{"id":4502,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:27","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4502"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:27","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:27","slug":"30-30-september-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\/30-30-september-1953-vol-05-questions-and-answers-volume-05","title":{"rendered":"-30_30 September 1953.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

 <\/span><\/b>30 September 1953 <\/font><\/b><\/span>
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a plane in the mind where the
\nmemory of everything is stored and remains always in existence. All mental
\nmovements that belong to the life of the earth are memorised and registered in
\nthis plane. Those who are capable of going there and care to take the trouble,
\ncan read in it and learn anything they choose. But this region must not be
\nmistaken for the supramental levels. And yet to reach even there you must be
\nable to silence the movements of the material or physical mind; you must be
\nable to leave aside all your sensations and put a stop to your ordinary mental
\nmovements, whatever they are; you must get out of the vital; you must become
\nfree from the slavery of the body. Then only can you enter into that region and
\nsee. But if you are sufficiently interested to make this effort, you can arrive
\nthere and read what is written in the earth\u2019s memory.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Questions and Answers 1929 (23 June)
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

You have said that in order to go to the
\nplace where all mental movements belonging to earthly life are recorded and
\npreserved, one must silence the movements of the material and physical mind..
\nand put a stop to ordinary mental movements. If the movements are stopped, what
\nis going to happen? We have to do something or other the whole day long. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No, just
\nfor that moment. Not permanently. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, but if one forgets? There is some
\nwork to do: at two o\u2019clock one must do this, and at half past ten one must do
\nthat; if one forgets.. <\/span><\/i>
\n
\n <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 278<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

No, you
\ndon\u2019t understand. To go to that place, at the time of going you must be able to
\ncompletely silence the mind (and all the other things I have mentioned), but
\njust for going there. For example, you decide: \u201cNow, I am going to read such
\nand such a chapter of earth\u2019s history\u201d, then you lounge comfortably in an
\neasy-chair, you tell people not to disturb you, you go within yourself and
\ncompletely stop your mind, and you send your mental messenger to that place It
\nis preferable to have someone who can guide you there, because otherwise you
\ncan lose your way and go elsewhere! And then you go. It is like a very big
\nlibrary with many many small compartments. So you find the compartment
\ncorresponding to the information you wish to have. You press a button and it
\nopens. And inside it you find a scroll as it were, a mental formation which
\nunrolls before you like a parchment, and you read. And then you make a note of
\nwhat you have read and afterwards return quietly into your body with the new
\nknowledge, and you may transcribe physically, if you can, what you have found,
\nand then you get up and start your life as before This may take you ten
\nminutes, it may take one hour, it may take half an hour, it depends upon your
\ncapacity, but it is important to know the way, as I said, in order not to make
\na mistake. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why then don\u2019t we do that instead of
\nreading books! <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Because
\nvery few people would be able to do it, whereas many can read books (there are
\nnot many who understand them, but many can read them!). And this is still more
\ndifficult than understanding a book. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

And if it were taught to children when
\nthey are quite young? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is
\npossible that this might replace the reading of books with advantage!
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 279<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

All
\nthat has happened upon earth \u2013 from the beginning of the earth till now, all
\nthe movements of the mind have been exactly inscribed, all of them. So when you
\nneed any accurate information about something, you have only to go there, you
\nfind your way. It is a very strange place; it is made as though of small cells,
\nthey are like small pigeon-holes; and so, following the shelves and some kind
\nof.. how to put it? There are libraries of that kind. Why, I saw a picture
\nshown to us at the cinema, the picture of a library in New York. Well, it is
\narranged somewhat like that. It is a similar arrangement. It interested me
\nbecause of that. But instead of being books, these are like small squares. They
\nare all closed. You put your finger, press a button and the thing opens. And
\nthen something like a scroll comes out and you unroll it and can read it \u2013 all
\nthat is written about a subject. There are millions and millions and millions
\nof these. And happily, in the mind, one can go down, one can go up, one can go
\nright on the top. You do not need a ladder! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

