{"id":4511,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4511"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:31","slug":"36-29-august-1956-vol-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/08-questions-and-answers-volume-08\/36-29-august-1956-vol-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","title":{"rendered":"-36_29 August 1956.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\n29 August 1956 <\/font> <\/span>
\n<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

I suppose most of you come on Fridays to listen to the reading of
\nWu
\nWei<\/i><\/span>. If you have listened, you will remember that something’s said
\nthere about being \u201cspontaneous\u201d, and that the true way of living the true life
\nis to live spontaneously. <\/span><\/p>\n

What Lao Tse calls spontaneous is this: instead of being moved by
\na personal will \u2014 mental, vital or physical \u2014 one ought to stop all outer
\neffort and let oneself be guided and moved by what the Chinese call Tao which
\nthey identify with the Godhead \u2014 or God or the Supreme Principle or the Origin
\nof all things or the creative Truth, indeed all possible human notions of the
\nDivine and the goal to be attained. <\/span><\/p>\n

To be spontaneous means not to think out, organise, decide and
\nmake an effort to realise with the personal will. <\/span><\/p>\n

I am going to give you two examples to make you understand what
\ntrue spontaneity is. One \u2014 you all know about it undoubtedly \u2014 is of the time
\nSri Aurobindo began writing the Arya,\u00b9 in 1914. It was neither a mental knowledge
\nnor even a mental creation which he transcribed: he silenced his mind and sat
\nat the typewriter, and from above, from the higher planes, all that had to be
\nwritten came down, all ready, and he had only to move his fingers on the
\ntypewriter and it was transcribed. It was in this state of mental silence which
\nallows the knowledge \u2014 and even the expression \u2014 from above to pass through
\nthat he wrote the whole Arya, with its sixty-four printed pages a month. This
\nis why, besides, he could do it, for if it had been a mental work of
\nconstruction it would have been quite impossible. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n\u00b9It was in the review Arya, within a
\nperiod of six years (1914-1920), that Sri Aurobindo published most of his major
\nworks:\u00a0 <\/span>The Life Divine, The Synthesis of
\nYoga, The Human Cycle (originally\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nPsychology of Social Development),\u00a0 <\/span>The
\nIdeal of Human Unity, Essays on the Gita, The Secret of the Veda, The Future
\nPoetry, The Foundations of Indian Culture (originally a number of series under
\nother titles<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 282<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

That is true mental spontaneity. <\/span><\/p>\n

And if one carries this a little further, one should never think
\nand plan beforehand what one ought to say or write. One should simply be able
\nto silence one’s mind, to turn it like a receptacle towards the higher
\nConsciousness and express as it receives it, in mental silence, what comes from
\nabove. That would be true spontaneity. <\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally, this is not very easy, it asks for preparation. <\/span><\/p>\n

And if one comes down to the sphere of action, it is still more
\ndifficult; for normally, if one wants to act with some kind of logic, one
\nusually has to think out beforehand what one wants to do and plan it before
\ndoing it, otherwise one may be tossed about by all sorts of desires and
\nimpulses which would be very far from the inspiration spoken about in
\nWu
\nWei;<\/i><\/span> it would simply be movements of the lower nature driving you to
\nact. Therefore, unless one has reached the state of wisdom and detachment of
\nthe Chinese sage mentioned in this story, it is better not to be spontaneous in
\none’s daily actions, for one would risk being the plaything of all the most
\ndisorderly impulses and influences. <\/span><\/p>\n

But once one enters the yoga and wants to do yoga, it is very
\nnecessary not to be the toy of one’s own mental formations. If one wants to
\nrely on one’s experiences, one must take great care not to construct within
\noneself the notion of the experiences one wants to have, the idea one has about
\nthem, the form one expects or hopes to see. For, the mental formation, as I
\nalready have told you very often, is a real formation, a real creation, and
\nwith your idea you create forms which are to a certain extent independent of
\nyou and return to you as though from outside and give you the impression of
\nbeing experiences. But these experiences which are either willed or sought after
\nor expected are not spontaneous experiences and risk being illusions \u2014 at times
\neven dangerous illusions<\/span><\/p>\n

