{"id":4386,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4386"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:38","slug":"23-24-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\/23-24-february-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-23_24 February 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n
\n24 February 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font>
\n <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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

The other day I
\nsaid that most of the time people do not have their psychic being within them.
\nI would like to explain this in greater detail…You must remember that the inner
\nbeings are not in the third dimension. If you open up your body you will find
\nonly the viscera of the body which are in the third dimension. The inner beings
\nare in another dimension, and when I say that some men do not have their
\npsychic being within them, I do not mean that it is not at the centre of their
\nbeing, but that their outer consciousness is so small, so limited, so obscure
\nthat it is not able to keep a contact, not only conscious but intimate, with
\nthe psychic being which extends beyond it in every way; it is so much higher
\nand deeper than the other outer consciousness that there is no relation either
\nof quality or of nature between them. Religions say that you have a divine
\nspark in you \u2013 it is well they call it a \u201cspark\u201d, for it is so small indeed
\nthat it can be placed anywhere in the body without difficulty. But this does
\nnot mean that it is in the body: it is within the consciousness in another
\ndimension, and there are beings who have a contact with it, others who haven’t.
\nBut if you come to the divine Presence in the atom, the image is easier to
\nunderstand, for there you touch so infinitesimal a domain that you are on the
\nborder-line where you can no longer distinguish between two, three, four or
\nfive dimensions. If you study modern physics you will understand what I mean.
\nThe movements constituting an atom are, in the matter of size, so imperceptible
\nthat they cannot be understood with our three-dimensional understanding, the
\nmore so as they follow laws which elude completely this three-dimensional idea.
\nSo if you take refuge there, you may say that the divine spark is at the centre
\nof each atom and you won’t be far from the truth; but I was not speaking of the
\ndivine spark, I was speaking of the being, the psychic consciousness, which is
\nanother thing. The psychic being is an entity <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 139<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

which has a form;
\nit is organised around a central consciousness and, having a form it has a
\ndimension, but a dimension of another kind than the third dimension of the
\nouter consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is often said that children enter into
\npossession of their psychic being when they are about seven. What does this
\nmean exactly? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is not
\ncorrect. There are people whose psychic being watches over their formation
\nbefore their birth, even before they are in the womb of their mother. There are
\nchildren whose psychic being comes into contact with them at the very moment
\nthey utter their first cry. There are also people whose psychic being comes a
\nfew hours after their birth, or some days after, or some weeks, some months,
\nsome years after or…never! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You told me once that one must not ask a
\nchild to make a mental effort before the age of seven. <\/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 is quite
\ndifferent. There it is a question only of the formation of the physical brain
\nwhich develops slowly, little by little. If you ask of a brain in formation an
\neffort beyond its capacity, you tire it, you overwork it or you make it ill. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You say that the
\npsychic being is the same thing as the divine spark…<\/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, I never said
\nthat \u2013 it would be foolish! The psychic being is organised around<\/i> the divine spark. The divine spark is one, universal, the
\nsame everywhere and in everything, one and infinite, of the same kind in all.
\nYou cannot say that it is a being \u2013 it is the
\nbeing<\/i>, if you like, but not a being. Naturally, if you go back to the
\norigin, you may say that there is only one soul, for the origin of all souls is
\nthe same, as the origin of the whole universe is the same, as the origin of the
\nentire creation is the <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 140<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

same. But the
\npsychic being is an individual, personal being with its own experience, its own
\ndevelopment, its own growth, its own organisation; only, this organisation is
\nthe product of the action of a central divine spark. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>But the day an external being (physical,
\nmental, vital) enters into direct and constant contact with the psychic being,
\none may say in the same way that the physical<\/i>
\nbeing of this person is organised by the central divine consciousness. The
\nmoment you put yourself in contact with it, submit yourself to it, you are
\norganised by it, by the central divine consciousness; one may say that the body
\nis organised by it, but it is a body<\/i>,
\nnot a soul. The fact of being organised by this divine spark does not make it a
\nsoul. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is there a psychic
\nbeing in the atom? <\/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