How does one read? As one reads a book? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, it is
\na kind of mental perception. It corresponds to that. You see quite, quite well
\nall the description or the information (that depends on what it is). Sometimes
\nthey are pictures: it is as though a picture had been preserved. Sometimes it
\nis a story. Sometimes it is simply an answer to a question. All possible and
\nimaginable things recorded mentally are there. You can find many corrections
\ntoo (exactly of those facts that have been put in books and are not correct).
\nAnd you need not walk on or climb up: you send along quite simply something
\nlike a concentrated mental consciousness and that goes forward and touches the
\nthing. Only, if you do this without completely detaching yourself from your own
\nmental activity, I am afraid you will see only what is in your own head!
\nInstead of seeing the thing as it is, perhaps you take a walk in your own brain
\nand see only what is there \u2013 it is a danger. You must be able to silence your
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 280<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

head
\nabsolutely and be completely detached, not to have (for example, when you are
\nlooking for the solution of a problem), not to have already in your head the
\nsolution that seems to you right or the best or most profitable. That must not
\nbe there. You must become absolutely like a blank paper, with nothing on it.
\nAnd you proceed in that way, with a very sincere aspiration to know the truth,
\nwithout assuming beforehand that it will be like this or like that; because
\notherwise you will see only your own formation. The very first condition is
\nthat the head must keep completely silent during the time one is observing. <\/span><\/p>\n

And
\nin order to be more sure (but here one must be fully trained, one must have a
\nvery good education), in order to be altogether sure of reporting clearly the
\nknowledge received without deforming it in any way, it is better to say what
\none sees and what one reads (we say \u201creads\u201d, but rather it is what one
\nperceives), to say it as one perceives it, and it should be someone else who notes
\nit down\u2026 I repeat: You lie quietly stretched in your easy-chair, without moving
\nand altogether quiet, and you send a messenger from your head. Now, someone
\nshould be sitting by your side and when you reach the place and open the door
\nand pull out the manuscript (or whatever you like to call it), you begin,
\ninstead of reading only with your eyes that are absent, to describe what you
\nsee. You acquire the habit of speaking aloud and as you go on observing up
\nthere, you speak here. You narrate precisely your journey through those vast
\nhalls and how you reached that place and how it had a small mark that was the
\nsign of what you wanted to see. Then you open that little place and pull out
\nthe scroll and start reading. And you read it out aloud. And the person who is
\nthere, sitting by your side, goes on noting down what you are reading. In this
\nway there is no danger of the thing getting changed when you return. For, the
\nexperience is very clear and precise to that part of your being which is there
\nat the moment, but when you come back into the material world as it is, almost
\nalways something escapes and this does not escape when you speak directly at
\nthe
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 281<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

time you
\nare at work. So all that means very many conditions to fulfil: it is not so
\neasy as taking a book in the library and reading it! This is within the reach
\nof everybody. That is a little more difficult to accomplish. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is the theory of relativity?<\/span>\u00b9<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

(Mother turns to a disciple and mathematician<\/span><\/i>)
\nPavitra! Will you please explain that to these children? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Pavitra: It means that the description of
\nthe universe varies with each observer \u2013 to put it in one sentence. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is that
\nall! Why is there so much fuss over this discovery? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Pavitra: It is a revolution, Mother! <\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is a
\nrevolution? That what one sees depends on who sees? Ah! Well.. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Pavitra: What one measures depends upon
\nthe physical universe, from the point of view of the physical sciences.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span>\u201cAlthough it may be true in a general way
\nand in a certain sense that a Yogi can know all things and can answer all
\nquestions from his own field of vision and consciousness, yet it does not
\nfollow that there are no questions whatever of any kind to which he would not
\nor could not answer. A Yogi who has the direct knowledge, the knowledge of the
\ntrue truth of things, would not care or perhaps would find it difficult to
\nanswer questions that belong entirely to the domain of human mental
\nconstructions. It may be, he could or would not wish to solve problems and difficulties
\nyou might put to him which touch only the illusions of things and their
\nappearances. The working of his knowledge is not in the mind; if you put him
\nsome silly mental query of that character, he probably would not answer. The
\nvery common conception that you can put any ignorant question to him as to some
\nsuperschoolmaster or demand from him any kind of information past, present or
\nfuture and that he is bound to answer, is a foolish idea. It is as inept as the
\nexpectation from the spiritual man of feats and miracles that would satisfy the
\nvulgar external mind and leave it gaping with wonder.\u201d<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n


