{"id":4547,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4547"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:46","slug":"31-01-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\/31-01-august-1956-vol-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","title":{"rendered":"-31_01 August 1956.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n1 August 1956 <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, does the worship
\noffered to the goddess Durga and to Kali have any spiritual value? <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That depends on who offers the worship.<\/span><\/p>\n

 It is not that which is
\nof importance for the spiritual value. For the integrality and the complete
\ntruth of the Yoga it is important not to limit one\u2019s aspiration to one form or
\nanother. But from the spiritual point of view, whatever the object of worship,
\nif the movement is perfectly sincere, if the self-giving is integral and
\nabsolute, the spiritual result can be the same; for, whatever object you take,
\nthrough it <\/span>―<\/span> sometimes in spite of it, despite it <\/span>― <\/span>you always reach the supreme
\nReality, in the measure and proportion of the sincerity of your consecration. <\/span><\/p>\n

 That is why it is always
\nsaid that, no matter what aspect of the Divine you adore or even what guide you
\nchoose, if you are perfect in your self-giving and absolutely sincere, you are
\nsure to attain the spiritual goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

 But the result is no
\nlonger the same when you want to realise the integral yoga. Then you must not
\nlimit yourself in any way, even in the path of your consecration\u2026. Only, these
\nare two very different things. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Spiritual realisation <\/span>―<\/span> as it was formerly understood,
\nas it is still commonly understood <\/span>―<\/span> is union with the Supreme in some way or other, either within
\nyou or through some form or other; it is the fusion of your being with the
\nSupreme, with the Absolute, almost the disappearance of your individuality in
\nthis fusion.\u00b9<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u00b9 Later
\na disciple asked Mother: \u201cWhy did you say \u2018almost\u2019? Isn\u2019t then the
\ndisappearance complete?\u201d To which Mother answered: \u201cSomewhere, I believe it is
\nin \u2018The Yoga of Self-Perfection\u2019 [The
\nSynthesis of Yoga],<\/i> regarding those who wish to merge in the Supreme, Sri
\nAurobindo says or rather hints that this cannot be done, for the Supreme wants
\nit otherwise. But Sri Aurobindo says it without saying it, it is just an
\nallusion in sing. The idea is that beyond Being and Non-Being, the total Summit
\nnecessarily includes a form <\/font> <\/span><\/b>―<\/span> <\/span><\/b>
\nwhat
\nmight be called an essential form<\/span> <\/b> <\/span>―<\/span><\/b><\/font> of the
\nindividuality, which <\/font> <\/span><\/b><\/font>
\n<\/p>\n

 <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage – 244<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

And that depends absolutely on the sincerity and the integrality
\nof your self-giving, rather than on the choice you make of that to which you
\nwant to give yourself. For\u2026 the very sincerity of your aspiration will make you
\ncross all limitations and find the Supreme, for you carry Him within yourself. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Whether you seek Him
\noutside, whether you seek Him within, whether you seek Him in a form or without
\nform, if your aspiration is sincere enough and your resolution sincere enough,
\nyou are sure to reach the goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

 But if you want to make
\nthe complementary movement of which Sri Aurobindo speaks, that is to say, to
\nreturn to the outer consciousness and world after having realised this union in
\nyourself, and transform this outer consciousness and world, then in this case
\nyou cannot limit yourself in any way, for otherwise you will not be able to
\naccomplish your work. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Essentially, you must be
\nable to find this oneness with the Divine in all forms, all aspects, in every
\nway that has been used to reach Him. And you must go beyond that and find a new
\nway<\/span><\/p>\n

So, the first point to clear up
\nin your thought <\/span>― <\/span>and it is a point of capital importance: you must not confuse
\nthe integral yoga with other spiritual realisations, which may be very high but
\ncover a very limited field, for theirs is a movement only in depth. <\/span><\/p>\n

 You may pierce a hole,
\nyou see, with your aspiration and make a movement in depth through anything at
\nall. All depends on the intensity and sincerity of your aspiration <\/span>― <\/span>on the sincerity, that is to
\nsay, on how far your self-giving is complete, integral, absolute. But it does
\nnot depend on the form you have chosen: necessarily, you will have to pass
\nthrough in order to find what is behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

 But if you want to
\ntransform your nature and your being,<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

—————————<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nno longer contradicts or is
\neven distinct from the One, but is included in the One without any separation.
\nBut the words at our disposal mean nothing! And one is reduced to giving a
\nchildish explanation. That is why I said \u2018almost\u2019.\u201d<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\nPage – 245<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and if you want to
\nparticipate in the creation of a new world, then this aspiration, this sharp
\nand linear point is no longer enough. One must include everything and contain
\neverything in one\u2019s consciousness. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Naturally, that is much
\nmore difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

                Mother, what is this \u201cdivine
\nelement in human nature\u201d which always demands symbols for the completeness of
\nits spiritual satisfaction? <\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

What?  <\/span><\/p>\n

   Which demands a form, an
\nexpression in form. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Oh! what I have just read to you today?\u00b9<\/span><\/p>\n