Therefore, when you follow a mental discipline, you must be
\nparticularly careful not to imagine or want to have certain <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 283<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>experiences, for in this way you can create
\nfor yourself the illusion of these experiences. In the domain of yoga, this
\nvery strict and severe spontaneity is absolutely<\/i><\/span> indispensable. <\/span><\/p>\n

For that, naturally, one must not have any ambition or desire or
\nexcessive imagination or what I call \u201cspiritual romanticism\u201d, the taste for the
\nmiraculous \u2014 all this ought to be very carefully eliminated so as to be sure of
\nadvancing fearlessly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, after this preliminary explanation, I am going to read to you
\nwhat I had written and have been asked to comment upon. These aphorisms perhaps
\ncall for explanation. I wrote this, inspired perhaps by the reading I was just
\nspeaking to you about, but it was more than anything the expression of a
\npersonal experience: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cOne must be spontaneous in order
\nto be divine.\u201d <\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

This is what
\nI have just explained to you. Then the question arises: how to be spontaneous? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cOne must be perfectly simple in
\norder to be spontaneous.\u201d <\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

And how to
\nbe perfectly simple? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cOne must be absolutely
\nsincere in order to be perfectly simple.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

And now,
\nwhat does it mean to be absolutely sincere? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTo be absolutely sincere is not
\nto have any division, any contradiction in one’s being.\u201d <\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

If you are
\nmade of pieces which are not only different but often quite contradictory,
\nthese pieces necessarily create a division in your being. For example, you have
\none part in yourself which
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 284<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\naspires for the divine life, to know the
\nDivine, to unite with Him, to live Him integrally, and then you have another
\npart which has attachments, desires \u2014 which it calls \u201cneeds\u201d \u2014 and which not
\nonly seeks these things but is quite upset when it does not have them. There
\nare other contradictions, but this one is the most flagrant. There are others,
\nfor instance, like wanting to surrender completely to the Divine, to give
\noneself up totally to His Will and His Guidance, and at the same time, when the
\nexperience comes \u2014 a common experience on the path when one sincerely tries to
\ngive oneself up to the Divine \u2014 the feeling that one is nothing, that one can
\ndo nothing, that one doesn’t even exist outside the Divine; that is to say, if
\nHe were not there, one would not exist and could not do anything, one would not
\nbe anything at all\u2026This experience naturally comes as a help on the path of
\ntotal self-giving, but there is a part of the being which, when the experience
\ncomes, rises up in a terrible revolt and says, \u201cBut, excuse me! I insist on
\nexisting, I insist on being something, I insist on doing things myself, I want
\nto have a personality.\u201d And naturally, the second one undoes all that the first
\nhad done. <\/span><\/p>\n

These are not exceptional cases, this happens very frequently. I
\ncould give you innumerable examples of such contradictions in the being: when
\none part tries to take a step forward, the other one comes and demolishes
\neverything. So you have to begin again all the time, and every time it is
\ndemolished. That is why you must do this work of sincerity which, when you
\nperceive in your being a part that pulls the other way, makes you take it up
\ncarefully, educate it as one educates a child and put it in harmony with the
\ncentral part. That is the work of sincerity and it is indispensable. <\/span><\/p>\n

And naturally, when there is a unity, an agreement, a harmony
\namong all the wills of the being, your being can become simple, candid and
\nuniform in its action and tendencies. It is only when the whole being is
\ngrouped around a single central movement that you can be spontaneous. For if,
\nwithin you,
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 285<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

there is something
\nwhich is turned towards the Divine and awaits the inspiration and impulse, and
\nat the same time there is another part of the being which seeks its own ends
\nand works to realise its own desires, you no longer know where you stand, and
\nyou can no longer be sure of what may happen, for one part can not only undo
\nbut totally contradict what the other wants to do. <\/span><\/p>\n

And surely, to be in harmony with what is said in Wu Wei<\/i>, after
\nhaving seen very clearly what is necessary and what ought to be done, it is
\nrecommended not to put either violence or too much zest into the realisation of
\nthis programme, for an excess of zest is detrimental to the peace and
\ntranquillity and calm necessary for the divine Consciousness to express itself
\nthrough the individual. And it comes to this:<\/span><\/p>\n