\nQuestions and
\nAnswers<\/font><\/span><\/i> 1929 (23
\nJune) <\/font> <\/span>
\n
\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 282<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Physical
\nsciences, yes. For measuring the universe, each one measures it in his own way.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Pavitra: But then, complementary to that,
\nit has been found that behind there is something independent of the observer. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah! they
\nhave \u201cdiscovered\u201d that? (laughter) A still greater revolution!.. (loud
\nlaughter) Good. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, you have said<\/span>\u00b9<\/span> there are many intermediary planes
\nbetween the mental and the supramental, and that if an ordinary man came in
\ncontact with one of these intermediate planes, he would be dazzled. Why then,
\nsince man is in such an undeveloped condition, do we speak of the descent of
\nthe supramental plane, instead of the descent of the intermediate planes? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

For a very
\nsimple reason, because till now the whole physical, material world, the whole
\nearth (let us take the earth) has been ruled by forces and the consciousness
\nthat come from what Sri Aurobindo calls the Overmind. Even what men call God is
\na force, a power coming from the Overmind and the whole universe was under the
\nrule of the Overmind. To get there one has to pass through many intermediate
\nplanes and very few people can reach there without getting dazzled. But what
\nSri Aurobindo said is that now the time for the \u201crule\u201d of the Overmind is
\ncoming to its end and is going to be replaced by the rule of the Supermind. All
\nwho have had spiritual experiences and have <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/span>\u201cMen are too easily inclined to believe
\nthat they have climbed into regions quite divine when they have only gone above
\nthe average level. There are many stages between the ordinary human mind and
\nthe Supermind, many grades and many intervening planes. If an ordinary man were
\nto get into direct contact even with one of these intermediate planes, he would
\nbe dazzled and blinded, would be crushed under the weight of the sense of
\nimmensity or would lose his balance; and yet it is not the Supermind.\u201d <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nQuestions and Answers 1929 (23 June)<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 283<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

discovered
\nthe Divine and become united with Him, know what it is, the Overmind. But what
\nSri Aurobindo says is that beyond the Overmind there is something and that it
\nis now the turn of this something to come and rule the earth, to manifest upon
\nearth and rule the earth. Therefore, there is no need to speak of the Overmind,
\nfor many people have spoken about it already and have had the experience of it;
\nwhereas this is something new that is going to manifest itself in a new way and
\nnobody has been aware of it before. That is why. The old accounts \u2013 there\u2019s no
\nlack of people who have experienced these things or described them, or of books
\nwritten on the subject. There is no need to repeat once more what others have said.
\nSri Aurobindo came to say something new. And it is precisely because people are
\nunable to come out of the experiences they have known and heard being spoken
\nof, that they try to identify this Force which Sri Aurobindo called supramental
\nwith their experience of the intermediary worlds including the Overmind. For
\nthey cannot conceive that there could be something else\u2026 Sri Aurobindo always
\nsaid that his Yoga began where the former Yogas ended, that to be able to
\nrealise his Yoga it was necessary first of all to have reached the extreme
\nlimit of what the older Yogas had realised, that is to say, the perception of
\nthe Divine, the union, the identification with the Divine. But that Divine, Sri
\nAurobindo says, is the Divine of the Overmind which is already something quite
\nunthinkable, in comparison with the human consciousness, because even to reach
\nthere one must pass through several planes and in these planes one feels
\ndazzled. <\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nare beings of the vital, if they appeared to men, or to say things more exactly,
\nwhenever they have appeared to men, men have taken them for the supreme God \u2013
\nthese vital entities! If you like, we shall call that a disguise but it is a
\nvery successful disguise, because those who saw it were thoroughly convinced
\nthat they had seen the supreme Godhead. And yet, they were but beings of the
\nvital. And these entities of the Overmind, these overmental gods are mighty
\nentities in comparison
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 284<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

