{"id":5498,"date":"2013-07-13T02:02:36","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T02:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=5498"},"modified":"2013-07-13T02:02:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T02:02:36","slug":"18-questions-and-answers-17-vol-07-questions-and-answers-november-1956-november1962","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/02other-editions\/07-questions-and-answers-november-1956-november1962\/18-questions-and-answers-17-vol-07-questions-and-answers-november-1956-november1962","title":{"rendered":"-18_questions and answers 17.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

THE MOTHER<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nQuestions and Answers<\/font><\/i> <\/font><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nSri Aurobindo Ashram\n<\/p>\n

\nPondicherry\n<\/p>\n

\nNovember, 1960<\/b>
\n\n<\/p>\n

\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nReprinted from The Bulletin of S. A. I. C. of Education<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\nNovember, 1960\n<\/p>\n

\nSri Aurobindo  Ashram Press. Pondicherry<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n
\nQuestions and Answers<\/font><\/i> <\/font><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nI<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\tWhy can’t we pass from the rational mind directly to the Supramental, now
\n\tthat the Supramental has descended ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nWho has said that it cannot be done ?\n<\/p>\n

\nSri Aurobindo gives here a description of what one should do to be able to come
\nin contact with the Supramental and prepare the ground for its manifestation.
\nBut now that ,it has entered the earthly atmosphere, I do not see why a precise
\nand single procedure should be inflicted upon it in its rr. an’ festation. If it
\npleases the Supermind to illumine directly an instrument which it finds
\nconvenient or ready or fit, I do not see why it should not do it.\n<\/p>\n

\n     And I repeat, who has said that it could not be
\notherwise ? None. What Sri Aurobindo describes here is another thing and in fact
\nit is what has happened. It was the necessary preparation so that the
\nmanifestation might take place. But now I do not see why or on what basis a
\nparticular procedure should be imposed on the action of the Supermind; why
\nshould it not have the freedom to choose its own means ?\n<\/p>\n

\n    I think one can foresee all possibilities and every sincere
\naspiration, every consecration that is total will have a response. The
\nprocedures, means, transitions, transformations will be innumerable in their
\nnature. It is not at all that things will be done in one way only and not in
\nanother.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Essentially, every one, whoever he may be, who is ready
\nto receive even a particle or a particular aspect of the supramental
\nconsciousness and light must automatically receive it. The effects of this
\nconsciousness and this light are innumerable, because
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-1<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nthey vary themselves surely according to the possibility and capacity of each
\none, according , to the sincerity of his aspiration.\n<\/p>\n

\n     The more total the consecration, the more intense the
\naspiration, the more integral and intense will be the result. But the effects of
\nthe supramental action will be countless in its manifcstation, multiple,
\ninnumerable, infinitely varied, not necessarily following a line precise and the
\nsame for all\u2014that is impossible, for it is contrary to the nature of the
\nsupramental consciousness.\n<\/p>\n

\n    The quality even of the atmosphere is changed; the
\nconsequences must be infinitely varied, but recognisable. That is to say, the
\nconsequences of supramental action could be distinguished from the consequences
\nof ordinary movements, because they will have an especial nature and character.\n<\/p>\n

\n    But this does not mean that anyone, at any moment, in any way
\nis going to become all at once a supramental genius. You must not expect that.\n<\/p>\n

\n     I was going to say if you find that you are a little
\nless stupid than before, it would be already something !\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWill this influence manifest also in the domain of education ? <\/i>Why do
\n\tyou want to ban one domain or another from it? <\/p>\n

\n\tBecause the system of education which we follow is still, as Sri
\n\tAurobindo says, ‘a brilliant poverty of human intellect’.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     You speak of the education you give to your students,
\nno ? But that should have changed long long ago.\n<\/p>\n

\n     People have a lamentable habit of copying what has been
\ndone before and what has been done by others. I told you that long ago. This
\nargument "one must do this, because it is this that is done everywhere". But I
\nreply, ‘It is perhaps because of that that we should not do it ! for if all
\nothers do it, what is the good of our also doing that ?’
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-2<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n        But how can it be done without
\nyour intervention ?<\/i><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n       But why do you ask me ? You must first of
\nall change your system of education in accordance with the principles of the
\nSupramental. At least you try. You should not ask, you should do it. If you
\nalways move in the same rut, you may continue in the rut indefinitely. You must
\ntry to get out of it.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Indeed I am having a constant discussion on the
\nsubject. I believe today, or perhaps yesterday, I was pleading for the right of
\nevery one to remain in ignorance if it so pleased him. I do not speak of the
\nignorance according to the spiritual conception\u2014the world of ignorance in which
\nwe are\u2014I do- not speak of that. I speak of ignorance, according to the classical
\nconception of education. Well, I say that if there are beings who do not want to
\nbe educated, who do not like to learn, they have the right not to be educated.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Your duty is to tell them only this : "Now, you are of the
\nage when your brain is being made ready, it is being built up. Each new thing
\nyou study, makes a kind of small circumvolution in your head. The more you study
\nand reflect and work, the more complex and complete become the small
\ncircumvolutions of your brain. And as you are young, this is the time when it is
\ndone best. That is why man’s habit has been to choose youth as the age to learn,
\nbecause it is infinitely more easy then. And evidently so long as the child is
\nnot somewhat conscious of himself, he should be subjected to some rule; for, he
\nis not yet capable of choosing by himself.\n<\/p>\n

\n    And that age varies considerably. It depends upon the people,
\nupon each individual. But normally it is understood that within the period of
\nthe seven years that run from seven to fourteen you come to the age of reason.
\nAnd if you are helped you can become a rational being from the age of seven
\nyears to fourteen.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But before seven years\u2014there are geniuses, there are
\nalways geniuses everywhere\u2014the general rule is that the child is not conscious
\nof himself and he does not know why or how to do things. It is the time when he
\nshould be made to cultivate attention,
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-3<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nto learn how to concentrate on what he does, just a sufficient basis so that he
\nmay not be altogether a little animal, but belong to the human race through a
\nprimary intellectual growth.\n<\/p>\n

\n      After that, there is a period of seven years when
\nhe should be taught to choose\u2014choose what he wishes to be. If he chooses to
\npossess a brain rich, complex, well-developed and powerful in its working, then
\nnaturally he must be taught to work; for it is by work, by reflection, by study,
\nby the analytical faculty and all that follows that you form your brain.\n<\/p>\n

\n      At fourteen you are or you should be ready to
\nknow what you want to be. And then I say, if at about that age some children
\ndeclare categorically : "The intellectual development does not interest me at
\nall, I do not want to study, I want to remain ignorant in the ordinary way of
\nignorance", I do not see by what right one should force them to study nor why
\nthey should all be levelled together.\n<\/p>\n

