{"id":4494,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:24","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4494"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:24","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:24","slug":"39-9-december-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\/39-9-december-1953-vol-05-questions-and-answers-volume-05","title":{"rendered":"-39_9 December 1953.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n9 December 1953 <\/font><\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always surrounded by the things of
\nwhich we think.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 14, p. 366
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

This is
\nvery important. <\/span><\/p>\n

If
\nyou think of nasty things, you will be surrounded by nasty things. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTo get over our ego is not an easy task. <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven after overcoming it in the material consciousness,
\nwe meet it once more – magnified – in the spiritual.\u201d
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Ibid., p. 27<\/font><\/span><\/i>8
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>How can one meet one\u2019s ego in the
\nspiritual consciousness? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There is a
\nspiritual ego even as there is a physical, vital and mental ego. There is a
\nspiritual ego. There are people who have made a great effort to overcome all
\ntheir egoism and all their limitations, and attained a spiritual consciousness;
\nand there, they have all the vanity and the sense of their importance and
\ncontempt for those who are not in the same condition as they. Indeed, all that
\nis ridiculous and bad in the ego, they find there once again. There are many,
\nmany like that. They have overcome what was there in the physical or vital
\nconsciousness but the very effort they have made to master themselves and this
\nvictory they have gained give them the sense of their extreme importance. So
\nthey become puffed up and assert their authority.<\/span><\/p>\n

This
\nhappens so frequently that it is not even noticed. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 383<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

I didn\u2019t understand this: \u201cThe so-called
\nforces of Nature are but the exterior activities of beings out of proportion
\nwith man by their size and the powers at their disposal.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 15, p. 12
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Didn\u2019t
\nunderstand?.. For instance, take the wind which blows; now scientists will tell
\nyou: \u201cThese are manifestations of forces of Nature, and it is the result of
\nsuch and such a phenomenon\u201d, they will speak about heat and cold, high and low,
\netc., and they will tell you: \u201cThat\u2019s the cause of the wind\u2019s blowing, these
\nare currents of air produced in the atmosphere.\u201d But it is not this. There are
\nentities behind, only they are so huge that their form eludes us. It would be
\nlike your asking an ant to describe the form of a man – it couldn\u2019t, could it?
\nIt sees at the most the tiny end of the little finger and it takes a walk on
\nthe foot \u2013 it is a great journey, and it would not know what a man\u2019s form would
\nbe like. Well, it is almost the same thing. These forces which bring about
\nwind, rain, earthquakes, etc. are manifestations of \u2013 call them gestures, if
\nyou like \u2013 of movements of certain beings so formidably huge that we hardly see
\nthe end of their foot and don\u2019t realise their size.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Still, the spiritual ego is better than
\nthe ordinary ego, isn\u2019t it? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is much
\nmore dangerous than the ordinary one! For one is not aware that it is the ego.
\nOutwardly, when one is egoistic, not only does one know it oneself but others
\nmake you realise it still more, and circumstances prove it to you every moment.
\nBut there, as unfortunately you meet people who respect you highly, you are not
\neven aware that you are terribly egoistic. <\/span><\/p>\n

Very
\ndangerous. Spiritual vanity is much more serious than physical vanity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 384<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Then, Sweet Mother, with the ego can one
\nrealise the Divine? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not at the moment
\none unites with Him. It is evident that at that moment the ego disappears. But
\nthat state does not last. Or in any case we can put it in another way: those
\nwho have brought along their ego with them cannot keep the consciousness for
\nlong. They become aware of themselves again whilst having the experience. It is
\nthat which is most terrible. They look at themselves having the experience and
\nadmire themselves. And they feel they are exceptional beings, much higher than
\nothers, and then that becomes deplorable. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Here, you have said: \u201cWhether Thou
\nchoosest for me life or death, happiness or sorrow, pleasure or suffering, all
\nthat comes to me from Thee will be welcome.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Does the Divine give suffering or sorrow? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, my
\nchild, that text, you know what it is: it is Radha\u2019s prayer to Krishna. And so,
\nit is such a personification of divine forces that one is obliged to extend
\nhuman feelings to the Divine in order to be able to express oneself. To
\nunderstand it in its true form a whole long explanation would be required, and
\nthen it is no longer artistic \u2013 it becomes dogmatic or in any case didactic. It
\nis to give the idea that all is in the Divine and all is divine. And
\nnecessarily, if one changes the state of consciousness and is identified with
\nthe Divine, that changes the very nature of things. For example, what seemed
\npain or sorrow or misery \u2013 one becomes aware quite on the contrary that it is
\nan opportunity for the Divine\u2019s growing closer to you, and that from this event
\nperhaps one may draw a still greater joy than that experienced from something
\nsatisfying. Only, you must understand it like that, in that spirit and with
\nthat consciousness, for otherwise, if taken in the ordinary sense, it is the
\nvery
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 385<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

