{"id":4524,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4524"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:36","slug":"45-31-october-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\/45-31-october-1956-vol-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","title":{"rendered":"-45_31 October 1956.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n31 October 1956<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, someone has asked me to request you to explain one of your
\nsentences. You have said somewhere that one must bee divine before one can bear
\nthe pressure of Divine Love. It is in the \u201cDiary\u201d. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh! you are repeating
\nit a little freely! <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, what does he want to know? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

He is asking whether man must first become divine before Love can
\nspread over the earth. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t
\nthink this is what is meant. Surely what you mean is that Divine Love cannot
\nmanifest until man becomes divine. Is that what you mean? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That is what we understand. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Oh! that’s
\nhow you understand it!… But I don’t think this is what is meant. <\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, we are going to take the historical fact, if there
\nis one. That is to say, through the action of the forces of separation,
\nConsciousness became inconscience and matter was created such as it is, on a
\nbasis of inconscience so total that no contact seemed possible between the
\nOrigin and what was created. And this total inconscience made a direct descent
\nnecessary, without sing through the intermediate regions, a direct descent of
\nthe divine Consciousness in its form of Love. And it is this descent of Divine
\nLove into matter, penetrating it and adding a new element to its position,
\nwhich has made possible the ascent, slow for us, but an uninterrupted ascent,
\nfrom inconscience to consciousness and from darkness to light. Therefore, one
\ncannot say that Love can manifest only when the creation <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 339<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>becomes divine, for it is on
\nthe contrary because of its manifestation that creation can become divine once
\nagain. <\/span><\/p>\n

What I said there has nothing to do with this. <\/span><\/p>\n

I was speaking not of the world in general but of human
\nconsciousness in particular; and certainly, I was alluding to the fact that
\nthis Divine Love which animates all things, penetrates all, upbears all and
\nleads all towards progress and an ascent to the Divine, is not felt, not
\nperceived by the human consciousness, and that even to the extent the human
\nbeing does perceive it, he finds it difficult to bear<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>not only to contain it, but be able to tolerate it, I might say,
\nfor its power in its purity, its intensity in its purity, are of too strong a
\nkind to be endured by human nature. It is only when it is diluted, deformed,
\nattenuated and obscured, so to say, that it becomes acceptable to human nature.
\nIt is only when it moves away from its true nature and essential quality that
\nman accepts it, and even (smiling)<\/i><\/b> approves of it and
\nglorifies it. This means that it must already be quite warped in order to be
\naccepted by the human consciousness. And to accept it, bear it and receive it
\nin its plenitude and purity, the human consciousness must become divine. <\/span><\/p>\n

This was what I meant, not anything else. I was stating that a
\nhuman being, unless he raises himself to the divine heights, is incapable of
\nreceiving, appreciating and knowing what divine Love is. Love must cease to be
\ndivine to be accepted by man. <\/span><\/p>\n

But that is a phenomenon of the outer, superficial consciousness;
\nit doesn’t prevent Love in its form of Grace from being at work everywhere and
\nalways, and from doing its work in an unknown but constant way, to put it thus;
\nand I think, in fact, that it never works so well as when it is not known\u2026 for
\neven the so-called human understanding is already a deformation. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is the meaning of the sentence, and nothing else. I was not
\nspeaking of a cosmic phenomenon. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Mother, you said, on one of these Wednesdays: \u201cThe<\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\nPage – 340<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>experience begins for you only
\nwhen you can describe it. Well, when you are able to describe it, the greater
\npart of its intensity and its capacity for action for the inner and outer
\ntransformation has already evaporated.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n


\nTalk
\nof <\/font> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/font>
\n
\n17
\n October 1956<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/span> <\/span><\/font><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

So?<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

                So what should be done with the experience? If there is an
\nexperience without the power to express it, what happens? <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