No, it is not yet
\nthere. It can be said that there is a possibility of psychic consciousness in
\nMatter \u2013 the diffusion of the divine Consciousness had only one object: to make
\npossible an organisation which would be under the direct influence of the
\nDivine. That is why it passes over all the worlds of disorder.\u00b9 It may hence be
\nsaid that the Origin of the soul is also in the atom, in all the elements
\nconstituting the atom, but it is only the Origin…I must tell you that when it
\nis fully formed, the psychic being has a distinct form which corresponds to our
\nphysical form. It is not altogether similar, but it has a definite form. Every
\npsychic being is different from another \u2013 they are not all cut out, modeled to
\none pattern. They are different, each has an individuality, a personality. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span>\u00b9At the time
\nof the publication of this talk, Mother added the following note for the sake
\nof precision: \u201cSome parts of the vital are worlds of disorder and the beings
\ninhabiting the vital have no psychic being. The psychic being exists only upon
\nearth, in the physical world. That is why I said in brief that the divine
\nspark, which organises the psychic, passed over the worlds of disorder and
\nmanifested itself directly in the physical world to create there this
\npossibility of organisation around the divine spark.\u201d<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 141<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Mother reads a question asked during her talk <\/span><\/p>\n

in 1929: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDo many remember that they have passed
\nover [to the other side] and are back again?\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I was seriously ill, unconscious for two
\nhours, and I had the impression that I had gone over to the other side, that I
\nwas in a different world. When I came back to myself, I had the impression of
\nhaving made a long journey in a world quite different from the one where I
\nnormally lived. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It was a partial exteriorisation; it was not a
\ntotal exteriorisation which indeed causes death. If one goes out entirely, that
\nis, if there is a complete separation from the body and one is really dead, and
\nthen one comes back, that causes such an intense suffering that one cannot
\nforget it. It is said that babies cry when they come into the world because the
\nfirst contact with air makes them cry, but I think it is something else. The
\nre-entry into the body causes a kind of friction, for what goes out has to be
\nsomething very material if it is to bring about death, something even more
\nmaterial than the subtle physical, and this friction is extremely painful.
\nOtherwise one may be externally unconscious, but one is not dead for all that.
\nIt is only when something extremely material goes out of the body and all ties
\nare broken that there is truly \u201cdeath\u201d. And that is why (I believe we are
\nbeginning to discover it) people do not die till six or seven days after their
\ndeath. That is, they are not \u201cdead\u201d as long as the body remains intact, but
\nonly when a part of the body begins to decompose. Hence during this period,
\nsomeone who has the necessary knowledge, power and capacity may \u201craise\u201d a
\nperson in such a state. I believe this explains most of the cases of
\n\u201cmiraculous\u201d resurrection. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 142<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

A person was dead. The doctors massaged
\nthe heart and after some time the person revived. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, in that
\nsphere they are beginning to work \u201cmiracles\u201d! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you reach a certain state of
\nconsciousness, you remember [passing over to the other side]. It is not so
\ndifficult to touch this state partially for a short time; in deep meditation,
\nin a dream or a vision one may have the feeling or the impression that he has
\nlived this life before, had this realisation, known these truths. But this is
\nnot a full realisation; to come to that, one must have attained to a permanent
\nconsciousness within us which is everlasting and holds together all our
\nexistences in past or present or future time.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

