{"id":4489,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4489"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:22","slug":"09-13-may-1953-vol-05-questions-and-answers-volume-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/05-questions-and-answers-volume-05\/09-13-may-1953-vol-05-questions-and-answers-volume-05","title":{"rendered":"-09_13 May 1953.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n13 May 1953 <\/font> <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some who, when they are sitting
\nin meditation, get into a state which they think very fine and delightful.\u201d <\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (21 April)<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

             <\/span><\/i>
\n
\nWhat is this state?<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever it
\nmay be, they think their state is delightful and remarkable. They have a very
\nhigh opinion of themselves. They believe they are remarkable people because
\nthey are able to sit quietly without moving; and if they don\u2019t think of
\nanything, that is remarkable. But usually it is a kind of kaleidoscope that is
\ngoing on in their head, they do not even notice it. Still, those who can remain
\nfor a moment without moving, without speaking and thinking, have certainly a
\nvery high opinion of themselves. Only, as I have said, if they are pulled out
\nof it, if someone comes and knocks at the door and they are told, \u201cThere is
\nsomebody waiting for you\u201d, or \u201cMadam, your child is crying\u201d, they immediately
\nget furious and say: \u201cThere, my meditation is spoilt! Completely spoilt.\u201d I am
\ntelling you things I have seen with my own eyes. People who were very serious
\nin their meditation, and could not be interrupted in their meditation without
\ntheir getting violently angry Naturally this is not a sign of great spiritual
\nprogress. They stormed against everybody because they had been pulled out of
\ntheir beatific meditation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Among
\npeople who meditate there are some who know how to meditate, who concentrate
\nnot on an idea, but in silence, in an inner contemplation in which they say
\nthey reach even a union with the Divine; and that is perfectly all right. There
\nare others, just a few, who can follow an idea closely and try to find exactly
\nwhat it means; that too is all right. Most of the time people try to
\nconcentrate and enter into a kind of half sleepy and, in<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 42<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

any case,
\nvery tamasic state. They become some kind of inert thing; the mind is inert,
\nthe feeling is inert, the body is immobile. They can remain like that for
\nhours, for there is nothing more durable than inertia! All this that I am
\ntelling you now – these are experiences of people I have met. And these people,
\nwhen they come out of their meditation, sincerely believe they have done
\nsomething very great. But they have simply gone down into inertia and
\nunconsciousness. People who know how to meditate are very few in number.
\nBesides, admitting that through much discipline and years of effort you have in
\nyour meditation succeeded in coming into conscious relation with the divine
\nPresence, evidently this is a result, and this result should necessarily have
\nan effect upon your character and your life. But this effect is very different
\naccording to individuals. There are cases in which the person is split into two
\nin so radical a way that while in meditation such people can enter into contact
\nwith the Divine and obtain this supreme felicity of identification, but when
\nthey come out of this and lead their normal life, begin to live and act, they
\ncan be the most ordinary men with the most ordinary and sometimes even the most
\nvulgar reactions. Indeed, I know people who become altogether ordinary men, and
\nthen they do, for example, all the things one should not do, like passing their
\ntime in gossiping about others, thinking of themselves only, having all selfish
\nreactions and wanting to organise their life for their petty personal
\nwell-being; they do not think of others at all and never do anything for
\nanybody, have no large idea. And yet, in their meditation, they have had this
\ncontact. And that is why people who have discovered how very difficult it is to
\nchange this petty outer nature that one takes up along with the body, how
\ndifficult it is to transcend oneself, to transform one\u2019s movements, say: \u201cIt is
\nnot possible, it is no use trying; in coming to the world, you have taken a body
\nof dust, you have only to let it fall off and prepare to go away, leaving the
\nworld as it is; and the only thing to do is to run away as quickly as one can;
\nand if everybody runs away, there will no longer be a world and <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 43<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

therefore
\nno more misery.\u201d That\u2019s logical. If they are told: \u201cBut perhaps what you
\npropose to do is very selfish, to go away and leave others floundering?\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 \u201cWell, they have only to do what I do. If
\neverybody did what I am doing, they would get out of it, there would be no
\nlonger any world, no longer any misery.\u201d As though it depended upon the will of
\nindividuals who have not even taken any part in the making of the world! How
\ncan they hope to stop it? At least if it was they who had made it, they could
\nknow how it was made and could try to undo it (although it is not always easy
\nto undo what one has done), but it is not they who have made it, they do not
\neven know how it has been made and they have the presumption to want to undo
\nit, because they imagine that they themselves can run away from it I do not
\nthink it is possible. One cannot run away, even if one tries. That however is
\nanother subject. In any case, for me, my experience (which is sufficiently
\nlong, for it is now almost fifty-three years since I have been dealing with
\npeople, with their yoga, their inner efforts; I have seen much here and there,
\na little everywhere in the world); well, I do not believe that it is by
\nmeditation that you can transform yourself. I am absolutely convinced of the
\ncontrary. <\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nwhile doing what you have to do \u2013 whatever it may be, whatever work it is \u2013 If
\nyou do it and while doing it are careful not to forget the Divine, to offer to
\nHim what you do and try so to give yourself to Him that He may change all your
\nreactions \u2013 instead of their being selfish, petty, stupid and ignorant, making
\nthem luminous, generous \u2013 then in that way you will make progress. Not only
\nwill you have made some progress but you will have helped in the general
\nprogress. I have never seen people who have left everything in order to go and
\nsit down in a more or less empty contemplation (for it is more or less empty),
\nI have never seen such people making any progress, or in any case their
\nprogress is very trifling. I have seen persons who had no pretensions of doing
\nyoga, who were simply filled with enthusiasm by the idea of terrestrial
\ntransformation and of <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 44<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

