{"id":516,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:31","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=516"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:31","slug":"13-the-master-and-the-guide-vol-26-on-himself-volume-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/26-on-himself-volume-26\/13-the-master-and-the-guide-vol-26-on-himself-volume-26","title":{"rendered":"-13_The Master and the Guide.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

Section
\nFive<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n


\nTHE MASTER AND THE GUIDE <\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n


\nCONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE AS DISCIPLES<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not very
\nreadily accept disciples as this path of Yoga is a difficult one and it can be
\nfollowed only if there is a special call.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If he wishes to
\naccept my Yoga the conditions are a steady resolve and aspiration towards the
\ntruth I am bringing down, a calm passivity and an opening upward towards the
\nsource from which the light is coming. The Shakti
\nis already working in him and if he takes and keeps this attitude and has a
\ncomplete confidence in me, there is no reason why he should not advance safely
\nin the Sadhana.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-12-1922<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs for the Zamindar
\nhe seems to expect some dīkṣā<\/i> of the
\ntraditional kind from me, but this I cannot give. He will have to be told that
\nI do not and that my method is different. It may be a little difficult to
\nexplain to him or for him to understand what it is. Perhaps he may be told that
\nthose who come to have the Yoga are not accepted at once and there is sometimes
\na long period of trial before they are. We can see how he takes it and decide
\nafterwards if he persists in his desire to come here.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n11-7-1949 <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf he had a true Yogic capacity it would be different, but we see
\nno trace of it. Tell him he needs another kind of guidance \u2014 he will not be
\nable to stand this Yoga.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nIt is not possible for me
\nto give him help and guidance \u2014 for that would mean an Influence put on him and
\nin the present stage of his development he has not the necessary strength and
\nbalance to receive it and bear it.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 175<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

I have said he cannot do this Yoga. He needs something else that he
\ncan assimilate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n4-7-1936
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I have read and
\nconsidered your letter and have decided to give you the opportunity you ask for
\n\u2014 you can reside in the Ashram for two or
\nthree months to begin with and find out whether this is really the place and
\nthe path you were seeking and we also can by a closer observation of your
\nspiritual possibilities discern how best we can help you and whether this Yoga
\nis the best for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

This
\ntrial is necessary for many reasons, but especially because it is a difficult
\nYoga to follow and not many can really meet the demands it makes on the nature.
\nYou have written that you saw in me one who achieved through the perfection of
\nthe intellect, its spiritualisation and divinisation; but in fact I arrived through the
\ncomplete silence of the mind and whatever spiritualisation and divinisation it
\nattained was through the descent of a higher supra-intellectual knowledge into
\nthat silence. The book, Essays on the Gita,<\/i>
\nitself was written in that silence of the mind, without intellectual effort and
\nby a free activity of this knowledge from above. This is important because the
\nprinciple of this Yoga is not perfection of the human nature as it is but a
\npsychic and spiritual transformation of all the parts of the being through the
\naction of an inner consciousness and then of a higher consciousness which works
\non them, throws out their old movements or changes them into the image of its
\nown and so transmutes lower into higher nature. It is not so much the perfection
\nof the intellect as a transcendence of it, a transformation of the mind, the
\nsubstitution of a larger greater principle of knowledge \u2014 and so with all the
\nrest of the being.<\/span><\/p>\n

This
\nis a slow and difficult process; the road is
\nlong and it is hard to establish even the necessary basis. The old existing
\nnature resists and obstructs and difficulties rise one after another and
\nrepeatedly till they are overcome. It is therefore necessary to be sure that
\nthis is the path to which one is called before one finally decides to tread it.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 176<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

If you wish, we are ready to give you the trial you ask for. On
\nreceiving your answer the Mother will make the necessary arrangements for your
\nresidence in the Ashram.<\/span><\/p>\n

26-3-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

Write to your
\nfriend that we do not ask for any financial help from your father and therefore
\nyou are not called upon to answer the questions in his letter. It is not
\neveryone who has the adhikāra<\/i> to
\nhelp in the work of the Ashram.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those
\nonly can do so who have faith in it, or sympathy or at least confidence in Sri Aurobindo….<\/span><\/p>\n

Sri Aurobindo is not anxious to increase the number of his disciples
\nand only those are accepted usually who have the call and capacity for Yoga and
\nare ready to satisfy the conditions. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n14-10-1928<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

If I said only
\nthings that human nature finds easy and natural, that would certainly be very
\ncomfortable for the disciples, but there would be no room for spiritual aim or
\nendeavour. Spiritual aims and methods are not easy or natural (e.g., as
\nquarrelling, sex-indulgence, greed, indolence, acquiescence in all
\nimperfections are easy and natural,) and if
\npeople become disciples, they are supposed to follow spiritual aims and endeavours,
\nhowever hard and above ordinary nature and not the things that are easy and
\nnatural.<\/span><\/p>\n

3-5-1937<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span> Here is a man of fifty
\nintending vanaprastha, who thinks our Ashram
\nwill just be the place for him. He says he has prepared himself for Ashram
\nlife; his only fault being taking a little opium for the sake of health. What
\nshould I write to him ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 177<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nA<\/b>: Declined with thanks. Opium not allowed here.
\nAlso this is not a vānaprastha<\/i> Ashram.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n17-7-1936 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Here is
\na village girl, a young widow, who has heard your call in a dream and is eager
\nto come here.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b> Too young \u2014 such dreams are not decisive and there is too much of
\nthe vital tone in her remarks; you need say nothing about that however.<\/span><\/p>\n

14-10-1938<\/span><\/p>\n

\nIMPERSONAL APPROACH AND PERSONAL TOUCH<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, what I am considering
\nis this, whether it would not be wiser, as far as concerns England or America,
\nto start imperson\u00adally with the philosophical
\nside and the side of the Yoga, and leave the person a little behind the scene,
\nfor the present, until people there are ready as individuals for the personal
\ntouch; that is the course we have been
\nfollowing up to now. In India it is different, for here there is another kind
\nof general mentality and there is the tradition of the Guru and the Shishya.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMay, 1943<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE DISCIPLES AND THE MASTER<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> What disciples we are of what a Master! I wish you had chosen or
\ncalled some better stuff\u2014perhaps somebody like X.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: As to the disciples, I agree! \u2014 Yes, but would the better stuff, supposing it
\nto exist, be typical of humanity ? To deal
\nwith a few exceptional types would hardly solve the problem. And would they
\nconsent to follow my path \u2014 that is another ques\u00adtion ?
\nAnd if they were put to the test, would not the common<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 178<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nhumanity suddenly reveal itself \u2014
\nthat is still another question. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n3-8-1935<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nHARM IN GOING OUT OF THE ASHRAM<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/b>
\nDoes your allowing people to go out from here mean that now there is no harm in
\ntheir doing so?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: No, it does
\nnot; it simply means that we can’t always be holding back people whose vital
\nsays "I want to go, I want to go" and they side with the vital. They
\nare allowed to go and take their risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n18-3-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

\nINTEREST IN YOGA AND GIVING MONEY<\/b><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> X wants to approach rich people
\nfor money, but does not know how to do it….
\nHe says that if people are directly approached for money, there may not be any
\nresponse. His plan is to somehow…make them take interest in our work so that
\nthey may themselves offer money without any asking. …He asked me to take your
\nadvice in this matter.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>; If it is done
\nin that way, X will have to wait for a result for years together. Even if they
\nare interested, even if they are practising Yoga, people don’t think of giving
\nmoney unless they are asked, except a few who have a generous vital nature. It
\nis all right to interest people in the work and the Yoga \u2014 but of itself that
\nwill be rarely sufficient, they must know that money is needed and the idea of
\ngiving must be put into them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n13-3-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCORRESPONDENCE WITH SADHAKS<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About the
\ncorrespondence, I would be indeed a brainless fool if I made it the central aim
\nof my life to con an absurd mountain of<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 179<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

letters and leave all higher aims aside! If
\nI have given importance to the correspondence, it is because it was an effective
\ninstrument towards my central purpose\u2014there are a large number of Sadhaks whom it has helped to awaken from lethargy
\nand begin to tread the way of spiritual experience, others whom it has carried
\nfrom a small round of experience to a flood of realisations, some who have been
\nabsolutely hopeless for years who have undergone a conversion and entered from
\ndarkness into an opening of light. Others no doubt have not profited or
\nprofited only a little. Also there were some who wrote at random and wasted our
\ntime. But I think we can say that for the majority of those who wrote there has
\nbeen a real progress. No doubt also it was not the correspondence in itself but
\nthe Force that was increasing in its pressure on the physical nature which was
\nable to do all this, but a canalisation was needed, and this served the
\npurpose. There were many for whom it was not necessary, others for whom it was
\nnot suitable. If it had been a mere intellectual asking of questions it would
\nhave been useless, but the substantial part was about Sadhana
\nand experience and it is that that proved to be of great use.<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nas time went on the correspondence began to grow too much and reached
\nimpossible proportions, yet it was difficult to stop the flood or to make
\ndistinctions which would not have been understood; so we have to seek a way out
\nand as yet have only found palliatives. The easy way would be if those who have
\nopened would now rely on the inner communication with only a necessary word now
\nand then \u2014 some have begun to do so. I suppose in the end we shall be able to
\nreduce the thing to manageable proportions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n12-1-1934 <\/span><\/p>\n