You must always
\ndistrust people who go rambling in some kind of mental or vital domain, and
\nthen tell you stories imagining that they remember their past lives. You know
\nthe classical example of that well-known lady who narrated her lives from the
\ntime she had been a monkey! I may assure you that it is pure imagination, for
\nit is impossible to remember like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what
\nhappens. Let us take a divine spark which, through attraction, through affinity
\nand selection, gathers around it a beginning of psychic consciousness (this
\nwork is already very perceptible in animals \u2013 don’t think you are exceptional
\nbeings, that you alone have a psychic being and the rest of creation hasn’t. It
\nbegins in the mineral, it is a little more developed in the plant, and in the
\nanimal there is a first glimmer of the psychic presence). Then there comes a
\nmoment when this psychic being is sufficiently developed to have an independent
\nconsciousness and a personal will. And then after innumerable lives more or
\nless individualised, it becomes conscious of itself, of its movements and of
\nthe environment it has chosen for its <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 143<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>growth. Arriving at a certain state of perception,
\nit decides \u2013 generally at the last minute of the life it has just finished upon
\nearth \u2013 the conditions in which its next life will be passed. Here I must tell
\nyou a very important thing: the psychic being can progress and form itself only
\nin the physical life and upon earth. As soon as it leaves a body, it enters
\ninto a rest which lasts for a more or less long time according to its own
\nchoice and its degree of development \u2013 a rest for assimilation, for a passive
\nprogress so to say, a rest for passive growth which will allow this same
\npsychic being to pass on to new experiences and make a more active progress.
\nBut after having finished one life (which usually ends only when it has done
\nwhat it wanted to do), it will have chosen the environment where it will be
\nborn, the approximate place where it will be born, the conditions and the kind
\nof life in which it will be born, and a very precise programme of the
\nexperiences through which it will have to pass to be able to make the progress
\nit wants to make. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>I am going to give you quite a concrete
\nexample. Let us take a psychic being that has decided, for some reason or
\nother, to enter the body of a being destined to become king, because there is a
\nwhole series of experiences it can have only under those conditions. After
\nhaving passed through these experiences of a king, it finds that there is a
\nwhole domain in which it cannot make a progress due to these very conditions of
\nlife where it is. So when it has finished its term upon earth and decides to go
\naway, it decides that in its next life it will take birth in an ordinary
\nenvironment and in ordinary conditions, neither high nor low, but such that the
\nbody which it will take up will be free to do what it likes. For I do not tell
\nyou anything new when I say that the life of a king is the life of a slave; a
\nking is obliged to submit to a whole protocol and to all kinds of ceremonies to
\nkeep his prestige (it is perhaps very pleasant for vain people, but for a
\npsychic being it is not pleasant, for this deprives it of the possibility of a
\nlarge number of experiences). So having taken this decision, it carries in
\nitself all the memories <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 144<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>which a royal life can give it and it takes
\nrest for the period it considers necessary. (Here, I must say that I am
\nspeaking of a psychic being exclusively occupied with itself, not one
\nconsecrated to a work, because in that case it is the work which decides the
\nfuture lives and their conditions; I am speaking of a psychic being at work
\ncompleting its development.) Hence it decides that at a certain moment it will
\ntake a body. Having already had a number of experiences, it knows that in a
\ncertain country, a certain part of the consciousness has developed; in another,
\nanother part, and so on; so it chooses the place which offers it easy
\npossibilities of development: the country, the conditions of living, the
\napproximate nature of the parents, and also the condition of the body itself,
\nits physical structure and the qualities it needs for its experiences. It takes
\nrest, then at the required moment, wakes up and projects its consciousness upon
\nearth centralising it in the chosen domain and the chosen conditions \u2013 or
\nalmost so; there is a small margin you know, for in the psychic consciousness
\none is too far away from the material physical consciousness to be able to see
\nwith a clear vision; it is an approximation. It does not make a mistake about
\nthe country or the environment and it sees quite clearly the inner vibrations
\nof the people chosen, but there may happen to be a slight indecision. But if,
\njust at this moment, there is a couple upon earth or rather a woman who has a
\npsychic aspiration herself and, for some reason or other, without knowing why
\nor how, would like to have an exceptional child, answering certain exceptional
\nconditions; if at this moment there is this aspiration upon earth, it creates a
\nvibration, a psychic light which the psychic being sees immediately and,
\nwithout hesitation it rushes towards it. Then, from that moment (which is the
\nmoment of conception), it watches over the formation of the child, so that this
\nformation may be as favourable as possible to the plan it has; consequently its
\ninfluence is there over the child even before it appears in the physical world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>If
\nall goes well, if there is no accident (accidents can al- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 145<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

ways happen), if
\nall goes well at the moment the child is about to be born, the psychic force
\n(perhaps not in its totality, but a part of the psychic consciousness) rushes
\ninto the being and from its very first cry gives it a push towards the
\nexperiences it wants the child to acquire. The result is that even if the
\nparents are not conscious, even if the child in its external consciousness is
\nnot quite conscious (a little child does not have the necessary brain for that,
\nit forms slowly, little by little), in spite of that, it will be possible for
\nthe psychic influence to direct all the events, all the circumstances of the
\nlife of this child till the moment it becomes capable of coming into conscious
\ncontact with its psychic being (physically it is generally between the age of
\nfour and seven, sometimes sooner, sometimes almost immediately, but in such a
\ncase we deal with children who are not \u201cchildren\u201d, who have \u201csupernatural\u201d
\nqualities, as they say \u2013 they are not \u201csupernatural\u201d, but simply the expression
\nof the presence of the psychic being). But there are people who have not had
\nthe chance or rather the good fortune if one may call it that, of meeting
\nsomeone, physically, who could instruct them. And yet they have the feeling
\nthat every step of their existence, every circumstance of their life is
\narranged by someone conscious, so that they may make the maximum progress. When
\nthey need a certain circumstance, it comes; when they need to meet certain
\npeople, they come; when they need to read certain books, they find them within
\ntheir reach. Everything is arranged like that, as if someone was watching over
\nthem so that their life may have the maximum possibilities of development.
\nThese people may very well say: \u201cBut what is a psychic being?\u201d, for no one has
\never used these words in speaking to them or they have not found anybody who
\ncould explain to them all that; but for them often just one meeting is
\nsufficient, just one look, in order147to wake up; one word suffices to make
\nthem remember: \u201cBut I knew all that!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This is exactly what happens to a psychic
\nbeing which has reached the last stage of its development. After that, it will
\nno
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 146<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

