{"id":4395,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4395"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","slug":"36-26-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\/36-26-march-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-36_26 March 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" style=\"border-collapse: collapse\" width=\"100%\">\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div class=\"Section1\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><b><br \/>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\">26 March 1951<\/font><\/span><\/b><b><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><font size=\"3\"><br \/>\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>\u201cAt every moment one must know how to lose<br \/>\nall in order to gain all.\u201d What does this mean ? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\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<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>We have already<br \/>\nspoken about this. When we enter upon the path of yoga, why do our dear ones<br \/>\nleave us ? One loses all worldly possessions, all one&#8217;s attachments; sometimes,<br \/>\neven, one loses one&#8217;s position, and to gain what ? \u2013 the most important thing,<br \/>\nthe only thing which is valuable: the divine Consciousness. And to gain this one<br \/>\nmust know how to lose all the goods of this world, to let go of all one&#8217;s<br \/>\npossessions, all desires, all attachments, all satisfactions; one must know how<br \/>\nto lose all this if one wants to get the divine Consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>It is a little<br \/>\nparadoxical for the mind. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>You have said that after finishing their<br \/>\ndevelopment psychic beings could go to other worlds; yet, the psychic being<br \/>\nbelongs exclusively to the earth, doesn&#8217;t it<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'> <i>? <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\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<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>But the psychic<br \/>\nbeing is not material, it is psychic! It is not bound to the material world; as<br \/>\nsoon as it stops living in a body, it goes away to the psychic world which is<br \/>\nvery far from being a material world. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>How can one transform the vital ? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\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<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The first step: will.<br \/>\nSecondly, sincerity and aspiration. But will and aspiration are almost the same<br \/>\nthing, one follows the other. Then, perseverance. Yes, perseverance is<br \/>\nnecessary in any process, and what is this process ?&#8230; First, there must be<br \/>\nthe ability to observe and discern, the ability to find the vital in oneself,<br \/>\nelse you will be hard put to it to say: \u201cThis comes from the <span class=\"SpellE\">vital, this<\/span> comes from the mind, this from the body.\u201d<br \/>\nEverything<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 247<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>will seem to you<br \/>\nmixed and indistinct. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>After a very<br \/>\nsustained observation, you will be able to distinguish between the different<br \/>\nparts and <span class=\"SpellE\">recognise<\/span> the origin of a movement. Quite a<br \/>\nlong time is necessary for this, but one can go quite fast also, it depends<br \/>\nupon people. But once you have found out the different parts ask yourself,<br \/>\n\u201cWhat is there of the vital in this ? What does the vital bring into your<br \/>\nconsciousness ? In what way does it change your movements; what does it add to<br \/>\nthem and what take away ? What happens in your consciousness through the<br \/>\nintervention of the vital?\u201d Once you know this, what do you do ?&#8230;Then you<br \/>\nwill need to watch this intervention, observe it, find out in what way it<br \/>\nworks. For instance, you want to transform your vital. You have a great<br \/>\nsincerity in your aspiration and the resolution to go to the very end. You have<br \/>\nall that. You start observing and you see that two things can happen (many<br \/>\nthings can happen) but mainly two.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>First, a sort of<br \/>\nenthusiasm takes hold of you. You set to work earnestly. In this enthusiasm you<br \/>\nthink, \u201cI am going to do this and that, I am going to reach my goal<br \/>\nimmediately, everything is going to be magnificent ! It will see, this vital,<br \/>\nhow I am going to treat it if it doesn&#8217;t obey !\u201d And if you look carefully you<br \/>\nwill see that the vital is saying to itself, \u201cAh, at last, here&#8217;s an<br \/>\nopportunity!\u201d It accepts, it starts working with all its zeal, all its<br \/>\nenthusiasm and&#8230; all its impatience. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The second thing<br \/>\nmay be the very opposite. A sort of uneasiness: \u201cI am not well, how tedious<br \/>\nlife is, how wearisome everything. How am I going to do all that? Will I ever<br \/>\nreach the goal ? Is it worth while beginning ? Is it at all possible ? Isn&#8217;t it<br \/>\nimpossible ?