{"id":4437,"date":"2013-07-13T01:55:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4437"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:55:59","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:55:59","slug":"15-05-may-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\/15-05-may-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-15_05 May.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\n
\n5 May 1954 <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

Yoga, Chapter 4,
\n\u201cSincerity\u201d and Chapter 5, \u201cFaith\u201d.<\/font><\/span><\/span> <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cQ: What is the right attitude to stick on to this path till the
\nSupramental Truth is realised?\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cA: There is the psychic condition and sincerity and devotion to the
\nMother.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is \u201cthe psychic condition\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The psychic condition?<\/span><\/span> That means being in relation with one’s
\npsychic, I suppose, being governed by one’s psychic being. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, I don’t understand very clearly the difference between
\nfaith, belief and confidence. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But Sri Aurobindo has given the full
\nexplanation here. If you don’t understand, then…<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

He has written \u201cFaith is a feeling in the whole being.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The whole being, yes. Faith, that’s the
\nwhole being at once. He says that belief is something that occurs in the head,
\nthat is purely mental; and confidence is quite different. Confidence \u2013 one can
\nhave confidence in life, trust in the Divine<\/span>, trust in
\nothers, trust in one’s own destiny, that is, one has the feeling that
\neverything is going to help him, to do what he wants to do. <\/span><\/p>\n

Faith is a certitude<\/span>
\nwithout any proof.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, on what does faith depend<\/span>? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Probably on Divine Grace.<\/span><\/span> Some people have it spontaneously.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 120<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

There are others who need to make a great
\neffort to have it. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can faith be increased? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Through aspiration, I suppose. Some have
\nit spontaneously…\u00a0 <\/span>You see, it is
\ndifficult to pray if one doesn’t have faith, but if one can make prayer a means
\nof increasing one’s faith, or aspiring, having an aspiration, having an
\naspiration to have faith… Most of these qualities require an effort. If one
\ndoes not have a thing and wants to have it, well, it needs great, great, great
\nsustained efforts, a constant aspiration, an unflagging will, a sincerity at
\neach moment; then one is sure, it<\/span> will come one day \u2013
\nit can come in a second. There are people who have it, and then they have
\ncontrary movements which come and attack. These people, if their will is
\nsincere, can shield their faith, repel the attacks. There are others who
\ncultivate doubt because it is a kind of dilettantism \u2013 that, there’s nothing
\nmore dangerous than that. It is as though one were letting the worm into the
\nfruit: it eventually eats it up completely. This means that when a movement of
\nthis sort comes \u2013 it usually comes first into the mind \u2013 the first thing to do
\nis to be very plucky and refuse it. Surely one must not enjoy looking on just
\nto see what is going to happen; that kind of curiosity is terribly dangerous. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is perhaps more difficult for
\nintellectuals to have faith than for those who have a simple, sincere and
\nupright heart, and no intellectual complications. But I think that if an
\nintellectual person has faith, then that becomes very powerful, a very powerful
\nthing which can truly work miracles. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, where does determination come from? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Usually it is in those who have a will and
\nbring their will to bear upon their actions. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If one has faith in the Divine and also trust, what is<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 121<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the<\/span><\/i><\/span> difference
\nbetween faith and trust? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Faith is something much more integral \u2013 that
\nis what Sri Aurobindo has written \u2013 much more integral than trust. You see, you
\nhave trust in the Divine, in the see that you are convinced that all that comes
\nfrom Him will always be the best for you: whatever His decision and whatever
\nthe experience He sends you or the circumstances in which He puts you, it will
\nall be always what is best for you. This is trust. But faith \u2013 that kind of
\nunshakable certitude in the very existence of God \u2013 faith is something that
\nseizes the whole being. It is not only mental, psychic or vital: it is the
\nwhole being, entirely, which has faith. Faith leads straight to experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Can’t trust be total and entire? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not necessarily. Well, there is a shade of
\ndifference \u2013 however, I don’t know, it is not the same thing. <\/span><\/p>\n