longer be bound by
\nthe necessity of coming upon earth, it will have completed its development and
\nwill be able to choose freely either to consecrate itself to the divine Work or
\ngo elsewhere, that is, in the higher worlds. But generally, having come to this
\nstage, it remembers all that has happened to it and understands the great
\nnecessity of coming to the help of those who are yet struggling in the midst of
\ndifficulties. These psychic beings give their whole existence to the divine
\nWork \u2013 this is not absolute, inevitable, they choose freely, but ninety times
\nout of a hundred this is what they do. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>But in
\nordinary lives \u2013 and by that I mean the life of a certain <\/span>\u00e9<\/span>lite <\/span><\/i>of sufficiently
\nwell-developed people \u2013 the contact between the external being and the psychic
\nis quite intermittent; it is the result of certain experiences or certain inner
\nneeds. At that moment the psychic being is \u201cin front\u201d, as Sri Aurobindo says,
\nthat is, it comes to the surface of the consciousness, it is in direct contact
\nwith material circumstances, with forms and words and sounds, etc…, for a
\nvery short time; so it records all that like a photograph or a cinema, but it
\nis just a minute, a few moments in a lifetime. These moments may repeat
\nthemselves several times, but they do not last; and it is this the psychic
\nbeing remembers; and when you have real psychic memories, sincere, spontaneous,
\nnot fabricated by the mind or the vital, that is, purely psychic, exact, your
\nmemory is intermittent<\/i>. And it is
\noften very difficult to locate your past lives, to say: \u201cI was this or that.\u201d
\nIt is only when the psychic experience has taken place at a very important
\nmoment of your life and a whole set of circumstances gives you, so to say, the
\nkey to the story (dresses, spoken words, customs or an environment giving you
\nthe key) that you can say: \u201cOh! That life, I have lived it.\u201d But if someone
\ncomes and narrates to you all his previous lives from the monkey148onwards,
\nwith a mass of details, you may be sure that he is a humbug! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You spoke of the \u201cchance\u201d of a psychic
\nbeing
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 147<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

meeting what will be its physical being. <\/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<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

No, I said
\n\u201caccident\u201d; an accident is not a chance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In life there is always a
\nconflict between opposing forces, and the result of this conflict is not always
\nforeseen except when one is conscious in the highest consciousness. One cannot
\nforesee the result of a conflict with a consciousness which does not go beyond
\nthe human consciousness, so one calls it an \u201caccident\u201d. It is not chance, it is
\nnot even an accident without reason, but an accident caused by reasons which
\none is not in a condition to foresee. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In a dream, I
\nthought I saw pictures of a former ascetic life. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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

There is such a
\nstrong suggestion here [in <\/span>India<\/span>] that to live the
\nspiritual life, one must take up the life of a sannyasin, that this perhaps is
\nthe cause of your pictures. In any case, if it was really a previous life, it
\nwas not the last one. You have surely had intermediary lives, for rarely is a
\nbeing born in the same country several times consecutively \u2013 it would not be
\nvery profitable. If it had been the ascetic life of the time of the first
\nChristians, for instance, you would have noticed certain details: the different
\ncolour of your skin, a dress, etc…, whereas you probably saw the usual
\npictures of Indian life… Everything is possible, of course. The universe is
\nconstituted in such a way that all the possibilities can be realised there:
\nbut, as I said, it is rare for one to be born several times in the same country
\nunless it be to accomplish a special work, with a special end in view; and then
\nit is very rare for one not to know it, for this means that the psychic being
\nis fully formed and has itself chosen to come back to the same country to do a
\nspecial work or to continue what it had already begun. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Many have had a previous ascetic life, for the
\ncollective suggestion is very strong here. It is very rare for a person not to <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 148<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

