{"id":4384,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:37","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4384"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:37","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:37","slug":"03-25-december-1950-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\/03-25-december-1950-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-03_25 December 1950.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n25 December 1950<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A disciple explains to the children that the
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

shortest<\/font><\/span><\/span> day of the year corresponds to the
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

greatest<\/font><\/span><\/span> declination of the sun to the south,<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/span>about<\/span> the 21st of December; then the sun <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

again<\/font><\/span><\/span>
\nmounts to the north. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother comments: <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That is why the
\n25th of December was a festival of Light long before Jesus Christ. This
\nfestival was in vogue long before Christianity; it originated in <\/span>Egypt<\/span> and very probably
\nthe birthday of Christ was fixed on the same day as that of the return of the
\nLight. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nThen Mother reads
\nthe first part of her article <\/span><\/font> <\/p>\n


\n\u201cEnergy
\nInexhaustible\u201d (On Education<\/i>).<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How is it that as mental activities increase<\/span>, the capacity to renew one’s energies diminishes? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In adults mental
\nactivity tends to paralyse the spontaneous movement of exchange of energies.
\nTill he is<\/span> fourteen, every child, apart from a few
\nrare exceptions, is a little animal; he renews his energies spontaneously like
\nan animal by means of the same activities and exchanges. But the mind introduces
\na disequilibrium<\/span> in the being; spontaneous action is
\nreplaced by something that wants to know, to regulate, to decide, etc…, and
\nto get back this capacity to renew spontaneously one’s energies, one must rise
\nto a higher rung above the instincts, that is, from ordinary mental activity
\none must pass directly into intuition.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cYet there is a source of energy which, once
\ndiscovered, never dries up, whatever the circumstances and the physical
\nconditions in life. It is the energy that can be described as spiritual, that
\nwhich is received not<\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 6<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>from<\/span> below, from the depths of inconscience, but from above,
\nfrom the supreme origin of men and the universe, from the all-powerful and
\neternal splendours of the superconscious. It is there, everywhere around us,
\npenetrating everything and to enter into contact with it and receive it, it is
\nsufficient to sincerely aspire for it, to open oneself to it in faith and
\nconfidence so as to enlarge one’s consciousness for identifying it with the
\nuniversal Consciousness.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy Inexhaustible\u201d, On Education<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

In these articles
\nI am trying to put into ordinary terms the whole yogic terminology, for these
\nBulletins are meant more for people who lead an ordinary life, though also for
\nstudents of yoga \u2013 I mean people who are primarily interested in a purely
\nphysical material life but who try to attain more perfection in their physical
\nlife than is usual in ordinary conditions. It is a very difficult task but it
\nis a kind of yoga. These people call themselves \u201cmaterialists\u201d and they are apt
\nto get agitated or irritated if yogic terms are used, so one must speak their
\nlanguage avoiding terms likely to shock them. But I have known in my life
\npersons who called themselves \u201cmaterialists\u201d and yet followed a much severer
\ndiscipline than those who claim to do yoga. <\/span><\/p>\n

What we want is
\nthat humanity should progress; whether it professes to lead a yogic life or not
\nmatters little, provided it makes the necessary effort for progress. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the difference between meditation
\nand concentration? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Meditation is a
\npurely mental activity,<\/span> it interests only the mental
\nbeing. One can concentrate while meditating but this is a mental concentration;
\none can get a silence but it is a purely mental silence, and the other parts of
\nthe being are kept immobile and inactive so as not to disturb the meditation.
\nYou <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 7<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

