{"id":4442,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:01","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4442"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:01","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:01","slug":"03-10-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\/03-10-february-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-03_10 February.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\n
\n10 February 1954<\/font><\/span><\/b>
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nThis talk is based upon Mother\u2019s essay
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u201cMental Education\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the
\nmethod of increasing the \u201ccapacities of expansion and widening\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I say there that a great variety of subjects should be
\nstudied. I believe that is it. For instance, if you are at school, to study all
\nthe subjects possible. If you are reading at home, not to read just one kind of
\nthing, read all sorts of different things. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But, Sweet
\nMother, at school it is not possible to take many subjects. We have to
\nspecialize. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, yes! I have heard that, especially from your
\nteachers. I don\u2019t agree. And I know it very well, this is being continuously
\nrepeated to me: if anything is to be done properly, one must specialize. It is
\nthe same thing for sports also. It is the same for every thing in life. It is
\nsaid and repeated, and there are people who will prove it: to do something well
\none must specialize. One must do that and concentrate. If one wants to become a
\ngood philosopher, one must learn only philosophy, if one wants to be a good
\nchemist, one must learn chemistry only. And if one wants to become a good
\ntennis-player, one must play only tennis. That\u2019s not what I think, that is all
\nI can say. My experience is different.\u00a0 <\/span>I
\nbelieve there are general faculties and that it is much more important to
\nacquire these than to specialise \u2013 unless, naturally, it be like M. and Mme.
\nCurie who wanted to develop a certain science, find something new, then of
\ncourse they were compelled to concentrate on that science. But still that was
\nonly till they had discovered it; once they had found it, nothing stopped them
\nfrom widening their mind.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 18<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

This is something I have heard from my very childhood,
\nand I believe our great grandparents heard the same thing, and from all time it
\nhas been preached that if you want to succeed in something you must do only
\nthat. And as for me, I was scolded all the time because I did many different
\nthings! And I was always told I would never be good at anything. I studied, I
\ndid painting, I did music, and besides was busy with other things still. And I
\nwas told my music wouldn\u2019t be up to much, my painting wouldn\u2019t be worthwhile,
\nand my studies would be quite incomplete. Probably it is quite true, but still
\nI have found that this had its advantages \u2013 those very advantages I am speaking
\nabout, of widening, making supple one\u2019s mind and understanding. It is true that
\nif I had wanted to be a first-class player and to play in concerts, it would
\nhave been necessary to do what they said. And as for painting, if I had wanted
\nto be among the great artists of the period, it would have been necessary to do
\nthat. That\u2019s quite understandable. But still, that is just one point of view. I
\ndon\u2019t see any necessity of being the greatest artist, the greatest musician.
\nThat has always seemed to me a vanity. And besides, it is a question of
\nopinion…\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is but one instance, that\u2019s when one
\nwants to make a discovery. Then, naturally, one must dedicate all one\u2019s effort
\nto that. But that is not necessarily a whole lifetime\u2019s effort \u2013 unless one
\nchooses a very difficult subject as the Curies did. There was a time they had
\nmade their discovery \u2013 they could go beyond it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yet spontaneously, people who wish to keep their
\nbalance rest from one activity and take up another. Examples are always cited
\nof great performers or great artists or great scientists who have a kind of
\nmania, a diversion. You have perhaps heard of Ingres\u2019s violin. Ingres was a
\npainter; he did not lack talent and when he had some free time he started
\nplaying the violin, and his violin interested him much more than his painting.
\nIt seems he did not play the violin very well but it interested him more. And
\nhis painting he did very well and it interested him less. But
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 19<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 believe that was quite simply because he needed
\nbalance.\u00a0 <\/span>Concentration on a single thing
\nin order to attain one\u2019s aim is very necessary for the human mind in its normal
\nfunctioning, but one can arrive at a different working that\u2019s more complete,
\nmore subtle. Naturally, physically one is bound to be limited, for in physical
\nlife one depends a great deal on time and space, and also it is difficult to
\nrealise great things without special concentration.\u00a0 <\/span>But if one wants to lead a higher and deeper
\nlife, I believe one can acquire perhaps much greater capacities by other means
\nthan those of restriction and limitation. There is a considerable advantage in
\ngetting rid of one\u2019s limits, if not from the point of view of realisation in
\naction, at least from that of spiritual realisation. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why do we forget things? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! I suppose there are several reasons. First,
\nbecause one makes use of the memory to remember. Memory is a mental instrument
\nand depends on the formation of the brain. Your brain is constantly growing,
\nunless it begins to degenerate, but still its growth can continue for a very,
\nvery long time, much longer than that of the body. And in this growth,
\nnecessarily some things will take the place of others. And as the mental
\ninstrument develops, things which have served their term or the transitory
\nmoment in the development may be wiped out to give place to the result. So the
\nresult of all that you knew is there, living in itself, but the road traversed
\nto reach it may be completely blurred. That is, a good functioning of the
\nmemory means remembering only the results so as to be able to have the elements
\nfor moving forward and a new construction. That is more important than just
\nretaining things rigidly in the mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, there is another aspect also. Outside the mental
\nmemory, which is something defective, there are states of conscious ness. Each
\nstate of consciousness in which one happen to be registers the phenomena of
\nthat moment, whatever they may be.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 20<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