I do not
\nunderstand your point about raising up a new race by my going on writing
\n"trivial" letters ten hours a day. Of course not \u2014 nor by writing
\nimportant letters either; even if I were to
\nspend my time writing fine poems it would not build up a new race. Each
\nactivity is important in its own place \u2014 an electron or a molecule or a grain
\nmay be small things in themselves, but in<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 180<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

their place they
\nare indispensable to the building up of a world; it cannot be made up
\nonly of mountains and sunsets and streamings of the aurora borealis \u2014<\/i> though these have their place
\nthere. All depends on the force behind these things and the purpose in their
\naction \u2014 and that is known to the Cosmic Spirit which is at work; and it works,
\nI may add, not by the mind or according to human standards but by a greater
\nconsciousness which, starting from an electron, can build up a world and,
\nusing a tangle of ganglia, can make them the base here for the works of the
\nMind and Spirit in Matter, produce a Ramakrishna,
\nor a Napoleon, or a Shakespeare. Is the life of a great poet either made up
\nonly of magnificent and important things ?
\nHow many trivial things had to be dealt with and done before there could be
\nproduced a King Lear<\/i> or a Hamlet<\/i> ?
\nAgain, according to your own reasoning, would not people be justified in
\nmocking at your pother \u2014 so they would call it, I do not \u2014 about metre and
\nscansion and how many ways a syllable can be read? Why, they might say, is he
\nwasting his time in trivial prosaic things like this when he might have been
\nspending it in producing a beautiful lyric or fine music ? But the worker knows and respects the material
\nwith which he must work and he knows why he is busy with "trifles"
\nand small details and what is their place in the fullness of his labour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nDecember, 1933 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nBut I do not understand how all that
\ncan prevent me from answering mental questions. On my own showing, if it is
\nnecessary for the Divine purpose, it has to be done. Sri Ramakrishna himself
\nanswered thousands of questions, I believe. But the answers must be such as he
\ngave and such as I try to give, answers from higher spiritual experience, from
\na deeper source of know\u00adledge and not lucubrations of the logical intellect
\ntrying to co-ordinate its ignorance. Still less can there be a placing of the
\nDivine Truth before the judgments of the intellect to be condemned or
\nacquitted by that authority, for that authority has no sufficient jurisdiction
\nor competence.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 181<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n


\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Is it
\nnot true that the letters we receive from you are full of power ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nA:<\/span><\/b> Yes, power is put into them.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> It seems as if those who are
\nnot writing to you daily are not worse off for it. What is that due to ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A: Either they have not that same push for the Sadhana or they feel less need to lay open their
\ndifficulties because they have some line of positive experience which they
\nconfidently follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

24-9-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Even for those who do not
\nwrite to you often and confidently follow a line of positive experience, is
\nthere not the danger of wrong suggestions and constructions coming to them and
\nalso of an absence of variety or integrality of experience ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nA:<\/span><\/b> Yes, there are both these
\ndangers. Those even who are not visited by serious difficulties, are exposed to
\nthe latter danger of remaining always in the same plane of experience. But
\nagain many do not write because they are not yet prepared for the pressure on
\nthem to progress rapidly which that would mean.<\/span><\/p>\n

25-9-1933<\/span> \n<\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/b> Is the asking of questions a help to
\nYoga?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: Questions are
\nmeant for getting light on the things that are going on in one. It is the
\nstatement of what is going on that helps to surrender.<\/span><\/p>\n

3-4-1934<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 182<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nQ: Many
\ntimes questions come to the mind like: "What is the Divine?" Is it not better to write them to you?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b> Provided you do not expect me to answer always. People write to me
\nnot for getting mental information or answering questions but to lay before me
\ntheir experiences and difficulties and get my help. When it is necessary, I
\nanswer questions, but I cannot be doing it all the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I cannot
\nundertake to be telling you all the time all that is hot perfectly Yogic in the details of your action from morning
\nto night. These are things to see to yourself. It is the movements of your Sadhana that you place before me and it is this
\nthat I have to see whether they are the right things or not.<\/span><\/p>\n

7-5-1936<\/font><\/span> \n<\/p>\n

When what you write is correct, I say nothing \u2014 when it
\nis your physical mind that brings in wrong ideas, I correct.<\/span><\/p>\n

10-5-1936<\/span> \n<\/p>\n

\nQ: Before reading Your answers to my letters I feel
\nas if I would be unable to read or understand them. What is this activity in
\nme?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: A useless activity of the vital mind. You should
\nkeep it quiet and receive with a silent mind waiting for light. In the silent
\nmind one can receive an answer even if I write nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-6-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> When I wrote that while
\nreading your answers I experienced something coming out of my heart, you
\nreplied, "It depends on the nature of
\nthe movement. Something from the psychic?"
\nWell, it was something<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 183<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

from the psychic. But how did it get connected with the answers?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nA:<\/span><\/b> The psychic can be connected with
\nanything that gives room for love or Bhakti.<\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nis the psychic contact with what is in or behind the answers \u2014what comes out
\ninto them from myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

26-6-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/b> When you make a fresh
\nopening in me, is it not possible to inform me one day in advance, so that I
\nmay keep myself ready ?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: No. Certainly not. Such a mental method would be of no use whatever. The experience must come of itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-5-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE OUTER GUIDANCE<\/font><\/span><\/b> AND THE INNER<\/b><\/font> HELP<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The outer
\nguidance is meant only as an aid to the inner working, especially for the
\ncorrection of any erroneous movement and sometimes in order to point out the
\nright road. It is not meant, except at a very early stage, to satisfy mental
\nquestionings or to stimulate a mental activity.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What I write
\nusually helps only the mind and that too very little, for people do not really
\nunderstand what I write \u2014 they put their own constructions on it. The inner
\nhelp is quite different and there can be no confusion with it, for it reaches
\nthe substance of the consciousness, not the mind only.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSRI AUROBINDO’S
\nTOUCH<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nMy touch is always there; but you
\nmust learn to feel it not only with the outward contact as a medium \u2014 a touch
\nof the pen \u2014<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 184<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

but in its direct
\naction on the mind and heart and vital and body. There would then be very much
\nless difficulty \u2014 or no difficulty at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

27-3-1933 <\/span><\/p>\n

The outward touch
\nis helpful; but the inward is still more helpful when one is accustomed to
\nreceive it with a certain concreteness \u2014 and
\nthe outward touch is not always fully possible, while the inward can be there
\nall the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSRI AUROBINDO’S
\nCOMPASSION<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Why is
\nthe flower symbolising your compassion so delicate and why does it wither away
\nso soon?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: No, the compassion does not wither with its
\nsymbol \u2014 flowers are the moment’s representations of things that are in
\nthemselves eternal.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-8-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSPIRITUAL CHANGE AND THE SCHOOL-MASTER
\nMETHOD<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I never point out
\nto anybody his defects unless he gives me the occasion. A Sadhak must become conscious and lay himself
\nbefore the light, see and reject and change. It is not the right method for us
\nto interfere and lecture and point out this and point out that. That is the
\nschool-master method \u2014 it does not work in the spiritual change.<\/span><\/p>\n

10-5-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSHUTTING UP DOORS<\/font><\/span><\/b> AGAINST HELP<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am not aware of
\nrefusing help; but to receive the help is
\nalso necessary. When you are in this condition you seem at once to<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 185<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

shut yourself up against those from whom
\nyou seek help by a spirit of bitterness and anger. That is not an attitude
\nwhich makes it easy to receive or be conscious and it is not easy either for
\nthe help to be effective. All I can do is to send you the Force that if
\nreceived would help you to change your condition;
\nit is what I have always done. But it cannot act effectively \u2014 or at least not
\nat once\u2014 if the doors are shut against it.<\/span><\/p>\n

23-5-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE WORST HOSTILE SUGGESTION<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/b> The worst of the hostile suggestions is
\nthat you are partial in your dealings. When this is accepted a wall comes
\nbetween you and the Sadhak and there is a
\nrevolt and then there may be an end of the Sadhana !<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: Yes, it is their aim \u2014 for it
\nis their one short cut to success, to separate the Sadhak from his soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