may pass twenty hours
\nof the day in meditation and for the remaining four hours you will be an
\naltogether ordinary man because only the mind has been occupied \u2013 the rest of
\nthe being, the vital and the physical, is kept under pressure so that it may
\nnot disturb. In meditation nothing is directly done for the other parts of the
\nbeing. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Certainly this indirect action can have an
\neffect, but…I have known in my life people whose capacity
\nfor meditation was<\/span> remarkable but who, when not in meditation, were
\nquite ordinary men, even at times ill-natured people, who would become furious
\nif their meditation was disturbed. For they had learnt to
\nmaster only their mind, not the rest of their being.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Concentration is a more active state.
\nYou may concentrate mentally, you may concentrate vitally, psychically,
\nphysically, and you may concentrate integrally. Concentration or the capacity
\nto gather oneself at one point is more difficult than meditation. You may
\ngather together one portion of your being or consciousness or you may gather
\ntogether the whole of your consciousness or even fragments of it, that is, the
\nconcentration may be partial, total or integral, and in each case the result
\nwill be different. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>If you have the capacity to concentrate,
\nyour meditation will be more interesting and easier. But one can meditate
\nwithout concentrating. Many follow a chain of ideas in their meditation \u2013 it is
\nmeditation, not concentration. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it possible to distinguish the moment
\nwhen one attains perfect concentration from the moment when, starting from this
\nconcentration, one opens oneself to the universal Energy? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes. You concentrate
\non something or simply you gather yourself together as much as is possible for
\nyou and when you attain a kind of perfection in concentration, if you can
\nsustain this perfection for a sufficiently long time, then a door opens and
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 8<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

you<\/span><\/span> pass beyond the
\nlimit of your ordinary consciousness \u2013 you enter into a deeper and higher
\nknowledge. Or you go within. Then you may experience a kind of dazzling light,
\nan inner wonder, a beatitude<\/span>, a complete knowledge, a
\ntotal silence. There are, of course, many possibilities but the phenomenon is
\nalways the same. <\/span><\/p>\n

To have this
\nexperience all depends upon your capacity to maintain your concentration
\nsufficiently long at its highest point of perfection. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

To have this experience is it necessary to
\nconcentrate every time? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In the beginning,
\nyes, for you have not the capacity to keep what you have acquired, to maintain
\nyour concentration at its maximum \u2013 you slip back and lose even the memory of
\nthe experience you have had. But if you once follow a path, it is easier to
\nfollow the same path a second time and so on. The second concentration is
\ntherefore easier than the first one. You must persevere in your concentration
\ntill you come to the point when you no longer lose the inner contact. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>From that time onward you must remain in this
\ninner and higher consciousness from where you can do everything. You see your
\nbody and the material world and you know what is to be done and how to do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>That is the first aim of concentration, but
\nnaturally not the last. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>To attain that concentration much effort
\nis necessary; an immediate or even a quick result is rarely possible. But if
\nthe inner door has once been opened, you may be sure that it will open again if
\nyou know how to persevere. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>As long as the door has not been opened,
\nyou may doubt your capacity, but once opened, no more doubt is possible, if you
\ngo on willing and aspiring. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This experience has a considerable value. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 9<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

What does \u201cMother of Dreams\u201d\u00b9<\/span><\/i> <\/span>mean?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When he speaks of
\nthe \u201cimmobile and serene Consciousness\u201d, Sri Aurobindo often uses poetic terms
\nwhich are very suggestive. He has used the term \u201cMother of Dreams\u201d because he
\nhas put himself in the place of one who is below, one who sees, perceives
\nsomething mysterious, altogether wonderful, inaccessible and almost
\nincomprehensible; but if you look from another point of view, you may say that
\nit is the creative Consciousness, the Origin of the universe, the universal
\nMother, the creative Power, and so on. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When we play badly we find that we have no
\nenergy, but if we play well, with great enthusiasm, we find that energy comes.
\nWhy? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This is perfectly
\ntrue. To enter into contact with terrestrial energy, one must establish a
\ncertain harmony within oneself. If you know the game well, if you know how to
\nmake the moves and if you take an enthusiastic interest, if you have a sort of
\nambition (quite childish perhaps), a desire to win, then as you go on
\nsucceeding you feel a kind of inner joy, not perhaps very profound, but
\ncreating the harmony necessary for the interchange of energy. On the other
\nhand, those who do not know how to accept defeat, who<\/span>
\nget angry and bad-tempered when things do not go according to their wish, lose
\ntheir energy more and more. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Also, if you slip into depression, you cut
\nevery source of energy \u2013 from above, from below, from everywhere. That is the
\nbest way of falling into inertia. You must absolutely refuse to be depressed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Depression is always the sign of an
\nacute egoism. When you feel that it is coming near, tell yourself: \u201cI am in a
\nstate of egoistic illness,<\/span> I must cure myself of it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>\u00b9 Sri Aurobindo, \u201cThe Mother of Dreams\u201d, Collected
\nPoems, p. 67 <\/font><\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 10<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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