\n      There are some who are at the bottom, there are
\nothers who belong to another rung. There are people who may have very remarkable
\ncapacities but have no taste for intellectual development. They may be warned
\nthat if they do not work, do not study, they will feel embarrassed perhaps in
\nthe presence of others when they are grown up. But if it is all the same for
\nthem and if they want to live a life that is not intellectual, I consider that
\nnone has the right to force them.\n<\/p>\n

\n     That is my constant quarrel with the teachers of the
\nschool ! They come and tell me, if they do not work, they will be stupid and
\nignorant. I say, if it pleases them to be stupid and ignorant, what right have
\nyou to interfere ?\n<\/p>\n

\n     You cannot make knowledge and intelligence compulsory.
\nThat’s all.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Now if you believe that by abstaining from all effort
\nand study, you will become geniuses, and supramental geniuses into the bargain,
\ndo not have illusions, please, that will never happen to you. For even if you
\ncome in touch with the higher light, by your inner aspiration or by the divine
\ngrace, you will have nothing
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-4<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nthere in your head to be able to express it. So, that will remain in quite a
\nnebulous state and will change nothing in your external life. But if it pleases
\nyou to be like that, nobody has any right to force you to be otherwise; you must
\nwait till you have enough consciousness to enable you to choose.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Evidently there are people who at fourteen years
\nare like children of five years. But such persons have not much hope, especially
\nthose who have lived here.\n<\/p>\n

\n     This then changes altogether your point of view in the
\nmatter of education.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Fundamentally the only thing <\/i>you must do
\nassiduously is to teach them to know themselves, and to choose their own
\ndestiny, the way they want to follow. Teach them to look at themselves, to
\nunderstand themselves\u2014and to will by themselves. This is much more important
\nthan to teach them what happened upon earth once upon a time or even how the
\nearth is built, or even…that is a]^ kinds of things which are rather a
\nnecessary foundation if you wish to live the ordinary life in the world, because
\nif you do not know them, you will be outright beaten intellectually : "Oh, that
\none, he is an idiot, he knows nothing".\n<\/p>\n

\n     But even so you may take up books and work, at any age
\nwhatsoever, if you are studying and have the will; you need not go to school for
\nthat. There are enough books in the world for you to learn things. Even there
\nare many more books than necessary. You can exhaust any subject by simply going
\nthere, to Medhananda, in the Library. You will have enough of it to fill you up
\nto this (gesture).\n<\/p>\n

\n     But what is very important is to know what is it that
\nyou want. And for that a minimum of freedom is necessary. One must not be under
\nthe stress of compulsion or obligation. One must be allowed to do things
\nwillingly. If you are lazy, well, you will know what is meant by being
\nlazy….You know, in life, the lazy are obliged to labour ten times more than
\nthe others, because what they do they do badly and so they are obliged to do it
\nover again. But these things are to be learnt by experience. They cannot be
\npressed into you.
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-5<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n     The mind, if it is not under check, is something fluid,
\nimprecise. If you do not have the habit of concentrating it on some subject, it
\nis floating about all the time. It goes about, stops nowhere and floats in a
\nworld of imprecision. And then when you want to fix your attention, how painful
\nit is! You make just a little effort, there, "Oh, it is tiring, it pains !" and
\nyou give up. You live in a cloud as it were. You have your head (it is like
\nthat, most of the heads are like that) in the clouds. It has neither precision
\nnor exactitude nor clarity, it is hazy\u2014vague and misty. You have more the
\nimpressions rather than the knowledge of things. You live in an approximation
\nand you can keep within yourself all kinds of contradictory ideas made out of
\nyour impressions and sensations and feelings and emotions\u2014all kinds of things
\nsuch as these that have very little to do with thought and are mere
\n"vaguenesses".\n<\/p>\n

\n     But if you want to attain a thought, precise, concrete,
\nclear, definite on a certain point, you must make an effort, gather yourself,
\nfix yourself, concentrate yourself. And the first time you do it, literally it
\npains you, it tires you !\n<\/p>\n

\n     But if you do not make a habit of it, the whole of your
\nlife you live floating. And when you deal with practical things, when you are in
\nthe presence, for in spite of everything you are always in the presence of a
\nmore or less large number of problems requiring solution, in an altogether
\npractical order, then you are unable to pick up the elements of the problem, put
\nthem all in the front of each other, look at the question from all sides, place
\nyourself above and then see the solution, instead, you are tossed about in a
\nswirl of something grey and uncertain, it is like so many spiders running about
\nin your head\u2014you will not succeed in catching the thing.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Naturally I am speaking of the simplest of problems. I
\ndo not speak of deciding the fate of the world or humanity or even that of a
\ncountry, nothing of that. I am speaking of the problem of your daily life, of
\nevery day\u2014that too becomes something absolutely woolly.\n<\/p>\n

\n     To avoid this you arc told when your brain is being
\nformed not to let it be formed with those habits and qualities, but try
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-6<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\ninstead to give it some exactitude, precision, capacity to concentrate, to
\nchoose, to decide, put things face to face, try to make use of reason.\n<\/p>\n

\n     It is of course well understood that reason is not the
\nsupreme capacity of man, one has to go beyond it; but it is also quite evident
\nif you do not have it, you will live an altogether incoherent life, you will not
\neven know how to behave in a rational manner. The least thing will upset you
\ncompletely and you will not know why and still less how to remedy it.\n<\/p>\n

\n    On the other hand, one who has a settled condition of active
\nclear reason in him is able to face assaults of all kinds, assaults of emotions
\nor assaults of some tests, because life is wholly made of these
\nthings\u2014disagreeable things or things small but that are proportionate to one who
\nfeels them and he who feels them feels them naturally to be very great because
\nthey are according to his measure. Reason, however, can stand back a little;
\nlook at all that and smile and say, "oh, no, you must not make much ado about
\nsuch a trifle".\n<\/p>\n

\n     If you do not possess reason you will be like a piece
\nof cork on a raging sea. I do not know if the piece of cork suffers because of
\nits condition, but it does not seem to me to be of any advantage.\n<\/p>\n

\n     That’s all.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Now, after having said all that\u2014and I have not said it once,
\nbut said it many times to you and I am ready to say it again as many times as
\nyou want\u2014I now leave you entirely free to choose whether you wish to be the cork
\non the sea or to have a clear precise perception and a knowledge of things
\nsufficient for you to be able to advance’\u2014well, simply there where you want to
\ngo.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Because some clarity is indispensable so that you may be able
\neven to follow the path you have chosen. I do not demand that you should become
\nscholars\u2014far from that! because then you fall into the other extreme, you fill
\nyour head with so many things that there is no room for the higher light; but
\nthere is an indispensable minimum so that you may not\u2014well, may not become a
\npiece of cork.
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-7<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tIt is said that the general insufficiency in our studies comes from the
\n\tfact that we attach too much importance to games, to physical education. Is
\n\tit true ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n        Who has said that ? People who do not
\nlike physical education ? Old dried up professors who are not able to do
\nexercises any more ? Is that so ? (I do not ask for names !)\n<\/p>\n

