{"id":4423,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4423"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:53","slug":"19-02-june-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\/19-02-june-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-19_02 June.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n


\n
\n2 June 1954<\/font> <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo’s
\nElements of Yoga, <\/font> Chapter 9, <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cExperiences and Visio\u201d and Chapter 10,
\n\u201cWork\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No questions?… I was going to propose a
\nmeditation. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What are the causes for not being able to meditate? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Because one has not learnt to do it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Why, suddenly you take a fancy: today I am
\ngoing to meditate. You have never done so before. You sit down and imagine you
\nare going to begin meditating. But it is something to learn as one learn
\nmathematics or the piano. It is not learnt just like that! It is not enough to
\nsit with crossed arms and crossed legs in order to meditate. You must learn how
\nto meditate. Everywhere all kinds of rules have been given about what should be
\ndone in order to be able to meditate. <\/span><\/p>\n

If, when one was quite young and was
\ntaught, for instance, how to squat, if one was taught at the same time not to
\nthink or to remain very quiet or to concentrate or gather one’s thoughts, or…
\nall sorts of things one must learn to do, like meditating; if, when quite young
\nand at the same time that you were taught to stand straight, for instance, and
\nwalk or sit or even eat \u2013 you are taught many things but you are not aware of
\nthis, for they are taught when you are very small \u2013 if you were taught to meditate
\nalso, then spontaneously, later, you could, the day you decide to do so, sit
\ndown and meditate. But you are not taught this. You are taught absolutely
\nnothing of the kind. Besides, usually you are taught very few things \u2013 you are
\nnot taught even to sleep. People think that they have only to lie down in their
\nbed and then they sleep. But this is not true! One must learn how to sleep as
\none must learn to eat, learn to do
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 151<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

anything at all. And if one does not
\nlearn, well, one does it badly! Or one takes years and years to learn how to do
\nit, and during all those years when it is badly done, all sorts of unpleasant
\nthings occur. And it is only after suffering much, making many mistakes,
\ncommitting many stupidities, that, gradually, when one is old and has white
\nhair, one begins to know how to do something. But if, when you were quite
\nsmall, your parents or those who look after you, took the trouble to teach you
\nhow to do what you do, do it properly as it should be done, in the right way,
\nthen that would help you to avoid all \u2013 all these mistakes you make through the
\nyears. And not only do you make mistakes, but nobody tells you they are
\nmistakes! And so you are surprised that you fall ill, are tired, don’t know how
\nto do what you want to, and that you have never been taught. Some children are
\nnot taught anything, and so they need years and years and years to learn the
\nsimplest things, even the most elementary thing: to be clean. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is true that most of the time parents
\ndo not teach this because they do not know it themselves! For they themselves
\ndid not have anyone to teach them. So they do not know… they have groped in
\nthe dark all their life to learn how to live. And so naturally they are not in
\na position to teach you how to live, for they do not know it themselves. If you
\nare left to yourself, you understand, it needs years, years of experience to
\nlearn the simplest thing, and even then you must think about it. If you don’t
\nthink about it, you will never learn. <\/span><\/p>\n

To live in the right way is a very
\ndifficult art, and unless one begins to learn it when quite young and to make
\nan effort, one never knows it very well. Simply the art of keeping one’s body
\nin good health, one’s mind quiet and goodwill in one’s heart \u2013 things which are
\nindispensable in order to live decently \u2013 I don’t say in comfort, I don’t say
\nremarkably, I only say decently. Well, I don’t think there are many who take
\ncare to teach this to their children. <\/span><\/p>\n

Is that all?
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 152<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Sweet Mother, ought we to do some other work besides studies? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Some other work? That depends upon you. It
\ndepends upon each one and on what one wants. If you want to do sadhana, it is
\nobvious that you must have at least partially an occupation, which is not selfish,
\nthat is, which is not done for oneself alone. Studies are all very well \u2013 very
\nnecessary, even quite indispensable, only it is a part of what I was speaking
\nabout just a while ago, that you must learn when you are young, for when you
\nare grown-up it becomes much more difficult \u2013 but there is an age when you can
\nhave the foundation of indispensable studies and when, if you want to begin to
\ndo sadhana, you must do something which does not have an exclusively personal
\nmotive. One must do something a little unselfish, for if one is exclusively
\noccupied with oneself, one gets shut up in a sort of carapace and is not open
\nto the universal forces. A small unselfish movement, a small action done with
\nno egoistic aim opens a door upon something other than one’s own small, very
\ntiny person. <\/span><\/p>\n

