{"id":4367,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:30","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4367"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:30","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:30","slug":"22-22-february-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\/22-22-february-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-22_22 February 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n22 February 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYoga means union with the Divine, and the
\nunion is effected through offering \u2013 it is founded on the offering of yourself
\nto the Divine.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (28 April)
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i>What is the
\ndifference between surrender and offering? <\/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

The two words are
\nalmost synonymous: \u201cI make the offering of myself and I surrender myself\u201d, but
\nin the gesture of offering there is something more active than in the gesture
\nof surrender. Unfortunately, soumission<\/i>,
\nin French, is not the true word; in English we use \u201csurrender\u201d; between the
\nwords \u201csurrender\u201d and \u201coffering\u201d there is hardly any difference. But the French
\nword \u201csoumission\u201d gives the impression of something more passive: you accept,
\nwhile offering is a giving \u2013 a voluntary giving. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the exact
\nmeaning of the word \u201cconsecration?\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cConsecration\u201d
\ngenerally has a more mystical sense but this is not absolute. A total
\nconsecration signifies a total giving of one’s self; hence it is the equivalent
\nof the word \u201csurrender\u201d, not of the word soumission<\/i>
\nwhich always gives the impression that one \u201caccepts\u201d passively. You feel a
\nflame in the word \u201cconsecration\u201d, a flame even greater than in the word
\n\u201coffering\u201d. To consecrate oneself is \u201cto give oneself to an action\u201d; hence, in
\nthe yogic sense, it is to give oneself to some divine work with the idea of
\naccomplishing the divine work. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

\n
\n\u201cWhen the resolution has been taken, when you
\nhave decided that the whole of your life shall be given \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 132<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the Divine, you have still at every moment
\nto remember it and carry it out in all the details of your existence. You must
\nfeel at every step that you belong to the Divine; you must have the constant
\nexperience that, in whatever you think or do, it is always the Divine
\nConsciousness that is acting through you. You have no longer anything that you
\ncan call your own; you feel everything as coming from the Divine, and you have
\nto offer it back to its source. When you can realise that, then even the
\nsmallest thing to which you do not usually pay much attention or care, ceases
\nto be trivial and insignificant; it becomes full of meaning and it opens up a
\nvast horizon beyond.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (28 April)
\n<\/font> <\/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

Because the least
\ndetail of life and action, each movement of thought, even of sensation, of
\nfeeling, which is normally of little importance, becomes different the moment
\nyou look at it asking yourself, \u201cDid I think this as an offering to the Divine,
\ndid I feel this as an offering to the Divine?… \u201c If you recall this every
\nmoment of your life, the attitude becomes quite different from what it was
\nbefore. It becomes very wide; it is a chain of innumerable little things each
\nhaving its own place, whilst formerly you used to let them go by without being
\naware of them. That widens the field of consciousness. If you take a half-hour
\nof your life and think of it, putting to yourself this question: \u201cIs it a
\nconsecration to the Divine?\u201d you will see that the small things become a big
\nthing and you will have the impression that life becomes rich and luminous. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Identification is
\nthe goal of Yoga. Can one say that surrender is the first step and offering the
\nsecond? <\/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

No, some begin
\nwith an offering and end with surrender. It depends upon the character of each
\none. You may perhaps begin
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 133<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

by having a
\nfeeling of inferiority \u2013 you are a little crushed by the grandeur of the
\nDivine, and then you feel a little freer and give with joy what you are. This
\nis not always so. Many begin by self-giving; for them the easiest movement is
\nto give themselves. In the beginning the giving is a little indefinite, then
\none has to make an effort at times to surrender in detail; you can give
\nyourself with much enthusiasm, but when at every step you have to submit to the
\nhigher Will, the thing becomes more difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Does not offering
\nimply surrender? <\/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