\u201d It is the vital which is not very happy about what is going to be<br \/>\ndone for it, which does not want anyone to meddle in its affairs, which does<br \/>\nnot like all that very much. So it suggests depression, discouragement, a lack<br \/>\nof faith, doubt \u2013 is it really worth the trouble ?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>These are the two<br \/>\nextremes, and each has its difficulties, its obstacles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 248<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Depression, unless<br \/>\none has a strong will, suggests, \u201cThis is not worth while, one may have to wait<br \/>\na lifetime.\u201d Enthusiasm, it expects to see the vital transformed overnight: \u201cI<br \/>\nam not going to have any difficulty henceforth, I am going to advance rapidly<br \/>\non the path of yoga, I am going to gain the divine consciousness without any<br \/>\ndifficulty.\u201d There are some other difficulties&#8230; One needs a little time, much<br \/>\nperseverance. So the vital, after a few hours \u2013 perhaps a few days, perhaps a<br \/>\nfew months \u2013 says to itself: \u201cWe haven&#8217;t gone very far with our enthusiasm, has<br \/>\nanything been really done ? Doesn&#8217;t this movement leave us just where we were,<br \/>\nperhaps worse than we were, a little troubled, a little disturbed ? Things are<br \/>\nno longer what they were, they are not yet what they ought to be. It is very<br \/>\ntiresome, what I am doing.\u201d And then, if one pushes a little more, here&#8217;s this<br \/>\ngentleman saying, \u201cAh, no ! I have had enough of it, leave me alone. I don&#8217;t<br \/>\nwant to move, I shall stay in my corner, I won&#8217;t trouble you, but don&#8217;t bother<br \/>\nme !\u201d And so one has not gone very much farther than before. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>This is one of the<br \/>\nbig obstacles which must be carefully avoided. As soon as there is the least<br \/>\nsign of discontentment, of annoyance, the vital must be spoken to in this way,<br \/>\n\u201cMy friend, you are going to keep calm, you are going to do what you are asked<br \/>\nto do, otherwise you will have to deal with me.\u201d And to the other, the<br \/>\nenthusiast who says, \u201cEverything must be done now, immediately\u201d, your reply is,<br \/>\n\u201cCalm yourself a little, your energy is excellent, but it must not be spent in<br \/>\nfive minutes. We shall need it for a long time, keep it carefully and, as it is<br \/>\nwanted, I shall call upon your goodwill. You will show that you are full of<br \/>\ngoodwill, you will obey, you won&#8217;t grumble, you will not protest, you will not<br \/>\nrevolt, you will say \u2018yes, yes\u2019, you will make a little sacrifice when asked,<br \/>\nyou will say \u2018yes\u2019 whole-heartedly.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>So we get started<br \/>\non the path. But the road is very long. Many things happen on the way. Suddenly<br \/>\none thinks one has overcome an obstacle; I say \u201cthinks\u201d, because though one has<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 249<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:0in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\u00a0<\/span>overcome it, it is<br \/>\nnot totally overcome. I am going to take a very obvious instance, of a very<br \/>\nsimple observation. Someone has found that his vital is uncontrollable and<br \/>\nuncontrolled, that it gets furious for nothing and about nothing. He starts<br \/>\nworking to teach it not to get carried away, not to flare up, to remain calm<br \/>\nand bear the shocks of life without reacting violently. If one does this cheerfully,<br \/>\nit goes quite quickly. (Note this well, it is very important: when you have to<br \/>\ndeal with your vital take care to keep your good <span class=\"SpellE\">humour<\/span>,<br \/>\notherwise you will get into trouble.) One keeps one&#8217;s good <span class=\"SpellE\">humour<\/span>,<br \/>\nthat is, when one sees the fury rise, one begins to laugh. Instead of being<br \/>\ndepressed and saying, \u201cAh ! In spite of all my effort it is beginning all over<br \/>\nagain\u201d, one begins to laugh and says, \u201cWell, well ! One hasn&#8217;t yet seen the end<br \/>\nof it. Look now, aren&#8217;t you ridiculous, you know quite well that you are being<br \/>\nridiculous ! Is it worthwhile getting angry ?\u201d One gives it this lesson<br \/>\ngood-humouredly. And really, after a while it doesn&#8217;t get angry again, it is<br \/>\nquiet \u2013 and one relaxes one&#8217;s attention. One thinks the difficulty has been<br \/>\novercome, one thinks a result has at last been reached: \u201cMy vital does not<br \/>\ntrouble me any longer, it does not get angry now, everything is going fine.\u201d<br \/>\nAnd the next day, one loses one&#8217;s temper. It is then one must be careful, it is<br \/>\nthen one must not say, \u201cHere we are, it&#8217;s no use, I shall never achieve<br \/>\nanything, all my efforts are futile; all this is an illusion, it is<br \/>\nimpossible.\u201d On the contrary, one must say, \u201cI wasn&#8217;t vigilant enough.\u201d One<br \/>\nmust wait long, very long, before one can say, \u201cAh ! It is done and finished.