{"id":4394,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:41","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4394"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:41","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:41","slug":"21-19-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\/21-19-february-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-21_19 February 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n19 February 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/span><\/p>\n

To be able to enter the \u201cearth-memory\u201d
\nconsciously, a discipline is needed.\u00b9 What<\/span> discipline<\/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

A discipline much more
\ndifficult than the discipline of yoga! It is an occult discipline. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>First of all, one must learn to go out of
\none’s body consciously and to enter into another more subtle body; to use one’s
\nwill to go where one wants to go, never to fear and sometimes to face
\nunexpected and even terrible things; to remain calm, to develop the mind’s
\nvisual sense, to accustom one’s mind to be altogether peaceful and quiet…You
\nknow, the list is long and I could continue like this for hours! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Who among you has had the experience
\nof going out of the body \u2013 going out and knowing about it? I do not even speak
\nof doing it at will, for that is another stage. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

Once I went out of
\nmy body but got back into it immediately<\/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

You did not take
\nthe opportunity of going for a little walk, did you? Well, you are not
\ninquisitive! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can one know
\nthat one has gone out of the body? <\/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

You see it
\nimmobile on your bed. There are other means of knowing also.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I went out of my body under the effect of
\nchloroform. I saw my body on the table and I witnessed the operation. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\nSee the talk of
\n<\/font> <\/span>
\n15 February 1951<\/span><\/font>.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 124<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

So too I knew
\nquite a remarkable clairvoyant. One day she had to undergo an operation and she
\nwas chloroformed; she went out of her body. Suddenly she began to see what was
\ngoing on in the minds of the people who were there. She had the habit of
\ntalking, even while asleep, and she began to speak out quite aloud: she said
\nthat so-and-so had worries, that another had a problem to solve, and that its
\nsolution was such and such a thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>This was an exceptional case \u2013 that happens
\nonly to gifted persons and there are not many of these. But the number of
\npersons who remain conscious under chloroform is greater than one thinks; but
\ngenerally, when one wakes up from chloroform one feels pretty uneasy and
\nremembers but vaguely his experiences outside the body. Is there anyone here
\nwho has fainted suddenly, as if by accident? You see your body, don’t you? And
\nyou ask yourself, \u201cBut what is it doing there in that ridiculous position?\u201d And
\nyou rush back into it! That happened to me once in Paris. I had been treated to
\na good dinner, and then I went to a conference hall, I believe. There were many
\npeople, it was very hot, I was standing there with the good dinner in my
\nstomach, and suddenly I felt ill at ease. I told the person who was with me, \u201cI
\nmust go out immediately.\u201d Once outside (it was in Trocadero Square) I fainted
\naway completely. I saw my body there, stretched out, and I found it so ridiculous
\nthat I rushed into it and I gave it a good scolding, saying, \u201cYou must not play
\nsuch tricks with me!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>Many people faint like this and see
\nthemselves. There is one condition for this: the organ of sight in the subtle
\nphysical body or in the most material vital must be developed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>I must tell you that this kind of capacity may
\ncome spontaneously, without effort \u2013 one may be a born clairvoyant. They are
\nnot necessarily very intelligent people, their vital consciousness may be
\nmediocre, but they are born clairvoyant. It is not a sign of a great
\ndevelopment \u2013 comes from something else, from a capacity of the parents, of
\npast lives, etc… But if you are not born clairvoyant, and if you do not carry
\nin you the other
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 125<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

extreme, I mean a
\npsychic being wholly conscious and fully developed which leads its own
\nindependent life in the body, and you want to learn to see and have visions,
\nthen it is a very long, very slow discipline and there are very few people who
\nhave the necessary patience and endurance to go to the end of the training.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>It is interesting but it is not essential, one
\ncan do without it. It is the same as with dreams. But if you can develop this
\ncapacity, it can make your life more rich, it can make your consciousness
\nprogress more quickly. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You say there are two categories of
\npeople: those who are asked to meditate and those who are not asked. How to
\nknow to which category one belongs?\u00b9<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>You are told. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