One is usually shut up in a shell and
\nbecomes aware of other shells only when there is a shock or friction. But the
\nconsciousness of the circulating Force, of the interdependence of beings \u2013 this
\nis a very rare thing. It is one of the indispensable stages of sadhana <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, can’t one study for the Divine? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That means? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Can one study for the Divine and not for oneself, prepare oneself for
\nthe divine work? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, if you study with the feeling that you
\nmust develop yourselves to become instruments. But truly, it is done in a very
\ndifferent spirit, isn’t it? \u2013 very different. To begin with, there are
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 153<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

no longer subjects you like and those you
\ndon’t, no longer any classes which bore you and those which don’t, no longer
\nany difficult things and things not difficult, no longer any teachers who are
\npleasant or any who are not \u2013 all that disappears immediately. One enters a
\nstate in which one takes whatever happen as an opportunity to learn to prepare
\noneself for the divine work, and everything becomes interesting. Naturally, if
\none is doing that, it is quite all right. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What you have said in the Bulletin about \u201ceducating the mind\u201d \u2013 this
\nmeans that one educates oneself for that, lives and studies for the Divine.
\nThen isn’t this a work done for the Divine? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, yes, yes. It is very good if it is
\ndone with that aim. But it must be with that aim. For instance, when one wants
\nto understand the deep laws of life, wants to be ready to receive whatever
\nmessage is sent by the Divine, if one wants to be able to penetrate the secrets
\nof the Manifestation, all this asks for a developed mind, so one studies with
\nthat will. But then one no longer needs to make a choice to study, for
\neverything, no matter what, the least little circumstance in life, becomes a
\nteacher who can teach you something, teach you how to think and act. Even \u2013 I
\nthink I said this precisely \u2013 even the reflections of an ignorant child can
\nhelp you to understand something you didn’t understand before. Your attitude is
\nso different. It is always an attitude which is awaiting a discovery, an
\nopportunity for progress, a rectification of a wrong movement, a step ahead,
\nand so it is like a magnet that attracts from all around you opportunities to
\nmake this progress. The least things can teach you how to progress. As you have
\nthe consciousness and will to progress, everything becomes an opportunity, and
\nyou project this consciousness and will to progress upon all things. <\/span><\/p>\n

And not only is this useful for you, but
\nit is useful for all those around you with whom you have a contact.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 154<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Let us take simply a question about your
\nclass, shall we? \u2013 the school class. Even as an undisciplined, disobedient and ill-willed
\nchild can disorganise the class \u2013 and this is why at times one is obliged to
\nput him out, because simply by his presence he can completely disorganise the
\nclass \u2013 so too, if there is a student who has the absolutely right attitude,
\nthe will to learn in everything, so that not a word is pronounced, not a
\ngesture made, but it becomes for him an opportunity to learn something \u2013 his
\npresence can have the opposite effect and help the class to rise in education.
\nIf, consciously, he is in this state of intensity of aspiration to learn and
\ncorrect himself, he communicates this to the others… It is true that in the
\npresent state of things the bad example is much more contagious than the good
\none! It is much easier to follow the bad example than the good, but the good
\ntoo is useful, and a class with a true student who is there only because he
\nwants to learn and apply himself, who is deeply interested in every opportunity
\nto learn, \u2013 this creates a solid atmosphere. <\/span><\/p>\n

You can help. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, why is it that here, in work, some people venture to satisfy
\ntheir fancies and thus much money is wasted? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not money alone that is wasted! <\/span><\/p>\n

Energy, Consciousness is infinitely, a
\nthousand times more wasted than money. Should there be no wastage… my word, I
\nbelieve the Ashram couldn’t be here! There is not a second when there isn’t any
\nwastage \u2013 sometimes it is worse than that. There is this habit \u2013 hardly
\nconscious, I hope \u2013 of absorbing as much Energy, as much Consciousness as one
\ncan and using it for one’s personal satisfactions. That indeed is something
\nwhich is happening every minute. If all the Energy, all the Consciousness which
\nis constantly poured out upon you all, were used for the true purpose, that is,
\nfor the divine work and the prepara<\/span>– <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 155<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

tion<\/span><\/span> for the divine work, we should be already
\nvery far on the road, much farther than we are. But everybody, more or less
\nconsciously, and in any case instinctively, absorbs as much Consciousness and
\nEnergy as he can and as soon as he feels this Energy in himself, he uses it for
\nhis personal ends, his own satisfaction. <\/span><\/p>\n

Who thinks that all this Force that is
\nhere, that is infinitely greater, infinitely more precious than all
\nmoney-forces, this Force which is here and is given consciously, constantly, with
\nan endless perseverance and patience, only for one sole purpose, that of
\nrealising the divine work \u2013 who thinks of not wasting it? Who realises that it
\nis a sacred duty to make progress, to prepare oneself to understand better and
\nlive better? For people live by the divine Energy, they live by the divine
\nConsciousness, and use them for their personal, selfish ends. <\/span><\/p>\n

You are shocked when a few thousand rupees
\nare wasted but not shocked when there are… when streams of Consciousness and
\nEnergy are diverted from their true purpose! <\/span><\/p>\n

If one wants to do a divine work upon
\nearth, one must come with to of patience and endurance. One must know how to
\nlive in eternity and wait for the consciousness to awaken in everyone \u2013 the
\nconsciousness of what true integrity is.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 156<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 June 1954   This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo’s Elements of Yoga, Chapter 9, \u201cExperiences and Visio\u201d and Chapter 10, \u201cWork\u201d.   No…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","wpcat-125-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423","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=4423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4423\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}