{"id":4396,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4396"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:42","slug":"29-10-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\/29-10-march-1951-vol-04-questions-and-answers-volume-04","title":{"rendered":"-29_10 March 1951.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n10
\nMarch 1951 <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe power of money is at present under
\nthe influence or in the hands of the forces and beings of the vital world. It
\nis because of this influence that you never see money going in any considerable
\namount to the cause of Truth. Always it goes astray, because it is in the
\nclutch of the hostile forces and is one of the principal means by which they
\nkeep their grip upon the earth. The hold of the hostile forces upon money-power
\nis powerfully, completely and thoroughly organised<\/span>
\nand to extract anything out of this compact organisation<\/span>
\nis a most difficult task. Each time that you try to draw a little of this money
\naway from its present custodians, you have to undertake a fierce battle.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (12 May)
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

It is often said in fairy tales that a
\ntreasure is guarded by serpents. Is this true? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, but it is not
\na physical serpent, it is a vital serpent. The key to the treasures is in the
\nvital world and it is guarded by an immense black serpent a tremendous serpent,
\nten times, fifty times larger than an ordinary one. It keeps the gates of the
\ntreasure. It is magnificent, black, always erect and awake. I happened once to
\nbe standing before it (usually these beings obey me when I give them an order),
\nand I said to it, \u201cLet me pass.\u201d It replied, \u201cI would willingly let you pass,
\nbut if I do, they will kill me; so I cannot let you pass.\u201d I asked, \u201cWhat must
\nI bring you in order to gain entrance?\u201d It said, \u201cOh, only one thing would
\noblige me to give way to you: if you could become master of the sex impulse in
\nman, if you succeeded in conquering that in humanity, I could no longer resist,
\nI would allow you to pass.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 189<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It has not yet
\nallowed me to pass. I must admit that I have not fulfilled the condition, I
\nhave not been able to obtain such a mastery of it as to conquer it in all men. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is quite
\ndifficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

              Before cutting one’s relations with beings
\nwho are linked with a vital entity, one must be sure of their connection. How
\ncan one be sure? <\/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

Evidently it is
\ndifficult to know, unless one has direct vision of the vital, that is to say,
\nunless one is able to see directly into the vital world. I have seen many, many
\ntimes… that two things may happen, and generally do happen. When, for some
\nreason or other, you do not agree with someone \u2013 if there is a conflict of
\ninterests, if there has been a quarrel \u2013 there is a tendency to say of him, \u201cHe
\nis a vital being.\u201d One ought to mistrust oneself first, and afterwards what the
\nother says. There is another case, still more interesting: I knew two persons
\nat least who were not only under the vital influence but incarnations of beings
\nof the vital world. Well, it was these very persons who constantly denounced
\nothers as possessed by beings of the vital world ! So then, it is better not to
\njump to conclusions. There are instances where ignorance is better than
\nhalf-knowledge, for if you do not know that you are dealing with a being of the
\nvital world, you can act as you do with an ordinary human being, that is,
\nprotect yourself sufficiently, not let yourself go if it is an enemy, be on
\nyour guard, have great patience. And afterwards you don’t pay any attention to
\nwhat this man does or does not do to you. Only those who possess a perfected
\nvital being and are completely disinterested can tell you, \u201cThis person or that
\none is a dangerous being.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe human being is at home and safe in
\nthe material body; the body is his protection. There are some who are full of
\ncontempt for their bodies and think<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage – 190<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n
\n\u00a0<\/span>that things will be much better and
\neasier after death without them. But in fact the body is your fortress and your
\nshelter. While you are lodged in it the forces of the hostile world find a
\ndifficulty in getting any direct hold upon you. What are nightmares? These are
\nyour sorties into the vital world. And what is the first thing you try to do
\nwhen you are in the grip of a nightmare? You rush back into your body and shake
\nyourself into your normal physical consciousness.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (12 May)
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i>What becomes of the vital being after
\ndeath? <\/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 dissolved.
\nRarely does it happen otherwise. But if you have had a very strong passion, if
\nyou were divided by fixed impulses, the vital being would break up into small
\npieces. Instead of going off like a vapour<\/span> or a
\nliquid, it goes off by little bits. Each of these pieces of vital substance is
\ngathered around the central impulse, the central desire, the central passion of
\nthat piece, thus creating little entities which don’t have a human form but
\ntake at times an indefinite form; at times they resemble the body to which the
\npieces belonged, at other times they take a form expressing the desire they represent.
\nAnd naturally their sole concern is to satisfy their desire or passion and they
\nsearch everywhere for the means of self-satisfaction. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take, for
\ninstance, the passion of a miser for his fortune. He dies. His vital being is
\ndissolved, but his passion for his money remains alive. It gathers around
\nitself a certain number of elements to form a living and conscious entity in
\nthe vital world. If this man has in his lifetime hidden a treasure somewhere,
\nthat entity goes and installs itself just above the place where the treasure
\nis, as if to guard it and stop people from coming near it. But there are
\nsensitive people who, when they know that a treasure is hidden somewhere, feel
\nthe presence and say, \u201cThe treasure is there.\u201d That is the first effect. The
\nother effect is that <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 191<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the entity, not
\nwanting the treasure to be touched, always brings about some catastrophe to
\nguard its property. It makes those who approach it ill or it causes an
\naccident, even an assassination; any means is good for it; or if the person is
\nvery sensitive, it gives him such a fright that he goes mad. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are also
\nlots of little entities, quite repugnant, in very large numbers, which
\noriginate from that wretched sexual desire. If this desire (with its
\ncorresponding entities) is not dissolved at the time of death, these entities
\ncontinue to exist and they come and settle in the atmosphere of sensitive
\npersons to goad them, to egg them on. These entities feed upon the vital force
\nemanated at the time of the act and naturally their only desire is to get as
\nmuch nourishment as they can. I have seen people enringed<\/span>
\nby dozens of these beings. It is a very concrete thing… I don’t know if you
\nhave heard of Maurice Magre<\/span>, the writer who had come
\nhere. He has said in one of his books that people who have a very strong sexual
\ninstinct are surrounded by a swarm of these small beings, who plague them to
\nsatisfy themselves, to feed upon the vital force. He knew the thing quite well,
\nhe had observed it. To those who are ever so little sensitive, it is very
\nperceptible. Even the people who are tormented very often feel that the impulse
\ncomes from outside \u2013 it arouses something inside them, but they feel that the
\nexcitation comes from outside. And there are hundreds of thousands of them, for
\nunfortunately it is one of the greatest difficulties of mankind, it is a
\nterrible slavery. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In vital nightmares, which part of the
\nbeing goes 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

