{"id":4457,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:08","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4457"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:08","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:08","slug":"05-24-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\/05-24-february-vol-06-questions-and-answers-volume-06","title":{"rendered":"-05_24 February.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n


\n
\n24 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

Sweet Mother, here you have said: \u201cFrom beyond the frontiers of form a
\nnew force can be evoked, a power of consciousness which is as yet unexpressed
\nand which, by its emergence, will be able to change the course of things and
\ngive birth to a new world.\u201d Is the force you are speaking about the Divine? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What do you call the Divine? Give me your
\ndefinition of the Divine. We have already dealt with this here once. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

All that is upon earth is the expression of the Divine? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, I am asking you what you call the
\nDivine. You have an idea of the Divine, haven’t you? You say \u201cthe Divine\u201d, what
\ndo you mean by that? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The Creator. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s but a word. The Creator!!! <\/span><\/p>\n

Where have I said it was necessary to be
\nidentified with the Divine in us? \u2013 In the Bulletin<\/i>,
\nI think. Don’t you remember? <\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, I have already told you many
\na time that the manifestation was progressive and will always be progressive
\nand that what manifests in a certain period is only the beginning of something
\nthat will be manifested in the following age. Therefore, if one reaches the
\nsummit of creation, one must come upon something which has not yet manifested
\nbut will manifest since there are always new elements which manifest. This is
\nexactly what I have said. I have said that if one attained the summit of
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 31<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

consciousness and passed beyond the forms
\nat present manifested, one would enter into contact with a force, a reality
\nwhich is not yet manifested but will manifest. And this summit of consciousness
\nis never the last, for what has been attained one day, what seemed to be the
\nfinal consciousness will be only a step so that the next day, in the next
\nperiod, the next age, there may manifest something which was beyond and not
\nthen ready to manifest, not on the point of being manifested. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How can depressions be controlled? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh! There’s a very simple way. Depression
\noccurs generally in the vital, and one is overpowered by depression only when
\none keeps the consciousness in the vital, when one remains there. The only
\nthing to do is to get out of the vital and enter a deeper consciousness. Even
\nthe higher mind, the luminous, higher mind, the most lofty thoughts have the
\npower to drive away depression. Even when one reaches just the highest domain
\nof thought, usually the depression disappears. But in any case, if one seeks shelter
\nin the psychic, then there is no longer any room for depression. <\/span><\/p>\n

Depression may come from two causes:
\neither from a want of vital satisfaction or from a considerable nervous fatigue
\nin the body. Depression arising from physical fatigue is set right fairly
\neasily: one has but to take rest. One goes to bed and sleeps until one feels
\nwell again, or else one rests, dreams, lies down. The want of vital
\nsatisfaction is pretty easily produced and usually one must face it with one’s
\nreason, must ferret out the cause of the depression, what has brought about the
\nlack of satisfaction in the vital; and then one looks at it straight in the
\nface and asks oneself whether that indeed has anything to do with one’s inner
\naspiration or whether it is simply quite an ordinary movement. Generally one
\ndiscovers that it has nothing to do with the inner aspiration and one can quite
\neasily overcome it and resume one’s normal movement. If that does not suffice,
\nthen one must <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 32<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

go deeper and deeper until one touches the
\npsychic reality. Then one has only to put this psychic reality in contact with
\nthe movement of depression, and instantaneously it will vanish into thin air. <\/span><\/p>\n