\n       Well, I do not believe so.\n<\/p>\n

\n       You remember the first article that Sri
\nAurobindo wrote in the Bulletin\u2014he answers to such people in a very categorical
\nmanner.\n<\/p>\n

\n       I do not think that it is so. I am
\naltogether convinced that it is not so. I rather believe (and I take the blame
\non myself) that you have been given an almost fantastic freedom, my children \u2014I
\ndo not believe that there is any part in the world where children are so
\nfree\u2014and indeed it is very difficult to make good use of such a freedom.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Yet the experiment was worth the trial. You do
\nnot appreciate it, because you do not know how things are when things are not
\nso; to you here all appears quite natural. But it is very difficult to organise
\none’s own freedom. And yet if you succeed in self-disciplining yourself\u2014for
\nhigher reasons, not for passing examinations, making a career, pleasing your
\nprofessors, getting many prizes, for all such ordinary reasons that children
\nhave \u2014not to be scolded, not to be punished\u2014we put aside all these reasons, and
\nif then you succeed in disciplining yourself (each his own discipline, it is not
\nnecessary to follow the discipline of others) simply because you want to
\nprogress, you want to pull the best out of you then you become beings much
\nsuperior to those who follow the ordinary school disciplines. That is what I
\nwanted to try. I do not say, please note, that I have failed; I have still a
\nbright hope that you will know how to profit by this unique occasion. But there
\nis one thing that you have to find : the necessity of an inner discipline;
\nwithout discipline you can go nowhere, without discipline you cannot even live
\nthe normal fife of the normal man. But instead of having the conventional
\ndiscipline of
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-8<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nordinary societies, ordinary institutions, I wanted, I want still, that you
\nshould have the discipline that you put upon yourself for the love of
\nperfection, your own perfection; the perfection of your being.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But without that… note that if you had not
\ndisciplined your body you could not even stand erect on your two legs; you would
\nhave to be like children on all fours. You would be able to do nothing. You are
\ncompelled to discipline yourself; you could not live in society, you could not
\nlive at all, save perhaps all alone in the forest, and even that I do not know.
\nIt is altogether indispensable, I have told you, I do not know how many times.
\nIt is not that I have a well-marked aversion for conventional disciplines,
\nsocial or other, and that one should abstain from all discipline. I would like
\nrather that everyone should find his own discipline in the sincerity of his
\ninner aspiration and the will to realise oneself.\n<\/p>\n

\n    So then the aim of those who know, teachers, instructors or
\nothers, the very purpose for which they exist would be to inform you, to help
\nyou. When you have a matter which appears difficult to you, you submit your
\nproblem and they with their personal experience can tell you, "No, it is not
\nlike this or like that, you must do that, you must try this". Then instead of
\nforcing you to absorb theories, principles or so-called laws, and a more or less
\nabstract knowledge, they would be there to give you any information, from the
\nmost material to the most spiritual things, each in his own province, each
\naccording to his capacity.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Very evidently if you are thrown into the world without the
\nleast technical knowledge, you can do dangerous things. Take a child who knows
\nnothing, the first thing he will do, if he has matches, for example, is to burn
\nhimself. Therefore, in this field, from the purely material point of view, it is
\ngood that there are people who know and can give you information; for otherwise
\nif each one had to learn by his own experience, one would need several lives to
\nknow of the most indispensable things. That is the use, the true use of
\nprofessors and instructors. They have learnt more or less practically or by a
\nspecial study and they can
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-9<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\ngive you information about things whose knowledge is indispensable. Then you
\ngain time, much time. That is their utility, to answer to questions.\n<\/p>\n

\n     In truth, you must have a brain living enough to have
\nquestions to ask. It looks as if you had nothing to ask me, or it is so rare.
\nThat proves only a terrible mental indolence.\n<\/p>\n

\n    At certain moments I tell you : "do not put questions, try to
\nfind out by yourself certain inner things", it is all right. But when I am here
\nand when I ask you : "Don’t you have questions to put ?"\u2014there is silence. That
\nproves then that you have no mental curiosity. I do not ask you that you should
\nnecessarily put questions on what I have just read; I am always ready to answer
\nany question put by anybody. I must admit however that we are not rich in
\nquestions ! It is not often that I have the occasion to tell you something.\n<\/p>\n

\n    But I make haste to tell you that if you put to me technical
\nquestions of science, physical or any other, I could very well answer : I know
\nnothing of all that, read your books or ask your teacher, but if you put
\nquestions that are of my domain, I will answer always.\n<\/p>\n

\n    So, a last trial: Has anybody here any question to put to me
\n? (Silence)\n<\/p>\n

\n    Admirable ! (The mother laughs). Well, that’s all then.\n<\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n*  *\n<\/p>\n

\nII\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Obscure Birth<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\nLast week I spoke to you of birth : how souls enter into the body; and I told
\nyou that this body is formed in a rather unsatisfactory
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-10<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nway, almost for all people\u2014the exceptions are so rare that it is hardly worth
\nthe trouble to speak about them.\n<\/p>\n

\n       I told you that you come, through this
\nobscure birth, with a whole physical baggage containing things that you have
\ngenerally to get rid of if you are to progress truly. My own words have been
\nquoted which are : "you are brought by force, an environment is imposed on you
\nby force, the laws of atavism are imposed on you by force". Now, the person who
\nwrites to me asks who does all that ?\n<\/p>\n

\n       Evidently I could have been more explicit,
\nbut I thought I was sufficiently clear.\n<\/p>\n

\n      The body is formed by a man and a woman who
\nbecome the father and the mother. And they are the people who do not have even
\nthe means to ask the being they are about to bring upon earth whether it liked
\nto come or whether it was in accord with their destiny. It is upon such a body
\nformed by them that they impose, by the force of necessity, an atavism, an
\nenvironment and later on an education which will be almost always obstacles in
\nhis future growth.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Therefore I have said here and say it over again
\n(I thought I was clear) that it is a matter of physical parents and physical
\nbody, nothing else and that the soul which incarnates, whether it is growing or
\nfully grown has to struggle against the circumstances imposed upon it by the
\nanimal birth, struggle to find its true way and find back again its own full
\nself. That is all.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Now, if you have some other thing to ask; nobody
\nhas anything to say ?\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tIs it possible for the father and the mother to bring to birth …to
\n\t\task for the soul they want ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     Ask ? For that they must have an occult knowledge,
\nwhich they generally don’t have. But in any case, what is possible is not to do
\nthe thing like an animal driven by instinct or desire, unwillingly most often
\nbut to do it instead with a will and aspiration;
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-11<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nthey must put themselves in a condition of aspiration, almost of prayer so that
\nthe being they are going to build may be a form suitable for embodying a soul\u2014a
\nsoul they are able to call down to incarnate in that form. I have known
\npeople\u2014they were not many, such things do not happen often, still I have known
\nsome people who chose special circumstances, prepared themselves by
\nconcentration and meditation and a special aspiration, and sought to bring down
\ninto the body they were about to form an exceptional being.\n<\/p>\n