One has given oneself totally to the
\ndivine work, one has faith in it, not only in its possibility, but faith that
\nit is the thing which is true and which must be, and one gives oneself entirely
\nto it, without asking what will happen. And so, therein or thereon may be
\ngrafted a certitude, a confidence that one is capable of accomplishing it, that
\nis, of participating in it and doing it because one has given oneself to it \u2013 a
\nconfidence that what one is going to do, what one wants to do, one will be able
\nto do; that this realisation one wants to attain, one will attain. The first
\ndoes not put any questions, does not think of the results: it gives itself
\nentirely \u2013 it gives itself and then that’s all. It is something that absorbs
\none completely. The other may be grafted upon it. Confidence says: \u201cYes, I
\nshall participate, realise what I want to realise, I shall surely take part in
\nthis work.\u201d For the other, one has faith in the Divine, that it is the Divine
\nwho is all, and can do all, and does all…\u00a0
\n<\/span>and who is the only real existence \u2013 and one gives oneself entirely to
\nthis faith, to
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 122<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the<\/span><\/span> Divine, that’s all. One has faith in the
\nexistence of the Divine and gives oneself; and there can also be grafted upon
\nthis a trust that this relation one has with the Divine, this faith one has in
\nthe Divine, will work in such a way that all that happen to him \u2013 whatever it
\nmay be, all that happen to him \u2013 will not only be an expression of the divine
\nwill (that of course is understood) but also the best that could happen, that
\nnothing better could have happened to him, since it is the Divine who is doing
\nit for him. This attitude is not necessarily a part of faith, for faith does
\nnot questions anything, it does not ask what the consequence of its self-giving
\nwill be \u2013 it gives itself, and \u2013 that’s all; while confidence can come and say,
\n\u201cThat’s what the result will be.\u201d And this is an absolute fact, that is, the
\nmoment one gives oneself entirely to the Divine, without calculating, in a
\ntotal faith, without bargaining of any kind \u2013 one gives oneself, and then, come
\nwhat may! \u201cThat does not concern me, I just give myself\u201d \u2013 automatically it
\nwill always be for you, in all circumstances, at every moment, the best that
\nwill happen… not the way you conceive of it (naturally, thought knows
\nnothing), but in reality. Well, there is a part of the being which can become
\naware of this and have this confidence. This is something added on to faith
\nwhich gives it more strength, a strength \u2013 how shall I put it? \u2013 of<\/span> total acceptance and the best utilisation of what happen.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

There is a state in which one realises
\nthat the effect of things, circumstances, all the movements and actions of life
\non the consciousness depends almost exclusively upon one’s attitude to these
\nthings. There is a moment when one becomes sufficiently conscious to realise
\nthat things in themselves are truly neither good nor bad: they are this only in
\nrelation to us; their effect on us depends absolutely upon the attitude we have
\ntowards them. The same thing, identically the same, if we take it as a gift of
\nGod, as a divine grace, as the result of the full Harmony, helps us to become
\nmore conscious, stronger, more true, while if we take it \u2013 exactly the very same
\ncircumstance \u2013 as a blow from fate,
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 123<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\n <\/font><\/span>as<\/span><\/span> a bad force wanting to affect us, this
\nconstricts us, weighs us down and takes away from us all consciousness and
\nstrength and harmony. And the circumstance in itself is exactly the same \u2013 of
\nthis, I should like you all to have the experience, for when you have it, you
\nbecome master of yourself. Not only master of yourself but, in what concerns
\nyou, master of the circumstances of your life. And this depends exclusively
\nupon the attitude you take; it is not an experience that occurs in the head,
\nthough it begins there, but an experience which can occur in the body itself.
\nSo much so, that \u2013 well, it is a realisation which naturally asks for a lot of
\nwork, concentration, self-mastery, consciousness pushed into Matter, but as a
\nresult, in accordance with the way the body receives shocks from outside, the
\neffect may be different. And if you attain perfection in that field, you become
\nmaster of accidents. I hope this will happen. It is possible. It is not only
\npossible; it is certain. Only it is just one step forward. That is, this power
\nyou have \u2013 already fully and formidably realised in the mind \u2013 to act upon
\ncircumstances to the extent of changing them totally in their action upon you,
\nthat power can descend into Matter, into the physical substance itself, the
\ncells of the body, and give the same power to the body in relation to the
\nthings around it. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is not a faith,<\/span>
\nit is a certitude that comes from experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

The experience is not total, but it is
\nthere. <\/span><\/p>\n

This opens new horizons to you; it is the
\npath, it is one step on the path leading to transformations. <\/span><\/p>\n