Your vital<\/span>
\n\u2014\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>not the whole of
\nit for that would produce a cataleptic state, but a portion of the vital goes
\nout for a stroll. Some always go to the nastiest places and so have very bad
\nnights<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>the possibilities in these nightly rambles
\nare innumerable. It may be a very small thing, just a little portion of your<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 192<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>being, but if it is conscious, that is enough
\nto give you a fine little nightmare ! <\/span><\/p>\n

You know, when you
\nsleep, the inner beings are not concentrated upon the body, they go out and
\nbecome more or less independent<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>a limited
\nindependence, but independence all the same<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>and they go to
\ndwell in their own domains. The mind more so, for it is hardly held within the
\nbody, it is only concentrated but not contained in the body. The vital also
\ngoes beyond the body, but it is more concentrated upon the body. The mind
\nhowever is such a supple substance that it is sufficient to think about a
\nperson in order to be with that person, at least partially, mentally. If you
\nthink strongly of a place, a part of your mind is there; distance, so to say,
\ndoes not exist. Of course, to have a mind centralised<\/span>
\naround the body requires good training. Few people have a mind with a
\nwell-defined form: it is like clouds which roll, come and go. Even to have a
\nvital with a form similar to that of your physical body, an analogous form, it
\nmust be very much individualised<\/span>, very much centralised<\/span>. The mind still more; it must be completely individualised<\/span>, centralised<\/span>, organised<\/span> around the psychic centre in order to have a
\ndefinite form. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are people
\nwho spend their life organising<\/span> their mind. I have
\nknown some who had made of their mind a kind of fortress, a huge construction
\n(I am speaking of people who had uncommon mental capacities). They had made of
\ntheir mind quite a big edifice, very powerful and of such a fixity, with such
\nsolid walls that they had lost all contact with the outer mental world: they
\nlived completely within their own construction and all the phenomena of their
\nconsciousness were of their own making<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>they had no longer
\nany contact with the outside mental world. They retained contact with their own
\nvital and their body, in a way, but all the phenomena of their consciousness
\nwere lodged within their mental construction<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>they could no
\nlonger get out of it. Well, this happens very strongly to people who seek for a
\nspiritual life through the classical methods of a renunciation<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 193<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of the material
\nconsciousness, a concentration on their inner being and identification with it.
\nIf I gave you the names of some, you would be quite astonished. They construct
\nfor themselves a conception in which one finds all the gradations of the mind,
\na construction so solid and so fixed that they become imprisoned within it and
\nwhen they believe they have reached the supreme Truth, they have only reached
\nthe centre of their own mental construction. <\/span><\/p>\n

And they have all
\nthe experiences they used to foresee: the experience of liberation, the
\nexperience of going out of the body, the experience of identification with the
\nSupreme, all, all, but all of their own making; this has no contact with the
\nuniversal reality. Then if someone touches it, if for some reason or other
\nsomeone has the power to touch it or simply to make a breach in one of the
\nwalls, at first they are completely upset, then they come to regard the force
\nthat could do this as a force of terrible destruction, a manifestation of a
\nhostile force of the worst kind !<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

What is a \u201cmental nightmare\u201d? <\/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