3-5-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nWORK AND TIME<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You do not
\nrealise that I have to spend 12 hours over the ordinary correspondence,
\nnumerous reports, etc. I work 3 hours in the afternoon and the whole night up
\nto 6 in the morning over this. So if I get a long letter with many questions I
\nmay not be able to answer it all at once. To get into such a disturbance over
\nit and want to throw off the Yoga is quite unreasonable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n17-6-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nAs
\nto the book, I am afraid I have no time for such things. The twenty-four hours
\nare already too short for what I have to do. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n3-9-1930<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 186<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Good Lord!
\nWhat can one write in 1 or 1\u00bd<\/i> hours ?
\nIf I could only get that time for immortal productions every day! Why in
\nanother three years Savitri<\/i> and Ilion<\/i> and I don’t know how much more would be
\nall rewritten, finished, resplendently complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

6-12-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> What has
\nhappened to my typescript? Hibernating?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: My dear sir, if you saw me nowadays with my nose
\nto paper from afternoon to morning, deciphering, deciphering, writing, writing,
\nwriting, even the rocky heart of a disciple would be touched and you would not
\ntalk about typescripts and hibernation. I have given up (for the present at
\nleast) the attempt to minimise the cataract of correspondence; I accept my fate like X
\nwith the plague of Prasads and admirers, but
\nat least don’t add anguish to annihilation by talking about typescripts.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-3-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSRI KRISHNA AND CORRESPONDENCE<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ<\/b>: <\/span>
\nSri Krishna must have
\nhad more leisure than you have. In those days the art of writing had not developed so much and so he had
\nnot to reply to questions, though sometimes he had sudden calls as when Durvasa came with a host of thousands of disciples
\nasking for food when there was not a morsel. Perhaps Sri Krishna had to perform
\nmore miracles than you have to, though I
\nshould not forget that constant calls must be coming to you also for help in
\nillnesses and many others in many ways. Moreover, Sri Krishna never actually
\nbecame a Guru of several people.<\/span><\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

A<\/b>: Well, he may have been rather wise in that and
\nfortunate in the infrequency of
\ncorrespondence in those days \u2014 but that did not save him. There is a poignant
\nchapter in the Mahabharata<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 187<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

describing his miseries and bothers with
\nhis people in Dwarka which is very
\nilluminating \u2014 unfortunately I have forgotten where it is. The calls don’t
\nmatter much, for putting the Force is a subjective thing which does not take
\ntime, except in cases when it is a daily or frequently recurring difficulty. As for Durvasa
\nif he turned up, it would be met by an order to X
\n"Go and manage" or else an intimation to Durvasa not to be
\nunreasonable.<\/span><\/p>\n

4-9-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nREASONS FOR RETIREMENT<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My retirement is
\nnothing new, even the cessation of contact by correspondence is nothing new, \u2014
\nit has been there now for a long time. I had to establish the rule not out of
\npersonal preference or likes or dislikes, but because the correspondence occupied
\nthe greater part of my time and energies and there was a danger of my real work
\nremaining neglected or undone if I did not change my course
\nand devote myself to it, while the actual results of the outer activity were
\nvery small \u2014 it cannot be said that it resulted in the Ashram
\nmaking a great spiritual progress. Now in these times of world-crisis when I
\nhave to be on guard and concentrated all the time to prevent irremediable catastrophes
\nand have still to be so, and when, besides, the major movement of the inner
\nspiritual work needs an equal concentration and persistence, it is not
\npossible for me to abandon my rule. (Moreover, even for the individual Sadhak it is in his<\/i> interest that this
\nmajor spiritual work should be done, for its success would create conditions
\nunder which his difficulties could be much more easily overcome.) All the same
\nI have broken my rule, and broken it for you alone:
\nI do not see how that can be interpreted as a want of love and a hard granite
\nindifference.<\/span><\/p>\n

29-5-1942<\/span><\/p>\n

\nNo, there is no obligation of gloom,
\nharshness, austerity or lonely grandeur in this Yoga. If I am living in my
\nroom, it is not out of passion for solitude, and it would be ridiculous to put for<\/font><\/span>ward <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 188<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

this purely
\nexternal circumstance as if it were the obligatory sign of a high advance in
\nthe Yoga or solitude the aim. So you need not be anxious; solitude is not
\ndemanded of you.<\/span><\/p>\n

1932<\/span><\/p>\n

I have no
\nintention, I can assure you, of cutting off connection in the future. What
\nrestrictions there have been, were due to unavoidable causes. My retirement
\nitself was indispensable; otherwise I would not be now where I am, that is,
\npersonally, near the goal. When the goal is reached, it will be different. If
\nyou had an unprecedented peace for so long a time, it was due to my persistent
\ninner pressure; I refuse to give up all the
\ncredit to my double,Krishna.<\/span><\/p>\n

14-8-1945 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nThe psychic is not responsible for my
\naloofness or retirement \u2014 it is the mass of opposition that I have to face
\nwhich is respon\u00adsible for that. It is only when I have overcome by the aid of
\nthe psychic and (excuse me!) your other b\u00eate noire,<\/i> the Supermind, that the retirement can cease.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nQ<\/b>:<\/span> <\/span>
\n I pray for Sri Aurobindo’s Darshan
\nonce more before I leave. I know that it is against the rule but I hope you won’t mind
\nrelaxing it for the sake of a Bhakta.<\/span><\/font><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA: <\/b><\/span>
\n
\nI am afraid it is
\nimpossible. No separate personal Darshan can be given at this stage \u2014 it is not
\na rule, it is a necessity for the work that Sri Aurobindo
\nis doing.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

17-8-1934 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ<\/b>:
\nWhen will you come out of your retirement? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A<\/b>: <\/span>
\nThat is a thing of which nothing can be said at
\npresent. My<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 189<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

retirement had a
\npurpose and that purpose must first be fulfilled.<\/span><\/p>\n

25-8-1933<\/span><\/p>\n


\nQ<\/b>: It would be very good if you
\ncould come out to give Darshan once a month
\ninstead of only three times a year. Is it possible?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: If I went out once a month,
\nthe effect of my going out would be diminished by one third.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-3-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ<\/b>: Will you come out of your retirement
\nafter the supramental descent?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nA:<\/span><\/b> That will be decided after the
\ndescent.<\/span><\/p>\n

23-9-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> <\/span>
\n Sardar V asked X
\nwhen you would come out and guide people. X replied that that was not to be
\nexpected. But perhaps V had a meaning in his question which X did not
\nunderstand.<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>:
\n<\/span>
\nPerhaps not. V is not likely to understand more than others that a spiritual
\nlife can be led by me without a view to a come\u00adback hereafter for the greatest
\ngood of the greatest India (or world). Tagore
\nexpected the latter and is much disappointed that I have not done it.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

7-3-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSRI AUROBINDO’S
\nLIGHT<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSri
\nAurobindo’s light is not a light of the
\nillumined mind \u2014 it is the divine Illumination which may act on any plane.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

7-9-1933 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 190<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nQ:<\/span><\/b> Two days back in a dream I
\nsaw Sri Aurobindo coming towards me. His
\nbody and dress were of blue colour. Why did I see him in this colour and not
\nany other?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: It is the basic light Sri Aurobindo manifests.<\/span><\/p>\n

23-6-1933 <\/span><\/p>\n

\nIf it is pale blue, it may be my colour. Pale lavender blue, pale
\nbut very brilliant in its own shade.<\/span><\/p>\n

6-8-1932<\/span><\/p>\n

It [the
\nsignificance] depends on the shade of the blue. Ordinary pale blue is usually
\nthe light of the Illumined Mind or something of the Intuition. Whitish blue is
\nSri Aurobindo’s light or Krishna’s light.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThere are many blues and it is
\ndifficult to say which these are. Usually the deeper blue is Higher Mind, a
\npaler blue is Illu\u00admined Mind \u2014 whitish blue Sri Krishna’s Light (also called
\nSri Aurobindo’s Light).<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nThe
\ndifferent blues mean different forces (the real blue has nothing to do with
\npoison). The whitish blue is specially called my light \u2014 but it does not mean
\nthat that alone can come from me. <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n22-11-1933<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/b> Nowadays I see Sri Aurobindo’s
\nlight for most of the time but in different
\nforms \u2014 sometimes like a big star, sometimes
\nlike a moon, sometimes like a flash of light. Why do I not see it in the same
\nform?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 191<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n


\nA<\/b>: It
\nvaries according to the circumstances. Why should it be always the same?<\/span><\/p>\n

