{"id":4381,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4381"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:36","slug":"34-22-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\/34-22-march-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-34_22 March 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n22
\nMarch 1951 <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You say that \u201ctime is relative\u201d. What does
\nthat mean ? <\/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 sense
\nof the length of time depends upon your consciousness. If you are in the
\nordinary human consciousness, time is measured by the number of years you
\nexpect to live. So, what requires, let us say, fifty years to be realised,
\nseems terribly long, for you think, \u201cFifty years… where will I be in fifty
\nyears?\u201d Even without your being clearly aware of it, it is there in your
\nconsciousness. But if simply you look from the point of view of a mental
\nconsciousness, of something which lasts like a written work, for instance<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>a work of
\ntruly fine quality can last for hundreds and even thousands of years; so, if
\nyou are told, \u201cFor your ideas to spread it will take a hundred years\u201d, this
\nwill not seem to you so very long. And if you succeed in uniting your
\nconsciousness with the psychic consciousness, a life is only one moment among
\nso many similar moments which have gone before; and so one life more or less is
\nnot of much importance. And if, still further, you unite with the consciousness
\nof eternity, time no longer has any reality. <\/span><\/p>\n

All is relative. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When one is conscious of the different
\nparts of the being, what part is it which is conscious? <\/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 probably not
\nalways the same. Usually the work of becoming aware ought to be done by the
\npsychic, but it is rarely the psychic. More often it is a part of the mind,
\nmore or less enlightened, which has acquired the capacity to stand back a
\nlittle and look at the rest. But you know it well: if you are conscious in your
\nmind, one part of the mind says one thing and the other replies, and there is
\nan endless discussion between the two parts. Many people have these dialogues
\nin their mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 232<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It
\nis difficult to say generally what is conscious; but naturally, if something
\nobserves, it is always the \u201cwitness\u201d element in this part<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>in each
\npart of the being there is something which is a \u201cwitness\u201d, which looks on.
\nThere is even a physical witness which can get very much in the way; for
\ninstance, if it watches you playing, this can paralyse you considerably. There
\nis also a vital witness which looks at you, sees your desires and enjoys highly
\nall that happens; it acts also as a brake. There is the mental witness which
\njudges ideas, which says, \u201cThis idea contradicts this other\u201d, and which
\narranges everything. Then there is the great psychic Witness, who is the inner
\ndivinity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes
\nthere is no relation among these different witnesses<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>there ought to be, but it is not always
\nthere. But if there is in the being a will to become perfect, the relation is
\nestablished quite quickly; one can refer to another and finally, if there is a
\nsufficient sincerity, sufficient concentration, you come to the supreme inner
\nWitness who can judge all things. But generally it may be said that it is
\nalways a part of the mind, more or less enlightened, in a little closer contact
\nwith the inner being, which observes and judges. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is consciousness ? <\/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

(After a silence<\/i>) I am trying to choose
\namong several explanations ! One, which is a joke, is that consciousness is the
\nopposite of unconsciousness ! Another… it is the creative essence of the
\nuniverse<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>without
\nconsciousness, no universe; for consciousness means objectification. I could
\nalso say that consciousness is what \u201cis\u201d, because without consciousness nothing
\nis this is the best reason. Without consciousness no life, no light, no
\nobjectification, no creation, no universe. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Perhaps there is in the unmanifest Supreme a
\nconsciousness (but when one speaks of these questions one begins to say
\nimpossible things); it is said that, to begin with, the Supreme became aware of
\nhimself (which would mean that he was not<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 233<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