So, can we ask
\nyou? <\/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

Certainly, I am
\nhere for that! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

At times when one
\ngoes out of the body, the body follows the part which goes out. <\/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

You are speaking of
\na somnambulist? But that is quite another thing. This means that the part which
\ngoes out (whether a part of the mind or a part of the vital) is so strongly
\nattached to the body, or rather that the body is so attached to this part, that
\nwhen this part decides to do something the body follows it <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9 \u201cA discipline in itself is not what we are seeking.
\nWhat we are seeking is to be concentrated on the Divine in all that we do, at
\nall times<\/span>, in all our acts and in every movement.
\nThere are some here who have been told to meditate; but also there are others
\nwho have not been asked to do any meditation at all. But it must not be thought
\nthat they are not progressing. They too follow a discipline, but it is of
\nanother nature.To work, to act with devotion and an inner consecration is also
\na spiritual discipline.\u201d<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (21 April)]<\/font>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 126<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

automatically. In
\nyour inner being you decide to do a certain thing and your body is so closely
\ntied to your inner being that without thinking of it, without wanting to do so,
\nwithout making any effort, it follows and does the same thing. Note that in
\nthis matter, the physical body has capacities it would not have in the ordinary
\nwaking condition. For instance, it is well known that one can walk in dangerous
\nplaces where one would find it rather difficult to walk in the waking state.
\nThe body follows the consciousness of the inner being and its own consciousness
\nis asleep \u2013 for the body has a consciousness. All the parts of the being,
\nincluding the most material, have an independent consciousness. Hence when you
\ngo to sleep dead tired, when your physical body needs rest absolutely, your
\nphysical consciousness sleeps, while the consciousness of your subtle physical
\nbody or your vital or of your mind does not sleep, it continues its activity;
\nbut your physical consciousness is separated from the body, it is asleep in a
\nstate of unconsciousness, and then the part which does not sleep, which is
\nactive, uses the body without the physical consciousness as intermediary and
\nmakes it do things directly. That is how one becomes a somnambulist. According
\nto my experience, the waking consciousness goes to sleep for some reason or
\nother (usually due to fatigue), but the inner being is awake, and the body is
\nso tied to it that it follows it automatically. That is why you do fantastic
\nthings, because you do not see them physically, you see them in a different
\nway. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is said that somnambulism is due to
\nserious preoccupations and cares. Is this true? Tartini composed a sonata in
\nthis state, and when he got up in the morning, he wrote down the whole 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

Somnambulism is
\nnot always due to preoccupations and cares! Yes, there are people who write
\nwonderful things when in a state of somnambulism. But Tartini was not a
\nsomnambulist \u2013 was in the
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 127<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

dream-state that
\nhe wrote sonatas.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>The other state is always a little dangerous,
\nalways. Unexpected things can happen, an accident to the vital, for instance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

How can one be
\ncured of somnambulism? <\/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

Quite simply, by
\nputting a will upon the body before going to sleep. One becomes a somnambulist
\nbecause the mind is not developed enough to break the inner ties. For the mind
\nalways separates the external being from the deeper consciousness. Little
\nchildren are quite tied up. I knew children who were quite sincere but could
\nnot distinguish whether a thing was going on in their imagination or in
\nreality. For them the inner life was as real as the external life. They were
\nnot telling stories, they were not liars; simply the inner life was as real as
\nthe external life. There are children who go night after night to the same spot
\nin order to continue the dream they have begun \u2013 they are experts in the art of
\ngoing out of their bodies. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it good to leave the body asleep and go
\nout rambling? Can one go back into the body at any moment one likes? <\/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 dangerous if
\nyou sleep surrounded by people who may come and shake you up, believing that
\nsomething has happened to you. But if you are alone and sleep quietly, there is
\nno danger. <\/span><\/p>\n