21-4-1933 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ<\/b>: How can
\nI receive Sri Aurobindo’s light in the mind?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b> It can always come if you aspire patiently. But the basic
\ncondition, if you want that light, is to get rid of all other mental influences.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/b> What is the meaning of "to get rid of all other mental
\ninfluences" ?
\nIs it this that I had better not read any other books except Sri Aurobindo’s or not try to learn anything by
\nhearing or admiring others?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: It is not a question of books or learning facts.
\nWhen a woman loves or admires, her mind is instinctively moulded by the one she
\nloves or admires, and this influence remains after the feeling itself has gone
\nor appears to be gone. This does not refer to X’s
\ninfluence merely. It is the general rule given to keep yourself free from any other admiration or influence.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n30-5-1932 <\/span><\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> As one approaches your photograph in the Reception Room, there is a
\nfeeling that it is an emanation of yours. There seems to be a special light in
\nit.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\nA:<\/span><\/b> The Sadhaks
\nmay themselves bring this light by approaching me through the photo.<\/span><\/p>\n

24-8-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSOME VISIONS OF SRI AUROBINDO<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> I looked at your photograph in the Reception Room<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 192<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nafter meditation and clearly saw the portrait move its shoulders and
\nas if breathing.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA: There was a movement in the
\nvital plane and you opened to an inner vision of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

22-3-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/b> As I was sitting in prayer, I saw Sri Aurobindo
\nin a vision coming down the staircase till
\nhe came just near to the floor. What does this mean?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: It indicates perhaps the
\nbringing of the Divine Consciousness down from level to level till it is now
\nnear the material.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n23-9-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/b> Today while meditating I saw in a vision that in Sri Aurobindo’s light Nataraja
\nShiva was manifesting with many hands. What does this signify?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: It is
\nthe sign of the manifestation.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Then I saw that in the
\nsky Sri Aurobindo’s light and red light were
\nmanifesting in the form of a globe. Does this signify the manifestation of Sri
\nAurobindo’s divine light on the physical
\nplane ?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: Yes.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ<\/b>: Then I saw that Sri
\nAurobindo’s light was manifesting on a sea
\nalong with another light of pale blue colour. Does this mean that in the vastness of consciousness Sri<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 193<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nAurobindo’s divine light is
\nmanifesting through the Intuitive Mind consciousness?<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>: <\/b>Yes.<\/b><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

15-10-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ: <\/font> <\/b>I
\nsaw Sri Aurobindo last night in a vision seated on a chair and writing
\nsomething. Behind his head there was <\/font> <\/span>a circular green light. What does this mean
\n?<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/font><\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nA<\/font><\/b>:
\nThe green light is that of a dynamic vital energy (of work). As I was writing \u2014
\nat work \u2014 it is natural that that light should be behind my head.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n5-11-1933 <\/font> <\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b> Last night I had a dream
\nthat you had come out of your seclusion for once; you were tall, quite young,
\nbut very dark. I began to wonder if this was Sri Aurobindo of former years!<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/font><\/b>:
\nNo. It is not likely. It is probably some subtle physical form \u2014that one
\ncorresponding to the Shiva element in me. I have seen myself like that
\nsometimes and it was always the Shiva <\/font> <\/span>
\nformation.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

11-12-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRIGHT USE OF<\/font><\/span><\/b> VISIONS AND VOICES<\/font><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ<\/font><\/b>: The visions and voices
\ncan help us to see or hear our Guru, to receive constant directions from you or
\nthe Mother for our Sadhana. Well, why can’t you open me to them ?
\nI shall then have to trouble you much less with my crowd of questions. With
\nthis faculty you will always appear before me and talk to me!<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA: I shall have first to be sure
\nthat you will make the right use of<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 194<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

them. I prefer
\nthat you should get higher discrimination and knowledge first.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-7-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nX discouraged his disciples
\nbecause his aim was the realisation of the inner Self and intuition \u2014 in other
\nwords the fullness of the spiritual Mind \u2014 visions and voices belong to the
\ninner occult sense, therefore he did not want them to lay stress on it. I also
\ndiscourage some from having any dealing with visions and voices because I see
\nthat they are being misled or in danger of being misled by false visions and
\nfalse voices. That does not mean that visions and voices have no value.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n9-7-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE 15TH AUGUST DARSHAN<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> X told me that only
\nten days were left for the August 15th Darshan.
\nI replied that every day should be considered as the 15th.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: That is the
\nright attitude. Every day should be regarded as a day when a descent may take
\nplace or a contact established with the higher consciousness. Then the 15th
\nitself would be more successful.<\/span><\/p>\n

4-8-1934<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ<\/b>:
\nDuring this Darshan, instead of Ananda,
\nForce or Light I felt a great dryness.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA<\/b>:
\n<\/span>
\nIt depends upon your condition whether the Ananda
\nor Force or Light descends or whether the resistance rises. It is the
\nresistance of the ordinary physical consciousness ignorant and obscure that
\nseems to have risen in you. The period of 15th is a period of great descents
\nbut also of great resistances. This 15th was not an exception.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 195<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nEVAPORATION
\nOF AN EXPERIENCE AFTER DARSHAN<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> When I came for your Darshan,
\nit seemed as if it was Shiva himself I was seeing. I felt Ananda too. The consciousness
\nof these things remained for two or three days, and then as if evaporated.<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b> There is no reason
\nto be discouraged by what you call the evaporation of the consciousness that
\nyou got on the Darshan day. It has not evaporated but drawn back from the
\nsurface. That usually happens when there is not the higher conscious\u00adness or
\nsome experience. What you have to learn is not to allow depression, but remain
\nquiet allowing time for the assimila\u00adtion and ready for fresh experience or
\ngrowth whenever<\/i> it comes.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nUSE OF
\nSRI AUROBINDO’S FORCE<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Certainly,
\nmy force is not limited to the Ashram and its conditions. As you know it is
\nbeing largely used for helping the right development of the war and of change
\nin the human world. It is also used for individual purposes outside the scope
\nof the Ashram and the practice of Yoga; but that, of course, is silently done
\nand mainly by a spiritual action. The Ashram, however, remains at the centre of
\nthe work and without the practice of Yoga the work would not exist and could
\nnot have any meaning or fruition.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n13-3-1944<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUSE OF RUDRA
\nPOWER<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\nhave dropped using the Rudra power; its effects used to be catastrophic, and
\nnow from a long disuse the inclination to use it has become rusty. Not that I
\nam a convert to Satyagraha or Ahimsa: but Himsa too has its inconvenience. So
\nthe fires sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 196<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nSPIRITUAL STRENGTH AND RAJASIC VEHEMENCE<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zeal and
\nenthusiasm are all right and very necessary but the spiritual condition
\ncombines calm with intensity. Psychic fire is different\u2014what you are speaking
\nof here is the rajasic vital fire of self-exertion, aggressive self-defence,
\nexerting lawful rights, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

I
\nspeak from my own experience. I have solid strength, but I have not much of the
\nfire that blazes out against anybody who does not give me lawful rights. Yet I
\ndo not find myself weak or a dead man. I have always made it a rule not to be
\nrestless in any way, to throw away restlessness \u2014 yet I have been able to use
\nmy solid strength whenever necessary. You speak as if rajasic force and vehemence
\nwere the only strength and all else is deadness and weakness. It is not so \u2014
\nthe calm spiritual strength is a hundred times stronger; it does not blaze up
\nand sink again \u2014 but is steady and unshakable and perpetually dynamic.<\/span><\/p>\n