think that to
\nperfect oneself and to live a spiritual life one must leave the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>There are also symbolic and premonitory
\ndreams, but very rarely do dreams consist of true memories of past lives,
\nbecause for that one must dream in one’s psychic consciousness and there are
\nnot many who are capable of this. One dreams in the mental or vital
\nconsciousness but rarely does one dream in the psychic consciousness. That can
\nhappen, but it is rare. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>At times, there are dreams which one takes for
\nmemories, but they are only symbols: what one sees comes from a mental
\nformation which is objectified on an inner screen and which enacts a scene, so
\nto say, in which you are an actor. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Here in <\/span><\/i>India<\/span><\/i> frequently children are born in a village
\nand they give, while very young, precise information about the village where
\nthey have lived before, about their parents, etc… Is this true? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, but generally
\nthese are children who have died as children or very young and whose previous
\nlife had not fully run out. This can happen. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In what does a
\npsychic being’s progress consist? <\/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

Individualisation,
\nthe capacity to take up all experiences and organise them around the divine
\ncentre. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The aim of the psychic being is to form an
\nindividual being, individualised, \u201cpersonalised\u201d around the divine centre.
\nNormally, all the experiences of the external life (unless one does yoga and
\nbecomes conscious) pass without organising the inner being, while the psychic
\nbeing organises these experiences serially. It wants to realise a particular
\nattitude towards the Divine. Hence it looks for all favourable experiences in
\norder to have the complete series of opportunities, so to say, which will allow
\nit to realise this attitude towards the Divine. Take some- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 149<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

one, for example,
\nwho wants to have the experience of nobility \u2013 a nobility which makes it
\nimpossible for you to act like an ordinary person, which infuses into you a
\nbravery, a courage which may almost be taken for rashness because the attitude,
\nthe experience demands that you face danger without showing the least fear. I
\nwas telling you a while ago that I would explain to you what one could acquire
\nby entering into the body of a king. A king is an ordinary man, isn’t he, like
\nall others; he does not have a special consciousness, but through the
\nnecessities of his life, because he is a kind of symbol to his people, there
\nare things he is obliged to do which he could never do if he were an ordinary
\nman. I know this by experience, but I saw this also while looking at
\nphotographs which represented a king in actual circumstances: something had
\nhappened, which might have been an attempt on his life, but was averted. The
\nphotographs showed the king inspecting a regiment; all of a sudden someone had
\nrushed forward, perhaps with a bad intention, perhaps not, for nothing had
\nhappened; in any case, the king had remained completely impassive, absolutely
\ncalm, the same smile on his lips, without moving the least from the place where
\nhe was; and he was quite within sight, an easy target for one who wanted to
\nrush forward and hurt him. For all I know, this king was not a hero, but because
\nhe was a king, he could not take to flight! That would have been ignoble. So he
\nremained calm, without stirring, without showing any outward fear. This is an
\nexample of what one can learn in the life of a king. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>There is also a true story about Queen
\nElizabeth. She had come to the last days of her life and was extremely ill. But
\nthere was trouble in the country and, about questions of taxation, a group of
\npeople (merchants, I believe) had formed a delegation to present a petition to
\nher in the name of a party of the people. She lay very ill in her room, so ill
\nthat she could hardly stand. But she got up and dressed to receive them. The
\nlady who was attending upon her cried out, \u201cBut it is impossible, you will die
\nof this!\u201d The queen answered quietly, \u201cWe <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 150<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>shall die afterwards\u201d…This is an example
\nfrom a whole series of experiences one can have in the life of a king, and it
\nis this which justifies the choice of the psychic being when it takes up this
\nkind of life. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>It is
\nmemories of this kind which prove the authenticity of the experience; for what
\ngenerally happens when people tell you about their past lives is this: in these
\nlives there is always a progress, naturally; so they become more and more
\nsplendid people in more and more marvellous circumstances! It is wrong, things
\nnever happen like that. The psychic being follows a certain line of existence
\nwhich develops certain qualities, certain powers, etc…, but the psychic being
\nalways sees what it lacks and it can choose the opposite line in a future life,
\na negation, so to say, of this experience in order to have complementary
\nexperiences. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 151<\/span><\/p>\n

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

24 February 1951   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The other day I said that most of the time people do not have their psychic being within them. I…<\/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-4386","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\/4386","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=4386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}