conscious
\nof himself before ! that he was in a state we cannot call \u201cconscious\u201d), that
\nhis first movement was to become aware of himself and once having become
\nconscious of himself, he projected this consciousness, which formed the
\ncreation. At least, this is what old tradition says. Grant that there never was
\na beginning, for it is a human way of putting it: the \u201cbeginning\u201d is the
\nSupreme<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>the
\nunmanifest Supreme becoming aware of himself. Perhaps he found that this
\nconsciousness was not altogether satisfactory\u00a0
\n<\/span>(!) and he projected it, not outside himself for nothing is outside him,
\nbut he changed it into an active consciousness so that it would become an objectification
\nof himself. Consequently, it can be said with certitude that Consciousness is
\nthe origin of all creation; there you are as exact as you can ever be with
\nwords. Consciousness is the origin of all creation without consciousness, no
\ncreation. And what we call \u201cconsciousness\u201d is just a far-off contact, without
\nprecision and exactness, with the supreme Consciousness. Or if you like, it is
\nthe reflection, in a not very exact or pure mirror, of the original
\nConsciousness. What we call our consciousness is this original Consciousness
\nreflected in a somewhat foggy mirror (sometimes very foggy, sometimes very
\ndeformed), a reflection in the individual mirror. Then through this reflection,
\nif we go back slowly to the origin of what is reflected, we can enter into
\ncontact with the Consciousness<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>the True Consciousness. And once we come into contact
\nwith the True Consciousness, we become aware that it is the same everywhere,
\nthat it is only deformation which divides it; without deformation everything is
\ncontained in one and the same Consciousness. That is, it is only distortion,
\nthe reflection in a distorting mirror, which brings about difference and
\ndivision in the Consciousness, otherwise it is one single Consciousness. But it
\nis only by experience that one can understand these things. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What are the
\ntwelve senses? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9In the preceding talk Mother spoke of \u201ctwelve
\nsenses\u201d.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 234<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

We are
\ngranted five, aren’t we ? In any case, there is one other which, precisely, has
\na relation with consciousness. I don’t know if you have ever been told this, but
\na person who is blind, for instance, who does not see, can become aware of an
\nobject at some distance through a kind of perception which is not touch for he
\ndoes not feel it, which is not vision for he does not see, but which is a
\ncontact<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>something
\nthat enables him to make a contact without hearing, seeing or touching. This is
\none of the most developed senses apart from those we habitually use. There is
\nanother sense, a sort of sense of proximity: when one comes close to a thing,
\none feels it as if one had contacted it. Another sense, which is also physical,
\nputs you in touch with events at a great distance; it is a physical sense for
\nit belongs to the physical world, it is not purely mental: there is a
\nsensation. Some people have a sort of sensation of contact with what is
\nhappening at a very great distance. You must not forget that in the physical
\nconsciousness there are several levels; there is a physical vital and a
\nphysical mind which are not solely corporeal. Foresight on the material plane
\nis also one of the physical senses… We have, then, something that sees at a
\nshort distance, something that sees at a long distance and something that sees
\nahead; this already makes three. These are a sort of improvement of the senses
\nwe have; as for instance, hearing at a great distance<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>there are people who can hear noises at a
\ngreat distance, who can smell at a great distance. It is a kind of perfecting
\nof these senses. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Which sense is used in water-divining ? <\/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
\nperception is different with each individual. For some, it is as though they
\nsaw the water; for others, as though they got the smell of water; and for
\nothers yet, it is a kind of intuition from the mental field; but then it is not
\na physical perception, it is a sort of direct knowledge. There was a man here
\nwho used to say he smelt water; he had an instrument, but it was only a
\npretext… <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 235<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It is like
\na rod which bends, you know; try as you may to be as passive as possible, you
\nwill always make a slight movement when you have the feeling that something is
\nthere. I have tried this experiment many times: you give the rod to someone,
\nyou ask him to walk; you are silent, the man is silent, quite concentrated;
\nthen, suddenly, you think powerfully: \u201cHere there is water\u201d and hop ! The rod
\nmakes a little movement<\/span>
\n\u2013 it<\/span> is quite evident that it is your suggestion. I had
\nthought thus, without having the least idea that there was water there, simply
\nto make an experiment; and in the hand of the dowser the rod came down; he had
\nreceived the suggestion in his subconscient. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If one is sufficiently quiet, the nerves
\ncan receive the vibrations of the water ?<\/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

But there was no
\nwater ! It was I who had thought<\/i>
\nthere was water (there may have been water there, I don’t know, I did not tell
\nthem to dig and see). But the experiment proves that it was simply my thought
\nwhich had worked on the fingers holding the rod, and the rod had come down…
\nYou could also tell me that I had thought of water because it was there ! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There are animals with very developed
\nsenses, aren’t there ? <\/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

Ah ! Yes, there
\nare animals which are much more advanced than we. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I knew an elephant which led us straight
\nto the water when we were tiger-shooting<\/span><\/i>. <\/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

Animals have much
\nmore perfect senses than those of men. I challenge you to track a man as a dog
\ndoes, for instance ! <\/span><\/p>\n