with our
\nhumanity. When human beings come in relation with them, they become truly
\nbewildered. <\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nis however a kind of Grace which makes it possible for us to profit by the
\nexperience of others. It is something similar to the way of teaching the
\nsciences. If each scientist had to do all over again all the experiments of the
\npast in order to arrive at a new discovery, go over all that the others had
\nfound, he would have to spend his whole life doing that and there would be no
\ntime left to make his new discovery! Now one doesn\u2019t need to do all that: one
\nopens a book and sees the results and starting from there can proceed further.
\nWell, Sri Aurobindo wanted to do the same thing. He tells you where you can
\nfind the results of what others before him have found \u2013 the experiments they
\nmade and their results \u2013 and where you stand: historically where you stand in
\nthe spiritual history of the world. And then he takes you from there, and after
\nthe basis has been firmly laid for you, he makes you climb higher up the
\nmountain. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

So, in the Ashram, there should be only
\nthose who have reached the overmental level? Instead of that.. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t
\nwant to speak of those who were there at the beginning, what they knew or did
\nnot know and their experience. But you all, my children, at what age did you come
\nhere? That was not an age to have realised the Overmind?! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

If you had around you people like
\nVivekananda, for example, your work would be more easy, wouldn\u2019t it? Instead of
\nhaving unrefined stuff like us? (laughter) <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Probably
\nthey would have been more refractory!.. For what is most difficult is to
\nconvince someone who has already had a realisation. He believes he is above all
\nprogress. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not
\nnecessarily. It is not necessarily someone who has some experience who is most
\nadvanced. He lacks an element of simplicity,
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 285<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

modesty,
\nand the plasticity that comes from the fact that one is not yet totally
\ndeveloped. As one grows, something crystallises in the head; it gets more and
\nmore fixed and unless you try very hard you finish by becoming fossilised. This
\nis what usually happens to people, particularly those who have tried for some
\nrealisation and succeeded in it or those who have come to believe they have
\nreached the goal. In any case, it was their personal goal. They have reached
\nit, they have attained. It is done, they remain there; they settle there, they
\nsay \u201cthat\u2019s it.\u201d And they do no more any more. So, after that they may live ten
\nyears more, or twenty or thirty, they will not budge. They are there, they will
\nstay there. Such people lack all the suppleness of stuff that\u2019s necessary for
\ngoing further and progressing. They are stuck. They are very good objects to be
\nput in a museum, but not for doing work. They are like samples to show what can
\nbe done but they are not the stuff to do more. For me personally, I admit I
\nprefer for my work someone who knows very little, has not laboured too much,
\nbut who has a great aspiration, much goodwill and who feels in himself this
\nflame, this need for progressing. He may know very little, may have realised
\nstill less, but if he has that within him, it is good stuff with which one can
\ngo very far, much further. For one must know the way (it is the same thing here
\nas with your library), one must know the way to go. Well, usually in life when
\nyou climb a mountain or go to an unknown land, you look for a man who has been
\nthere, who is a guide, and you ask him to direct you. It is the same thing. If
\nyou follow the guide, you can go much quicker than someone else who has made
\nmuch effort, found his own way and is usually quite proud of himself and, in
\nany case, has the feeling of having come to the end, reached the goal he aimed
\nat, finally arrived \u2013 and he stops, settles down. And he does not move any
\nmore.<\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally,
\nat the beginning there were no children here and children were not accepted,
\nchildren were all refused. It was only after the war that children were taken.
\nBut I do not regret that
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 286<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