Balance is indispensable, the path that carefully avoids opposite
\nextremes is indispensable, too much haste is dangerous, impatience prevents you
\nfrom advancing; and at the same time, inertia puts a drag on your feet. <\/span><\/p>\n

So for all things, the middle path as the Buddha called it, is the
\nbest. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

There are two other questions here which are corollaries. The
\nfirst one is this: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cWhat do you mean by these words: `When you are in difficulty,
\nwiden yourself’?\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I am
\nspeaking, of course, of difficulties on the path of yoga, incomprehension,
\nlimitations, things like obstacles, which prevent you from advancing. And when
\nI say \u201cwiden yourself\u201d, I mean widen your consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

Difficulties always arise from the ego, that is, from your more or
\nless egoistic personal reaction to circumstances, events and people around you,
\nto the conditions of your life. They also
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 286<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

come from
\nthat feeling of being closed up in a sort of shell, which prevents your
\nconsciousness from uniting with higher and vaster realities. <\/span><\/p>\n

One may very well think that one wants to be vast, wants to be
\nuniversal, that all is the expression of the Divine, that one must have no
\negoism \u2014 one may think all sorts of things<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>but that is
\nnot necessarily a cure, for very often one knows what one ought to do, and yet
\none doesn’t do it, for one reason or another.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if, when you have to face anguish, suffering, revolt, pain or
\na feeling of helplessness<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>whatever it may be, all the things that
\ncome to you on the path and which precisely are your difficulties<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>if physically, that is to say, in your body-consciousness, you can
\nhave the feeling of widening yourself, one could say of unfolding yourself<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>you feel as it were all folded up, one fold on another like a piece
\nof cloth which is folded and refolded and folded again<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>so if you have this feeling that what is holding and strangling
\nyou and making you suffer or paralysing your movement, is like a too closely,
\ntoo tightly folded piece of cloth or like a parcel that is too well-tied, too
\nwell-packed, and that slowly, gradually, you undo all the folds and stretch
\nyourself out exactly as one unfolds a piece of cloth or a sheet of paper and
\nspreads it out flat, and you lie flat and make yourself very wide, as wide as possible,
\nspreading yourself out as far as you can, opening yourself and stretching out
\nin an attitude of complete passivity with what I could call \u201cthe face to the
\nlight\u201d: not curling back upon your difficulty, doubling up on it, shutting it
\nin, so to say, into yourself, but, on the contrary, unfurling yourself as much
\nas you can, as perfectly as you can, putting the difficulty before the Light<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>the Light which comes from above<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>if
\nyou do that in all the domains, and even if mentally you don’t succeed in doing
\nit<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>for it is sometimes difficult<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>if you can
\nimagine yourself doing this
\nphysically<\/span>,<\/b><\/i> almost materially, well,
\nwhen you have finished unfolding yourself and stretching yourself out, you will
\nfind that more than<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 287<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>three-quarters of the difficulty is gone. And
\nthen just a little work of receptivity to the Light and the last quarter will
\ndisappear.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is much easier than struggling against a difficulty with
\none’s thought, for if you begin to discuss with yourself, you will find that
\nthere are arguments for and against which are so convincing that it is quite
\nimpossible to get out of it without a higher light. Here, you do not struggle
\nagainst the difficulty, you do not try to convince yourself; ah! you simply
\nstretch out in the Light as though you lay stretched on the sands in the sun.
\nAnd you let the Light do its work. That’s all.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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

And here is the other question: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

      \u201cWhat is the easiest way of forgetting oneself?\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Naturally
\nthat depends on each one; everyone has his special way of forgetting himself,
\nwhich is the best for him. But obviously there is a fairly general method which
\nmay be applied in various forms: to occupy oneself with something else. Instead
\nof being occupied with oneself, one may be busy with someone else or with
\nothers or some work or an interesting activity requiring concentration. <\/span><\/p>\n

And it is still the same thing: instead of doubling up on oneself
\nand brooding over oneself or coddling oneself as it were, like the most
\nprecious thing in the world, if one can unfold oneself and get busy with
\nsomething else, something which is not quite one’s own self, then that is the
\nsimplest and quickest way of forgetting oneself. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are many others but this one is within everyone’s reach. So
\nthere we are, my children. <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, if you have nothing to say about this subject or any other,
\nwe can remain silent.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n288<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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