This
\nmeans that in the curve or rather the spiral of evolution, animals (and more so
\nthose we call \u201chigher\u201d animals, because they<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 236<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>resemble us more closely) are governed by the
\nspirit of the species which is a highly conscious consciousness. Bees, ants,
\nobey this spirit of the species which is of quite a special quality. And what
\nis called \u201cinstinct\u201d in animals is simply obedience to the spirit of the
\nspecies which always knows what ought and ought not to be done. There are so
\nmany examples, you know. You put a cow in a meadow; it roams around, sniffs,
\nand suddenly puts out its tongue and snatches a blade of grass. Then it wanders
\nabout again, sniffs and gets another tuft of grass, and so it goes on. Has
\nanyone ever known a cow under these conditions to eat poisonous grass ? But
\nshut this poor animal up in a cow-shed, gather and put some grass before it,
\nand the poor creature which has lost its instinct because it now obeys man
\n(excuse me), eats the poisonous grass along with the rest of it. We have
\nalready had three such cases here, three cows which died from having eaten
\npoisonous grass. And these unfortunate animals, like all animals, have a kind
\nof respect (which I could call unjustifiable) for the superiority of man<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>if he puts
\npoisonous grass before the cow and tells it to eat, it eats it ! But left to
\nitself, that is, without anything interfering between it and the spirit of the
\nspecies, it would never do so. All animals which live close to man lose their
\ninstinct because they have a kind of admiration full of devotion for this being
\nwho can give them shelter and food without the least difficulty<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>and a
\nlittle fear too, for they know that if they don’t do what man wants they will
\nbe beaten !<\/span><\/p>\n

It is quite
\nstrange, they lose their ability. Dogs, for instance the sheep-dog which lives
\nfar away from men with the flocks and has a very independent nature (it comes
\nhome from time to time and knows its master well, but often does not see him),
\nif it is bitten by a snake, it will remain in a corner, lick itself and do all
\nthat is necessary till it gets cured. The same dog, if it stays with you and is
\nbitten by a snake, dies quietly like man. <\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nhad a very sweet little cat, absolutely civilised, a marvellous cat. It was
\nborn in the house and it had the habit all cats<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 237<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

have, that
\nis to say, if something moved, it played with that. Just then there was in the
\nhouse a huge scorpion; as was its habit, the cat started playing with the
\nscorpion. And the scorpion stung it. But it was an exceptional cat; it came to
\nme, it was almost dying, but it showed me its paw where it was bitten<\/span> \u2013 it<\/span> was
\nalready swollen and in a terrible state. I took my little cat<\/span> \u2013 it<\/span> was really
\nsweet<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>and
\nput it on a table and called Sri Aurobindo. I told him, \u201cKiki has been stung by
\na scorpion, it must be cured.\u201d The cat stretched its neck and looked at Sri Aurobindo,
\nits eyes already a little glassy. Sri Aurobindo sat before it and looked at it
\nalso. Then we saw this little cat gradually beginning to recover, to come
\naround, and an hour later it jumped to its feet and went away completely
\nhealed… In those days, I had the habit of holding a meditation in the room
\nwhere Sri Aurobindo slept (the room A uses now) and it was regularly the same
\npeople who came; everything was arranged. But there was an arm-chair in which
\nthis very cat always settled beforehand<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>did not wait for anyone to get into the
\nchair, it got in first itself! And regularly it went into a trance ! It was not
\nsleeping, it was not in the pose cats take when sleeping: it was in a trance,
\nit used to start up, it certainly had visions. And it let out little sounds. It
\nwas in a profound trance. It remained thus for hours together. And when it came
\nout from that state, it refused to eat. It was awakened and given food, but it
\nrefused: it went back to its chair and fell again into a trance ! This was becoming
\nvery dangerous for a little cat… But this was not an ordinary cat.<\/span><\/p>\n

To finish my
\nstory, if you leave an animal in its normal state, far from man, it obeys the
\nspirit of the species, it has a very sure instinct and it will never commit any
\nstupidities. But if you take it and keep it with you, it loses its instinct,
\nand it is then you who must look after it, for it no longer knows what should
\nor should not be done. I was interested in cats to make an experiment, a sort
\nof inverse metempsychosis, if one can call it that, that is, to see if this
\ncould be their last incarnation as <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 238<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

animals, if they
\nwere ready to enter a human body in the next life. The experiment succeeded
\nfully, I had three absolutely flagrant instances; they left with a psychic
\nbeing sufficiently conscious to enter a human body. But this is not what men
\nordinarily do; what they usually do is to spoil the consciousness or rather the
\ninstinct of animals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font>Page – 239<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

22 March 1951 \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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You say that \u201ctime is relative\u201d. What does that mean ? \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 The sense of the length of time depends upon…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","wpcat-124-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4381","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=4381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}