they have
\nbeen accepted. For I believe there is much more stuff for the future among
\nchildren who know nothing than among those grown-ups who believe they know
\neverything I do not know if you have much knowledge of sculpture. But to do
\nsculpture, you have to take some clay, soak it with water; it must be finely
\npowdered clay, and you soak it with water and make a paste. You have to keep it
\nwet all the time and you make a statue or whatever you want out of that. When
\nit is finished, you fire it so that it sets. And after that \u2013 indeed after that
\n\u2013 it cannot move any more. If you want to change something, you must break it
\nand make another. For otherwise, as it is, it is rigid, as hard and stiff as
\nstone Something similar happens in life. You must not attain something and then
\nremain crystallised, fossilised, immobilised. For otherwise you have to break
\nit, take it to pieces, or else you can do nothing with it any longer.<\/span><\/p>\n

So
\nlong as one remains thus clay-like, very soft, very malleable, not yet formed,
\nnot aware of being formed, something can be done. And as long as one remains a
\nchild.. it is a blissful state. I was saying this yesterday, children have only
\none idea, to become grown-ups, and they do not know that when they are grown
\nup, they will have lost three-fourths of their worth which consists in being
\nsomething which can still be developed, formed, something malleable,
\nprogressive, which need not be broken into bits so that it may progress. There
\nare people who are compelled to take a whole turn around the mountain, in that
\nway, from the foot to the top, and they take an entire lifetime to reach the
\ntop. There are others who know the road, the shortest cut that can be taken by
\nwhich one can go straight to the top. And then, once up there, they are still
\nfull of youthfulness and energy and they can see the horizon and the next
\nmountain. On the contrary, the others are conscious of having done a
\nconsiderable work by turning round and round and spending their whole life to
\nreach the summit. But as for you, my children, it is being tried here to take you
\nquite at the
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 287<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

bottom and
\nmake you go up by the funicular railway right to the top, the shortest cut. And
\nwhen you are on the top, you will have the vision of the spaces before you and you
\nwill be able to choose the mountain you wish to climb. <\/span><\/p>\n

Above
\nall, do not be in a hurry not to be a child any more! One must be a child all
\none\u2019s life, as much as one can, as long as one can. Be happy, joyful, content
\nto be a child and remain a child, plastic stuff for shaping. Voila. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Can\u2019t you change someone who has already
\nmade progress? Can\u2019t one change men who are getting old? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It can be
\ndone, it can be done. It is being done. It can be done but it is much more
\ndifficult and the more they are convinced of having attained something, the
\nmore difficult it is. <\/span><\/p>\n

That
\ncan be done, it has been done, but it is much more difficult. And sometimes it
\ntakes more time. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why were children not accepted before the
\nwar? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Ah, my
\nchildren, it is very simple. Because where there are children, you have to be
\nbusy most of the time with them only! Children are very absorbing creatures.
\nEverything must be organised for them, everything must be arranged in view of
\ntheir welfare, and the whole aspect of life changes. Children are most
\nimportant personages. When they are there, everything turns around them. And
\nthe entire organisation of the Ashram has completely changed. Formerly, it was
\nquite different. First of all there was a kind of austerity that cannot be
\nimposed upon children. There are simplicities and austerities of life that can
\nbe imposed upon grown-up people, because they are told: \u201cTake it or leave it:
\nif you cannot bear it, if you do not like it, well, you may go away. This is
\nwhat it should be like; if you do not want it, you may leave the place, the
\ndoor is always open.\u201d But with a child\u2026 What right have you to demand of a
\nchild things
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 288<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that have
\nno normal relationship with its growth? Children must have reached a certain
\nmaturity before they are able to make a choice. You cannot compel them to do a
\nthing before they have the capacity to choose. You have to give them quite
\nnaturally all that they need. And this changes life completely. And I knew that
\nvery well. I already had the experience of what the life of solitary people or
\na group of solitary people is like, and of a life in which children are
\nadmitted. It is absolutely, totally different. You have no right to demand of a
\nperson something when he has no free choice; and so long as a person is not
\nformed, has not attained a certain maturity, you cannot make him choose. When
\none reaches this maturity, then one chooses. And the children here have not
\ncome of themselves. Most of you were not taller than a boot \u2013 when you came
\nhere, how old were you?.. One cannot tell them: \u201cYou have chosen, therefore you
\nhave to take it or leave it, either you do this or you go away.\u201d They have been
\nbrought here, hence it is one\u2019s duty to give them what they need; and the needs
\nof children are not at all the same as those of big people. It is much more
\ncomplicated. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now
\nthings are different, because now people are not told: \u201cYou are going to come
\nhere to do yoga\u201d; they are told: \u201cYou are going to try to learn about the
\nconditions under which earthly life can be bettered.\u201d So people come and study.
\nWhen one thinks he knows what he wants to learn, he goes away. It is not the
\nsame thing. And it is not the same conditions as when one comes with a definite
\nand single aim like realising the Divine in his physical life and nothing else
\nin the world counts for him but that. In order to choose you must at least know
\na little the elements to choose from. And for that you must have a certain
\ninner formation, a certain culture. And you certainly do not have that when you
\nare five years old \u2013 except some; some among you (more than one would believe)
\nknew very well why they had come, although they could not formulate it in
\nwords. They felt it very intensely. And when their parents tried to take
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 289<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