contradiction
\nof the principle that all is divine.<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nsame thing, exactly the same vibration, according to the way in which it is
\nreceived and responded to, brings either an intense joy or considerable
\ndespair, exactly the same, according to the state of consciousness one is in.
\nSo there is nothing of which it could be said: it is a misfortune. There is
\nnothing that could be called suffering. All that is necessary is to change
\none\u2019s state of consciousness. That is all. Only (I have written this somewhere,
\nI don\u2019t know where now), if you yourself succeed in changing your state of
\nconsciousness and enter this condition of bliss, you can see others still
\nquarrelling, fighting, being unhappy, suffering and feeling miserable, and you
\nyourself feel that everything is so harmonious, so wonderful, so sweet, so
\npleasant, and you say: \u201cWell, why don\u2019t they do what I do?\u201d But the trouble is
\nthat everybody is not ready to do that! And for those who remain in the
\nordinary consciousness, for them suffering is something very real. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now,
\nthere are people who don\u2019t care to be happy all alone and agree to renounce
\nthis perfect bliss in order to help others to walk a little farther on the
\npath. <\/span><\/p>\n

Attitudes
\nin the world \u2013 attitudes towards virtue \u2013 are very subjective. And what may
\nsucceed with one may not do so with another. And every one must follow his own
\npath. That is why it is always difficult to say to people: \u201cDo what I do.\u201d This
\nis what all gurus usually say: \u201cDo as I do and you will reach the goal.\u201d All
\nthat one may say is: \u201cDo as I do and you will be like me.\u201d
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

(Silence<\/i>)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! I
\nwanted to ask you a question. We said at the beginning: one is surrounded by
\nwhat one thinks about. You understand quite well what this means? (Turning to a
\nchild) Every time you think of something, it is as though you had a magnet in
\nyour hand and were attracting that thing towards yourself \u2013
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 386<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

you
\nunderstand. Now, there are people who have a very, very bad habit of always
\nthinking about all possible catastrophes, and are in a sort of constant
\napprehension about some calamity befalling them the next moment. I know many
\nlike that, there are some here. And so, those people have as though a magnet in
\ntheir hands to attract calamities, not only upon themselves but upon others
\nalso. That lays a big responsibility upon them. And if one can\u2019t stop all the
\ntime from thinking about something some have a head that runs on and they
\nhaven\u2019t found a way of stopping it \u2013 well, why not make it run on the right lines
\ninstead of letting it run on the others! Once your head begins to run, let it
\nrun on all the good things that can happen. If it is obliged to turn round and
\nround, well, turn then to the good side! That is, if somebody is ill, instead
\nof saying: \u201cWhat is going to happen, perhaps this is going to be very serious,
\nand if it is that disease.. and a calamity comes so quickly\u201d, instead of all
\nthat, if one thinks: \u201cOh! that is nothing, illnesses are outer illusions
\ntranslating some deeper vibrations which are not seen, that is why one doesn\u2019t
\nspeak about them, but that\u2019s how it is. And these deeper vibrations may come
\nand set in order what has been disturbed. And this imbalance, this illness or
\nbad thing that has come, well, it will be absorbed by the Grace and will
\ndisappear, no trace of it will remain, except that of things agreeable and
\npleasant.\u201d One may continue to think in this way uninterruptedly People always
\nneed to make their mind run, run, run, but then make it run on the right lines,
\nyou will see that it has an effect. For instance, let it go like this: that I
\nshall learn better and better, shall know better and better, become healthier
\nand healthier, and all difficulties will vanish, and wicked people will become
\nsweet and good, and ill people will be cured, and houses which should be built
\nwill be built, and those things which should disappear will disappear, but
\ngiving place to better things, and the world will move in a constant progress,
\nand at the end of that progress there will be a total harmony, and so on, and
\ncontinue thus You can go on endlessly. But then
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 387<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

you will
\nhave around you and around your head all kinds of pretty things. Those who
\nperceive the atmosphere see certain inky stains, like an octopus there, yes,
\nlike that, with its tentacles to try and upset your mind \u2013 instead of that, one
\nwill see happy formations, formations of light or rays of sunlight or perhaps
\nbeautiful pictures, all that. One will see beautiful things \u2013 there are
\npainters who do that and they always capture the thoughts. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, you have said: \u201cEach
\nmeditation ought to be a new revelation, for in each meditation something new
\nhappens.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00b9<\/span>After the meditation, is one conscious of
\nwhat has happened? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But that\u2019s
\nexactly the thing; I say: pay attention and become conscious. If one is very
\nattentive, one becomes conscious. One must be very concentrated and very
\nattentive, then one becomes conscious. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, suffering comes from ignorance and
\npain, but what is the nature of the suffering and pain the Divine Mother feels
\nfor her children \u2013 the Divine Mother in Savitri? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is
\nbecause she participates in their nature. She has descended upon earth to
\nparticipate in their nature. Because if she did not participate in their
\nnature, she could not lead them farther. If she remained in her supreme
\nconsciousness where there is no suffering, in her supreme knowledge and
\nconsciousness, she could not have any contact with human beings. And it is for
\nthis that she is obliged to take on the human consciousness and form, it is to
\nbe able to enter into contact with them. Only, she does not forget: she has
\nadopted their consciousness but she remains in relation with her own real,
\nsupreme consciousness. And thus, by joining the two, she can make those who are
\nin that other <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font><\/span><\/i> Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 14, p. 53.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 388<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