When there is a
\nchaos in the brain or a local fever, a particular turmoil in the brain, an overstrain,
\nor if there is a want of control, you let yourself be possessed by mental
\nformations, this is what happens most often<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>mental formations
\nwhich, most often, you yourself have made, besides. And as the control of the
\nrational, waking consciousness has gone, all this begins to dance a saraband<\/span> in the head, with a kind of raging madness; ideas
\nget entangled, collide, fight, it is truly hallucinating. Then, unless you have
\nthe power to bring a great peace into your head, a great tranquillity<\/span>,
\na very strong and pure light, well, it is ten times worse than a vital
\nnightmare. The worst of a vital nightmare consists generally in fighting with
\nan enemy who wants to kill you, and you strike him terrible blows, and the
\nblows never hit; you exert all your force, all your energy, and you do not <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 194<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

succeed in
\ntouching your adversary. He is there in front of you, he threatens you, he is
\ngoing to strangle you and you gather all your strength, you try to strike, but
\nnothing touches him. When the struggle is like that, hand to hand, with a being
\nwho throws himself upon you, it is particularly painful. That is why you are
\nadvised not to go out of the body unless you have the necessary power or the
\npurity. You see, in this kind of nightmare the force you want to use is the
\n\u201cmemory\u201d of a physical force; but one may have great physical strength, be a
\nfirst-class boxer, and yet be completely powerless in the vital world because
\none does not have the necessary vital power. As for the mental nightmares, that
\nkind of frightful saraband<\/span> in the head, one has
\naltogether the impression of going mad. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

At<\/span><\/i> the time of death, the psychic being goes to
\ntake rest, doesn’t it? But the vital is stopped in the vital world; does this
\nprevent the psychic from going to rest <\/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

But the vital does
\nnot go to rest nor does the mental being. Generally they are dissolved. It is
\nonly if one has followed a yoga throughout his whole life, if one has taken
\ngreat care to individualise<\/span>, to centralise<\/span>
\nthe vital and the mental around the psychic being that they remain<\/span>
\n\u2014 <\/span>that happens once in ten million cases, it is very exceptional. Take the
\ncase of a philosopher or a writer who has worked considerably in his brain,
\ntried to organise<\/span> it; that then persists, but as a
\ncapacity to think, nothing else. There are these capacities of thinking which
\npersist after death and they try naturally to find another physical brain in
\nwhich to manifest. It is in this way that the mind of a great thinker may
\nidentify itself with another mind and be able to express itself. <\/span><\/p>\n

From the vital
\npoint of view, take the case of a great musician who has worked all his life to
\nmake his external being a good instrument for music; he has organised<\/span>
\nthis vital power in<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 195<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>his body for playing music; well then, his
\nhands, for instance, are so individualised<\/span> in their
\nability to play, that they can persist subtly even after death, with their
\nform, a form analogous to the old physical form. They float in the vital world
\nand are attracted by people who have similar capacities; they try to become
\nidentified with them. A person who is sensitive enough, receptive enough, can
\nbecome identified with these hands and execute wonderful things, profit by all
\nthe individualisation<\/span> of the past life of these
\nhands. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Does the same phenomenon occur in the case
\nof scientists when the results of their work are realised<\/span>
\nsome time after their death? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, in the case
\nof Pierre and Marie Curie, for example, it is certain that the power of work of
\nPierre Curie passed into his wife at his death. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Men who undertake excavations in the tombs
\nof Egypt often meet with accidents. Why? <\/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

They deserve it !
\nWhen they violate the tombs, you see… There are countless stories of this
\nkind. But that is another phenomenon. <\/span><\/p>\n

Let me explain: in
\nthe physical form is found the \u201cspirit of the form\u201d and this spirit of the form
\npersists for a certain time even when outwardly the person is pronounced dead.
\nAnd as long as the spirit of the form persists, the body is not destroyed. In
\nancient Egypt they had this knowledge; they knew that if they prepared the body
\nin a certain way, the spirit of the form would not leave it and the body would
\nnot disintegrate. In some cases they have succeeded wonderfully; and if one
\nviolates the repose of beings who have remained thus for thousands of years, it
\nis understandable that they may not be very pleased, especially when their
\nrepose is violated out of an unhealthy curiosity, legitimised<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 196<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

in the \u201ccause of science\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In
\nthe Mus\u00e9<\/font><\/span>e<\/span>
\nGuimet<\/span> in Paris, there are two mummies. Of one
\npractically nothing is left, but in the other the spirit of the form has
\nremained very conscious, conscious to such an extent that one can make contact
\nwith the consciousness. Evidently when a bunch of idiots come to stare at you
\nwith their blank, saucer-eyes which understand nothing, and say, \u201cOh, it is
\nlike this, it is like that\u201d, it cannot give much pleasure. <\/span><\/p>\n

You see, they
\nbegin by committing an outrage: these mummies are enclosed in a box of a
\nparticular form according to the person, with all that is necessary to preserve
\nthem; now, the box is opened, more or less violently, some wrappings are
\nstripped away here and there to provide a better view…And considering that it
\nwas never ordinary people who were mummified, these were beings who had
\nattained an appreciable inner power or who were of royal birth, people more or
\nless initiated. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is a mummy
\nwhich has been the cause of a large number of catastrophes; she was a princess,
\ndaughter of a Pharaoh, and secretly at the head of a college of initiation at
\nThebes. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Well, men are like that…<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage – 197<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

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

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