{"id":4440,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4440"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:00","slug":"14-28-april-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\/14-28-april-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-14_28 April.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\n28
\n April 1954<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

of<\/font><\/span><\/span> Yoga, Chapter 3,
\n\u201cAspiration\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, what is an \u201cacute resistance\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Acute?<\/span><\/span> Acute is used in a figurative see. Acute
\ndescribes something pointed, don’t you know? \u2013 and<\/span>
\nperhaps this means an aggressive, sharp resistance which sinks deep like a
\nclaw. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I did not understand very well the answer to this
\nquestions<\/span>: \u201cDoes the power of aspiration vary in different sadhaks
\naccording to their natures?\u201d<\/span><\/i>[Sri Aurobindo’s answer: \u201cNo. Aspiration is the same
\npower in all; it differs only in purity, intensity and object.\u201d] <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! Yes. <\/span><\/p>\n

You see, I think the question has been put
\nbadly. I believe the one who asked the questions wanted to say \u201cthe effect of
\naspiration\u201d and he put \u201cpower\u201d. That is, aspiration in everyone, no matter who
\nit is, has the same power. But the effect of this aspiration is different. For
\naspiration is aspiration: if you have aspiration, in itself it has a power.
\nOnly, this aspiration calls down an answer, and this answer, the effect, which
\nis the result of the aspiration, depends upon each one, for it depends upon his
\nreceptivity. I know many people of this kind: they say, \u201cOh! But I aspire all
\nthe time and still I receive nothing.\u201d It is impossible that they should
\nreceive nothing, in the see that the answer is sure to come. But it is they who
\ndo not receive. The answer comes but they are not receptive, so they receive
\nnothing. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are people, you know, who have a lot
\nof aspiration. They call the force. The force comes to them \u2013 even enters
\ndeeply into them \u2013 and they are so unconscious that they don’t
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 115<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

know<\/span><\/span> it! That indeed happens quite frequently.
\nIt is their state of unconsciousness, which prevents them from even feeling the
\nforce which enters into them. It enters into them, and does its work. I knew
\npeople who were gradually transformed and yet were so unconscious that they
\nwere not even aware of it. The consciousness comes later \u2013 very much later. On
\nthe other hand, there are people who are more passive, so to speak, more open,
\nmore attentive, and even if a very slight amount of force comes, they become
\naware of it immediately and use it fully. <\/span><\/p>\n

When you have an aspiration, a very active
\naspiration, your aspiration is going to do its work. It is going to call down
\nthe answer to what you aspire for. But if, later, you begin to think of
\nsomething else or are not attentive or receptive, you do not even notice that
\nyour aspiration has received an answer. This happen very frequently. So people
\ntell you: \u201cI aspire and I don’t receive anything, I get no answer!\u201d Yes, you do
\nhave an answer but you are not aware of it, because you continue to be active
\nin this way, like a mill turning all the time. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, doesn’t the Purusha commit mistakes like the Prakriti? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That depends on the point of view…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I don’t know! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, if there is a part in one’s nature that does not open, what is
\nthe method of aspiring so that this part may open? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You may aspire that this part may open \u2013
\nlet the part that is open aspire for the other to open. It will open after a
\ncertain time; one must continue, persist. That is the only thing to do. There
\nis something that does not want it, an acute resistance there, which does not
\nwant it. It is like a stubborn child: \u201cI don’t want it, I shall remain what I
\nam, I won’t move.\u201d… It does not say, \u201cI am pleased with myself\u201d, because it
\ndoes not dare. But
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 116<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the<\/span><\/span> truth is it is quite self-satisfied, it
\ndoes not budge. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But when one wants to aspire, shouldn’t one know which part it is? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! Yes, but if one is sincere, he will
\nknow it. If one looks at himself sincerely, he is sure to know. It is only when
\none plays the ostrich that he does not know: one shuts his eyes, turns his head
\nto the other side, does not look and says, \u201cIt does not exist.\u201d But if one
\nlooks at himself straight in the face, he knows very well where it is \u2013 hidden
\nsomewhere in a corner quite nicely, turned upon itself, shut in, close-set. But
\nthen, when you go and flash a light like that, straight upon it, oh; it
\nsuddenly hurts, doesn’t it? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It depends first of all upon sincerity \u2013
\non whether one really wants to receive \u2013 and then… yes, I believe the
\nprincipal factors are sincerity and humility. There is nothing that closes you
\nup more than vanity. When you are self-satisfied, you have that kind of vanity
\nof not wanting to admit that you lack something, that you make mistakes, that
\nyou are incomplete, that you are imperfect, that you are…There is something
\nin the nature, you know, which grows stiff in this way, which does not want to
\nadmit \u2013 it is this which prevents you from receiving. You have, however, only
\nto try it out and get the experience. If, by an effort of will you manage to
\nmake even a very tiny part of the being admit that \u201cAh, well, yes, I am
\nmistaken, I should not be like that, and I should not do that and should not
\nfeel that, yes, it is a fault\u201d, if you manage to make it admit this, at first, as
\nI said just now, it begins by hurting you very much, but when you hold on
\nfirmly, until this is admitted, immediately it is open \u2013 it is open and
\nstrangely a flood of light enters, and then you feel so glad afterwards, so
\nhappy that you ask yourself, \u201cWhy, from what foolishness did I resist so long?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 117<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