21-10-1933<\/span><\/p>\n

\nCONCRETENESS OF YOGIC FORCE<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The invisible
\nForce producing tangible results both inward and outward is the whole meaning
\nof the Yogic consciousness. Your question about Yoga bringing merely a feeling
\nof Power without any result was really very strange. Who would be satisfied
\nwith such a meaningless hallucination and call it Power? If we had not had
\nthousands of experiences showing that the Power within could alter the mind,
\ndevelop its powers, add new ones, bring in new ranges of knowledge, master the
\nvital movements, change the character, influence men and things, control the
\nconditions and functionings of the body, work as a concrete dynamic Force on
\nother forces, modify events, etc., etc., we would not speak of it as we do.
\nMoreover, it is not only in its results but in its movements that the Force is
\ntangible and concrete. When I speak of feeling Force of Power, I do not mean
\nsimply having a vague sense of it, but feeling it concretely and consequently
\nbeing<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 197<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

able to direct it,
\nmanipulate it, watch its movement, be conscious of its mass and intensity and
\nin the same way of that of other, perhaps opposing forces; all these things are
\npossible and usual by the development of Yoga.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is not, unless it is supramental Force, a Power that acts without
\nconditions and limits. The conditions and limits under which Yoga or Sadhana
\nhas to be worked out are not arbitrary or capricious; they arise from the
\nnature of things. These including the will, receptivity, assent, self-opening
\nand surrender of the Sadhak have to be respected by the Yoga-force, unless it
\nreceives a sanction from the Supreme to override everything and get something
\ndone, but that sanction is sparingly given. It is only if the supramental Power
\ncame fully down, not merely sent its influences through the Overmind, that
\nthings could be very radically directed towards that object \u2014 for then the
\nsanction would not be rare. For the Law of the Truth would be at work, not
\nconstantly balanced by the law of the Ignorance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still the Yoga-force is always tangible and concrete in the way I
\nhave described and has tangible results. But it is invisible \u2014 not like a blow
\ngiven or the rush of a motor car knocking somebody down which the physical
\nsenses can at once perceive. How is the mere physical mind to know that it is
\nthere and working? By its results? But how can it know that the results were
\nthat of the Yogic force and not of something else? One of two things it must
\nbe. Either it must allow the consciousness to go inside, to become aware of
\ninner things, to believe in the experience of the invisible and the supraphysical,
\nand then by experience, by the opening of new capacities, it becomes conscious
\nof these forces and can see, follow and use their workings, just as the
\nScientist uses the unseen forces of Nature. Or one must have faith and watch
\nand open oneself and then it will begin to see how things happen, it will
\nnotice that when the Force was called in, there began after a time to be a
\nresult, then repetitions, more repetitions, more clear and tangible results,
\nincreasing frequency, increasing consistency of results, a feeling and
\nawareness of the Force at work \u2014 until the experience becomes daily, regular,
\nnormal, complete. These are the two main methods, one internal, working from in
\noutward, the other<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 198<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

external, working from outside and calling
\nthe inner force out till it penetrates and is visible in the exterior
\nconsciousness. But neither can be done if one insists always on the extrovert
\nattitude, the external concrete only and refuses to join to it the internal
\nconcrete \u2014 or if the physical mind at every step raises a dance of doubts which
\nrefuses to allow the nascent experience to develop. Even the Scientist carrying
\non a new experiment would never succeed if he allowed his mind to behave in
\nthat way.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, I made the
\nmistake of "thinking aloud with my pen" when I wrote that unfortunate
\nsentence1 <\/sup>about the force I had put for the success of the
\ngramophone. As my whole action consists of the use of force, \u2014 except, of
\ncourse, my writing answers to correspondence which is concrete, but even that I
\nam made to do by and with a force, otherwise I can assure you I would not and
\ncould not do it, \u2014 I am sometimes imprudent enough to make this mistake. It is
\nfoolish to do so because a spiritual force or any other is obviously something
\ninvisible and its action is invisible, so how can anyone believe in it? Only
\nthe results are seen and how is one to know that the results are the result of
\nthe force? It is not concrete.<\/span><\/p>\n

But
\nI am myself rather puzzled by your instances of the concrete. How are the
\nschemes of a schemer concrete? Some\u00adthing happens and you tell me it was the
\nresult of a schemer’s scheme. But the schemer’s scheme was a product of his con\u00adsciousness
\nand not at all concrete; it was in his mind and another fellow’s mind is not
\nconcrete to me unless I am a Yogi or a thought-reader. I can only infer from
\nsome things he said or did that he had a scheme, things which I have not myself
\nseen or heard and which are therefore not to me concrete So how can I accept or
\nbelieve in the scheme of the schemer ? And even if I saw or heard, I am not
\nbound to believe that it was a scheme or that which happened was the result of
\na scheme. He may have<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n
\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup>X had<\/span><\/font> written
\nto Sri Aurobindo that his gramophone records were proving a great success and
\nwere fast selling out, to which Sri Aurobindo had replied: "I am glad of
\nthat as I put much force for that result." X wrote back questioning the
\npossibility of the force pro\u00adducing such a result, to which this letter is <\/b><\/font>
\na reply.<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 199<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

acted on a chain of impulses and what
\nhappened may have been the result of something quite different or itself purely
\naccidental. Again, how did you control the music choir? By word and signs etc.
\nwhich are of course concrete. But what made you use those words and signs and
\nwhy did they produce a control? And why did the other fellows do what you told them?
\nWhat made them do that? It was something in your and their consciousness, I
\nsuppose; but that is not concrete. Again, scientists talk about electricity
\nwhich is, it seems, an energy, a force in action and it seems that everything
\nhas been done by this energy, my own physical being is constituted by it and it
\nis at the base of all my mental and life energies. But that is not concrete to
\nme. I never felt my being constituted by electricity, I cannot feel it working
\nout my thoughts and life processes \u2014 so how can I believe in it or accept it ?
\nThe force I use is not a sweet blessing \u2014 a blessing (silent) certainly is not
\nconcrete, like a stone or a kick or other things seizable by the senses; it is
\nnot even a mere will saying within me "let it be so" \u2014 that also is
\nnot concrete. It is a force of consciousness directed towards or on persons and
\nthings and happenings \u2014 but obviously a force of consciousness is not seizable
\nby the physical senses, so not concrete. I may feel it and the person acted on
\nmay feel it or may not feel it, but as the feeling is internal and not external
\nand perceivable by others, it cannot be called concrete and nobody is bound to
\naccept or believe in it. For instance, if I cure someone (without medicines) of
\na fever and send him fresh and full of strength to his work, all in the course
\nof a single night, still why should any third person believe or accept that it
\nwas my force that did it ? It may have been Nature or his imagination that made
\nhim cure (three cheers for those concrete things, imagination and Nature!) \u2014 or
\nthe whole thing happened of itself. So, you see the case is hopeless, it can’t
\nbe proved at all \u2014 at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

6-12-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nSRI AUROBINDO’S
\nFORCE, DIVINE FORCE AND YOGIC FORCE<\/span><\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The mistake is
\nto think that it [Sri Aurobindo’s Force] must be<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 200<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

either a miraculous
\nforce or else none. There is no miraculous force and I do not deal in miracles.
\nThe word Divine here is out of place if it is taken as an always omnipotently
\nacting Power. Yogic Force is then better; it simply means a higher consciousness
\nusing its power, a spiritual and supraphysical force acting on the physical
\nworld directly. One has to train the instrument to be a channel of this force;
\nit works also according to a certain law and under certain conditions. The
\nDivine does not work arbitrarily or as a thaumaturge; He acts upon the world
\nalong the lines that have been fixed by the nature and purpose of the world we
\nlive in \u2014 by an increasing action of the thing that has to manifest, not by a
\nsudden chance or disregard of all the conditions of the work to be done. If it
\nwere not so, there would be no need of Yoga or time or human action or
\ninstruments or of a Master and disciples or of a Descent or anything else. It
\ncould simply be a matter for the tathāstu<\/i> and nothing more. But
\nthat would be irrational if you like and worse than irrational\u2014
\n"childish". This does not mean that interventions, things apparently miraculous,
\ndo not happen \u2014 they do. But all cannot be like that.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n6-2-1935 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

What
\nis Sri Aurobindo’s force? It is not a personal property of this body or mind.
\nIt is a higher Force used by me or acting through me. Of course it is a Divine
\nForce, for there is only one force acting in the world, but it acts according
\nto the nature of the instrument. Yogic Force is different from others because
\nit is a special power of the spiritual consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was an obvious intervention in the case he speaks of \u2014 but the
\nagent or process could only be determined if one knew all the circumstances.
\nSuch interventions are frequent; e.g. my uncle’s daughter was at her last gasp,
\nthe doctors had gone away telling him that there was no more to be done. He
\nsimply sat down to pray \u2014 as soon as he had finished, the death symptoms were
\nsuspended and the girl recovered without further treatment (it was a case of
\ntyphoid fever). Several cases of that kind have come within my personal
\nobservation.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 201<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nI have
\nmarginalised on the Force \u2014 to write more completely would need more time than
\nI have tonight. Of course, if it depended on a few cases of illness, it would
\nbe a thing of no certitude or importance. If the ‘Force’ were a mere freak or
\nmiracle, it would be equally trivial and unimportant, even if well-attested. It
\nis only of importance if it is part of the consciousness and the life used at
\nall times, not only for illness but for whatever one has to do. It manifests in
\nvarious ways \u2014 as a strength of the consciousness evenly supporting the life
\nand action, as a power put forth for this or that object of the outward life,
\nas a special Force from above drawn down to raise and increase the scope of the
\nconsciousness and its height and transform not only by a miraculous but by a
\nserious, steady organised action following certain definite lines. Its
\neffectiveness as well as its action is determined first by its own height and
\nintensity or that of the plane from which it comes (it may be from any plane
\nranging from the Higher Mind upward to the Overmind), partly by the condition
\nof the objects or the field in which it acts, partly by the movement which it has,
\nto effect, general or particular. It is neither a magician’s wand nor a child’s
\nbauble, but something one has to observe, understand, develop, master before
\none can use it aright or else \u2014 for few can use it except in a limited manner \u2014
\nbe its instrument. This is only a preface.<\/span><\/p>\n

