{"id":4388,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:39","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4388"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:39","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:39","slug":"27-5-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\/27-5-march-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-27_5 March 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n5 March 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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

Mother reads a
\npassage about natural calamities (Questions and Answers 1929, 5 May<\/font><\/span>). <\/font> <\/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

Why do disasters occur? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Because
\na higher consciousness wants to manifest itself in the world, and man and Nature
\nresist it. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is partly true. But I don’t think Nature has this
\nfeeling. When there is an earthquake, for instance, or a volcano erupts, if
\nthere are men staying nearby and these events cause their death, obviously it
\nis for these men a catastrophe, but we could very well imagine that for Nature
\nit is good fun ! We say, \u201cWhat a terrible wind !\u201d Naturally, for men it is
\n\u201cterrible\u201d, but not for Nature. It is a question of proportion, isn’t it ? I
\ndon’t know if it is necessary to bring into the picture a higher force wanting
\nto manifest and a resistance from Nature; it is possible, but not
\nindispensable. It can be understood quite easily that it is the play of Nature
\nwith tremendous forces and that for her it is only a diversion; in any case,
\nnothing catastrophic. For the consciousness of Nature or the material
\nconsciousness, physical forms and humanity upon earth are like ants. You
\nyourself, when you walk, you do not find it necessary to move out of the way to
\navoid crushing the ants ! unless you are a stubborn \u201cnon-violent\u201d fellow. You
\nwalk, and if you crush a few hundred ants, it can’t be helped ! Well, it is the
\nsame with Nature. She goes on, and if in the course of her march she destroys a
\nfew thousand men, it is not of much importance for her, she can make again a
\nfew millions ! It is not difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

This reminds me of what happened in <\/span>Paris<\/span> when I was seventeen or eighteen. There was a
\n\u201ccharity bazaar\u201d. This charity bazaar was a place where men from all over the
\nworld came <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n175<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

to buy and sell all kinds of things, and the proceeds
\nof the sale went to works of charity (it was meant more for amusement than for
\ndoing good, but still, charitable works profited by it). All the elegance, all
\nthe refinement of high society was gathered there. Now, the bazaar was very
\nbeautiful but not solidly built, because it was to last only for three or four
\ndays. The roof was of painted tarpaulin which had been suspended. Everything
\nwas lighted by electricity; the work was more or less decently done, but naturally
\nwith the idea that it was only for a few days. There was a short-circuit,
\neverything began to blaze up; the roof caught fire and suddenly collapsed upon
\nthe people. As I said, all the \u00e9lite of society were there<\/span> \u2013 <\/span>for them, from the human point of view, it was a
\nfrightful catastrophe. There were people near the entrance who tried to escape;
\nothers, all ablaze, also tried to reach the door and run away. It was a
\nveritable scuffle ! All these elegant, refined people, who usually were so
\nwell-mannered, began to fight like street rowdies. There was even a Count of
\nsomething or other, a very well-known man, a poet, a man of perfect elegance,
\nwho carried a silver-knobbed stick, and he was surprised in the act of hitting
\nwomen on the head with his stick, and trying to push forward ! Indeed, it was a
\nfine sight, something most elegant ! Afterwards, lamentations in society, big
\nfunerals and many stories… Now, a Dominican, a well-known orator, was asked
\nto give a speech over the tombs of the unfortunate who had perished in the
\nfire. He said something to this effect: \u201cIt serves you right. You did not live
\naccording to the law of God and He has punished you by burning you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And every time there was a disaster this story was
\nrepeated. Naturally many people protested and said, \u201cHere’s a God whom we won’t
\nhave !\u201d But these ideas are quite typical of ordinary humanity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSinning\u201d humanity is altogether a Christian idea,
\nwhich falsifies our idea of the Divine<\/span> − <\/span>a Divine who punishes poor people because it is their
\nmisfortune to be born \u201csinners\u201d would not be very generous ! However…<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n176<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u201c…
\nPhilosophy has always failed to unveil the secret of things; it is because it
\nhas tried to fit the universe into the size of the human mind.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (5 May) <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo fit the universe into the size of the human mind\u201d,
\nthis is precisely what everybody does. And not only do they judge the universe,
\nbut they judge the divine principles which have made it and they imagine they
\nare able to know something. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Does
\n\u201cliberty\u201d mean freedom from all attachment? <\/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 not only a freedom from all attachment, but a
\nliberation from all bondage to the law of consequences. In the material field there
\nis a determinism which comes from the law of consequences, from the law of
\ncause and effect; hence inner liberation does not free you only from all
\nattachment but from all consequences. As I have told you many a time, by your
\ninner liberation your consciousness rises to a level far above the level which
\ngoverns the material world and, from this high level, the Force can descend and
\ncancel all the material consequences. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If
\none realises<\/span> a certain truth in the higher
\nconsciousness but the mind resists, should the mind be forced to accept this
\nnew truth? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If you succeed in forcing it, very well. But it is not
\nso easy. It is not enough to decide to force it for this to happen ! It
\nrevolts. And it is not the only one to revolt. Then what are you going to do
\nwith this mind in revolt ? Leave it to do what it likes ? Exhaust all that ? It
\nis not a very fine procedure !<\/span><\/p>\n