the descent
\nof the Divine into the world and who did their little bit of work with that
\nenthusiasm in the heart, giving themselves wholly, without reserve, without any
\nselfish idea of a personal salvation; these I have seen making magnificent
\nprogress, truly magnificent. And sometimes they are wonderful. I have seen sannyasis<\/span>, I have seen people who live in monasteries, I
\nhave seen people who professed to be yogis, well, I would not exchange one of
\nthe others for a dozen such people (I mean, from the standpoint of terrestrial
\ntransformation and world progress, that is to say, from the standpoint of what
\nwe want to do, to try that this world may no longer be what it is and may
\nbecome truly the instrument of the divine Will, with the divine Consciousness).
\nIt is not by running away from the world that you will change it. It is by
\nworking there, modestly, humbly but with a fire in the heart, something that
\nburns like an offering. Voila<\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

So meditation is of no use? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, and to
\nthe extent it is necessary, it will come spontaneously. All of a sudden, you
\nwill be seized by something that makes you still, makes you concentrate in the
\nvision of an idea or of a psychological state. That captures you. You must not
\nresist. Then you make the needed progress. At such a moment you see, you
\nunderstand something; and then the next minute you start your work again with
\nthat something gained in you, but without any pretension. What I most fear are
\nthose who believe themselves very exceptional because they sit down and
\nmeditate. Of all things this is the most dangerous, because they become so vain
\nand so full of self-satisfaction that they close up in this way all avenues of
\nprogress There is one thing that has always been said, but always
\nmisunderstood, it is the necessity of humility. It is taken in the wrong way,
\nwrongly understood and wrongly used. Be humble, if you can be so in the right
\nway; above all, do not be so in the wrong way, for that leads you nowhere. But
\nthere is one thing: if you can pull out from <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 45<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

yourself
\nthis weed called vanity, then indeed you will have done something. But if you
\nknew how difficult it is! You cannot do a thing well, cannot have a fine idea,
\ncannot have a right movement, cannot make a little progress without getting
\npuffed up inside (even without being aware of it), with a self-satisfaction
\nfull of vanity. And you are obliged then to hammer it hard to break it. And still
\nbroken bits remain and these begin to germinate. One must work the whole of
\none\u2019s life and never forget to work in order to uproot this weed that springs
\nup again and again and again so insidiously that you believe it is gone and you
\nfeel very modest and say: \u201cIt is not I who have done it, I feel it is the
\nDivine, I am nothing if He is not there\u201d, and then the next minute, you are so
\nsatisfied with yourself simply for having thought that! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the right and the wrong way of
\nbeing humble?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is very
\nsimple, when people are told \u201cbe humble\u201d, they think immediately of \u201cbeing
\nhumble before other men\u201d and that humility is wrong. True humility is humility
\nbefore the Divine, that is, a precise, exact, living sense that one is nothing,
\none can do nothing, understand nothing without the Divine, that even if one is
\nexceptionally intelligent and capable, this is nothing in comparison with the
\ndivine Consciousness, and this sense one must always keep, because then one
\nalways has the true attitude of receptivity – a humble receptivity that does
\nnot put personal pretensions in opposition to the Divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

You have said: \u201cIf you surrender you have
\nto give up effort, but that does not mean that you have to abandon also all
\nwilled action.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (21 April)<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/p>\n

But if one wants to do something, it means
\npersonal effort, doesn\u2019t it? What then is the will? <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 46<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