\n     In certain countries of ancient ages, and even now, the
\nwoman who is about to have a child is placed under special conditions of beauty
\nand peace and ease, under very harmonious physical conditions so that the child
\nmay be formed under the best conditions possible. This is evidently what should
\nbe done, for it is within the measure of human possibility. Human beings are
\nsufficiently developed for the thing not to be quite exceptional. And yet it is
\nquite exceptional, because very few think of it, while there are innumerable
\npeople who produce children without even wanting it.\n<\/p>\n

\n     That is what I wished to say.\n<\/p>\n

\n    It is therefore possible to call down a soul, but then one
\nmust have a little consciousness oneself and then one must seek to do what one
\ndoes in the best conditions. It is very rare, but it is possible.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen a body is formed, is the soul incarnating there obliged to incarnate
\n\tin that body ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n          I do not understand the
\nquestion very well.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe formation of the body depends wholly upon a man and a woman; but is
\n\tthe soul that manifests in the child, in the body that is forming, obliged
\n\tto manifest in that body ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n         You mean whether the soul can
\nchoose between different bodies ?
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-12<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tYes.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n      Of course, it is very exceptional, in spite of
\neverything, in this formidable human mass for a conscious soul to take a body
\naccording to its will. It is a very rare fact. I have already told you that when
\na soul is conscious, fully formed and wants to take a body, generally it seeks
\nfrom its psychic domain to see a corresponding psychic light somewhere upon the
\nearth. Also, during its previous incarnation, before it passed away, before it
\nleft the earthly atmosphere, the soul, as the result of the experience it has
\nhad in the life that has terminated, generally chooses more or less (not in all
\ndetails but on the whole) the conditions of its future life. But these are
\nexceptional cases. For ourselves, it may be, we might speak of this, but for the
\nmajority, the vast majority of human beings, even among those who are educated,
\nthe question does not arise at all. What comes is a psychic being in formation,
\nmore or less formed and here there are all the stages of formation from the
\nspark becoming a little light up to the fully formed being and that extends over
\nthousands of years. This ascent of the soul to become a conscious being having
\nits own will, capable of deciding the choice of its life, takes thousands of
\nyears.\n<\/p>\n

\n     So you want to speak of a soul that would say "No, I
\nrefuse this body, I am going to look for another" … I do not say that it is
\nimpossible\u2014everything is possible. In fact, there are cases of still-born
\nchildren : it means there was no soul to incarnate in them. But that may be for
\nother reasons also, for reasons of malformation only, one cannot say. I do not
\nsay that the thing is impossible, but generally when a conscious and free soul
\nchooses to take a body again on earth, even before the birth it works upon that
\nbody. It has therefore no reason for not accepting even the inconveniences that
\nmay be due to the ignorance of the parents; for it has chosen the place, because
\nof a reason that is not a reason of ignorance, it has seen a light there\u2014it may
\nbe simply the light of a possibility, but there was a light and it is for that
\nthat it came there. So, it is all right to say "Ah, no, it does not please me",
\nbut where could it go to choose something else that might please
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-13<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nit. It may be done. I do not say that it is impossible, but it does not happen
\nvery often; for when the soul looks down from the psychic domain upon earth and
\nchooses the place of its next birth, it chooses with enough diso :imination and
\nis not likely to make a gross blunder.\n<\/p>\n

\n     It happens also that a soul takes up a body because it
\nhas already started on the way. The starting may be due to many reasons. For
\nchildren who die very young, in a few days or weeks, the reason may be something
\nlike that. It is said also that the soul needed just a little experience to
\nterminate its formation, so it had a life of a few weeks and then departed. All
\nis possible. To tell the history of the soul it would need as many stories as
\nare needed to tell the history of man.\n<\/p>\n

\n     So to decide arbitrarily, "It is like this and it is
\nnot like that, this happens and that does not happen", is childishness.
\nEverything can happen. There are cases, some more frequent than others, you can
\ngeneralise, but you can never say, "This is not possible, and it is always like
\nthis or always like that". Things do not happen in this way.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But in any case, yes, in any case, even in the very
\nbest of cases, even when the soul comes consciously, even when it has
\nconsciously taken part in the formation of the physical body, so long as the
\nbody is formed in the usual animal way, you cannot prevent the soul from having
\nto struggle and correct all the things that come from this human animality.\n<\/p>\n

\n     The parents have necessarily a special formation, they
\nare in a specially good or bad health; even putting the things at their best,
\nthe parents have a mass of atavism, habits and formations in the subconscient
\nand even in the consciousness which are the result of their own birth, the
\nenvironment in which they lived and the life they have had; and even if they are
\nremarkable people they have a quantity of things which are altogether contrary
\nto the true psychic life\u2014even the very best, even the most conscious among them.
\nFurthermore, there are all the things that are to come. Even if one takes good
\ndeal of pains for the education of one’s children, they come into contact with
\nall kinds of people who will
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-14<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nhave an influence over them, particularly when they are very young; these
\ninfluences enter into the subconscient and one has to struggle against that
\nlater on. I repeat : even in the best of cases you are compelled, because of the
\nway in which the body is formed now, to meet innumerable difficulties that come
\nmore or less from the subconscient and which rise to the surface and against
\nwhich one must struggle in order to be completely free and develop normally.\n<\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n*  *\n<\/p>\n

\nIII<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\tSri Aurobindo has written: "Andyet there is in the heart or behind it a
\n\tprofounder mystic light…"* What is this mystic light ?<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\tIt is love. <\/p>\n

\n\tAfter that, Sri Aurobindo writes : "which, if not what we call
\n\tintuition\u2014-for that, though not of the mind, yet descends through the
\n\tmind\u2014has yet a direct touch upon the Truth and is nearer to the Divine than
\n\tthe human intellect in its pride of knowledge". What does Sri Aurobindo
\n\tmean?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n          It is not intuition, it
\nis light, it is knowledge through love, understanding through love. Because
\nintuition belongs to the intellect, in its expression at any rate, whereas the
\nother thing is a kind of direct knowledge, almost by identity which comes from
\nlove.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t* The Synthesis of Yog<\/i><\/span>a Chapter V<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-15<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tWhat is this "inner oracle" of which Sri Aurobindo speaks?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n      Oracle ? It is the power of divination,
\nforesight, understanding of symbols\u2014it is in the psychic being. The prophets,
\nfor example do not prophesy with their mind, but by a contact direct, beyond the
\nemotions and feelings. Sri Aurobindo even says that the Vedas, among others,
\nwere not written with the mind, they did not come from the head. The form of the
\nhymn surged spontaneously out of the psychic being, with the words.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIf one is in contact with one’s psychic being, does it mean that one has
\n\tthis power ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n      More or less yes. The more perfect the contact
\nthe greater is the power.\n<\/p>\n