\u201d<br \/>\nSometimes one must wait for years, many years&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>I am not saying<br \/>\nthis to discourage you, but to give you patience and perseverance \u2013 for there<br \/>\nis a moment when you do arrive. And note that the vital is a small part of your<br \/>\nbeing \u2013 a very important part, we have said that it is the dynamism, the <span class=\"SpellE\">realising<\/span> energy, it is very important; but it is only a<br \/>\nsmall part. And the mind !&#8230;which goes wandering, which must be pulled back by<br \/>\nall the strings to be kept quiet ! You think this can be done overnight ? And<br \/>\nyour body ?&#8230; You have a weakness, a<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Page &#8211; 250<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;difficulty,<br \/>\nsometimes a small chronic illness, nothing much, but still it is a nuisance,<br \/>\nisn&#8217;t it? You want to get rid of it. You make efforts, you concentrate; you<br \/>\nwork upon it, establish harmony, and you think it is finished, and then&#8230; Take,<br \/>\nfor instance, people who have the habit of coughing; they can&#8217;t control<br \/>\nthemselves or almost can&#8217;t. It is not serious but it is bothersome, and there<br \/>\nseems to be no reason why it should ever stop. Well, one tells oneself, \u201cI am<br \/>\ngoing to control this.\u201d One makes an effort \u2013 a yogic effort, not a material<br \/>\none \u2013 one brings down consciousness, force, and stops the cough. And one<br \/>\nthinks, \u201cThe body has forgotten how to cough.\u201d And it is a great thing when the<br \/>\nbody has forgotten, truly one can say, \u201cI am cured.\u201d But unfortunately it is<br \/>\nnot always true, for this goes down into the subconscient and, one day, when<br \/>\nthe balance of forces is not so well established, when the strength is not the<br \/>\nsame, it begins again. And one laments, \u201cI believed that it was over! I had<br \/>\nsucceeded and told myself, \u2018It is true that spiritual power has an action upon<br \/>\nthe body, it is true that something can be done\u2019, and there ! it is not true.<br \/>\nAnd yet it was a small thing, and I who want to conquer immortality! How will I<br \/>\nsucceed ?&#8230; For years I have been free from this small thing and here it is<br \/>\nbeginning anew !\u201d It is then that you must be careful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>You must arm<br \/>\nyourself with an endless patience and endurance. You do a thing once, ten<br \/>\ntimes, a hundred times, a thousand times if necessary, but you do it till it<br \/>\ngets done. And not done only here and there, but everywhere and everywhere at<br \/>\nthe same time. This is the great problem one sets oneself. That is why, to<br \/>\nthose who come to tell me very light-heartedly, \u201cI want to do yoga\u201d, I reply,<br \/>\n\u201cThink it over, one may do the yoga for a number of years without noticing the<br \/>\nleast result. But if you want to do it, you must persist and persist with such<br \/>\na will that you should be ready to do it for ten lifetimes, a hundred lifetimes<br \/>\nif necessary, in order to succeed.\u201d I do not say it will be like that, but the <i>attitude<\/i> must be like that. Nothing must<br \/>\ndiscourage you; for there are all the difficulties of ignorance of the <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 251<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:0in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;different states of being, to which are added<br \/>\nthe endless malice and the unbounded cunning of the hostile forces in the<br \/>\nworld&#8230;They are there, do you know why? They have been tolerated, do you know<br \/>\nwhy? \u2013 simply to see how long one can last out and how great is the sincerity<br \/>\nin one&#8217;s action. For everything depends upon your sincerity. If you are truly<br \/>\nsincere in your will, nothing will stop you, you will go right to the end, and<br \/>\nif it is necessary for you to live a thousand years to do it, you will live a<br \/>\nthousand years to do it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Does not the vital<br \/>\nseek its own transformation ? It aspires but it is always the victim of things,<br \/>\nof impulsions from outside. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\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<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>If it seeks to<br \/>\ntransform itself, it is truly wonderful ! And if it aspires for transformation,<br \/>\nit will try to free itself. If the vital is weak, its aspiration will be weak.<br \/>\nAnd mark that weakness is an insincerity, a sort of excuse one gives oneself \u2013<br \/>\nnot very, very consciously perhaps, but you must be told that the subconscient<br \/>\nis a place full of insincerity. And the weakness which says, \u201cI would like it<br \/>\nso much, but I can&#8217;t\u201d is insincerity. Because, if one is sincere, what one<br \/>\ncannot do today one will do tomorrow, and what one cannot do tomorrow one will<br \/>\ndo the day after, and so on, until one can do it. If you understand once for<br \/>\nall that the entire universe (or, if you like, our earth, to concentrate the<br \/>\nproblem) is nothing other than the Divine who has forgotten Himself, where will<br \/>\nyou find a place for weakness there ? Not in the Divine surely ! Then, in<br \/>\nforgetfulness. And if you struggle against forgetfulness you struggle against<br \/>\nweakness, and to the extent you draw closer to the Divine your weakness<br \/>\ndisappears. