{"id":4558,"date":"2013-07-13T01:56:50","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4558"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:56:50","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:56:50","slug":"13-28-march-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\/13-28-march-1956-vol-08-questions-and-answers-volume-08","title":{"rendered":"-13_28 March 1956.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\n28 March 1956<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf a departure from the world
\nand its activities, a supreme release and quietude were the sole aim of the
\nseeker, the three great fundamental realisations<\/span>\u00b9<\/span> would be sufficient for the fulfilment of his spiritual life: concentrated
\nin them alone he could suffer all other divine or mundane knowledge to fall
\naway from him and himself disencumbered depart into the eternal silence. But he
\nhas to take account of the world and its activities, learn what divine truth
\nthere may be behind them and reconcile that apparent opposition between the
\nDivine Truth and the manifest creation which is the starting-point of most
\nspiritual experience.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The Synthesis of Yoga, A. 110<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t understand the meaning.
\nWhy is this opposition the starting-point of spiritual experience<\/span><\/i>? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

What is ordinarily called a spiritual experience is the intense
\nneed for something other than the life one lives, and most often this awakens
\nafter difficulties or disappointments or pain or sorrow, all these things which
\nbring unhappiness and at the same time arouse the aspiration for a better
\nstate. It is this that is generally at the root of spiritual experiences: it is
\nsomething negative. <\/span><\/p>\n

 The positive need to know
\nthe Divine and unite with Him usually comes much later. I say usually; there
\nare exceptions, but usually it is at first a flight from the miseries of life
\nwhich pushes you towards the spiritual life. Very few people, if they were in a
\nstate of perfect inner and outer harmony and nothing unpleasant or painful
\nhappened to them, very few people would <\/span><\/p>\n

  <\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font><\/i><\/b><\/font>Realisation of the Immanent Divine, the
\nCosmic Divine and the Transcendent Divine or Nirvana.<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n

\nPage – 96<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

think of the Divine; they would not concern themselves with Him,
\nthey would be content with the half-measures of ordinary things and would not
\nseek for an absolute. That is what Sri Aurobindo means. <\/span><\/p>\n

 But, when one has found
\nthis spiritual life, one realises that it is everywhere behind all appearances,
\nas well as directly, without appearances. Behind appearances it also exists;
\nthis is what he says: we must find and reconcile these oppositions. There is a
\nplace or a state of consciousness in which they are reconciled. <\/span><\/p>\n

 But, first, one must go
\nlike this (a gesture of ascent<\/i><\/span>),<\/i>
\nand then one comes back like this (a<\/i><\/span>
\ngesture of descent<\/i><\/span>).<\/i> There! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo writes here: \u201cAnd
\nyet there is not only in him [the seeker] or before him this eternal self-aware
\nExistence, this spiritual Consciousness, this infinity of self-illumined Force,
\nthis timeless and endless Beatitude. There is too, constant also to his
\nexperience, this universe in measurable Space and Time, some kind perhaps of
\nboundless finite, and in it all is transient, limited, fragmentary\u201d\u2026. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/i>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/b>
\n
\nIbid.,pp111-112<\/font><\/span> <\/span><\/font><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cBoundless finite\u201d what does
\nthat mean? <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

It is an attempt at formulating something which cannot be
\nformulated. <\/span><\/p>\n

 In fact, one could almost
\nsay that the details are finite and the whole is infinite, but he doesn\u2019t say
\n\u201cinfinite\u201d, he says \u201cboundless\u201d<\/span>―<\/span> boundless in space and
\nboundless in time, but still limited in itself. Each detail has its own limit
\nand the whole has none. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, another thing I
\nhaven\u2019t understood: \u201cAt times these two states of his spirit [the consciousness
\nof eternity and the consciousness of the world in time] <\/span><\/i><\/b>
\n
\n <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\nPage – 97<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

seem to exist for him
\nalternately according to his state of consciousness; at others they are there
\nas two parts of his being, disparate and to be reconciled, two halves, an upper
\nand a lower or an inner and an outer half of his existence. He finds soon that
\nthis separation in his consciousness has an immense liberative power, for by it
\nhe is no longer bound to the Ignorance, the Inconscience.\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n


\nThe
\nSynthesis of Yoga, p. 112<\/font><\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/span>I don\u2019t understand this. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It is because you carry this division within you and can taste
\nof an eternal life that the outer life seems unreal to you; and therefore,
\nbecause of this opposition, you begin to do what is necessary to pass from the
\nouter life to the divine life. If there were no opposition in the being, if you
\nwere a middle term between the two, like that, this could last indefinitely;
\nyou would not objectify your difficulty and your need, you would continue to
\nlive as you do, without thinking, by force of habit. <\/span><\/p>\n

 Also because of this
\nopposition, one part of the being acquires the habit of watching over the
\nother. Otherwise you would live without even realising what you do,
\nautomatically. <\/span><\/p>\n

 (Turning to a disciple<\/i><\/span>)
\nSomething over there? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Why is it that \u201cAll the Timeless
\npresses towards the play in Time; all in Time turns upon and around the
\ntimeless Spirit\u201d? <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Ibid., p. 112<\/font><\/span><\/i> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Because it is like that, my child. All that is unmanifested
\nwants to manifest, and all that is manifested tries to return to its Origin. <\/span><\/p>\n