\n     It also depends on the external possibilities of the
\nbeing. But I have already explained it to you several times. I have told you
\nthat when you are in contact with your psychic being, certain faculties develop
\nspontaneously. For example, people who have no intellectual education can have
\nall on a sudden quite a remarkable power of expression which comes like that,
\nspontaneously, through an inner contact with the psychic being.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the heart can serve for a more direct knowledge, then what is the role
\n\tof the intellect as an intermediary of knowledge.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     The mind is not an instrument for knowledge.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But it can utilise knowledge in order to organise
\naction. And that is its true role\u2014the formation and organisation of action. It
\nis mind that puts in order the different elements of inspiration.
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-16<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n      If it confined itself solely to this role,
\nreceiving inspirations from above or from the mystic centre of the soul,
\nformulating simply the plan of action in its broad outlines or in small details,
\nwhether for the smallest things of life or for the biggest organisations of
\nearth, it would fully carry out its function.\n<\/p>\n

\n     You feel that very well, when you want to organise your
\nlife, for example. There is an intellectual faculty which immediately puts each
\nthing in its place, makes a plan and organises.\n<\/p>\n

\n    But the knowledge does not come from the mind; it comes from
\nthe mystic depths of the soul or from a higher consciousness\u2014and the mind
\nconcentrates it in the physical world and organises it in order to give a basis
\nfor action.\n<\/p>\n

\n    The mind has yet another use, when you are in contact with
\nyour reason, with the rational centre of the intellect; for pure reason
\nexercises a powerful control on all vital impulses. All that comes from the
\nvital world can, with the help of reason, be utilised in a disciplined and
\norganised action. Only it should be at the service of some other thing, of a
\nhigher ideal or of the divine consciousness and not be satisfied with itself.\n<\/p>\n

\n    These are the two functions of the mind : it is a force for
\ncontrol, an instrument for control and it is a power for organisation. That is
\nits true place.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIs it through love alone that one can realise the Divine ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     Yes, my child, certainly. It is even the most direct
\nway.\n<\/p>\n

\n    You can realise the Divine, that is to say, identify yourself
\nwith the Divine, become fully conscious of the Divine, be an instrument of the
\nDivine; but naturally, you do not realise the integral yoga, for your
\nrealisation is along a single line.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut without mental development, you cannot express the Divine ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n           You cannot express
\nit intellectually, but you can express it in
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-17 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

\naction, you can express it in your feelings, you can express it in your life.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSometimes, when you have depression, it lasts long; but when you have a
\n\tjoy that is not ordinary, it does not last.<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n\tYes, it is true. <\/p>\n

\n\tThen what should one do in order to make it last ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n          But it is not the same
\npart of the being that has the depression and the joy.\n<\/p>\n

\n         You are confusing delight with
\npleasure, pleasure which belongs to the vital, it is a very fugitive thing; and
\nin life, life as it is now there are more occasions for displeasure than for
\npleasure. Pleasure is simply an agreeable sensation and it is an extremely
\nfugitive thing, you cannot hold it long, because if the same vibration of
\npleasure continues a little long, not only it gets blunted, but becomes
\nunpleasant or even repugnant\u2014yet it is exactly the same vibration. Then quite
\nnaturally it comes and it goes.\n<\/p>\n

\n         But if you speak of delight, it
\nis altogether different\u2014it is a kind of warmth, an illumination in the heart
\n(you can have delight in the head also), a blissful illumination. That is a
\nvirtue that has not yet reached the state of full development.\n<\/p>\n

\n         Yet delight is there,
\nconstantly in the truth of the being, in the reality of the being, in your true
\nself, in your soul, in your psychic being, delight is present constantly.\n<\/p>\n

\n         That has nothing to do with
\npleasure, it is a kind of inner felicity.\n<\/p>\n

\n         But you are rarely in a
\ncondition to feel it, unless you have become fully conscious of your psychic
\nbeing. That is why when it comes, it is fugitive, for the necessary
\npsychological condition is not fulfilled. On the other hand, you are almost
\nconstandy in your ordinary vital state where the least unpleasant thing creates
\nvery
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-18<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nspontaneously depression\u2014depression if you are weak, or revolt, if you are
\nstrong. Any desire not satisfied, any impulse that knocks against an obstacle,
\nany unpleasant contact with outside, creates very easily and very spontaneously
\na depression or a revolt; because it is the normal state of things\u2014normal in
\npresent life.\n<\/p>\n

\n     The only thing that can be lasting is delight, if you
\nenter into contact with the truth of your being, because that contains this
\ndelight permanently.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there is a double action in the heart, that of pure emotion and that
\n\tof vital impulse. How is this mixture possible ? Because both have their
\n\tseat in the heart, is it not so ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     Not at the same spot.\n<\/p>\n

\n     It is not our physical heart that is referred to, it is
\nthe heart centre (Mother points here to the middle of the chest). But there are
\nvarious depths.\n<\/p>\n

\n    The more you come to the surface the more it is mixed up
\nnaturally with vital impulses, even with purely physical reactions, purely
\nphysical sensations. The deeper you go, the less the mixture. And if you go
\nsufficiently deep, you find behind it the absolutely pure feeling. It is a
\nquestion of depth.\n<\/p>\n

\n    But you are thrown outward all the time; all the time you
\nfive in such a superficial sensation, that it is as if you were almost outside
\nyourself. The moment you want to observe yourself a little, control yourself a
\nlittle, simply know what is happening, you are obliged to withdraw, pull inward
\nsomething that is there constantly on the surface. It is this surface
\nconsciousness which receives all the external contacts, which puts you in
\ncontact with similar vibrations coming from others. And that occurs almost
\noutside yourself.\n<\/p>\n

\n    That is the constant dispersal of the ordinary consciousness.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Take, for example, a movement, an inspiration coming from the
\npsychic depths of the being (for, there is a kind of inspiration coming from the
\ndepths even in those who are not conscious of
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-19<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\ntheir psychic). It is obliged to come to the surface, if it is to make itself
\nperceived. And as it comes nearer to the surface, it gets mixed up with all
\nkinds of things that have nothing to do with it, but which seek to make use of
\nit. As for example all the desires and passions of the vital, these, as soon as
\na force from the depths rises to the surface, capture it for their own
\nsatisfaction. Or else in the case of people who live in the mind and want to
\n"understand" their experience, weigh it, judge it, it is the mind that captures
\nthe inspiration or the force that rises up, for its own benefit, for its own
\nsatisfaction and that mixes up and spoils everything. And it is constantly like
\nthat, constantly do the surface movements introduce themselves into the
\ninspiration of the depths and deform, veil, soil and spoil it completely, so
\nmuch so that one can no longer recognise it.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy don’t these external impulses get themselves transformed by contact
\n\twith the inner inspiration instead of destroying everything ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n      Excuse me, there is a reciprocal movement and
\nthat depends on the proportion. All these things are not irremediable, because,
\notherwise there would be no hope of progress. The inner inspiration acts
\nnecessarily, it is not wholly absorbed or destroyed\u2014it is not that. It acts, but
\nit gets mixed up, it loses its purity and something of its original power. At
\nthe end, something still remains and the result depends on the proportion of the
\nforces, and this proportion is very different in different individuals.\n<\/p>\n