Not at all. You
\ncan give for the joy of giving, without any idea of surrender. In a movement of
\nenthusiasm, when you have glimpsed something infinitely higher than yourself,
\nyou can give yourself in an <\/span>\u00e9<\/span>lan, but when it is a question of living
\nthat every minute, of surrendering oneself every minute to the higher Will and
\nwhen every minute requires this surrender, it is more difficult. But if by
\n\u201coffering\u201d you mean the integral offering of all your movements, all your
\nactivities, that is equivalent to surrender, without implying it necessarily.
\nBut then it is no longer a movement made in enthusiasm, it is something which
\nhas to be realised in detail. One may say that any movement made in ardour and
\nenthusiasm is relatively easy (that depends upon the intensity of the movement
\nin you), but when it is a question of realising one’s aspiration every minute
\nof one’s life and in all its details, the enthusiasm recedes a little and one
\nfeels the difficulty. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is there an experience which proves that
\none is living in the presence of the Divine? <\/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

Once one begins to
\nlive in the presence of the Divine, one does not question any longer. It
\ncarries its own certitude \u2013 one feels, one knows, and it becomes impossible to
\nquestion. One lives in <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 134<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the presence of
\nthe Divine and it is for you an absolute fact. Till then you ask, because you
\ndo not have the experience, but once you have the experience, it has such an
\nauthority that it is indisputable. One who says, \u201cI think I live in the
\npresence of the Divine but I am not sure\u201d, has not had the true experience, for
\nas soon as one has the inner shock of this experience, no more questioning is
\npossible. It is like those who ask, \u201cWhat is the divine Will?\u201d As long as you
\nhave not glimpsed this Will, you cannot know. One may have an idea of it
\nthrough deduction, inference, etc…, but once you have felt the precise
\ncontact with the divine Will, this too is not disputable any longer \u2013 you know.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I add, so that there may not be any
\nmisunderstanding: all experience has its worth only in the measure of the
\nsincerity of the one who has it. Some are not sincere and fabricate wonderful
\nexperiences, and they imagine they have them. I put all that aside, it is not
\ninteresting. But for sincere people who have a sincere experience, once you
\nhave the experience of the divine presence, the whole world may tell you it is
\nnot true, and you will not budge. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>If you are not sincere, you may have wonderful
\nexperiences, but these have no value either for you or for others. You should
\ndistrust your thought a good deal, for the mind is a wonderful constructor and
\nit can give you wonderful experiences solely by its work of formation; but
\nthese experiences have no value. It is hence preferable not to know beforehand
\nwhat is going to happen. For even with a great will to be sincere, the mind
\nfabricates so much and so well that it can present to you a wonderful picture
\nor even play for you a splendid comedy without your being aware of it, by its
\nsheer power of formation, and it is very difficult to find out. Hence one
\nessential condition for having true experiences: leave this machine in
\nquietness; the less it moves, the better it is, and beware of everything it
\nimagines for you. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 135<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

What is the
\ndifference between aspiration and a demand? <\/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

When you have
\nexperienced both, you can easily make the distinction. In aspiration there is
\nwhat I might call an unselfish flame which is not present in desire. Your
\naspiration is not a turning back upon self \u2013 desire is always a turning back
\nupon oneself. From the purely psychological point of view, aspiration is a
\nself-giving, always, while desire is always something which one draws to
\noneself; aspiration is something which gives itself, not necessarily in the
\nform of thought but in the movement, in the vibration, in the vital impulse. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>True aspiration does not come from the head;
\neven when it is formulated by a thought, it springs up like a flame from the
\nheart. I do not know if you have read the articles Sri Aurobindo has written on
\nthe Vedas. He explains somewhere that these hymns were not written with the
\nmind; they were not, as one thinks, prayers, but the expression of an
\naspiration which was an impulse, like a flame coming from the heart (though it
\nis not the \u201cheart\u201d but the psychological centre of the being, to use the exact
\nwords). They were not \u201cthought out\u201d, words were not set to experiences, the
\nexperience came wholly formulated with the precise, exact, inevitable words \u2013
\nthey could not be changed. This is the very nature of aspiration: you do not
\nseek to formulate it, it springs up from you like a ready flame. And if there
\nare words (sometimes there aren’t any), they cannot be changed: you cannot
\nreplace one word by another, every word is just the apt one. When the
\naspiration is formulated, this is done categorically, absolutely, without any
\npossibility of change. And it is always something that springs up and gives
\nitself, whereas the very nature of desire is to pull things to oneself. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>The essential difference between love in
\naspiration and love in desire is that love in aspiration gives itself entirely
\nand asks nothing in return \u2013 it does not claim anything; whereas love in desire
\ngives itself as little as possible, asks as much as possible, <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 136<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>it pulls things to itself and always makes
\ndemands. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Aspiration always
\ngives joy, doesn’t it? <\/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