As for fighting in the vital domain itself
\nwell, some people are good fighters and love to struggle with their vital but
\nto tell you the truth, that is much more difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Once the psychic has come to the front, can it withdraw again? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. Generally one has a series of
\nexperiences of identification, very intense at first, which later gradually
\ndiminish, and then one day you find that they have disappeared. Still you must
\nnot be disturbed, for it is quite a common phenomenon. But next time \u2013 the
\nsecond time \u2013 the contact is more easily obtained. And then comes a moment,
\nwhich is not very far off, when as soon as one concentrates and aspires, one
\ngets a contact. One may not have the power of keeping it all the time, but can
\nget it at will. Then, from that moment things become very easy. When one feels
\na difficulty or there is a problem to be solved, when one wants to make
\nprogress or there is just a depression to conquer or an obstacle to be overcome
\nor else simply for the joy of identification (for it is an experience that
\ngives a very concrete joy; at the moment of identification one truly feels a
\nvery, very great joy), then, at any moment whatever, one may pause, concentrate
\nfor a while and aspire, and quite naturally the contact is established and all
\nproblems which were to be solved are solved. Simply to concentrate \u2013 to sit
\ndown and concentrate \u2013 to aspire in this way, and the contact is made, so to
\nsay, instantaneously. <\/span><\/p>\n

There comes a time, as I said, when this
\ndoes not leave you, that is, it is in the depths of the consciousness and
\nsupports all that you do, and you never lose the contact. Then many things
\ndisappear. For instance, depression is one of these things, dis- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 33<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

contentment, revolt, fatigue, depression,
\nall these difficulties. And if one makes it a habit to step back, as we say, in
\none’s consciousness and see on the screen of one’s psychic consciousness \u2013 see all
\nthe circumstances, all the events, all the ideas, all the knowledge, everything
\n\u2013 at that moment one sees that<\/i> and
\nhas an altogether sure guide for everything that one may do. But this,
\nperforce, takes a very long time to come. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

To escape from life and become identified with the Unmanifest, isn’t it
\nnecessary not only to be free from all egoism but also not to have the ego any
\nlonger? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But this very attitude of wanting to become identified with the
\nUnmanifest and letting the world suffer, isn’t this selfishness? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes. And so what happen is very
\nremarkable, the result is always the same: those who have done that, at the
\nlast minute, have received a sort of intimation that they had to return to the
\nworld and do their work. It is as though they reached the door and \u2013 \u201cAh! No,
\nno, not yet \u2013 go back and work. When the world is ready, then this will be all
\nright.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed this attitude of flight in the face
\nof difficulty is a supreme selfishness. You are told, \u201cDo this, and then, when
\nall the others have done it, all will be well with the whole world\u201d, but it is
\nonly a very small \u00e9lite among men who are ready to be able to do it. And these
\nprecisely are those who can be the most useful to the earth, for they know more
\nabout things than others, they have overcome many difficulties and can be of
\nhelp to others just where those others can’t. But the whole human mass, the
\nimmense human mass… For when some have succeeded even a few hundred one may
\ntend to think it is \u201chumanity\u201d, but truly speaking it is only a kind of ‘elite
\nof humanity,
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 34<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

it is a selection. The immense mass, all
\nthe people living all over the earth \u2013 merely in India, the immense population \u2013
\nformidable \u2013 which lives in the villages, the countryside, there is no question
\nof their making an effort for liberation, to come out of the world in order to
\nlive the spiritual life. They don’t even have the time to become aware of
\nthemselves! They are just there, attached to their work like a horse to the
\nplough. They move in a rut from which, generally, they can’t get out. So they
\ncan’t be told, \u201cDo as I do and all will be well.\u201d Because \u201cDo as I do\u201d means
\nnothing at all. There are perhaps a few hundred who can do the same thing, no
\nmore! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why does the body get tired? We have more
\nor less regular activities, but one day we are full of energy and the next day
\nwe are quite tired. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Generally this
\ncomes from a kind of inner disequilibrium. There may be many reasons for it,
\nbut it all comes to this: a sort of disequilibrium between the different parts
\nof the being. Now, it is also possible that the day one had the energy, one
\nspent it too much, though this is not the case with children; children spend it
\nuntil they can no longer do so. One sees a child active till the moment he
\nsuddenly falls fast asleep. He was there, moving, running; and then, all of a
\nsudden, pluff! Finished, he is asleep. And it is in this way that he grows up,
\nbecomes stronger and stronger. Consequently, it is not the spending that harms
\nyou. The expenditure is made up by the necessary rest \u2013 that is set right very
\nwell. No, it is a disequilibrium: the harmony between the different parts of
\nthe being is no longer sufficient. <\/span><\/p>\n