The functioning is not the same with everyone. There
\nare people who have a great light in the mind (or think they have it !), they
\nknow things, they know how the world and others ought to behave and, moreover,
\nthey are sure that they, they <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n177<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

are very far on the road, but when they begin to act
\nthey are more stupid than the little street urchin. Why ? Because it is not the
\nmind which has decided, and even if it has decided, it is not the mind which
\nhas executed; what has executed does not recognise at all the authority of the
\nmind, but tells it: \u201cLeave me alone, don’t bother me ! I act according to my
\nown inspiration !\u201d Then, what are you going to do ? Try to give a lesson to
\nyour mind ? You may always try, but it is not sure that you will succeed. It is
\nnot an easy problem… Human nature is very unstable; after having thought in
\none way, it thinks in another; after having felt in one way, it feels in
\nanother, and so on; nothing lasts: the good not longer than the bad; the bad, a
\nlittle longer than the good ! But anyway, this does not last indefinitely. So,
\nif you have the patience to wait, surely it will change ! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But
\neverything returns<\/span><\/i>
\n! <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, surely, because in this way nothing will change,
\nit is only the rhythm which will change. It is like those colour-wheels:
\nsometimes one sees one colour, sometimes another, and if one waits long enough
\none sees the red, blue, white, red, blue, white… indefinitely. There are
\npeople who have a pretty little theory like that, which I have often heard;
\nthey say that one’s vital should never be repressed, it must be allowed to do
\nall it wants, it will get tired and be cured ! This is the height of stupidity
\n! First, because the vital by its very nature is never satisfied, and if a
\ncertain kind of activity becomes insipid, it will double the dose: if its
\nstupidities bore it, it will increase its stupidities and its excesses, and if
\nthat tires it, as soon as it has rested it will start again. For it will not be
\nchanged. Others say that if you sit upon your vital it will be suppressed and,
\none day, it will shoot up like a steam-jet… and this is true. Hence, to
\nrepress the vital is not a solution. To let it do what it likes is not a
\nsolution either, and generally this brings on fairly <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n178<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

serious disorders. There must be a third solution. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

To
\naspire that the light from above may come and purify 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><\/p>\n

Obviously, but the problem remains. You aspire for a
\nchange, perhaps for a specific change; but the answer to your aspiration will
\nnot come immediately and in the meantime your nature will resist. Things happen
\nlike this: at a given moment the nature seems to have yielded and you think you
\nhave got the desired result. Your aspiration diminishes in intensity because
\nyou think you have the desired result. But the other fellow, who is very
\ncunning and is waiting quietly in his corner, when you are off your guard, he
\nsprings up like a jack-in-the-box, and then you must begin all over again. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

But
\nif one can tear out completely the root of the 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><\/p>\n

Ah ! One must not be so sure of that. I have known people
\nwho wanted to save the world by reducing it so much that there was no longer a
\nworld left ! This is the ascetic way<\/span> <\/span>\u2013<\/span> <\/span>you want to do away with the problem by doing away
\nwith the possibility of the problem. But this will never change anything. <\/span><\/p>\n

No, there is a method<\/span> <\/span>\u2013<\/span> <\/span>a sure one<\/span> <\/span>\u2013<\/span> <\/span>but your method must be very clear-sighted and you
\nmust have a wide-awake consciousness of your person and of what goes on there
\nand the way in which things happen. Let us take the instance of a person
\nsubject to outbursts of rage and violence. According to one method he would be
\ntold: \u201cGet as angry as you like, you will suffer the consequences of your anger
\nand this will cure you.\u201d This could be discussed. According to another method
\nhe would be told: \u201cSit upon your anger and it will disappear.\u201d This too could
\nbe discussed. In any case, you will have to sit upon it all the time, for if
\never you should get up for a minute you will<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n179<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>see immediately
\nwhat happens ! Then, what is to be done ? <\/span><\/p>\n

