nis not a question of tradition. There are people who speak of Pralaya<\/span>, I know, but that simply means (excuse me, but one
\nmust speak a little lightly, otherwise this becomes insufferable) that one day
\nperhaps the Supreme may feel tired, dissatisfied with the kind of universe He
\nhas made and may want to create another ! Then, as it is He Himself, He takes
\neverything back into Himself and puts it out again !<\/span>
\nThat is what people call \u201cpralaya<\/span>\u201d, but it changes
\nnothing: all the elements of the universe are eternal and eternally will the
\ncombinations be different. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

According to science, our physical world
\nof three dimensions is not infinite: it is bent back upon itself in a space of
\nmore than three dimensions. This closed universe of three dimensions is
\ncontinually expanding and all the objects of the universe are running away from
\neach other at a speed increasing with their distance. If one goes back into the
\npast, one reaches a time when the universe was almost condensed at one point
\nand that would give the key to the constitution of Matter of which the
\nninety-two elements have never been explained till now. This \u201ccondensed point\u201d
\nor \u201cprimitive atom\u201d goes back three or four billion years. This is what the
\nIndian tradition calls \u201cthe golden egg\u201d. But before that?<\/span>
\nNothing is known. Quite recently an American scientist has put forth the theory
\nthat this movement of infinite expansion will not continue,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

                \u00b9Pralaya,<\/font><\/span><\/span> or the end of the world.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 218<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that<\/span><\/i><\/span> a contrary movement will set in and all
\nwill be gathered back again. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

A universal
\nrespiration.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If one could travel
\nwith a ray of light coming from the sun to the earth, the departure and arrival
\nwould be simultaneous, for the traveller’s<\/span> \u201cproper
\ntime\u201d would be stopped. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Light seems to me
\nto be too material for this consciousness of simultaneity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Evidently when one
\nemerges from form and enters the \u201cfrontier\u201d state between form and the
\nFormless, everything is simultaneous, but this is very far from the density of
\nlight. <\/span><\/p>\n

I wonder (it is
\npossible, it is to be seen), but I doubt whether something physical could be
\ncapable of giving this simultaneous consciousness of the universe. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, no material object or being can
\ntravel at the speed of light, but supposing it to be possible, as the number of
\nlight-rays is practically infinite and covers the whole material universe, one
\nwould be able to know everything, apprehend everything.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

But that would not
\nbe a simultaneous integral knowledge of the universe, not even of the earth.
\nFor one who remembers the extra-terrestrial light, remembers the movements of
\nthe higher light, terrestrial light is slow, as it is dim. But this would
\nalready be an expression of something higher… I don’t know. <\/span><\/p>\n

Light is a very
\ngood symbol, but I do<\/span> not think it to be a total one. <\/span><\/p>\n

Is light faster
\nthan thought ?<\/span>…You cannot make a concrete experiment
\nwith thought. Sound is something very, very slow, but thought is already
\nsomething quicker than light… perhaps<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 219<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

not<\/span><\/span>. Thought gives
\nthe sensation of the instantaneous. Do you perceive thought in the physical
\nbody, for example? Do you perceive thought apart from a material quality ?<\/span> It remains to be seen, doesn’t it
\n?<\/span> Let me explain: if you go out of your body, if you go out of the vital
\nworld and enter the mental world, all relations are different from what they
\nare for thought when in the body. Compared with the body, thought seems an
\nimmediate thing like light, for example, even more than light. But when you
\nhave nothing to do with the physical any longer and you enter the mind itself,
\nthere are relations which may be rendered by a certain time and certain space
\nwhich do not exist for the physical consciousness but which exist for the
\nmental consciousness. That then would be, if you like, the explanation of what
\nyou were saying, that Time changes; for it is evident that in the universal
\nformation there is an infusion of progressive consciousness which is
\npsychologically translated by a relation with new worlds or new \u201cdimensions\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