One can get back
\ninto the body at any time and generally it is much more difficult to remain
\noutside than to get back \u2013 as soon as the least thing happens, one rushes back
\nquickly into the body. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If one goes out of
\nthe body leaving it on the bed, can someone else enter it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That can happen
\nbut it is extremely rare, once in a hundred thousand cases. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 128<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u201cSomeone\u201d cannot
\nenter \u2013 a human being cannot enter the body of another unless he has quite an
\nexceptional and unique occult knowledge and in that case he will not do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>But if a human being does not enter,
\nat times there are beings of the vital world who do not have a body and want to
\nhave one for the fun of the experience, and when they see that someone has gone
\nout of the body (but he must go out very materially) and is not sufficiently
\nprotected, they can rush in to take his place. But it is such a rare thing that
\nif you had not put the question I would not have spoken about it. Still it is
\nnot an impossibility. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>People who have nightmares of this kind should
\nalways protect themselves occultly before going out of the body \u2013 it can be
\ndone in many ways. The simplest way, one which needs no special knowledge is to
\ncall the Guru or, if one knows somebody who has the knowledge, to call him in
\nthought or spirit; or to protect oneself by making a kind of wall of protection
\naround oneself (one can do many things, can’t one?); this can prevent such
\nbeings from entering. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>If you have a disposition for
\nexteriorisation and if you follow a yoga<\/span>, you are
\nalways asked to protect your sleep: by some contemplation, a mental movement,
\nany movement \u2013 there are many ways of protecting oneself. But I think there is
\nno such danger for you; perhaps not for everybody, but still one would have to
\nbe terribly ambitious, terribly insincere for such a thing to happen; one would
\nhave to be in relation with truly wicked entities, for, a being who lives in
\norderliness and truth will never rush into the body of another, that is an act
\nof disorder and it is not done. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it the psychic
\nbeing which goes out or some other part of the 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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If it is the
\npsychic being which goes out, one would not be aware of it, the more so as most
\nof the time it is not within
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 129<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

you! Very few
\npeople carry their psychic being within them because the dwelling-place is not
\nready. What goes out is sometimes the subtle physical, this is when one sees
\none’s body stretched out \u2013 for the physical vision to remain conscious, it must
\nbe a very material part of the being which goes out; one must go out very
\nmaterially in the subtle physical body or in the most material vital. But
\nusually it is the vital which goes out and still more often the mental being;
\nbut when it is the mind which goes out one is not aware of it at all, for the
\nmind is like the psychic, it is very rarely within you. If you think of
\nsomething or somebody, one part of your mind is immediately there \u2013 the mind is
\na vagabond, it roves, it comes and goes, it<\/span> enters and
\ngoes out. There are very few people who have organised their mind sufficiently
\nto keep it within them, close-packed, and prevent it from gadding about. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

At times I seem to
\ngo out of my body and see it dead. <\/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 that is a mere
\ndream; probably you did not go out of your body at all. There are people who
\ndream they are dead. But that is of no importance. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When one goes out of the body, one must
\ntry to rush towards you \u2013 I think everybody does that, don’t they?<\/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 one in a
\nhundred! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>If you did that, very interesting things would
\nhappen to you. I knew someone in France who used to come to me every evening in
\norder that I might show him some unknown region and take him for a ramble in
\nthe vital or mental world, and actually I used to take him there. At times
\nthere were others also, at times this person was alone. I showed him how to go
\nout of the body, how to get back into it, how to keep the consciousness, etc.,
\nI showed him many places telling him \u201cThere you<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 130<\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

must take this
\nprecaution, here you must do such and such a thing.\u201d And this continued for a
\nlong time. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I do
\nnot mean that no one among you comes to me in the night, but there are very few
\nwho do it consciously. Generally (you will tell me if I am wrong, but that is
\nmy impression), when you go to sleep and have decided to remember me before
\ngoing to sleep, it is rather a call than a will to \u201crush\u201d to me, as you say.
\nYou are there on your bed, you want to rest, to have a good sleep, remain in a
\ngood consciousness; then you call me rather than have the idea of going out of
\nthe body and coming to see me.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 131<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

19 February 1951     To be able to enter the \u201cearth-memory\u201d consciously, a discipline is needed.\u00b9 What discipline? \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 A discipline much more difficult…<\/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-4394","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\/4394","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=4394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}