There is a
\ndifference between the will and this feeling of tension, effort, of counting only
\non oneself, having recourse to oneself alone which personal effort means; this
\nkind of tension, of something very acute and at times very painful; you count
\nonly on yourself and you have the feeling that if you do not make an effort
\nevery minute, all will be lost. That is personal effort. <\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nthe will is something altogether different. It is the capacity to concentrate
\non everything one does, do it as best one can and not stop doing it unless one
\nreceives a very precise intimation that it is finished. It is difficult to
\nexplain it to you. But suppose, for example, through a concurrence of
\ncircumstances, a work comes into your hands. Take an artist who has in one way
\nor another got an inspiration and resolved to paint a picture. He knows very
\nwell that if he has no inspiration and is not sustained by forces other than
\nhis own, he will do nothing much. It will look more like a daub than a
\npainting. He knows this. But it has been settled, the painting is to be done;
\nthere may be many reasons for that, but the painting has to be done. Then if he
\nhad the passive attitude, well, he would place his palette, his colours, his
\nbrushes, his canvas and then sit down in front of it and say to the Divine:
\n\u201cNow you are going to paint.\u201d But the Divine does not do things this way. The
\npainter himself must take up everything and arrange everything, concentrate on
\nhis subject, find the forms, the colours that will express it and put his whole
\nwill for a more and more perfect execution. His will must be there all the
\ntime. But he has to keep the sense that he must be open to the inspiration, he
\nwill not forget that in spite of all his knowledge of the technique, in spite
\nof the care he takes to arrange, organise and prepare his colours, his forms,
\nhis design, in spite of all that, if he has no inspiration, it will be one
\npicture among a million others and it will not be very interesting. He does not
\nforget. He attempts, he tries to see, to feel what he wants his painting to
\nexpress and in what way it should be expressed. He has his colours, he has his
\nbrushes, he has his model, he has made his sketch which he will enlarge and <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 47<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

make into a
\npicture, he calls his inspiration. There are even some who manage to have a
\nclear, precise vision of what is to be done. But then, day after day, hour
\nafter hour, they have this will to work, to study, to do with care all that
\nmust be done until they reproduce as perfectly as they can the first
\ninspiration That person has worked for the Divine, in communion with Him, but
\nnot in a passive way, not with a passive surrender; it is with an active
\nsurrender, a dynamic will. The result generally is something very good. Well,
\nthe example of the painter is interesting, because a painter who is truly an
\nartist is able to see what he is going to do, he is able to connect himself to
\nthe divine Power that is beyond all expression and inspires all expression. For
\nthe poet, the writer, it is the same thing and for all people who do something,
\nit is the same.  <\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nyou tried that for your lessons, don\u2019t you think it would succeed? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nTwo days later the Mother took up the subject again in
\nthe \u201cFriday Class\u201d. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nyou said to yourself, my children, \u201cWe want to be as perfect instruments as
\npossible to express the divine Will in the world\u201d, then for this instrument to
\nbe perfect, it must be cultivated, educated, trained. It must not be left like
\na shapeless piece of stone. When you want to build with a stone you chisel it;
\nwhen you want to make a formless block into a beautiful diamond, you chisel it.
\nWell, it is the same thing. When with your brain and body you want to make a
\nbeautiful instrument for the Divine, you must cultivate it, sharpen it, refine
\nit, complete what is missing, perfect what is there. <\/span><\/p>\n

For
\nexample, you go to your class. If you are not in a very good mood, you say,
\n\u201cOh, how tedious it is going to be!\u201d Supposing it is a professor who does not
\nknow how to entertain you (one can be a very good professor without knowing how
\nto amuse you, for it is not always easy… there are days when one<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 48<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

does not
\nlike to be amusing), one would like to be somewhere else rather than at the
\nschool. Still, you go to your class, in that way, you go because you have to
\ngo, for if you go about according to your whims, you will never have control over
\nyourself, it will be your whims that will control you, it won\u2019t be you who will
\ncontrol yourself. You go to your class. But then, on your way there, instead of
\nsaying, \u201cOh, how bored I am going to be, oh, dear! it is not going to be at all
\ninteresting\u201d, etc., if you say, \u201cThere is not a minute in life, there is not a
\ncircumstance in one\u2019s existence that cannot bring an opportunity for progress;
\nwhat then is the progress that I am going to make today?… I offer all my
\nlittle person to the Divine. I want it to be a good instrument for Him to
\nexpress Himself, that I may be ready one day for the transformation. What am I
\ngoing to do today? I am going to that class, it is a subject that does not
\nenthuse me; but if I do not know how to take interest in this work, it is
\nperhaps because there is something lacking in me, because somewhere in my brain
\nsome cells are missing. But then, if that is so, I am going to try to find out;
\nI am going to listen properly, concentrate properly and above all drive away
\nfrom my mind this kind of frivolity, this outward levity which makes me feel
\nbored when there\u2019s something I do not grasp. Why do I get bored?.. Because I do
\nnot progress.\u201d When one does not progress, one gets bored \u2013 old and young,
\neverybody \u2013 because we are here upon earth to progress. If we do not progress
\nevery minute, well, it is indeed boring, monotonous; it is not always pleasant,
\nit is far from being fine. \u201cSo I am going to find out today what progress I can
\nmake in this class; there is something I do not know and which I can learn.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nyou want to learn, you can learn at every moment. As for me I have learnt even
\nby listening to little children\u2019s chatter. Every moment something may happen;
\nsomeone may say a word to you, even an idiot may say a word that opens you to
\nsomething enabling you to make some progress. And then, if you knew, how life
\nbecomes interesting! You can no longer get <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 49<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