 It is precisely that part of
\nthe being which is not satisfied with abstractions and with escaping from life
\nand evading it and<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>\u00b9 \u201cIn any cult the symbol, the significant
\nrite or expressive figure is not only a moving and enriching aesthetic element,
\nbut a physical means by which the human being begins to make outwardly definite
\nthe emotion and aspiration of his heart, to confirm it and to dynamise it. For
\nif without a spiritual aspiration worship is meaningless and vain, yet the
\naspiration also without the act and the form is a disembodied and, for life, an
\nincompletely effective power. It is unhappily the fate of all forms in human
\nlife to bee crystallised<\/span>, purely formal and therefore
\neffete, and although form and cult preserve always their power for the man who
\ncan still enter into their meaning, the majority e to use the ceremony as a
\nmechanical rite and the symbol as a lifeless sign and because that kills the
\nsoul of religion, cult and form have in the end to be changed or thrown aside
\naltogether. There are those even to whom all cult and form are for this reason
\nsuspect and offensive; but few can dispense with the support of outward symbols
\nand even a certain divine element in human nature demands them always for the
\ncompleteness of its spiritual satisfaction. Always the symbol is legitimate in
\nso far as it is true, sincere, beautiful and delightful, and even one may say that
\na spiritual consciousness without any aesthetic or emotional content is not
\nentirely or at any rate not integrally spiritual. In the spiritual life the
\nbasis of the act is a spiritual consciousness perennial and renovating, moved
\nto express itself always in new forms or able to renew the truth of a form
\nalways by the flow of the spirit, and to so<\/font><\/span> <\/font> <\/span>
\n
\nexpress itself and make every
\naction a living symbol of some truth of the soul is the very nature of its
\ncreative vision and impulse. It is so that the spiritual seeker must deal with
\nlife and transmute its form and glorify it in its essence.\u201d <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

(The Synthesis of Yoga}, p.153)<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\nPage – 246<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

leaving it as it is. It is that part of the being which wants to
\nbe integral, wants to be integrally transformed or at any rate to participate
\nintegrally in the inner adoration.<\/span><\/p>\n

 In every normal being
\nthere is the necessity, the need <\/span>―<\/span> an absolute need to translate into a physical form what he
\nfeels and wants internally. I consider those who always want to evade life in
\norder to have self-realisation as abnormal and incomplete. And in fact, these
\nare usually weak natures. But those who have strength, force and a kind of
\nhealthy equilibrium in themselves, feel an absolute need to realise materially
\ntheir spiritual realisation; they are not satisfied with going away into the
\nclouds or into worlds where forms no longer exist. They must have their
\nphysical consciousness and even their body participate in their inner experience.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 Now, it may be said that
\nthe need to adopt or follow or participate in a religion as it is found all
\nready-made, arises rather from the \u201cherd instinct\u201d in human beings. The true
\nthing would be for each one to find that form of adoration or cult which is his
\nown and expresses spontaneously and individually his own special relation with
\nthe Divine; that would be the ideal condition. <\/span><\/p>\n

 To adopt a religion
\nbecause one is born in that religion or because the people one loves and trusts
\npractise that religion or because when one goes to a particular place where
\nothers pray and worship, one feels helped in one\u2019s own prayer and worship, is
\nnot the sign of a very strong nature; I should say it is rather the sign of a
\nweakness or at any rate of a lack of originality. <\/span><\/p>\n

 But to want to translate
\ninto the forms of one\u2019s physical life the inner aspiration and adoration is
\nquite legitimate, and it is much more sincere than what is done by a man who
\nsplits himself into two, leads a physical life quite mechanically and ordinarily
\nand, when he can do it, when he has the time or when it suits him, withdraws
\nwithin himself, escapes from physical life and the physical consciousness and
\ngoes to far-off heights to find his spiritual joys. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 247<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Someone who tries to make his
\nmaterial life the expression of his highest aspiration is certainly more noble,
\nmore upright and sincere in character than a man who splits himself into two
\nsaying that the outer life is of no importance and will never change and must
\nbe accepted as it is, and that, in reality only the inner attitude counts.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

My file of questions is increasing! And I must say they are not
\nall equally interesting; but still, I could perhaps take one or two of them for
\nthe satisfaction of those who have asked them. <\/span><\/p>\n

 First, some of you have
\ngot into the habit of sending me questions without signing them, for fear that
\nI may reveal the identity of the one who has asked the question! I shall never
\nreveal it, you may rest assured; and even if I make an unpleasant remark,
\nnobody will know who it is for! (Laughter)<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 There is another thing.
\nSome of you don\u2019t take the trouble of asking your questions in French. As I did
\nnot give you notice openly that I would reply only to questions in French, I
\nhave translated one or two of them for the moment; but in future, if you want
\nme to consider your questions, they must be expressed in French. Even if there
\nare many mistakes, it does not matter, I shall correct them! <\/span><\/p>\n

Here is one which has been
\nasked in English, to which the answer is very short. I am asked: <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the fundamental virtue
\nto be cultivated in order to prepare for the spiritual life?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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