\n     For some, when the inner psychic makes a decision and
\nsends out a force, it is quite visible, it is visibly a psychic inspiration.
\nSometimes one can see as though a shadow is passing which comes from the mind or
\nthe vital; but they are unimportant interventions and are not able to change
\ntruly the nature of the psychic inspiration if they are not allowed to get the
\nupper hand.\n<\/p>\n

\n     A moment comes when a deliberate call is made on the
\ninner inspiration and you submit to it and when it can pass through
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-20<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nalmost wholly pure and make you act according to the Divine Will\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is said : "Follow your soul and not your mind that leaps at
\n\tappearances…" How to practise that in everyday life ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n         It is a purely individual
\nquestion.\n<\/p>\n

\n         The first condition is just
\nthis, to receive the inspirations from the soul\u2014of which we were speaking just
\nnow\u2014because if you do not receive them, how can you follow your soul ? You must
\nbe a Utile conscious of your soul. And when the inspirations come, naturally you
\nmust obey them instead of obeying your reasoning intellect.\n<\/p>\n

\n         But how to do it, by what
\nprocess, is a purely personal matter. Each one must find his own procedure and
\nfor each one the procedure is different. Everything depends on the degree to
\nwhich you are conscious of the inspirations from your soul and the degree of
\nidentity you have with it.\n<\/p>\n

\n        You cannot give one single remedy for
\neverybody in the world.\n<\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n*  *\n<\/p>\n

\nIV\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tSri Aurobindo has said that one must find a light within, then
\n\t\tsurrender to the divine Shakti. Now that the Supramental has come down,
\n\t\twill it be easier ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n      Well, that is the light within, now. What is the
\ndifficulty ? Where do you see any objection or contradiction ? What is your
\ndifficulty ?
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-21<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tWhat is the effect of this descent ?<\/i><\/b> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n      Wait for it to happen in you and you will know.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Very well. Imagine that in a dark room you have
\nput a kerosene lamp, that burns by kerosene as in other times\u2014some sixty years
\nago there used to be kerosene lamps in the rooms instead of candles; it was a
\nlittle better, but it came to be about the same. At that time you lighted your
\nroom by that, then suddenly someone invents the means of having light by
\nelectricity. So your kerosene lamp is replaced by a beautiful electric lamp
\nwhich lights ten times better.\n<\/p>\n

\n      What is your difficulty, your problem ?\n<\/p>\n

\n      You had always a fight to light your room\u2014your
\nroom inside \u2014but instead of a kerosene lamp, it has become now an electric lamp.
\nThat is all. You do not understand ? It is not very difficult to understand.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Can one see this light ?<\/i> <\/p>\n

    
\nSee ? well, enter into the room, you will see it. <\/p>\n

\n     How to enter into the room ? <\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n     <\/i>You take a key and open the door.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Or sit down in front of the door until you have found the
\nword, the idea or the force that opens, as in the stories of the Arabian Nights.
\nIt is not a joke, it is very serious. You must sit down before the door and then
\nconcentrate until you have found the key or the word or the power to open it.\n<\/p>\n

\n    If you do not try, the door does not open by itself. Perhaps
\nafter thousands of years it might, but you want to do it immediately\u2014then ? To
\ndo it immediately, you must sit down with obstinacy before the door till you
\nhave found the means. It may be a key, it may be a word, it may be a force, does
\nnot matter what, and you remain in front of the door until it opens.
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-22<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tYou do not think of any other thing. <\/p>\n

\n\tYou think only of your door. <\/p>\n

\n\tIs there no keyhole by which the light escapes ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n         Keyhole ! What does that mean ?
\nA slit by which the light gets out ?…Perhaps it does get out, but perhaps you
\no not see it !\n<\/p>\n

\n         It does get out.\n<\/p>\n

\n        But that is another problem; you must
\nopen your eyes. You must learn to open your eyes, to look.\n<\/p>\n

\n       Very small children do not see; very small
\nanimals too do not see, young kittens do not see. They take some hours or some
\ndays before they can see.\n<\/p>\n

\n        You must learn to see.\n<\/p>\n

\nV\n<\/p>\n

\nA constant self-widening<\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n       Since the end of February I have been
\nreceiving a considerable number of questions : "How the Supermind is going to
\nact, what we must do to receive it, under what form it will manifest" ? I have
\nanswered as best as I could. But it happens that in the book On the Veda
\n<\/b> <\/i>by Sri Aurobindo, there is a footnote on a certain page and in this
\nnote he has given his answer to the questions. I always tell people, if you take
\na little trouble and read what Sri Aurobindo has written, many of your questions
\nwill become useless, because he has already answered them. However it is
\npossible they have neither the time, nor the patience,
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-23<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nnor the will nor anything necessary; they do not read. Books appear, they are
\neven, I believe, generously distributed, but very few people read them. Let it
\nbe, here is Sri Aurobindo’s answer. Try to think over and if you have a special
\nquestion to put, I will answer. Listen:\n<\/p>\n

\n\t"The supramental world has to be formed or created in us by the Divine Will
\n\tas the result of a constant expansion and self-perfecting". (On the Veda,
\n\t<\/b><\/i>p. 463, note 2) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     That is to say, for you to hope to receive, utilise and
\nform in you a supramental being and consequently a supramental world, there must
\nbe in you first of all an expansion of the consciousness and a constant
\nself-perfection, not to have impulsions, a little aspiration, a little effort,
\nthen fall back again into somnolence\u2014it must be the constant idea of the being,
\nthe constant will of the being, the constant effort of the being, the constant
\npreoccupation of the being.\n<\/p>\n

\n     If you happen to remember for five minutes per day,
\nthat there is something in the universe like the supramental force and that
\nafter all it would be good if it manifested in me, then for the rest of the time
\nyou think of something else, then there is not much chance for it to come and
\nwork seriously in you. Sri Aurobindo says it very clearly and precisely. He does
\nnot say that you will do it, he says it is the Divine Will. So don’t come and
\nsay, "Ah, I cannot do it myself". You are not asked to do it, but you must have
\nin your being a sufficient aspiration and adhesion for the expansion of the
\nbeing, the expansion of the consciousness to be possible.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Because to tell the truth, everybody is small, small,
\nsmall, so small that there is no room to put the supramental. It is so small
\nthat it is already filled up with all the small ordinary human movements. You
\nmust widen it to a large extent in order to make room for the movements of the
\nSupramental.\n<\/p>\n

