{"id":4422,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4422"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","slug":"04-17-february-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/06-questions-and-answers-volume-06\/04-17-february-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-04_17 February.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\n
\n17 February 1954<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This talk is based upon Mother’s essay
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPsychic Education and Spiritual
\nEducation\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Once the being has entered into contact with the psychic, why does the
\npsychic again hide itself? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not the psychic that hides itself,
\nit is the being which returns to its ordinary consciousness!… It is difficult
\nfor it to remain at its highest. One slides down, falls back. Only, the second
\ntime the discovery is easier. And each time the road is easier until one no
\nlonger falls back. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, I don’t understand this: \u201cNormally this discovery [of the
\neternal principle in oneself] is associated with a mystic feeling, a religious
\nlife, because it is mainly the religions that have concerned themselves with
\nthis aspect of life. But it need not necessarily be so: the mystic notion of
\nGod may be replaced by the more philosophical notion of truth and still the
\ndiscovery will remain essentially the same, but the road leading to it may be
\ntaken even by the most intransigent positivist.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What don’t you understand? I mean that
\nwhat one thinks is not of much importance because thought is formed by the
\nsurroundings in which one is born and the education one has received but that
\nis only one way of saying things. And you can say them in all sorts of ways:
\nthey remain what they are. What don’t you understand? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If the mystic notion of God is replaced by the more philosophical notion…\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 24<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It all depends on what meaning you put
\ninto the word \u201cGod\u201d. It is a word (I have told you this at least four or five
\ntimes) to express \u201csomething\u201d you do not know but are trying to attain. Well,
\nif you have received a religious education, you are accustomed to call this
\n\u201cGod\u201d. If you have received a more positivist and also a more philosophical
\neducation, you are accustomed to call this by all sorts of names, and you may
\nat the same time have the idea that it is the supreme truth. If one wants to speak
\nof God and describe him, one is obliged to make use of things which are the
\nmost inaccessible to our consciousness, and to call God what is beyond anything
\nwe know and can grasp and be \u2013 all that is too far for us to be able to
\nunderstand, we call God. Only some religions (there are some) give a precise
\nform to the godhead; and sometimes they give several forms and they have
\nseveral gods; sometimes they give one form and have only one God; but all this
\nis human fabrication. There is \u201csomething\u201d, there is a reality which is beyond
\nall our expressions, but which we can succeed in contacting by practicing a
\ndiscipline. We can identify ourselves with it. Once one is identified with it
\none knows what it is, but one cannot express it, for words cannot say it. So,
\nif you use one kind of vocabulary, if you have a particular mental conviction,
\nyou will use the vocabulary corresponding to that conviction. If you belong to
\nanother group which has another way of speaking, you will call it or even think
\nabout it in that way. I am telling you this to give you the true impression,
\nthat there is something there which cannot be grasped \u2013 grasped by thought \u2013 but
\nwhich exists. But the name you give it matters little, that’s of no importance,
\nit exists<\/i>. And so the only thing to
\ndo is to enter into contact with it \u2013 not to give it a name or describe it. In
\nfact, there is hardly any use giving it a name or describing it. One must try
\nto enter into contact, to concentrate upon it, live it, live that reality, and
\nwhatever the name you give it is not at all important once you have the
\nexperience. The experience alone counts. And when people associate the
\nexperience with a particular expression \u2013 and in so
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 25<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

narrow a way, so closed up in itself that
\napart from this formula one can find nothing \u2013 that is an inferiority. One must
\nbe able to live<\/i> that reality through
\nall possible paths, all occasions, all formations; one must live it, for that
\nindeed is true, for that is supremely good, that is all-powerful, that knows
\nall, that…\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, one can live that, but
\none cannot speak about it. And if one does speak, all that one says about it
\nhas no great importance. It is only one way of speaking that is all. There is
\nan entire line of philosophers and people who have replaced the notion of God
\nby the notion of an impersonal Absolute or by a notion of Truth or a notion of
\njustice or even by a notion of progress \u2013of something eternally progressive;
\nbut for one who has within him the capacity of identifying himself with that,
\nwhat has been said about it hasn’t much importance. Sometimes one may read a
\nwhole book of philosophy and not progress a step farther. Sometimes one may be
\nquite a fervent devotee of a religion and not progress. There are people who
\nhave spent entire lifetimes seated in contemplation and attained nothing. There
\nare people (we have well-known examples) who used to do the most modest of
\nmanual works, like a cobbler mending old shoes, and who had an experience. It
\nis altogether beyond what one thinks and says of it. It is some gift that’s
\nthere, that is all. And all that is needed is to be that \u2013 to succeed in
\nidentifying oneself with it and live it. At times you read one sentence in a
\nbook and that leads you there. Sometimes you read entire books of philosophy or
\nreligion and they get you nowhere. There are people, however, whom the reading
\nof philosophy books helps to go ahead. But all these things are secondary.
\nThere is only one thing that’s important: that is a sincere and persistent
\nwill, for these things don’t happen in a twinkling. So one must persevere. When
\nsomeone feels that he is not advancing, he must not get discouraged; he must
\ntry to find out what it is in the nature that is opposing, and then make the
\nnecessary progress. And suddenly one goes forward. And when you reach the end
\nyou have an experience. And what is remarkable is that people who have followed
\nalto- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 26<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