them away,
\nthey refused stubbornly, saying: \u201cNo, no, I want to remain here.\u201d Even at the
\nage of five, although they could not know in their head the reason why, because
\nthe brain was not formed. But the psychic consciousness was there, and they
\ncould feel. Well, these children are of an infinitely higher stuff than that of
\npeople who have already had three-fourths of their head blunted by the
\neducation they have been given in ordinary schools and who come here quite
\nconvinced that they know many things, that they are well acquainted with life.
\nThey have a formed character and have acquired many bad habits. There, then. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Are remembrance and memory the same thing?
\n<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Not
\nnecessarily. Memory is a mental phenomenon, purely mental. Remembrance can be a
\nphenomenon of consciousness. One can remember in all the domains of one\u2019s
\nbeing: one can remember vitally, one can remember physically, one can remember
\npsychically, one can remember mentally also. But memory is a purely mental
\nphenomenon. Memory can, first of all, be deformed and it can also be effaced,
\none can forget. The phenomenon of consciousness is very precise; if you can
\ntake the consciousness back to the state in which it was, things come back
\nexactly as they were. It is as though you relived the same moment. You can
\nrelive it once, twice, ten times, a hundred times, but you relive a phenomenon
\nof consciousness. It is very different from the memory of a fact which you
\ninscribe somewhere in your brain. And if the cerebral associations are
\ndisturbed in the least (for there are many things in your brain and it is a
\nvery delicate instrument), if there is the slightest disturbance, your memory
\ngoes out of order. And then holes are formed and you forget. On the other hand,
\nif you know how to bring back a particular state of consciousness in you, it
\ncomes back exactly the same as it was. Now, a remembrance can also be purely
\nmental and it may be a continuation of cerebral
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 290<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

activities,
\nbut that is mental remembrance. And you have remembrances in feeling,
\nremembrances in sensation.. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

The other day, you said: To enlarge your
\nmemory, you must widen your consciousness. Is it the same thing for
\nremembrance? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I meant to
\nsay that a phenomenon of memory should be replaced by a phenomenon of
\nconsciousness. I do not know in what sense I used the word memory the other
\nday. It can be only in this sense. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Memory in studying. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, yes,
\nit is that. That is what I meant: replace a purely mental memory by states of
\nconsciousness. That is exactly what I wanted to say. For, if you try to learn a
\nthing by heart, after a time you are sure to forget it. Or else there are
\nholes: you remember one thing and you do not remember another. But if you
\nassociate a particular knowledge with a phenomenon of consciousness, you can
\nalways bring it back and the knowledge will come back as it was. <\/span><\/p>\n

Voila<\/span><\/i>, au revoir
\nmy children.
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 291<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 30 September 1953     \u201cThere is a plane in the mind where the memory of everything is stored and remains always in existence. All…<\/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-4502","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\/4502","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=4502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4502\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}