Rather a feeling
\nof plenitude \u2013 \u201cjoy\u201d is a misleading word; a feeling of plenitude, of force, of
\nan inner flame which fills you. Aspiration can give you joy, but a very special
\njoy, which has no excitement in it. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Are the soul and
\nthe psychic being one and the same thing? <\/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

That depends on
\nthe definition you give to the words. In most religions, and perhaps in most
\nphilosophies also, it is the vital being which is called \u201csoul\u201d, for it is said
\nthat \u201cthe soul leaves the body\u201d, while it is the vital being which leaves the
\nbody. One speaks of \u201csaving the soul\u201d, \u201cwicked souls\u201d, \u201credeeming the
\nsoul\u201d…but all that applies to the vital being, for the psychic being has no
\nneed to be saved! It does not share the faults of the external person, it is
\nfree from all reaction. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When one works and wants to do one’s best,
\none needs much time. But generally we don’t have much time, we are in a hurry.
\nHow to do one’s best when one is in a hurry? <\/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

It is a very
\ninteresting subject and I wanted to speak to you about it in detail, one day.
\nGenerally when men are in a hurry, they do not do completely what they have to
\ndo or they do badly what they do. Well, there is a third way, it is to
\nintensify one’s concentration. If you do that you can gain half the time, even
\nfrom a very short time. Take a very ordinary example: to have your bath and to
\ndress; the time needed varies with people, doesn’t it? But let us say, half an
\nhour is required for doing everything without losing time and without hurrying. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 137<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Then, if you are
\nin a hurry, one of two things happens: you don’t wash so well or you dress
\nbadly! But there is another way \u2013 to concentrate one’s attention and one’s
\nenergy, think only of what one is doing and not of anything else, not to make a
\nmovement too much, to make the exact movement in the most exact way, and (it is
\nan experience lived, I can speak of it with certitude) you can do in fifteen
\nminutes what you were formerly doing in half an hour, and do it as well, at
\ntimes even better, without forgetting anything, without leaving out anything,
\nsimply by the intensity of the concentration. <\/span><\/p>\n

And this is the
\nbest answer to all those who say, \u201cOh, if one wants to do things well, one must
\nhave time.\u201d This is not true. For all that you do \u2013 study, play, work \u2013 there
\nis only one solution: to increase one’s power of concentration. And when you
\nacquire this concentration, it is no longer tiring. Naturally, in the
\nbeginning, it creates a tension, but when you have grown used to it, the
\ntension diminishes, and a moment comes when what fatigues you is to be not thus
\nconcentrated, to disperse yourself, allow yourself to be swallowed by all kinds
\nof things, and not to concentrate on what you do. One can succeed in doing
\nthings even better and more quickly by the power of concentration. And in this
\nway you can make use of work as a means of growth; otherwise you have this
\nvague idea that work must be done \u201cdisinterestedly\u201d, but there is a great
\ndanger there, for one is very quick to confuse disinterestedness with
\nindifference.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 138<\/span><\/p>\n

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

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