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>And that holds<br \/>\ngood not only for the mind, but also for the vital and even for the body. All<br \/>\nsuffering, all weaknesses, all <span class=\"SpellE\">incapabilities<\/span> are, in<br \/>\nthe last analysis, insincerities. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>There are many<br \/>\nplaces where insincerity may be lodged, and<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 252<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;hence it should<br \/>\nnever be said as so often people say to me, \u201cI am perfectly sincere.\u201d It is<br \/>\nlike those who assure you, \u201cI have never told a lie.\u201d If you were perfectly<br \/>\nsincere, you would be the Divine, if you had never told a lie, that is,<br \/>\nsomething that is not true, you would be the Truth ! So, as you are neither the<br \/>\nDivine nor the Truth in fact (you are that in essence but not in fact), you<br \/>\nhave always a long way to go to reach the Truth and sincerity. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>You need not look<br \/>\nunhappy because it is like that. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>It is like those<br \/>\npeople in despair who tell you, \u201cWhy is the world so frightful ?\u201d What is the<br \/>\nuse of lamenting, since it is like that ? The only thing you can do is to work<br \/>\nto change it. Naturally, from a speculative point of view one may try to<br \/>\nunderstand, but the human mind is incapable of understanding such things. For<br \/>\nthe moment it is quite useless. What is useful is to change it. We all agree<br \/>\nthat the world is detestable, that it is not what it ought to be, and the only<br \/>\nthing we have to do is to work to make it otherwise. Consequently, our whole<br \/>\npreoccupation should be to find the best means of making it different; and we<br \/>\ncan understand one thing, it is that the best means (though we do not know it<br \/>\nquite well yet), is we ourselves, isn&#8217;t it? And surely you know yourself better<br \/>\nthan you know your <span class=\"SpellE\">neighbour<\/span> \u2013 you understand better<br \/>\nthe consciousness manifested in a human being than that manifested in the<br \/>\nstars, for instance. So, after a little hesitation you could say, \u201cAfter all,<br \/>\nthe best means is what I am. I don&#8217;t know very well what I am, but this kind of<br \/>\ncollection of things that I am, this perhaps is my work, this is perhaps my<br \/>\npart of the work, and if I do it as well as I can, perhaps I shall be doing the<br \/>\nbest I can do.\u201d This is a very big beginning, very big. It is not overwhelming,<br \/>\nnot beyond the limits of your possibilities. You have your work at hand, it is<br \/>\nalways within your reach, so to say, it is always there for you to attend to it<br \/>\n\u2013 a field of action proportionate to your strength, but varied enough, complex,<br \/>\nvast, deep enough to be interesting. And you explore this unknown world. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 253<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Many people tell<br \/>\nyou, \u201cBut then this is egoism !\u201d \u2013<span>\u00a0 <\/span>it is<br \/>\negoism if you do it in an egoistic way, for your personal profit, if you try to<br \/>\nacquire powers, to become powerful enough to influence others, or if you seek<br \/>\nmeans to make a comfortable life for yourself. Naturally, if you do it in this<br \/>\nspirit, it will be egoistic. But the beauty of it is that you will not get<br \/>\nanywhere ! You will begin by deceiving yourself, you will live in increasing<br \/>\nillusions and you will fall back into a greater and greater obscurity.<br \/>\nConsequently, things are <span class=\"SpellE\">organised<\/span> much better than<br \/>\none thinks; if you do your work egoistically (we have said that our field of<br \/>\nwork is always within our reach), it will come to nothing. And hence the<br \/>\nrequired condition is to do it with an absolute sincerity in your aspiration<br \/>\nfor the <span class=\"SpellE\">realisation<\/span> of the divine work. So if you<br \/>\nstart like that I can assure you that you will have such an interesting journey<br \/>\nthat even if it takes very long, you will never get tired. But you must do it<br \/>\nlike that with an intensity of will, with perseverance and that indispensable<br \/>\ngood <span class=\"SpellE\">humour<\/span> which smiles at difficulties and laughs<br \/>\nat mistakes. Then everything will go well. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>What mirror is that which can reflect the<br \/>\nSupreme ? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\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<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Consciousness<br \/>\nitself. It is because that is there, without it one would never get anywhere.<br \/>\nIf the supreme Consciousness were not at the centre of all creation, never<br \/>\ncould the creation become aware of the Consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><i><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>To transform the vital one must have will,<br \/>\nperseverance, sincerity, etc&#8230; But in what part of the being are all these<br \/>\nthings found ? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><span>\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<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>The source of<br \/>\nsincerity, of will, of perseverance is in the psychic being, but this<br \/>\ntranslates itself differently in different people. Generally it is in the<br \/>\nhigher part of the mind that this begins to take shape, but for it to be<br \/>\neffective at least one part of the<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Page &#8211; 254<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;vital must<br \/>\nrespond, because the intensity of your will comes from there, the <span class=\"SpellE\">realising<\/span> power of the will comes from its contact with the<br \/>\nvital. If there were only refractory elements in the vital, you would not be<br \/>\nable to do anything at all. But there is always something, somewhere, which is<br \/>\nwilling \u2013 it is perhaps something insignificant, but there is always something<br \/>\nwhich is willing. It is enough to have had once one minute of aspiration and a<br \/>\nwill even if it be very fugitive, to become conscious of the Divine, to <span class=\"SpellE\">realise<\/span> the Divine, for it to flash like lightning through<br \/>\nthe whole being \u2013 there are even cells of the body which respond. This is not<br \/>\nvisible all at once, but there is a response everywhere. And it is by slowly,<br \/>\ncarefully, putting together all these parts which have responded, though it be<br \/>\nbut once, that one can build up something which will be coherent and <span class=\"SpellE\">organised<\/span>, and which will permit one&#8217;s action to continue<br \/>\nwith will, sincerity and perseverance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Even a fleeting<br \/>\nidea in a child, at a certain moment in its childhood when the psychic being is<br \/>\nmost in front, if it succeeds in penetrating through the outer consciousness<br \/>\nand giving the child just an impression of something beautiful which must be<br \/>\nrealised, it creates a little nucleus and upon this you build your action.<br \/>\nThere is a vast mass of humanity to whom one would never say, \u201cYou must <span class=\"SpellE\">realise<\/span> the Divine\u201d or \u201cDo yoga to find the Divine.\u201d If you<br \/>\nobserve well you will see that it is a tiny minority to whom this can be said.<br \/>\nIt means that this minority of beings is \u201cprepared\u201d to do yoga, it is that. It<br \/>\nis that there has been a beginning of <span class=\"SpellE\">realisation<\/span> \u2013 a<br \/>\nbeginning is enough. With others it is perhaps an old thing, an awakening which<br \/>\nmay come from past lives. But we are speaking of those who are less ready; they<br \/>\nare those who have had at a certain moment a flash which has passed through<br \/>\ntheir whole being and created a response, but that suffices. This does not<br \/>\nhappen to many people. Those ready to do yoga are not many if you compare them<br \/>\nwith the unconscious human mass. But one thing is certain, the fact that you<br \/>\nare all here proves that at least you have had that <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;Page &#8211; 255<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<hr size=\"2\" width=\"100%\" align=\"center\">\n<p><\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:0in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>&nbsp;\u2013 there are those<br \/>\nwho are very far on the path (sometimes they have no idea about it), but at<br \/>\nleast all of you have had that, that kind of spontaneous integral contact which<br \/>\nis like an electric shock, a lightning-flash which goes through you and wakes<br \/>\nyou up to something: there is something to be realised. It is possible that the<br \/>\nexperience is not translated into words, only into a flame. That is enough. And<br \/>\nit is around this nucleus that one <span class=\"SpellE\">organises<\/span> oneself,<br \/>\nslowly, slowly, progressively. And once it is there it never disappears. It is<br \/>\nonly if you have made a pact with the adverse forces and make a considerable<br \/>\neffort to break the contact and not notice its existence, that you may believe<br \/>\nit has disappeared. And yet a single flash suffices for it to come back. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style='margin:0;text-align:justify;text-indent:.25in;line-height:150%'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>If you have had<br \/>\nthis just once, you may tell yourself that in this life or another you are sure<br \/>\nto <span class=\"SpellE\">realise<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" align=\"center\" style='margin:0;text-align:center;line-height:150%'>\n<span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'>Page &#8211; 256<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoPlainText\" align=\"center\" style='text-align:center'><span lang=\"EN-US\" style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:\"Times New Roman\"'><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>26 March 1951 &nbsp; \u201cAt every moment one must know how to lose all in order to gain all.\u201d What does this 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&#8230;<\/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-4395","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\/4395","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=4395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}