6-2-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

I used the word
\npreface to characterise the nature of what I had written, not in a prophetic
\nsense.<\/span><\/p>\n

There
\nare two things \u2014 Yoga Force in its original totality which is that of the
\nDivine spiritual Force, always potentially all-powerful, and Yoga Force doing
\nits work under the conditions of the evolutionary world here.<\/span><\/p>\n

It
\nis not a question of ‘can’ or ‘cannot’ at all. All is possible, but all is not
\nlicit \u2014 except by a recognisable process; the Divine Power itself imposes on
\nits action limits, processes, obstacles, vicissitudes. It is possible that an
\nass may be changed into an elephant, but it is not done, at least physically,
\nbecause of the lack of a process. Psychologically such changes do take place.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n<\/p>\n

Page \u2013 202<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

I have myself in
\nmy time changed cowards into heroes and that can be done even without Yoga-Shakti,
\nmerely by an inner force. How can you say what is latent in man or what is incurably
\nabsent? I have developed many things by Yoga, often even without any will or
\neffort to do so, which were not in my original nature. I may even say that I
\nhave transformed my whole nature and it is in many respects the opposite of
\nwhat I began with. There can be no question about the power to change, to
\ndevelop, to awaken faculties that were not there before; this power exists
\nalready, but it can be raised to an acme by being lifted to the spiritual plane….<\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nrest is for the indefinable future. One day I shall certainly try to explain
\nmethodically and by examples what the spiritual force is; how it has worked on
\nthe earth-plane, how it acts and under what conditions \u2014 conditions not rigidly
\nfixed, but plastic and mutable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n6-2-1935<\/font><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nELEMENTARY NOTIONS ABOUT THE ACTION <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\nOF SRI AUROBINDO’S FORCE<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to Force let
\nme point out a few elementary notions which you ignore.<\/span><\/p>\n

1.
\nThe Force is a divine Force, so obviously it can apply itself in any direction;
\nit can inspire a poet, set in motion the soldier, doctor, scientist, everybody.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.
\nThe Force is not a mental Force \u2014 it is not bound to go out from the
\nCommunicator with every detail mentally arranged, precise in its place, and
\ncommunicate it mentally to the Recipient. It can go out as a global Force
\ncontaining in itself the thing to be done, but working out the details in the
\nRecipient and the action as the action progresses. It is not necessary for the
\nCommunicant to accompany mentally the Force, plant himself mentally in the mind
\nof the Recipient and work out mentally there the details. He can send the Force
\nor put on the Force, leave it to do its work and attend himself to other
\nmatters. In the world most things are worked out by such a global Force<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 203<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\ncontaining the results in itself, but
\ninvolved, concealed, and working them out in a subsequent operation. The seed
\ncontains the whole potentiality of the tree, the gene contains the potentiality
\nof the living form that it initiates, etc., etc., but if you examine the seed
\nand gene ad infinitum,<\/i> still you will not find there either the tree or
\nthe living being. All the same the Force has put all these potentialities there
\nin a certain evolution which works itself out automatically.<\/font> <\/p>\n

\n3. In the case of a man acting as an
\ninstrument of the Force the action is more complicated, because consciously or
\nunconsciously the man must receive, also he must be able to work out what the
\nForce puts through him. He is a living complex instrument, not a simple machine.
\nSo if he has responsiveness, capacity etc. he can work out the Force perfectly,
\nif not he does it imperfectly or frustrates it. That is why we speak of and
\ninsist on the perfectioning of the instrument. Otherwise there would be no need
\nof Sadhana or anything else \u2014 any fellow would do for any blessed work and one
\nwould simply have to ram things into him and see them coming out into action.<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\n4. The Communicant need not be an
\nall-round many-sided Encyclopaedia in order to communicate the Force for various
\npurposes. If we want to help a lawyer to succeed in a case, we need not be
\nperfect lawyers ourselves knowing all the law, Roman, English or Indian and
\nsupply him with all his arguments, questions etc., doing consciously and
\nmentally through him his whole examinations, cross-examinations and pleading.
\nSuch a process would be absurdly cumbrous, incompetent and wasteful. The
\nprearrangement of the eventual result and the capacity for making him work his
\ninstruments in the right way and for arranging events also so as to aid towards
\nthe result are put into the Force when it goes to him, they are therefore
\ninherent in its action and the rest is a question of his own receptivity,
\nexperience etc. Naturally the best instrument even is imperfect (unless he is a
\nperfected Adhar) and mistakes may be committed, other suggestions accepted etc.,
\netc., but if the instrument is sufficiently open, the Force can set the thing to
\nrights and the result still comes. In some or many cases the Force has to be
\nrenewed from time to time or supported by fresh Force. In some directions parti<\/font>cular <\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 204<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndetails have to be consciously
\nattended to by the Communicant. All that depends on circumstances too
\nmultitudinous and variable to be reduced to rule. There are general lines, in
\nthese matters, but no rules; the working of non-mental Force has necessarily to
\nbe plastic, not rigid and tied to formulas. If you want to reduce things to
\npatterns and formulas, you will neces\u00adsarily fail to understand the workings of
\na spiritual (non-mental) Force.<\/span><\/p>\n

5.
\nAll that I say here refers to spiritual Force. I am not speaking of the supramental.<\/span><\/p>\n

6.
\nAlso please note that this is all about the working of Force on or through
\npeople: it has nothing to do with intuition which is quite another matter. Also
\nit does not preclude always and altogether a plenary and detailed inspiration
\nfrom a Communicant to a Recipient \u2014 such things happen, but it is not
\nnecessary to proceed in that way, nor below the Supermind or supramentalised Overmind
\ncan it be the ordinary process.<\/span><\/p>\n

If it [the latent
\nmedico] were there, I would develop that and run the Dispensary myself. What
\nwould be the need of a A or B or C?… What logic? Because Mother and myself
\nare not engineers, therefore D can’t develop the right intuition in
\nengineering? or because neither I nor Mother are experts in Gujerati prosody,
\ntherefore E can’t develop the inspiration for his poems ?<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh
\nLord! what a question! To guide internally is a million times easier than to
\nguide externally. Let us suppose I want General X to beat Y’s fellows back at Guadalagasu
\n(please pronounce properly). I put the right force on him and he wakes up and,
\nwith his military knowledge and capacity, does the right thing and it is done.
\nBut if I, having no latent or patent military genius or knowledge in me, write
\nto him saying "do this, do that", he won’t do it and I would not be
\nable to do it either. It is operations of two quite different spheres of
\nconsciousness. You absolutely refuse to make the necessary distinction between
\nthe two fields and their processes and then you jumble -the two together and
\ncall it logic.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 205<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nIntuition and
\nrevelation are inner things \u2014 they don’t belong to the outer mind…. Do you
\nimagine that I tell you inwardly or outwardly what expressions to use in your
\nBengali poems when you are writing? Still you write from an inspiration which I
\nhave set going.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> When we were discussing a Spanish General you used the words: "the
\nright Force". Why did you say "right"? Is there also a wrong
\nForce?<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>: Don’t remember
\nexactly what I wrote \u2014 can’t say very well. But of course there can be a wrong
\nForce. There are Asuric Forces, rajasic Forces, all sorts of Forces. Apart from
\nthat one can use a mental or vital Force which may not be the right thing. Or
\none may use the Force in such a way that it does not succeed or does not hit
\nthe General on the head or is not commensurate with the opposing Forces.
\n(Opposing Forces need not be Asuric, they may be quite gentlemanly Forces
\nthinking they are in the right. Or two Divine Forces might knock at each other
\nfor the fun of the thing. Infinite possibilities, sir, in the play of the
\nForces.)<\/span><\/p>\n

What
\nis a mistake? Evidently the Force used is always the Force that was destined to
\nbe used. If it succeeds, it does its work in the whole and if it fails it has
\nalso done its work in the whole. Na tatra śocate budhah<\/i><\/span>̣<\/span>.<\/span><\/i>1<\/span><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

In
\nwhat way? A Force may be applied without any intuition \u2014 an intuition can come
\nwithout any close connection with a Force, except the Force of intuition itself
\nwhich is another matter. Moreover a Force may be applied from a higher plane than that of any Intuition.<\/span><\/p>\n