For example, it is
\nsaid that for a certain period the terrestrial world was ruled by \u201covermental<\/span>\u201d forces and that this rule is going to be
\ntranscended, that the world will be governed by supramental<\/span>
\nforces; well, each time new forces descend upon earth, a change is produced and
\na change of consciousness must have a corresponding change of movement. You say
\nthat the movement of expansion becomes more and more swift; this means that the
\nworld is filled with a consciousness which makes the movements of the world
\nmore and more rapid. This would be altogether the material transcription of the
\nspiritual phenomenon. The earth is being charged more and more with forces
\ncoming from ever higher regions (for our consciousness), which means that they
\ncome faster and faster, giving more and more the sense of the instantaneous.
\nWhat has been discovered is a kind of physical symbolism of this phenomenon
\nwhich would tend to prove scientifically that the universe is in progress. <\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nother possibility is that it is a matter of a vibratory movement of inhaling
\nand exhaling<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>this
\nis quite possible; but <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 220<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the<\/span><\/span>
\nphenomenon of concentration would not necessarily mean a retrogression; it is
\nsimply a passage from one movement to another. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The stars are receding from one another at
\na speed that increases with their distance… What does this imply
\n?<\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

These are images,
\naren’t they ?<\/span> You can conceive of a universe becoming
\nbigger and bigger, but then what is it that will contain this universe ?<\/span> What would there be beyond this universe?…<\/span> Immediately our small human mind conceives of something
\nquite empty and a universe occupying more and more place in this void, which
\nmeans that there would be a space in this void, which is an absurdity. In fact,
\none should say, \u201cIt is as though\u201d, because that is not really what happens, it
\nis only a way of expressing it. To catch hold of a notion even a little bit
\naccurate, one must pass from the material to the psychological explanation, and
\neven if you arrive at the psychological, you are still very far from the truth,
\nwhich is neither psychological nor spatial, but something else which evidently
\nfinds it difficult to express itself in our terms. It is a well-known
\nexperience: each time one goes into a consciousness beyond our consciousness (I
\ncannot say spatial), our terrestrial consciousness (not even positively
\nterrestrial, but rather individual), each time one has an experience which
\ntranscends the individual consciousness, that is to say, transcends the
\nconsciousness of the part to enter a consciousness of the Whole, when one wants
\nto translate this experience, one finds all words empty of sense, because
\nlanguage has been formed to translate human experience for the human mind. We
\nhave all the necessary words, even with many shades and niceties, to express
\nhuman experience, since language has been made for that, but what language will
\nyou use to explain what is outside all language ? It is extremely difficult. So
\nyou say, \u201cIt is like this, it is like that\u201d, and while you are speaking you realise<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 221<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that<\/span><\/span> the experience is
\nbeing so completely distorted that at times you are understood to mean entirely
\nthe opposite.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

For this reason science is full of
\nparadoxes. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes,<\/span><\/span>
\nand all spiritual books which speak of the experiences of another world are
\nalways full of paradoxes. They say, \u201cIt is like this, it is like that\u201d, in an
\nattempt to give you a suppleness which will allow you to understand<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>but even so
\nyou do not understand. <\/span><\/p>\n

The
\ntruth is that these experiences can be communicated only in silence. <\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, it has
\nbeen said (and it is a true fact) that these worlds, like the supramental<\/span> world, are going to express themselves
\nphysically. Then what is going to happen ?<\/span> Will they
\nfind new words ?<\/span> New words must be found for them… It
\nis difficult, for if new words are found, they have to be explained
\n!<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