People think they
\nhave only to continue doing forever what they were doing or at least remain in
\nthe same state of consciousness, day after day do their little work, and all
\nwill go well. But it is not like that. Suddenly, for some reason or other, one
\npart of the being \u2013 either your feelings or your thoughts or your vital \u2013 makes
\nprogress, has discovered something, received a
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 35<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

light, progressed.
\nIt takes a leap in progress. All the rest remain behind. This brings about a
\ndisequilibrium. That is enough to make you very tired. But in fact, it is not
\ntiredness: it is something which makes you want to keep quiet, to concentrate,
\nremain within yourself, be like that, and build up slowly a new harmony among
\nthe different parts of the being. And it is very necessary to have, at a given
\nmoment, a sort of rest, for an assimilation of what one has learnt and a
\nharmonization of the different parts of the being. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, as you know,
\nfrom the physical point of view human beings live in frightful ignorance. They
\ncannot even say exactly… For instance, would you be able to tell exactly, at
\nevery meal, the amount of food and the kind of food your body needs? \u2013 simply
\nthat, nothing more than that: how much should be taken and when it should be
\ntaken… You know nothing about it, there’s just a vague idea of it, a sort of
\nimagination or guesswork or deduction or… all sorts of things which have
\nnothing to do with knowledge. But that exact knowledge: \u201cThis is what I must
\neat, I must eat this much\u201d \u2013 and then it is finished. \u201cThis is what my body
\nneeds.\u201d Well, that can be done. There’s a time when one knows it very well. But
\nit asks for years of labour, and above all years of work almost without any
\nmental control, just with a consciousness that’s subtle enough to establish a
\nconnection with the elements of transformation and progress. And to know also
\nhow to determine for one’s body, exactly, the amount of physical effort, of
\nmaterial activity, of expenditure and recuperation of energy, the proportion
\nbetween what is received and what is given, the utilisation of energies to
\nre-establish a state of equilibrium which has been broken, to make the cells
\nwhich are lagging behind progress, to build conditions for the possibility of
\nhigher progress, etc…\u00a0 <\/span>it is a
\nformidable task. And yet, it is that which must be done if one hopes to
\ntransform one’s body. First it must be put completely in harmony with the inner
\nconsciousness. And to do that, it is a work in each cell, so to say, in each
\nlittle activity, in every movement of the organs. With
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 36<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

this alone one
\ncould be busy day and night without having to do anything else…\u00a0 <\/span>One does not keep up the effort and, above
\nall, the concentration, nor the inner vision. <\/span><\/p>\n

I have put to you
\nquite a superficial question: it seems astonishing to you that one can know the
\nexact amount of what one should eat, and what should be eaten at a certain
\ntime, and at what time one should take one’s meal, and when one is ready for
\nanother! Well, that is an altogether superficial part of the problem, yet if
\nyou enter into the combination of the cells and the inner organisation in order
\nthat all this may be ready to respond to the descending Force… First, are you
\nconscious of your physical cells and their different characteristics, their
\nactivity, the degree of their receptivity, of what is in a healthy condition
\nand what is not? Can you say with certainty when you are tired, why you are
\ntired? When there’s something wrong somewhere, can you say, \u201cIt is because of this
\nthat I am suffering\u201d?… Why do people rush to the doctor? Because they are
\nunder the illusion that the doctor knows better than they how to look inside
\ntheir body and find out what’s going on there \u2013 which is not very reasonable,
\nbut still that’s the habit! But for oneself, who can look inside himself quite
\npositively and precisely and know exactly what is out of order, why it is
\ndisturbed, how it has been disturbed? And all this is simply a work of
\nobservation; afterwards one must do what is necessary to put it back into order
\nagain, and that is still more difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, this is the
\nA B C of the transformation of the body. Voil\u00e0<\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 37<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


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

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