And the logical conclusion is that there
\nis nothing impossible. It is [it we] who put limitations. All the time we say,
\n\u201cThat thing is possible, that other, impossible; this, yes, this can be done,
\nthat can’t be done; oh yes, this is true, it is feasible, it is even done, but
\nthat, that is impossible.\u201d It is we<\/i>
\nwho all the time put ourselves like slaves into the prison of our limits, of
\nour stupid, narrow, ignorant see which knows nothing of the laws of life. The
\nlaws of life are not at all what you think they are nor what the
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 124<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

most<\/span><\/span> intelligent people think. They are quite
\ndifferent. Taking a step, especially the first step on the path \u2013 one begins to
\nfind out. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, here it is written: <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cQ: Is it a sign of sincerity to confess one’s
\nweakness and faults to the Divine and to others?\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cA: Why to others? One has to confess them to the
\nDivine.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cQ: But if one does some wrong to a person, is it not
\nnecessary to confess it to him? Is it enough to confess it to the Divine? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cA: If it concerns the other persons, then it can be
\ndone.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is harmless. You can do it if it gives
\nyou pleasure! Fundamentally, if it sets you at rest and allows you to progress,
\nif you feel you must do it in order to progress, it is very good. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, can it happen that a person is very insincere but
\nunconscious of his insincerity? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I think in a case like this, he is no
\nlonger insincere, he is wicked; for if one knows that one is insincere and
\npersists in one’s insincerity, it is wickedness, isn’t it? It means that one
\nhas bad intentions, otherwise why would one persist in one’s insincerity? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I said: if one is unconscious. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Then how can one be conscious and
\nunconscious at once? It is just this that is impossible. If one is conscious of
\none’s insincerity, one can’t be unconscious of it. It is impossible. The two
\ncan’t exist simultaneously. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But if one is insincere and doesn’t know where this insincerity lies? <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 125<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Oh! One doesn’t know?…<\/span>
\nThat is because one is not sufficiently sincere and doesn’t look at oneself.
\nFor, I guarantee this, if you are conscious that you are insincere, you know
\nwhere it lies. Otherwise you could not be aware of your insincerity. For
\ninstance, in a certain circumstance one knows, knows that one should do this:
\n\u201cI should do this\u201d; and at the same time one does not wish to do it, eh! And
\nso, within oneself one finds a means, a sort of way of deceiving oneself and
\nnot doing it, because one does not want to do it \u2013 ah, that happen\u00a0 <\/span>very often! (Laughter) And then, if at that
\nmoment, the moment when you are doing this little inner work to find an excuse
\nfor not doing what you don’t want to do, if at that moment you become aware that
\nyou are insincere and still continue to do it, this means that you are
\nperverse. If you ask me, this is what I call being wicked, bad. But if you
\nrealise that you are insincere, this means that you are conscious that you are
\ninsincere, and how can you say \u201cI am not conscious of my insincerity\u201d?\u00a0 <\/span>Ninety times out of a hundred one does it
\nwithout knowing. That indeed is the misery. It is that one deceives oneself
\nwith such facility, finds good tricks for not doing what one doesn’t want to
\ndo, or the contrary: for doing what one wishes to do when one knows very well
\none shouldn’t do it \u2013 it is the same thing. So you give yourself good reasons,
\nand, unhappily, as I said, most men are so unconscious that they do it without
\neven realising it. They think they are very sincere: \u201cNo, sincerely, I thought
\nI had to do it\u201d \u2013 like that, quite innocently. But that’s because they are not
\nsincere, not at all because they are quite unconscious. But if one is just a
\nlittle conscious of what is happening within, one perceives very well the
\nlittle trick one has played and how one has found \u2013 has somewhere been so
\ncleverly unearthing, an excellent excuse for doing what one wanted to do. Even
\nwhen one knows very well one ought not to do it. It is these two, you see: a
\nplay between unconsciousness and insincerity, insincerity and unconsciousness,
\nin this way. But if you tell me, \u201cI am conscious of my insincerity\u201d, then
\nnaturally at that moment this
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 126<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

fact<\/span><\/span> faces you: Have you decided to remain in
\nthe darkness or do you want to progress? There, the problem comes up. If you
\nare conscious of your insincerity, you have only one thing to do: that is to
\nput a red-hot iron on it and make yourself sincere. That is the feeling. You
\nmust take a red-hot iron: it bur well, and then…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>ouch!…<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>that’s the way. <\/span><\/p>\n

For a moment it hurts a little, afterwards
\none is left in peace. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, you have written: \u201cSincerity is the key to the divine
\ngates.\u201d What does that mean? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is a literary image, my child, an
\nimaged, figurative, literary way of expressing the fact that with sincerity one
\ncan attain everything, even the Divine. If one wants to open a door, a key is
\nnecessary, isn’t it? Well, for the door separating you from the Divine,
\nsincerity works as a key and opens the door and shows you in, that’s all. <\/span><\/p>\n

Good night.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 127<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5 May 1954   This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo’s Elements of Yoga, Chapter 4, \u201cSincerity\u201d and Chapter 5, \u201cFaith\u201d.   \u201cQ: What is…<\/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-4437","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\/4437","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=4437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}