I have said this many times, but this is an opportunity to
\nrepeat it: it is sincerity.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sincerity which must bee total and absolute, for sincerity alone
\nis your protection on the spiritual path. If you are not sincere, at the very
\nnext step you are sure to fall and break <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 248<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>your head. All kinds of
\nforces, wills, influences, entities are there, on the look-out for the least
\nlittle rift in this sincerity and they immediately rush in through that rift
\nand begin to throw you into confusion. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Therefore, before doing
\nanything, beginning anything, trying anything, be sure first of all that you
\nare not only as sincere as you can be, but have the intention of becoming still
\nmore so. <\/span><\/p>\n

 For that is your only
\nprotection. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Can this effort to cultivate
\nthis initial virtue be a collective one? <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Certainly it can. And this is what used to be attempted long ago
\nin the schools of initiation. Even now, in more or less secret societies or
\nvery small groups, the collectivity seeks to be sufficiently united and to make
\na collective effort sufficiently complete for the result to be a group result
\ninstead of an individual one. <\/span><\/p>\n

 But naturally, that
\ncomplicates the problem terribly\u2026. Each time they meet, they try to create a
\ncollective entity; but for a virtue to be collectively realised, a tremendous
\neffort is required. However, it is not impossible. <\/span><\/p>\n

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I have been asked another question which is a little more
\nsubtle, but it seems to me it has quite a special interest\u2026 Somebody asks what
\nis the true intensity for wanting the Divine, in the will to unite with the
\nDivine. And then this person says that he has found within himself two
\ndifferent modes of aspiration, especially in the intensity of aspiration for
\nthe Divine: in one of these movements there is a sort of anguish, like a
\npoignant pain, in the other, there is an anxiety, but at the same time a great
\njoy.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 This observation is quite correct. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 249<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

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

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWhen do we feel this intensity mixed with
\nanguish, and when the intensity containing joy?\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if several or many of you have a similar
\nexperience, but it is very real, this experience, very spontaneous. And the
\nanswer is very simple. <\/span><\/p>\n

 As soon as the presence
\nof the psychic consciousness is united with the aspiration, the intensity takes
\non quite a different character, as if it were filled with the very essence of
\nan inexpressible joy. This joy is something that seems contained in everything
\nelse. Whatever may be the outer form of the aspiration, whatever difficulties
\nand obstacles it may meet, this joy is there as though it filled up everything,
\nand it carries you in spite of everything. <\/span><\/p>\n

 That is the sure sign of
\nthe psychic presence. That is to say, you have established a contact with your
\npsychic consciousness, a more or less complete, more or less constant contact,
\nbut at that moment it is the psychic being, the psychic consciousness which
\nfills your aspiration, gives it its true contents. And that\u2019s what is
\ntranslated into joy. <\/span><\/p>\n

 When that is not there,
\nthe aspiration may come from different parts of the being; it may come mainly
\nfrom the mind or mainly from the vital or even from the physical, or it may
\ncome from all the three together <\/span>―<\/span> it may come from all kinds of combinations. But in general, for
\nthe intensity to be there, the vital must be present. It is the vital which
\ngives the intensity; and as the vital is at the same time the seat of most of
\nthe difficulties, obstacles, contradictions, it is the friction between the
\nintensity of the aspiration and the intensity of the difficulty which creates
\nthis anguish. <\/span><\/p>\n

 This is no reason to stop
\none\u2019s aspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n

 You must know, you must
\nunderstand the reason for this anguish. And then, if you can introduce just one
\nmore element <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 250<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

in your aspiration,that is, your trust in the divine Grace,
\ntrust in the divine Response, it counterbalances all possible anguish and you
\ncan aspire without any disturbance or fear. <\/span><\/p>\n

 This brings us to
\nsomething else, which is not positively a question, but a request for an
\nexplanation, a comment or a development of the subject. It is about Grace. <\/span><\/p>\n

 I have said somewhere, or
\nmaybe written, that no matter how great your faith and trust in the divine
\nGrace, no matter how great your capacity to see it at work in all
\ncircumstances, at every moment, at every point in life, you will never succeed
\nin understanding the marvellous immensity of Its Action, and the precision, the
\nexactitude with which this Action is accomplished; you will never be able to
\ngrasp to what extent the Grace does everything, is behind everything, organises
\neverything, conducts everything, so that the march forward to the divine
\nrealisation may be as swift, as complete, as total and harmonious as possible,
\nconsidering the circumstances of the world. <\/span><\/p>\n

 As soon as you are in
\ncontact with It, there is not a second in time, not a point in space, which
\ndoes not show you dazzlingly this perpetual work of the Grace, this constant
\nintervention of the Grace. <\/span><\/p>\n

 And once you have seen
\nthis, you feel you are never equal to it, for you should never forget it, never
\nhave any fears, any anguish, any regrets, any recoils\u2026 or even suffering. If
\none were in union with this Grace, if one saw It everywhere, one would begin
\nliving a life of exultation, of all-power, of infinite happiness. <\/span><\/p>\n

 And that would be the
\nbest possible collaboration in the divine Work.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage –
\n251<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

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