\n    And then there must be an aspiration for progress, not to be
\nsatisfied with what one is, as one is, with what one does, with
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-24<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nwhat one knows or believes that one knows, but to have a constant aspiration
\ntowards something more, something better, towards a greater light, a wider
\nconsciousness, a truth more true, a good more universal. And over and above
\nthat, a good will that never fails.\n<\/p>\n

\n       This cannot be done in a few days.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Besides, I believe I took, from this point of
\nview, my precautions and when I announced that now it was given to earth to
\nreceive the supramental force for manifesting it, it did not mean that the
\nmanifestation would be evident instantaneously and that everybody would find
\nhimself suddenly transported to the peak of light and possibility and
\nrealisation, without any effort. I said at the very moment that it would not be
\nlike that; I even said that it would take quite a long time. However, people
\ncomplained that its coming has not made things easier and that even in certain
\ncases it became more difficult. I am very sorry, but I am helpless. Because it
\nis not the fault of the Supramental Force. It is the fault of the way in which
\nit is received. For I know cases where the aspiration was truly sincere and the
\ncollaboration complete and where many things that had appeared before very
\ndifficult became at once infinitely more easy.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But there is a great difference always between a kind
\nof mental curiosity which plays with ideas and words and a true aspiration of
\nthe being which is the cause why truly it is that that counts essentially and
\nnothing else\u2014this aspiration, this inner will which is the cause why nothing has
\nany value except that, <\/i>that realisation, nothing counts except that and
\nyou have no other reason for existing, no other reason for living than that.<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n   And yet it is that which you must have, if you want the Supramental
\nto show itself to the naked eye. Note I am not speaking of a physical
\ntransformation, for you all know that you do not expect to become overnight
\nluminous, plastic, to lose your weight, freely move from place to place, to
\nappear at a dozen of places at the same time and so on.. ..No, I believe you are
\nreasonable enough not to expect all that to happen immediately\u2014that will take
\nsome time.\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-25<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n     After all, it is simply the working of the
\nconsciousness, simply a certain self-mastery, a control over the body, a direct
\nknowledge of things, a capacity for identification and a clear vision instead of
\nthis cloudy and hazy vision which sees only the appearance which is so
\ndeceptive, so unreal, so fossilised. A more direct perception, an inner
\nperception, that must come; it will come soon if you are prepared.\n<\/p>\n

\n   Simply to have this sensation that the air one breathes is more
\nliving, that the force one has is more durable; and instead of groping always
\nlike one blind to know what is to he done, to have a precise, clear, inner
\nintimation : it is this, not that, this. These are the things that can be
\nacquired immediately, if one is prepared.\n<\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n*  *\n<\/p>\n

\nVI <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tIt is said that if you see a shooting star and if at the same moment
\n\t\tyou aspire for something, this aspiration is fulfilled in the course of
\n\t\tthe year. Is this true ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     The aspiration must be formulated during the time the
\nstar is visible, and it does not last long. But if an aspiration could be
\nformulated in such a short time, it means that the aspiration is present there
\nall the time in front of the consciousness. (I do not speak naturally of
\nexternal things, I speak of a spiritual aspiration). And necessarily the thing
\nthat dominates your consciousness can realise itself very quickly.\n<\/p>\n

\n     I had an occasion to make this experiment, exactly
\nthat. At the very moment when the star was passing, out came from the
\nconsciousness, "I aspire that the body should realise the divine union".\n<\/p>\n

\n    And before the end of the year it was done. But it was not
\nbecause of the star ! it was because it dominated
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-26<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nthe whole of my consciousness\u2014I was thinking only of that, I was wanting only
\nthat, I was acting only for that. And then this thing that takes generally a
\nlifetime (it is said that the minimum io 35 years !) was done before the end of
\ntwelve months.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But I was thinking only of that.\n<\/p>\n

\n    And it is because I was thinking only of that that just
\nduring the lightning passage of the star I could formulate my aspiration \u2014not
\nmerely a vague impression\u2014formulate in exact words as "I aspire that the body
\nshould realise the divine union !"\n<\/p>\n

\n    Therefore it is not the star which is the important thing, it
\nis the aspiration. There is no necessity for a shooting star to be there in
\norder to realise quickly ! What is necessary is that the entire will should be
\nconcentrated on one point.\n<\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n*  *\n<\/p>\n

\nVII<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\tWhy do bad thoughts come ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     Did I not tell you why bad thoughts come ? These are
\nquestions as old as the world. I have answered them hundreds of times, however
\nit happens that nothing entered into you.\n<\/p>\n

\n    There are as many reasons as there are bad thoughts ! Each
\none comes from a particular reason : it may be through affinity, it may be
\nthrough teasing, it may be because you call them, because you put yourself in a
\ncondition liable to attack, it may be all that together and many more things
\nstill.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Bad thoughts come because there is some corresponding part in
\nyou; otherwise you might see something passing, before you, but it will not
\nenter into you. I suppose the question means, why, all on a sudden, you think
\nsomething bad. Because the steps are very different.\n<\/p>\n

\n    I have already explained to you that the mental atmosphere is
\nworse than a public place when there is a crowd there : an in-
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-27<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nnumerable quantity of ideas, thoughts of every kind and form intermingle in such
\na complicated tangle that it is impossible to distinguish anything precise; your
\nhead is within that, your mind is still more within, it bathes within there as
\nyou bathe in the sea. And all that comes, goes, passes, turns, knocks, enters,
\ngoes out.\n<\/p>\n

\n     If you were conscious of the mental atmosphere in which
\nyou live, evidently, it would be something maddening ! I think the cerebral
\nlimits of each person are quite necessary, for a long time in life, for they are
\nlike a filter.\n<\/p>\n

\n     If you are to come out of all that and live wholly in
\nthe mental atmosphere as it is, seeing it as it is (it is the same thing with
\nregard to the vital atmosphere also, it is perhaps still more ugly), if you are
\nto live within that, see it as it is, you must be solid, must have a very solid
\ninner compass. At any rate, whether you see it or not, feel it or not, the fact
\nis there, it is like that. So you cannot ask where the bad thoughts come
\nfrom\u2014they are everywhere. Why do they come ? Where could they go ? You are there
\nwithin them.\n<\/p>\n