17-4-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTHE DIVINE’S USE OF DOCTORS <\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nQ: I<\/span> still can’t understand why you should bother to<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


\n1<\/font><\/span><\/sup>The wise man grieves not over that.<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 206<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nfollow us doctors. The Divine can very easily act from the supramental
\nconsciousness directly; you don’t really need a diagnosis given by ordinary
\nmen!<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b> If things were
\nlike that, why the devil should we have doctors or a dispensary at all? And
\nwhat would have been the use of your 20,000 ? We don’t propose to do the whole
\nbusiness of the inside and outside off our own bat. You are as necessary for
\nthis as X for the building or others for their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who told you we are acting from supramental consciousness ? We are
\nnot and cannot until the confounded quarrel with Matter is settled.<\/span><\/p>\n

1-2-1935 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/b>
\nWhat is this "confounded quarrel with Matter"<\/sup> you
\nmention ? Does this refer to the lower vital and physical movements of the Sadhaks?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>:
\nI am not speaking of the Sadhaks, but the resistance of the Earth nature itself
\nin its material parts. But these are things you people cannot understand unless
\nyou have less childlike notions<\/span><\/p>\n

about things.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n2-2-1935<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ: <\/span><\/b>I am still wondering why there
\nshould be doctors and a dispensary at all! Isn’t it a paradox \u2014 the Divine
\nsending his disciples to the human physician?<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A<\/b>:
\nRubbish! This is a world of the play of the forces, sir, and the Doctor is a
\nforce. So why should not the Divine use him ? Have you realised that if the
\nDivine did everything, there would be no world, only a show of marionettes ?<\/span><\/p>\n

2-2-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nUSE OF SPIRITUAL FORCE FOR CURING ILLNESSES
\n<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nI might say a word about Ramakrishna’s attitude with regard<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 207<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

to the body. He
\nseems always to have regarded it as a misuse of spiritual force to utilise it for
\npreserving the body or curing its ailments or taking care for it. Other Yogis \u2014
\nI do not speak of those who think it justifiable to develop Yogic siddhis \u2014<\/i>
\nhave not had this complete disregard of the body: they have taken care to
\nmaintain it in good health and condition as an instrument or a physical basis
\nfor their development in Yoga. I have always been in agreement with this view:
\nmoreover, I have never had any hesitation in the use of a spiritual force for
\nall legitimate purposes including the maintenance of health and physical life
\nin myself and in others \u2014 that is indeed why the Mother gives flowers not only
\nas a blessing but as a help in illness. I put a value on the body first as an
\ninstrument, dharmasādhana,<\/i> or, more fully, as a centre of manifested
\npersonality in action, a basis of spiritual life and activity as of all life
\nand activity upon the earth, but also because for me the body as well as the
\nmind and life is a part of the Divine Whole, a form of the Spirit and therefore
\nnot to be disregarded or despised as something incurably gross and incapable of
\nspiritual realisation or of spiritual use. Matter itself is secretly a form of
\nthe Spirit and has to reveal itself as that, can be made to wake to
\nconsciousness and evolve and realise the Spirit, the Divine within it. In my
\nview the body as well as the mind and life has to be spiritualised or, one may
\nsay, divinised so as to be a fit instrument and receptacle for the realisation
\nof the Divine. It has its part in the Divine Lila, even, according to the Vaishnava
\nSadhana, in the joy and beauty of Divine Love. That does not mean that the body
\nhas to be valued for its own separate sake or that the creation of a divine
\nbody in a future evolution of the whole being has to be contemplated as an end
\nand not a means \u2014 that would be a serious error which would not be admissible.
\nIn any case, my speculations about an extreme form of divinisation are
\nsomething in a far distance and are no part of the preoccupations of the
\nspiritual life in the near future.<\/span><\/p>\n

7-12-1949 <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

It is no doubt
\npossible to draw the illnesses of others upon oneself<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 208<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

and even to do it deliberately, the
\ninstance’ of the Greek king Antigonus and his son Dimitrius is a famous
\nhistorical case in point; Yogis also do this sometimes; or else adverse forces
\nmay throw illnesses upon the Yogi, using those round him as a door or a passage
\nor the ill wishes of people as an instrumental force. But all these are special
\ncircumstances connected, no doubt, with his practice of Yoga; but they do not
\nestablish the general proposition as an absolute rule…. On the other side,
\nthere can be an opposite use and result of the Yogic consciousness: illness can
\nbe repelled from one’s own body or cured, even chronic or deep-seated illnesses
\nand long-established constitutional defects remedied or expelled and even a
\npredestined death delayed for a long period. Narayan Jyotishi, a Calcutta
\nastrologer, who predicted, not knowing then who I was, in the days before my
\nname was politically known, my struggle with Mlechchha enemies, and afterwards
\nthe three cases against me and my three acquittals, predicted also that though
\ndeath was prefixed for me in my horoscope at the age of 63, I would prolong my
\nlife by Yogic power for a very long period and arrive at a full old age. In
\nfact, I have got rid by Yogic pressure of a number of chronic maladies that had
\ngot settled in my body. But none of these instances either on the favourable or unfavourable side can be made into a rule; there is no validity
\nin the tendency of human reason to transform the relativity of these things
\ninto an absolute.<\/span><\/p>\n

8-12-1949<\/span><\/p>\n

As for
\nthe Force I use to cure people I shall see also whether I can explain what I
\nmean by Force (the one I refer to is neither supramental nor omnipotent nor
\nguaranteed to work like Beecham’s pills in every case) and how it acts and in
\nwhat conditions.
\nI have tried it in hundreds of cases besides X’s (on my own body first and
\nalways) and I have no doubt of its efficacy or reality under these conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

May, 1933<\/span><\/p>\n

I have not yet
\nwritten about the Force because it is too complex<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 209<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

to be adequately
\nstated in a short space and I had no time these days for anything long. Anyhow,
\nthe clue is that the Force does not act in a void and in an absolute way, like
\nwriting on a blank paper or on the air the : "Let there be Light and there
\nwas Light" formula. It comes as a Force intervening and acting on a very
\ncomplex nexus of Forces that were in action and displacing their disposition
\nand interrelated movement and natural result by a new disposition, movement and
\nresult.<\/span><\/p>\n

It meets in so doing a certain opposition, very often a strong
\nopposition from many of the forces already in possession and operation. To
\novercome it three factors are needed: (1) the power of the Force itself, i.e.,
\nits own sheer pressure and direct action on the field of action (here the man,
\nhis condition, his body); (2) the instrument (yourself); and (3) the
\ninstrumentation (treatment, medicine).<\/span><\/p>\n

I have often used the Force alone, without any human instrument or
\nouter means, but here all depends upon the recipient and his receptivity \u2014
\nunless, as in the case of healers, there are unseen beings or powers that
\nassist.<\/span><\/p>\n

If there is an instrument in direct touch with the patient, whether
\nthe doctors or one who can canalise the Force, then the action is immensely
\nassisted, \u2014 how much depends on the instrument, his faith, his energy, his
\nconveying power. Where there is a violent opposition, this is frequently not
\nenough, or at least not enough for a rapid or total effect, the instrumentation
\n(treatment or medicine) is needed. It is especially where the resistance of
\nthe body or the forces acting on the body-consciousness is strong that the
\nmedicine comes in as an aid.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if the doctor is non-psychic or the medicine the wrong one or
\nthe treatment unplastic, then they become added resistance which the Force has
\nto overcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a summary and a very inadequate statement, but it gives the
\nmain points, I believe.<\/span><\/p>\n

24-1-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S. I forgot to say that the surroundings, especially
\nthe people around the patient, the atmosphere, the suggestions it<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 210<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\ncarries
\nor they give to him, are often of a considerable importance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Speaking semi-seriously,
\nI am not here to do miracles to order, but to try to get in a new consciousness
\nsomewhere in the world \u2014 which is itself however to, attempt a miracle. If
\nphysical miracles happen to tumble in in the process, well and good, but you
\ncan’t present your medical pistol in my face and call on me to stand and
\ndeliver. As for the Force, application of my force, short of the supramental,
\nmeans always a struggle of forces and the success depends (1) on the strength
\nand persistency of the force put out, (2) the receptivity of the subject, (3)
\nthe sanction of the Unmentionable \u2014 I beg your pardon, I meant the Unnameable,
\nIneffable, Unknowable. X’s physical consciousness is rather obstinate, as you
\nhave noticed, and therefore not too receptive. It may feel the Mother inside
\nit, but to obey her will or force is less habitual for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nJanuary, 1935<\/span><\/p>\n