But when one is so self-satisfied, can one still aspire? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One is not made all of a piece, don’t you
\nknow? There is something in the being which can aspire. There is always
\nsomething in the being which is conscious exactly of what is not all right, at
\ntimes vaguely, imprecisely, but yet sufficiently conscious that still, after
\nall, one is not perfect, you see, that things could be better than they are.
\nThat’s enough! That part can aspire. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the work of Purusha and Prakriti? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! Once again I have to give the
\nimpression that I don’t know. (Mother
\nturns to Nolini.<\/i>) Nolini, explain this. (Laughter) As for me, I understand
\nnothing at all of this, it does not correspond to any inner experience for me,
\nI have never had this experience; consequently, I cannot speak about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If Mother says
\nthat Mother does not know, then I must say I am ignorant!\u00a0 <\/span>(Laughter)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Indian concept I know theoretically,
\nand it is enough to read books to know it \u2013 that is not what I call knowing. I
\ncan speak to you only about things I have experienced. Well, this does not
\ncorrespond to anything in me. I have not had that experience. I have had very
\nclearly the experience of a witness looking at things, completely detached from
\neverything, who knows all and does not move, who allows everything to be done
\nand who… I have also had the experience of a will, which decides. Naturally,
\neverybody has the experience of a moving force \u2013 the force in Nature, in its
\nobscurity, and all that \u2013 everybody has that experience. But as for making a
\nclear-cut division in this way and calling one Purusha, masculine, and the
\nother Prakriti, feminine, no, I refuse to do that \u2013 I have always objected to
\nit and shall always object. And that is why I prefer not to speak about it. <\/span><\/p>\n

This seems to me an Asiatic version, or
\nperhaps more par- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 118<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

ticularly<\/span><\/span> Indian, I don’t know, of the Chaldean
\nconception of a single, masculine God: you know, the Christian God. This is for
\nme something that comes (pardon me) from a masculine mentality that’s a bit
\nwarped. That is how I feel about the subject. Now, if you had not asked me, I
\nwould never have spoken about it to you! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, you said precisely that you had the experience of this witness
\nwho does not move, then that is the Purusha! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! I don’t know. (Laughter) Purusha, if
\nyou like. But I did not find it particularly masculine! You understand,<\/span> what… what I object to is the male element and female element.
\nWell, I find that it is not true, and I shall always say: it is not true. There
\nis an element like this and another like that (Mother turns her hand from one side to the other<\/i>). There is an
\nactivity like this and an activity like that. But why the devil do you want one
\nto be masculine and the other feminine? It is not like that. This, this
\nmasculine-feminine business is a trick of Nature; it has arranged things here
\nlike that. So, you see, I am going to tell you: when one descends from above,
\nwell, right up there one has no idea of masculine and feminine and all that
\nnonsense; as you come down and arrive here,<\/span> it begins
\nto become something real. So you tell yourself, \u201cWell, well! That’s how Nature
\nhas arranged things.\u201d Good! But what I say is that these conceptions \u2013 these
\nvery conceptions which make one element masculine and the other feminine \u2013 this
\nis a conception which has come from below, that is, has come out of man’s brain
\nwhich cannot think otherwise than of MAN and WOMAN \u2013 because he is still an
\nanimal. There you are! And that’s how I feel \u2013 I have always felt this, I have
\nsaid it from the beginning and will repeat it till the very end, and if you
\ndon’t want to hear me say so, don’t speak to me about it! (Laughter)\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>That’s all. <\/span><\/p>\n

Good night.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 119<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

28 April 1954   This talk is based upon Sri Aurobindo’s Elements of Yoga, Chapter 3, \u201cAspiration\u201d.   Mother, what is an \u201cacute resistance\u201d?  …<\/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-4440","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\/4440","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=4440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}