consciousness
\nprogress. But if she did not adopt their consciousness, if she did not suffer
\nwith their sorrow, she could not help them. Hers is not a suffering of ignorance:
\nit is a suffering through identity. It is because she has accepted to have the
\nsame vibrations as they, in order to be able to enter into contact with them
\nand pull them out of the state they are in. If she did not enter into contact
\nwith them, she would not be felt at all or no one could bear her radiance This
\nhas been said in all kinds of forms, in all kinds of religions, and they have
\nspoken very often of the divine Sacrifice, but from a certain point of view it
\nis true. It is a voluntary sacrifice, but it is true: giving up a state of
\nperfect consciousness, perfect bliss, perfect power in order to accept the
\nstate of ignorance of the outer world so as to pull it out of that ignorance.
\nIf this state were not accepted, there would be no contact with it. No relation
\nwould be possible. And this is the reason of the incarnations. Otherwise, there
\nwould be no necessity. If the divine consciousness and divine force could work
\ndirectly from the place or state of their perfection, if they could work directly
\non matter and transform it, there would be no need to take a body like man\u2019s.
\nIt would have been enough to act from the world of Truth with the perfect
\nconsciousness and upon consciousness. In fact that acts perhaps but so slowly
\nthat when there is this effort to make the world progress, make it go forward
\nmore rapidly, well, it is necessary to take on human nature. By taking the
\nhuman body, one is obliged to take on human nature, partially. Only, instead of
\nlosing one\u2019s consciousness and losing contact with the Truth, one keeps this
\nconsciousness and this Truth, and it is by joining the two that one can create
\nexactly this kind of alchemy of transformation. But if one did not touch
\nmatter, one could do nothing for it. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Did Savitri foresee what she was going to
\ndo? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

She said
\nso. You have not read it? She had even been told that she would be alone. And
\nshe said: I am ready to be alone. You
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 389<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

have not
\nread it? It is in the canto they recited last year.<\/span>\u00b9<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Did she know she would meet the \u201cMother of
\nSorrows\u201d, the \u201cMother of Might\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed she
\ndid. It is said all along that she knew all that was going to happen. It is
\nwritten clearly. Indeed, to each of them she says clearly: I shall bring to you
\nwhat you need. Consequently, she knows it. Else she would not say so. If she
\ndid not know it, how could she say so? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In Savitri the \u201cMother of Sorrows\u201d says: <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n


\n      <\/span>\u201cPerhaps when the world sinks into a last
\nsleep, <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n        <\/span>I too may sleep in dumb eternal peace.\u201d
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo Savitri, CWSA Vol. 34, p.
\n505 <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! that,
\nthat is the human consciousness. It is the human consciousness. It is the idea
\nof the human consciousness that when all suffering will be over, well, \u201cI shall
\nsleep\u201d. It is indeed of this that Sri Aurobindo speaks. When there is this
\naspiration for a supreme peace, one feels that if there were a pralaya and the
\nworld disappeared, well, at least there would be peace. But the phrase itself
\nis self-contradictory, for if there were a pralaya, there would be no more
\npeace to be felt – there would be nothing at all any longer! <\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nthis is just one of the contradictions of the human consciousness: \u201cAs long as
\nthe world is there and suffering there, I shall suffer with the world. But if
\never the world enters into peace, disappears in the peace of Non-Being, then I
\ntoo shall rest.\u201d It is a poetic way of saying that as long as misery is there
\nin the world, I shall suffer with the world. Only when it ceases to be there,
\nit shall cease for me also.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/font><\/span>Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, CWSA Vol. 34 pp, recited at the School Annual
\nfunction of 1 December 1953.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 390<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Then what will the \u201cMother of Sorrows\u201d do?
\nWhat else can she do? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

She will be
\nthe \u201cMother of Delight\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Savitri represents the Mother\u2019s
\nConsciousness, doesn\u2019t she? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What does Satyavan represent? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, he is
\nthe Avatar. He is the incarnation of the Supreme.<\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 391<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

9 December 1953     \u201cWe are always surrounded by the things of which we think.\u201d Words of the Mother, MCW Vol. 14, p. 366…<\/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-4494","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\/4494","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=4494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}