As for me, I have
\nno medico in me, not even a latent medico. If I had, I would not need the
\nexternal one but diagnose, pres\u00adcribe and cure all by my solitary self. My role
\nin a medical case is to use the force either with or without medicines. There
\nare three ways of doing that \u2014 one by putting the Force without knowing or
\ncaring what the illness is or following the symptoms \u2014 that however needs
\neither the mental collaboration or acquiescence of the victim. The second is
\nsymptomatic, to follow the symptoms and act on them even if one is not sure of
\nthe disease. There an accurate report is very useful. The third needs a diagnosis
\n\u2014 that is usually where the anti-forces are very strong and conscious or where
\nthe patient himself answers strongly to the suggestions of the illness and
\nunwittingly resents the action of the Force. This last is usually indicated by
\nthe fact that the thing gets cured and comes back again or improves and swings
\nback again to worse. It is especially the great difficulty in cases of<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 211<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\ninsanity and the like. Also in things where the nerves have a say
\n\u2014but in ordinary illnesses too.<\/span><\/p>\n

2-2-1935<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nQ:<\/span><\/b>
\nIn the case of an illness, how do you…decide whether it is the recrudescence
\nof an old illness or the action of a dark force or even some experience ? From
\nthe description supplied to you?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nA:<\/b> Yes, certainly \u2014 just as you go by the symptoms of a case as seen
\nby you and as related by the patient.<\/span><\/p>\n

18-10-1936<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

HOMEOPATHY,
\nALLOPATHY AND OTHER MEDICAL SYSTEMS<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q:<\/span><\/i><\/b> How fan homeopathy cure
\ndiseases through merely the symptoms and without diagnosis?<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b> Is it not the
\nvery principle of homeopathy that it cures the disease by curing the symptoms?
\nI have always heard so. Do you deny that homeopaths acting on their own system,
\nnot on yours, have cured illnesses ? If they have, is it not more logical to
\nsuppose that there is something in their system than to proclaim the
\nsacrosanct infallibility of the sole all-allopathic system and its principle?
\nFor that matter I myself cure more often by attacking the symptoms than by any
\nother way, because medical diagnosis is uncertain and fallible while the
\nsymptoms are there for everybody to see. Of course if a correct indisputable
\ndiagnosis is there, so much the better \u2014 the view can be more complete, the
\naction easier, the result more sure. But even without infallible diagnosis one
\ncan act and get a cure.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n


\nQ:<\/b> A symptomatic treatment can’t
\nbe applied in cases<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 212<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n

\nwhere
\nthe same symptom is produced by two or three different diseases.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>
\nWhy can’t it? There is a possibility that you can strike at the cure, whatever
\nit be, through the symptoms and you can kill the root through the stalk and
\nleaves and not start by searching for the roots and digging them out. That at
\nany rate is what I do.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nuniverse is not shut up in the four walls of allopathic medicine. There are
\nplenty of cases of illnesses being cured by other systems (not homeopathy
\nalone) when they had defied the allopaths. My experience is not wide but I
\nhave come across a great number of such cases.<\/span><\/p>\n

23-12-1935\u201426-12-1935<\/span><\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/b> X [a homeopath] gives a
\nhigh-blood-pressure patient on the verge of heart-failure "moderate"
\nlicence in eating, drinking etc. He calls it "leaving to Nature!"<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/b>
\nWell, I have followed that system with myself and others and gone on the basis
\nthat Nature is very largely what you make of her or can make of her.<\/span><\/p>\n

28-12-1935 <\/span><\/p>\n

The
\nForce needs an instrument and an instrumentation also sometimes. The instrument
\nwas X,<\/b> the instrumentation partly at
\nleast his drugs. I don’t believe in the story of the inefficiency of
\nhomeopathic drugs only because they are homeopathic. Also, I don’t believe that
\nX knows nothing about them and can’t properly apply them. I have noted almost
\nconstantly that they have a surprising effect, sometimes instantaneous,
\nsometimes rapid and this not in X’s evidence alone, but in the statement of his<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 213<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\npatients
\nand the visible results. Not being an allopathic doctor, I can’t ignore a fact
\nlike that.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tumour, syphilis
\netc. are specialities, but what I have found in my psycho-physical experience
\nis that most disorders of the body are connected, though they go by families,
\nbut there is also connection between the families. If one can strike at their
\npsycho-physical root, one can cure even without knowing the patholo\u00adgical whole
\nof the matter and working through the symptoms as a possibility. Some medicines
\ninvented by demi-mystics have this power. What I am now considering is whether
\nhomeopathy has any psycho-physical basis. Was the founder a demi-mystic? I
\ndon’t understand otherwise certain peculiarities of the way in which X’s
\nmedicines act.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nQ:<\/span><\/i><\/b> Why ignore wonderful things due to thousands of right diagnoses and
\nlet sporadic cases of error loom large in your eyes?<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A:<\/span><\/b> Sporadic cases! I have heard
\nof any number of them, they are as plentiful as blackberries in <\/span>Europe<\/span>. And as for the diffe\u00adrence
\nof diagnosis it is almost the rule except when doctors con\u00adsult together and
\ngive concessions to each other. Don’t try to throw allopathic dust in my eyes,
\nsir! I have lived a fairly long time and seen something of the world before my
\nretirement and much more after it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\nhave put down a few comments to throw cold water on all this blazing hot allopathism.
\nBut all these furious disputes seem to me now of little use. I have seen the
\nworking of both the systems and of others and I can’t believe in the sole truth
\nof any. The ones damnable in the orthodox view, entirely contradicting it,<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 214<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

have their own
\ntruth and succeed \u2014 also both the orthodox and heterodox fail. A theory is only
\na constructed idea-script which represents an imperfect human observation of a
\nline of processes that Nature follows or can follow; another theory is a different
\nidea-script of other processes that also she follows or can follow. Allopathy,
\nhomeopathy, naturopathy, osteopathy, Kaviraji, Hakimi have all caught hold of
\nNature and subjected her to certain processes; each has its successes and
\nfailures. Let each do its work in its own way. I do not see any need for fights
\nand recriminations. For me all are only outward means and what really works are
\nunseen forces from behind; as they act, the outer means succeed or fail \u2014 if
\none can make the process a right channel for the right force, then the process
\ngets its full vitality \u2014 that’s all.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nBIRTHDAY-MESSAGES
\nTO A SADHAK<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A
\nveil behind the heart, a lid over the mind divide us from the Divine. Love and
\ndevotion rend the veil, in the quietude of the mind the lid thins and vanishes.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1936<\/span><\/p>\n

\nMay the inner Sun tranquillise and illumine
\nthe mind and awaken fully the heart and guide it.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1937<\/span><\/p>\n

In
\na quietude of the mind open to the presence of the Divine in your heart and
\neverywhere; in a still mind and heart the Divine is seen like the sun in still
\nwater.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1938<\/span><\/p>\n

\nRise<\/span> into the higher consciousness, let its light control and transform
\nthe nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1939<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 215<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

By the heart’s self-giving the Presence and
\nthe Influence will be there even in the inconscience and prepare the nature for
\nthe true light and consciousness through the whole range of the being. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n9-9-1940<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Put stress always
\non the aspiration within; let that get depth and steadiness in the heart; the
\nouter obstacles of mind and the vital will recede of themselves with the growth
\nof the heart’s love and aspiration.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1941<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep the mind and
\nheart open and turned inward and upward so that when the touch comes from
\nwithin or the flow from above, you may be ready to receive it.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1942<\/span><\/p>\n

To persevere in
\nturning towards the Light is what is most demanded. The Light is nearer to us than
\nwe think and at any time its hour may come.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1943<\/span><\/p>\n

\nTo keep the soul ready for the Divine Grace so that it may be ready
\nto receive it when it comes.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1944<\/span><\/p>\n

A persistent will
\nfor the work to be done in us and in the world is what is most needed; there is
\na sure spiritual result, the growth of the consciousness and the soul’s
\nreadiness for the touch of the Divine’s Light and Power.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1945<\/span><\/p>\n

When the Light
\nenters into the Inconscience which hedges in all<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 216<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n

our being and prevents or limits the
\nmanifestation of the true consciousness in us, when it inhibits the habits and
\nrecurrences and constant repetition of the same stimuli which besiege us and
\nrise from the subconscient, then only can the nature be wholly free and respond
\nonly to the Truth from above.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1946 <\/span><\/p>\n

Clarity of
\nknowledge and inner self-vision, subjugation of the ego, love, scrupulousness
\nin selfless and dedicated works, are the four wheels of the chariot of Yoga.
\nOne who has them will progress safely on the path.<\/span><\/p>\n

9-9-1947<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\nPage \u2013 217<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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