If your consciousness remain limpid, wide and strong,
\nyou can at any moment whatsoever, by concentrating, call into the active
\nconsciousness what you did, thought, saw, observed at any time before; all this
\nyou can remember by bringing up in yourself the same state of consciousness. And
\nthat, that is never for gotten. You could live a thousand years and you would
\nremember it. Consequently, if you don\u2019t want to forget, it must be your
\nconsciousness which remembers and not your mental memory.\u00a0 <\/span>Your mental memory will perforce be wiped
\nout, get blurred, and new things will take the place of the old ones. But
\nthings of which you are conscious you do not forget. You have only to bring up
\nthe same state of consciousness again. And thus one can remember circumstances
\none has lived thousands of years ago, if one knows how to bring up the same
\nstate of conscious ness. It is in this way that one can remember one\u2019s past
\nlives.\u00a0 <\/span>This never gets blotted out,
\nwhile you don\u2019t have any more the memory of what you have done physically when
\nyou were very young. You would be told many things you no longer remember.\u00a0 <\/span>That gets wiped off immediately. For the
\nbrain is constantly changing and certain weaker cells are replaced by others,
\nwhich are much stronger, and by other combinations, other cerebral organisations.
\nAnd so, what was there before is effaced or de formed. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

One can
\nremember things, which happened thousands of years ago! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, if you go to a certain place, if you succeed in
\nentering into contact with the place, which existed thousands of years
\nago.\u00a0 <\/span>And, moreover (I believe I have
\nwritten this somewhere), there is the record of the earth\u2019s consciousness, and
\nif you know how to go to that place, you can not only remember your own life
\nbut everything that happened upon earth. It is recorded there, and it is a
\nphenomenon of consciousness.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 21<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

But how
\ndoes one remember, Sweet Mother, for when one changes the body, the
\nmind…\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have just told you how, my child, you did not listen
\nto what I said. I said that if it is a mental remembrance it will be effaced;
\neven in your present life you cannot recall incidents which took place twenty
\nor thirty or forty years ago. But a state of conscious ness is not a mental
\nstate. It has nothing to do with the mind.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Indeed, most minds are dissolved with the body, except when there is a
\nvery well made special formation, very \u201ccohesive\u201d, very well organised, which
\ncan last. But that is fairly rare. These are only exceptional cases. But
\nconsciousness is something quite different. Consciousness is an eternal state.
\nThe state of consciousness is an eternal state. Creation is born through
\nconscious ness and if consciousness were withdrawn, there would be no creation
\nany longer. And if you enter into contact with consciousness, you can discover
\nthe whole history of creation, for creation comes from consciousness.
\nConsciousness is eternal. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, at
\ntimes unpleasant thoughts come and disturb us. How can we get rid of them? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There are several methods. Generally \u2013 but it depends on
\npeople \u2013 generally, the easiest way is to think of something else. That is, to
\nconcentrate one\u2019s attention upon something that has nothing to do with that
\nthought has no connection with that thought, like reading or some work \u2013 generally
\nsomething creative, some creative work. For instance, those who write, while
\nthey are writing (let us take simply a novelist), while he is writing, all
\nother thoughts are gone, for he is concentrated on what he is doing. When he
\nfinishes writing, if he has no control, the other thoughts will return. But
\nprecisely when one is attacked by a thought, one can try to do some creative
\nwork; for example, the scientist could do some research work, a special study
\nto discover something, something that is very absorbing; that is the
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 22<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

easiest way. Naturally, those who have begun to
\ncontrol their thought can make a movement of rejection; push aside the thought
\nas one would a physical object. But that is more difficult and asks for a much
\ngreater mastery. If one can manage it, it is more active, in the see that if
\nyou reject that movement, that thought, if you chase it off effectively and
\nconstantly or almost repeatedly, finally it does not come any more. But in the
\nother case, it can always return. That makes two methods. <\/span><\/p>\n

The third means is to be able to bring down a
\nsufficiently great light from above which will be the \u201cdenial\u201d in the deeper
\nsee; that is, if the thought which comes is something dark (and especially if
\nit comes from the subconscient or inconscient and is sustained by instinct), if
\none can bring down from above the light of a true knowledge, a higher power,
\nand put that light upon the thought, one can manage to dissolve it or enlighten
\nor transform it \u2013 this is the supreme method. This is still a little more
\ndifficult. But it can be done, and if one does it, one is cured \u2013 not only does
\nthe thought not come back but the very cause is removed. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first step is to think of something else (but in
\nthis way, you know, it will be indefinitely repeated); the second is to fight;
\nand the third is to transform. When one has reached the third step, not only is
\none cured but one has made a permanent progress. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 23<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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