gether different paths, with altogether
\ndifferent mental constructions, from the greatest believer to the most
\nunbelieving, even materialists, have arrived at that experience, it is the same
\nfor everyone. Because it is true \u2013 because it is real, because it is the sole
\nreality. And it is quite simply that. I do not say anything more. This is of no
\nimportance, the way one speaks about it, what is important is to follow the
\npath, your path, no matter which \u2013 yes, to go there. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I did not understand the explanation of the psychic you have given: \u201cOne
\ncould say, for example, that the creation of an individual being is the result
\nof the projection, in time and space, of one of the countless possibilities
\nlatent in the supreme origin of all manifestation which, through the medium of
\nthe one and universal consciousness, takes concrete form in the law or the
\ntruth of an individual and so, by a progressive development, becomes his soul
\nor psychic being.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is a little philosophical… You know
\nthe difference between what is subjective and what is objective? You know it!
\nWell, imagine precisely this Reality we were speaking about, which is at the
\norigin of all things, passing from the subjective to the objective state. That
\nis, what was within becomes as though projected outside. It is the [it same]
\nthing: it is the state that changes. And so, within it there are all the
\npossibilities of objective existence; within they are unexpressed,
\nunmanifested; outside they are projected, as a picture is projected on the
\ncinema-screen: we see it before us. And every element that was a possibility
\nwithin, a law, becomes the law of a realisation. And every one of these
\npossibilities becomes the reality of a being, of an individuality if you like,
\nof something existing objectively. And it is that law which is the origin of
\nthe centre of the psychic being: it is the truth of the being or the law of the
\nbeing. The Buddha called it the \u201claw\u201d, he spoke of the Dharma<\/i>. It is the truth of the being.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 27<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It is that which binds it again
\nindestructibly to its origin. And that is the starting-point of the psychic
\nbeing. And so, even as this develops, like the picture on the screen, it takes
\na more and more complex and precise form in the manifestation. But the reality
\nof that form is one, it is bound to the One. And all the units are linked
\ntogether and reproduce the One. <\/span><\/p>\n

Is it not easier?… (Looking at the child<\/i>) It is still more difficult! But indeed,
\nthat’s what I have said here. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, you have said: \u201cGive up all personal seeking for comfort,
\nsatisfaction, enjoyment or happiness. Be only a burning fire for progress, take
\nwhatever comes to you as an aid to your progress and immediately make whatever
\nprogress is required.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, that’s quite simple! It is very
\nclear! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, but if I want to progress in sports, for instance, then that would
\nbe a personal progress, wouldn’t it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Eh? What? In sports? No, the value of the
\nwill depends on your aim. If it is in order to be successful and earn a
\nreputation for yourself and be better than others \u2013 all sorts of ideas like
\nthat \u2013 then that becomes something very egoistic, very personal and you won’t
\nbe able to progress \u2013 yes, you will make progress but still it won’t lead you
\nanywhere. But if you do it with the idea of being open, even in the physical,
\nto the divine Influence, to be a good instrument and manifest Him, then that is
\nvery good. Not clear? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Physical things are not necessarily more
\negoistic than mental or emotional ones. Far from it. They are often much less
\nso. Egoism does not lie in that, egoism lies in the inner attitude. It does
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 28<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

not depend on the field in which you are
\nconcentrated, it depends on the attitude you have. It does not depend on what
\nyou do, it depends on the way you do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, you say: \u201cNever take physical happenings at their face
\nvalue. They are always a clumsy attempt to express something else, the true
\nthing which escapes our superficial understanding.\u201d But, Mother, it is said one
\nmust not be pessimistic, and here you have said, \u201cThey are always a clumsy
\nattempt…\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This means that the material world, just
\nas it is, is very awkward at expressing the truth which is behind. That is
\nobvious. I believe we don’t need to reflect very deeply to perceive that,
\nunless there are people…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Yes, in \u201cThe
\nFour Austerities\u201d I speak of those who are perfectly adjusted in life and find
\neverything wonderful, but I haven’t yet met many of these who can believe it
\nall their life through. I am speaking of optimists \u2013 one is optimistic so long
\nas one is healthy and very young, and then, as soon as one begins to be less
\nstrong and less healthy, optimism vanishes. But still, if one has a little see
\nand sensibility, it is easy to see that everything is not for the best in the
\nbest possible world, for if you yourself are comfortable and have all you need,
\nif you are getting on well and have no cares, that does not mean that there are
\nnot millions of beings in altogether painful and sad situation. Then, it may be
\nvery easy to think only of oneself. But it is not something very advisable. I
\nknew people who were very rich and had never had the chance to come into
\ncontact with those who had nothing or hadn’t enough, and for them it was
\nsomething unthinkable. I knew a lady (I knew many) who lived in a very fine
\napartment with many servants and all possible comfort \u2013 she had always lived
\nthus and had never known any but easy circumstances \u2013 and one day I spoke to
\nher about someone, a person of great worth and merit but who had nothing,
\nhadn’t enough to eat \u2013 and I asked her to help that per- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 29<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

son, not with money for she would not have
\naccepted it, but with some work or by inviting her to pass some time with her
\n(for she had a philosophical mind and could have helped intellectually). So I
\ntold her: \u201cYou know, she doesn’t always eat her fill.\u201d I saw that she did not
\nunderstand. I said: \u201cWell, yes, she does not always have enough money to buy
\nfood \u2013 buy bread and what she needs to eat.\u201d \u2013 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u201cBut surely there is always bread and food in
\nthe kitchen!\u201d (Laughter)\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>She said that
\nso spontaneously!
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 30<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


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

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