 It is as if you asked me,
\n\u201cWhy is the earth round and why are the sun and the planets there?\u201d It is like
\nthat, the law of the universe is like that. <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 98<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

 <\/span>Most of these things are simply
\nstatements of fact; but there are no explanations, for one can\u2019t give mental
\nexplanations. One can give some, but each thing one wants to explain is
\nexplained by another, which has to be explained by another, which has to be
\nexplained by another indefinitely. And you can go right round the universe, and
\nwith one thing explaining another, it explains nothing at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

 The only thing one can do
\nis to say, \u201cIt is like that.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 That is why it is said
\nthat the mind can know nothing: it can know nothing because it needs
\nexplanations. An explanation is valuable only to the extent it gives you a
\npower to act on the thing explained, otherwise what\u2019s the good of it? If
\nexplaining something does not give you the power to change it, it is absolutely
\nuseless, because, as I said, the explanation you give entails another
\nexplanation, and so on. But if through an explanation you obtain some power
\nover a thing, to make it different from what it is, then it\u2019s worth the
\ntrouble. But this is not the case. So you go on turning round and round in this
\nway, on the surface, instead of springing up into the air towards a new height.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

 Is that all? <\/span><\/p>\n

 (Turning to a disciple<\/span>)<\/i>
\nYes, yes, you have already asked your question, but still, you may ask it aloud
\nif you like. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo speaks of a first
\nrealisation where one sees on the one hand the eternal Existence, Brahman, and
\non the other the existence of the world, Maya, as two contradictions; then
\nthere is another realisation, the supramental, and he says, \u201cThe once
\nconflicting but now biune duality of Brahman-Maya stands revealed to him as the
\nfirst great dynamic aspect of the Self of all selves\u201d <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Ibid.,p. 113<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

When this is realised, does it
\nmean that our lower<\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 99<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

nature has consented to change?
\nAt that time, is the duality seen as biune?<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Of course. I don\u2019t understand your question. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

So far there is this duality of
\nwhich he has spoken. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

It is an appearance, it is not a fact. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

When one realises that the
\nduality does not exist<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

That means one has gone behind the appearances, one has established
\na fact which was always there. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Is that a promise? <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But look, after all, when one has made a progress, one has made
\na progress! I don\u2019t understand your question. If you make a progress, you make
\na progress; if you perceive a truth behind an illusion, usually this is
\nconsidered a progress. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

But here, he further explains
\nthat even the lower nature<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, but as you have realised that it is one and the same thing.
\nThat\u2019s what I was saying a while ago: when you have an explanation, does it
\nsuffice to change your outer nature? Has it changed, are you different from
\nwhat you were in your outer nature? <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No. <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

No. Then something more is required. This is what I meant; an
\nexplanation is not enough, something else is needed. Evidently, it is a progress
\nto know something one did not know before, but
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 100<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

unless this knowledge becomes dynamic and changes into a power
\nfor transformation, it is not much use. <\/span><\/p>\n

 You understand? Good.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Turning to a child<\/span>)<\/span><\/i> You want to ask a question? Speak
\nup, take courage.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Sweet Mother, how can one
\nincrease one\u2019s understanding<\/span><\/i>? <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

One\u2019s understanding? Well, by increasing one\u2019s consciousness, by
\ngoing beyond the mind, by widening one\u2019s consciousness, deepening one\u2019s
\nconsciousness, by reaching regions beyond the mind. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/span>When
\nthis talk was first published in 1962,<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>Mother added the following commentary to<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/font><\/span>the last question.
\n<\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n <\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

I would add one thing now: experience. Changing knowledge into
\nexperience. And experience will automatically lead you to another experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

 But by \u201cexperience\u201d I
\nmean something quite different from what it is usually taken to mean. It is not
\nto experience what one knows<\/span>―<\/span>that is of course obvious<\/span>―<\/span>but
\ninstead of knowing and understanding<\/span>―<\/span>even a knowledge much higher than mental knowledge, even a very
\nintegral knowledge it is to become the Power which makes that be.
\nFundamentally, it is to become the Tapas of things<\/span>―<\/span> the
\nTapas of the universe. <\/span><\/p>\n

 It is always said that at
\nthe beginning of the Manifestation there is Sachchidananda, and it is put in
\nthis order: first, Sat, that is to say, pure Existence; then Chit, the
\nself-awareness of this Existence; and Ananda, the delight of Existence which
\nmakes it continue. But between this Chit and Ananda, there is Tapas, that is to
\nsay, the self-realising Chit. And when one bees this Tapas, the Tapas of
\nthings, one has the knowledge<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 101<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\u00a0<\/span>which gives the power to change. The Tapas of
\nthings is what governs their existence in the Manifestation. <\/span><\/p>\n

 When one is there, one
\nhas the feeling of so tremendous a power! It is the universal power. One has
\nthe feeling of a total mastery over the universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage – 102<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

28 March 1956    \u201cIf a departure from the world and its activities, a supreme release and quietude were the sole aim of the seeker,…<\/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-4558","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\/4558","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=4558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4558\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}