After
\nall, the ancient initiatory systems were good in a way, in the sense that they
\nrevealed the Knowledge only to those who had reached a stage where they could
\nreceive it directly without the help of words. And I’m afraid it may come to
\nthe same thing now<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>perhaps
\neven one who has this supramental<\/span> knowledge will
\nnever be able to make himself understood by people, unless they themselves
\nbecome capable of entering into this knowledge. And so the logical result is
\nthat people will say, as I have heard it said: \u201cOh! It is just as in ordinary
\nlife.\u201d Precisely because all that is not of the ordinary life completely
\nescapes our perception, it cannot be transmitted by words. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take
\na place like this, which is surcharged with certain forces, certain vibrations;
\nthese vibrations do not show themselves in visible and tangible things<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>they can
\nproduce changes, but as these changes occur according to a method (as all
\nphysical things do), you pass almost logically from one state to another and
\nthis logic prevents you from perceiving that there is something here which does
\nnot belong to normal life. Well, those who<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 222<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>have<\/span> no other
\nperception than that of the ordinary mind, who see things working out as they
\nhabitually do or seem to do in ordinary life, will tell you, \u201cOh that, that is
\nquite natural.\u201d If they have no other perception than the purely physical
\nperception, if they are not capable of feeling the quality of a vibration (some
\nfeel it vaguely, but those who are not even capable of feeling that, who have
\nnothing in them corresponding to that or, if they have something, it is not
\nawakened), they will look at the life here and tell you, \u201cIt is like the
\nphysical life<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>you
\nhave perhaps some ideas of your own, but there are many who have their own
\nideas; perhaps you do things in a special way, but there are lots of people who
\nalso do things in a special way. After all, it is a life like the one I live.\u201d
\n…And so, it may very well happen that at a given moment the supramental<\/span> Force manifests, that it is conscious here,
\nthat it acts on Matter, but those who do not consciously participate in its
\nvibration are incapable of perceiving it. People say, \u201cWhen the supramental<\/span> force manifests, we shall know it quite well.
\nIt will be seen\u201d<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>not
\nnecessarily. They will not feel it any more than those people of little
\nsensitivity who may pass through this place, even live here, without feeling
\nthat the atmosphere is different from elsewhere<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>who among you feels it in such a precise
\nway as to be able to affirm it?…You may feel in your heart, in your thought
\nthat it is not the same, but it is rather vague, isn’t it ?<\/span>
\nBut to have this precise perception…<\/span> Listen, as I
\nhad when I came from Japan: I was on the boat, at sea, not expecting anything
\n(I was of course busy with the inner life, but I was living physically on the
\nboat), when all of a sudden, abruptly, about two nautical miles from Pondicherry<\/span>, the quality, I may even say the physical
\nquality of the atmosphere, of the air, changed so much that I knew we were
\nentering the aura of Sri Aurobindo<\/span>. It was a physical
\nexperience and I guarantee that whoever has a sufficiently awakened consciousness
\ncan feel the same thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I had
\nthe contrary experience also, the first time that I went out in a car after
\nmany, many years here. When I reached a little<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 223<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>beyond<\/span> the lake, I
\nfelt all of a sudden that the atmosphere was changing; where there had been
\nplenitude, energy, light and force, all that diminished, diminished… and
\nthen… nothing. I was not in a mental or vital consciousness,<\/span>
\nI was in an absolutely physical consciousness. Well, those who are sensitive in
\ntheir physical consciousness ought to feel that quite concretely. And I can
\nassure you that the area we call \u201cthe Ashram\u201d has a condensation of force which
\nis not at all the same as that of the town, and still less that of the
\ncountryside. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>So, I ask you: this kind of condensation of
\nforce (which gives you quite a special vibration of consciousness), who is
\nthere that is really conscious of it?…<\/span> Many among
\nyou feel it vaguely, I know, even people from outside feel it vaguely; they get
\nan impression, they speak of it, but the precise consciousness, the scientific
\nconsciousness which could give you the exact measure of it, who has that ? I’m
\nnot alluding to anyone in particular,<\/span> each one can
\nlook into himself. And this, this condensation here is only a far-off
\nreflection of the supramental<\/span> force. So when this supramental<\/span> force will be installed here definitively, how
\nlong will it take for people to perceive that it is there ?<\/span>…
\nAnd that it changes everything, do you understand ?<\/span>
\nAnd when I say that the mind cannot judge, it is on facts like these that I
\nbase myself<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>the
\nmind is not an instrument of knowledge, it cannot know. A scientist can tell
\nyou the proportion of the different components in any particular atmosphere, he
\nanalyses it. But as for this proportion here, who can give it
\n?<\/span> Who can say: There is such a vibration, such a proportion of this,
\nsuch a proportion of that, such a proportion of the supramental<\/span><\/span> ?<\/span>… \u00a0<\/span>put the question to you so that you may ponder
\nover it. <\/span>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 224<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

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