bored, that
\nis gone, everything is interesting, everything is wonderful – because every
\nminute you can learn, at each step make progress. For example, when you are in
\nthe street, instead of being simply there and not knowing what you are doing,
\nif you look around, if you observe.. I remember having been thus obliged to be
\nin the street on a shopping errand or going to see someone or to purchase
\nsomething, that\u2019s not important; indeed, it is not always pleasant to be in the
\nstreet, but if you begin to observe and to see how this person walks, how that
\none moves, how this light plays upon that object, how this little bit of a tree
\nthere suddenly makes the landscape pretty, how hundreds of things shine.. then
\nevery minute you can learn something. Not only can you learn, but I remember to
\nhave once had \u2013 I was just walking in the street \u2013 to have had a kind of illumination,
\nbecause there was a woman walking in front of me and truly she knew how to
\nwalk. How lovely it was! Her movement was magnificent! I saw that and suddenly
\nI saw the whole origin of Greek culture, how all these forms descend towards
\nthe world to express Beauty simply because here was a woman who knew how to
\nwalk! You understand, this is how all things become interesting. And so,
\ninstead of going to the class and doing stupid things there (I hope none of you
\ndoes that, I am sure all who come here to my class will never go and do stupid
\nthings at school, that it is exceptions that prove the rule; however, I know
\nthat unfortunately too many go there and do all the idiotic things one might
\ninvent), so, instead of that, if you could go to the class in order to make
\nprogress, every day a new little progress \u2013 even if it be the understanding why
\nyour professor bores you \u2013 it would be wonderful, for all of a sudden he will
\nno longer be boring to you, all of a sudden you will discover that he is very
\ninteresting! It is like that. If you look at life in this way, life becomes
\nsomething wonderful. That is the only way of making it interesting, because
\nlife upon earth is made to be a field for progress and if we progress to the
\nmaximum we draw the maximum benefit from our life upon earth. And then<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 50<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

one feels
\nhappy. When one does the best one can, one is happy. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When one is bored, Mother, does that mean
\none does not progress? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

At that
\ntime, yes, certainly without a doubt; not only does one not progress, but one
\nmisses an opportunity for progressing. There was a concurrence of circumstances
\nwhich seemed to you dull, boring, stupid and you were in their midst; well, if
\nyou get bored, it means that you yourself are as boring as the circumstances!
\nAnd that is a clear proof that you are simply not in a state of progress. There
\nis nothing more contrary to the very reason of existence than this passing wave
\nof boredom. If you make a little effort within yourself at that time, if you
\ntell yourself: \u201cWait a bit, what is it that I should learn? What does all that
\nbring to me so that I may learn something? What progress should I make in
\novercoming myself? What is the weakness that I must overcome? What is the
\ninertia that I must conquer?\u201d If you say that to yourself, you will see the
\nnext minute you are no longer bored. You will immediately get interested and
\nyou will make progress! This is a commonplace of consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nthen, you know, most people when they get bored, instead of trying to rise a step
\nhigher, descend a step lower, they become still worse than what they were, and
\nthey do all the stupid things that others do, go in for all the vulgarities,
\nall the meannesses, everything, in order to amuse themselves. They get
\nintoxicated, take poison, ruin their health, ruin their brain, they utter
\ncrudities. They do all that because they are bored. Well, if instead of going
\ndown, one had risen up, one would have profited by the circumstances. Instead
\nof profiting, one falls a little lower yet than where one was. When people get
\na big blow in their life, some misfortune (what men call \u201cmisfortune\u201d, there
\nare people who do have misfortunes), the first thing they try to do is to
\nforget it \u2013 as though one did not forget quickly enough! And to forget, they do
\nanything whatsoever. When there is something painful, they want to distract
\nthemselves \u2013 what they call distraction, that is, doing stupid things,<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 51<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that is to
\nsay, going down in their consciousness, going down a little instead of rising
\nup Has something extremely painful happened to you, something very grievous? Do
\nnot become stupefied, do not seek forgetfulness, do not go down into the
\ninconscience; you must go to the end and find the light that is behind, the
\ntruth, the force and the joy; and for that you must be strong and refuse to
\nslide down. But that we shall see a little later, my children, when you will be
\na little older. <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 52<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13 May 1953   \u201cThere are some who, when they are sitting in meditation, get into a state which they think very fine and delightful.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-05-questions-and-answers-volume-05","wpcat-126-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4489","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=4489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}