You must become more and more conscious. You must
\nobserve how the thing happens, by what road the danger approaches, and stand in
\nthe way before it can take hold of you. If you want to cure yourself of a
\ndefect or a difficulty, there is but one method: to be perfectly vigilant, to
\nhave a very alert and vigilant consciousness. First you must see very clearly
\nwhat you want to do. You must not hesitate, be full of doubt and say, \u201cIs it
\ngood to do this or not, does this come into the synthesis or should it not come
\nin ?\u201d You will see that if you trust your mind, it will always shuttle back and
\nforth: it vacillates all the time. If you take a decision it will put before
\nyou all the arguments to show you that your decision is not good, and you will
\nbe tossed between the \u201cyes\u201d and \u201cno\u201d, the black and white, and will arrive at
\nnothing. Hence, first, you must know exactly what you want<\/span> <\/span>\u2013<\/span> <\/span>know, not mentally, but through concentration, through
\naspiration and a very conscious will. That is the important point. Afterwards, gradually,
\nby observation, by a sustained vigilance, you must realise a sort of method
\nwhich will be personal to you<\/span> <\/span>\u2013<\/span> <\/span>it<\/span> <\/span>is useless to convince others to adopt the same method
\nas yours, for that won’t succeed. Everyone must find his own method, everyone must
\nhave his own method, and to the extent you put into practice your method, it
\nwill become clearer and clearer, more and more precise. You can correct a
\ncertain point, make clear another, etc… So, you start working… For a while,
\nall will go well. Then, one day, you will find yourself facing an
\ninsurmountable difficulty and will tell yourself, \u201cI have done all that and
\nhere is everything as bad as before !\u201d Then, in this case, you must, through a
\nyet more sustained concentration, open an inner door in you and bring into this
\nmovement a force which was not there formerly, a state of consciousness which
\nwas not there before. And there, there will be a power, when your own personal
\npower will be exhausted and no longer effective. When the personal power runs
\nout ordinary people say, \u201cThat’s good, I can no longer do any <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n180<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

thing, it is finished.\u201d But I tell you that when you
\nfind yourself before this wall, it is the beginning of something new. By an
\nobstinate concentration, you must pass over to the other side of the wall and
\nthere you will find a new knowledge, a new force, a new power, a new help, and
\nyou will be able to work out a new system, a new method which surely will take
\nyou very far.<\/span><\/p>\n

I do not say this to discourage you; only, things happen
\nlike that. And the worst of all is to get discouraged when it happens. You must
\ntell yourself, \u201cWith the means of transport at my disposal I have reached a
\ncertain point, but these means do not allow me to go further. What should I
\ndo?… Sit there and not stir any longern<\/span> ?<\/span> <\/span>\u2013<\/span> <\/span>not at all. I must find other means of transport.\u201d
\nThis will happen quite often, but after a while you will get used to it. You
\nmust sit down for a moment, meditate, and then find other means. You must
\nincrease your concentration, your aspiration and your trust and with the new
\nhelp which comes to you, make a new programme, work out other means to replace
\nthose you have left behind. This is how one progresses stage by stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

But you must take great care to apply at each stage,
\nas perfectly as possible, what you have gained or learnt. If you remain in an
\nindrawn state of consciousness and do not apply materially the inner progress,
\na time will certainly come when you will not be able to move at all, for your
\nouter being, unchanged, will be like a fetter pulling you back and hindering
\nyou from advancing. So, the most important point (what everybody says but only
\na few do) is to put into practice what you know. With that you have a good
\nchance of succeeding, and with perseverance you will certainly get there. <\/span><\/p>\n

You must never get discouraged when you find yourself
\nbefore a wall, never say, \u201cOh! What shall I do? It is still there.\u201d In this way
\nthe difficulty will still be there and still there and still there, till the
\nvery end. It is only when you reach the goal that everything will suddenly
\ncrumble down. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n181<\/span><\/p>\n

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

5 March 1951 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mother reads a passage about natural calamities (Questions and Answers 1929, 5 May). \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 Why do disasters occur?   Because a…<\/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-4388","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\/4388","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=4388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}