There too,
\nwhat I meant was that the experience precedes and transcends by far the
\nformulation you give it in your mind. The experience comes before, often long before
\nthe capacity to formulate it. The experience has a fullness, a force, a power
\nof direct<\/i><\/span>
\naction on the nature, which is immediate, instantaneous. Let us take as an
\nexample that in certain circumstances or by an exceptional grace you are
\nsuddenly put into contact with a supramental light, power or consciousness. It
\nis like an abrupt opening in your closed shell, like a rent in that opaque
\nenvelope which separates you from the Truth, and the contact is established.
\nImmediately this force, this consciousness, this light acts, even on your
\nphysical cells; it acts in the mind, in the vital, in the body, changes the
\nvibrations, organises the substance and begins its work of transformation. You
\nare under the impact of this sudden contact and action; for you it is a sort of
\nindescribable, inexpressible state which takes hold of you, you haven’t any
\nclear, precise, definite idea of it, it is\u201d\u2026 something that happens\u201d. It may
\ngive you the impression of being wonderful or tremendous, but it is
\ninexpressible and in<\/span>com<\/span>prehensible for you. That is the
\nexperience in its essence and its true power. <\/span><\/p>\n

Gradually, as the action is prolonged and the outer being begins
\nto assimilate this action, there awakens a capacity of observation, first in
\nthe mental consciousness, and a kind of ob- <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 341<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

jectivisation
\noccurs: something in the mind looks on, observes and translates in its own way.
\nThis is what you call understanding, and this is what gives you the impression (smiling)<\/i><\/b>
\nthat you are having an experience. But that is already considerably diminished
\nin <\/span>com<\/span>parison with the experience itself, it is a transcription adapted
\nto your mental, vital and physical dimension, that is, something that is
\nshrunken, hardened<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>and it gives you at the same time the
\nimpression that it is growing clearer; that is to say, it has become as limited
\nas your understanding. <\/span><\/p>\n

That is a phenomenon which always occurs even in the best cases. I
\nam not speaking of those instances where this power of experience is absorbed
\nby the unconsciousness of your being and expressed by a more and more
\nunconscious movement; I am speaking of the case in which your mind is clear,
\nyour aspiration clear, and where you have already advanced quite considerably
\non the path\u2026 And even when your mind begins to be transformed, when it is used
\nto receiving this Light, when it can be penetrated by it, is sufficiently
\nreceptive to absorb it, the moment it wants to express it in a way
\nunderstandable to the human consciousness<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>I don’t mean
\nthe ordinary consciousness but even the enlightened human consciousness<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>the moment it wants to formulate, to make it precise and
\nunderstandable, it reduces, diminishes, limits<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>it
\nattenuates, weakens, blurs the experience, even granting that it is pure enough
\nnot to falsify it. For if, anywhere in the being, in the mind or the vital,
\nthere is some insincerity which is tolerated, well, then the experience is
\ncompletely falsified and deformed. But I am speaking of the best instances,
\nwhere the being is sincere, under control, and where it functions most
\nfavourably: the formulation in words which are understandable by the human mind
\nis\u00a0 <\/span>necessarily, inevitably, a
\nrestriction, a diminution of the power of action of the experience. When you
\ncan tell yourself clearly and consciously: \u201cThis and that and the other
\nhappened\u201d, when you can describe the phenomenon <\/span>com<\/span>prehensibly,
\nit has already lost some of its power of action, its intensity, its truth and
\nforce. But<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 342<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>this does not mean that the intensity, the power
\nof action and the force were not there<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>they were
\nthere, and probably in the best cases the utmost effect of the experience is
\nproduced before you begin to give it a <\/span>com<\/span>prehensible
\nform. <\/span><\/p>\n

I am speaking here of the best cases. I am not speaking of the
\ninnumerable cases of those who begin to have an experience and whose mind
\nbecomes curious, wakes up and says, \u201cOh! what is happening?\u201d Then everything
\nvanishes. Or maybe one catches the deformed tail of something which has lost
\nall its force and all its reality\u2026 The first thing to do is to teach your mind not
\nto stir:<\/i><\/b> \u201cAbove all, don’t move! Above all, don’t move, let the thing
\ndevelop fully without wanting to know what is happening; don’t be stupid, keep
\nquiet, be still, and wait. Your turn will always come too soon, never too
\nlate.\u201d It should be possible to live an experience for hours and for days
\ntogether without feeling the need to formulate it to yourself. When one does
\nthat, one gets the full benefit from it. Then it works, it churns the nature, it
\ntransforms the cells<\/span> \u2014 <\/span>it begins its real work of transformation.
\nBut as soon as you begin to look and to understand and to formulate, it is
\nalready something that belongs to the t. <\/span><\/p>\n

There we are. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 343<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

31 October 1956    Mother, someone has asked me to request you to explain one of your sentences. You have said somewhere that one must…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","wpcat-127-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524","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=4524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}