\n    What guides this filter of consciousness, what makes you
\nconscious of some bad thoughts and not of others is your inner attitude, your
\ninner affinities, inner habits (I am speaking of the mind, not of the psychic),
\nyour training, your cerebral development etc.; that is the kind of filter that
\nhas been formed by your ego and through which some thoughts pass and some do
\nnot, automatically. And that is how the nature of the thoughts you receive may
\nbe for you an indication, quite weighty, as to the nature of your character \u2014it
\nmay be for you very subconscient, because we are not accustomed to know
\nourselves truly, but it is an indication of your general tendency. To say the
\nthing in a somewhat simplified manner, if, for example, you take an optimist, to
\nhim generally optimistic ideas will come, to a pessimist it will be pessimistic
\nideas (I say in a general way); to a man of rebellious nature, it will be
\nrebellious ideas; to a sheepish man it will be sheepish ideas (admitting of
\ncoarse that sheep have ideas)! That is the general normal condition.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Now if you happen to have decided to make some progress
\nand you enter upon the path of Yoga, then a new factor intervenes.
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-28<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nThe moment you want to progress, immediately you knock against the resistance of
\nall that does not want to progress in you and around you; and this resistance
\nnaturally is translated into corresponding thoughts.\n<\/p>\n

\n      Supposing you wanted to progress on the plane of
\nattachment to food, for example, then, there will come to you constantly ideas
\nspecially concerning food, v. hat you should take, what you should not take, how
\nyou should take, how you should not take; these ideas will come to you and they
\nwill appear to you quite natural. And the more you tell yourself within you :
\n"Oh, how I would like to be freed from all that, what an obstacle these
\npreoccupations are to my progress!", the more will they come, quietly, until the
\nmoment when you have really made the inner progress and risen to a level of
\nconsciousness from where you look at these things from a height and then put
\nthem each in its place\u2014which is not a very big place in the universe. And so on
\nfor all things. Therefore your occupations and your affinities put you in
\nrelation, in an almost contradictory manner, not only with ideas which have an
\naffinity- and a relation with your way of being, but with those that are
\ncontrary. And if you do not take care from the very beginning to have a
\ndiscriminating attitude, you will be transformed into a field of mental battle.\n<\/p>\n

\n    "If you can rise to a higher level, simply into the
\nspeculative mental region which does not altogether belong to the ordinary
\nphysical mind, you will be able to see this play, this struggle, all this
\nconflict, all these contradictions like a curiosity that does not touch you,
\ndoes not affect you. If you rise to a still higher level and see the goal
\ntowards which you want to go, then little by little there will come to you the
\ndiscernment between the ideas that are favourable to your progress, which you
\nkeep and those that are in contradiction to this progress, which harm it, alter
\nit; and from the height you will have the power to separate them quietly without
\nbeing wrongly affected. But if you remain there, at that level, in the midst of
\nthis confusion and conflict, you very much run the risk of getting a headache !\n<\/p>\n

\n     The best thing to do is to occupy yourself practically
\nwith
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-29<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nsomething that compels you to a special concentration : study, a work or
\noccupation of the physical body which needs attention, anything that forces you
\nto concentrate on what you are doing and no more be a prey to those ramblings.
\nBut if by mischance you remain there and look at the thing, then surely, as I
\nsaid, you will have a headache; for it is a question that is to be solved either
\nby a descent into the practical life, by a concentration on a practical effort
\nor by rising above and looking from above at all this chaos to put order into it
\nand regulate it.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But you must never remain on the same level, it is a
\nplane which is worth nothing, neither for physical health nor for moral health.\n<\/p>\n

\nVIII <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSri Aurobindo has written : "…it may be safely affirmed that no
\n\tsolution offered can be anything but provisional until a supramental
\n\tTruth-Consciousness is reached by which the appearances of things are put in
\n\ttheir place and their essence revealed and that in them which derives
\n\tstraight from the spiritual essence. In the meanwhile our only safety is to
\n\tfind a guiding law of spiritual experience\u2014or else to liberate a light
\n\twithin that can lead us on the way until that greater direct
\n\tTruth-Consciousness is reached above us or born within us. For all else in
\n\tus that is only outward, all that is not a spiritual sense or seeing, the
\n\tconstructions, representations or conclusions of the intellect, the
\n\tsuggestions or instigations of the Life-Force, the positive necessities of
\n\tphysical things are sometimes half-lights, sometimes false lights that can
\n\tat best only serve for a while<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-30<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n\tor serve a little and for the rest either detain or confuse us…" Will
\n\tyou explain this to us ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     All these things are sometimes a mixed light, that is
\nto say, attenuated knowledge, knowledge mixed with ignorance, and at times they
\nare a false light, not knowledge at all. They are simply ideas, conceptions,
\nways of seeing, ways of feeling\u2014all these things that are considered as
\nknowledge in the ordinary human consciousness.\n<\/p>\n

\n     And the needs of the body, are they too false lights
\n?<\/i>\n<\/p>\n

\n    Sri Aurobindo tells us that even the physical needs which are
\ngenerally considered imperative and about which it is said that they carry their
\ntruth in themselves, are merely a partial light, that is to say, a semblance of
\nknowledge or even a false thing.\n<\/p>\n

\n    This goes right against all modern ideas, no doubt. People
\nhave always the impression that what they call needs of the body are an absolute
\nlaw and if they are not obeyed, if they are refused, a grave error is committed
\nagainst the body and one will have to suffer the consequences. But these needs
\nare a very partial light, it is only a way of seeing the things or it is quite
\nfalse, not a light at all.\n<\/p>\n

\n    If you study the problem closely enough, you will find to
\nwhat extent the so-called needs of the body depend on the mental attitude that
\nyou have towards them. For example, the need to eat. There are people that
\nliterally die of hunger if they do not eat for eight days. There are others who
\ndo it purposely, who take fasting as a principle of Yoga, as a necessity of
\nYoga. For them, at the end of the eight days fast, the body is as healthy as in
\nthe beginning and sometimes better.\n<\/p>\n

\n   Lastly, for all these things it is a question of proportion, of
\nmeasure. Evidently, you cannot live always without eating. It is also evident
\nthat the idea you have of the need to eat is not true. This is in fact quite a
\nsubject for study : "The importance of the mental attitude with regard to the
\nbody".
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-31<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n       Sri Aurobindo does not admit that the needs
\nof the body carry their truth in themselves : he says, "It is not like that, it
\nis only an idea that you have, an impression. It is not a true thing that
\ncarries its truth in itself."\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd is morality useful ? Has it not helped in increasing our
\n\tconsciousness ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     That depends on people. There are people who are helped
\nby it, and there are people who are not helped at all.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Morality is a thing altogether artificial and
\narbitrary, and in the majority of cases, among the best, it puts a check to the
\nspiritual effort by a kind of self-satisfaction that you are in the right way,
\nthat you are a good man, that you are doing your duty, fulfilling all the moral
\nnecessities of life. And you are so self-satisfied that you do not move any
\nmore.\n<\/p>\n

\n    It is very difficult for a virtuous man to enter on the path
\nof God\u2014it has been said very often, but it is quite true, because the virtuous
\nman is very self-satisfied; he has the impression that he has realised what he
\nhad to realise\u2014he has no aspiration any more nor even this elementary humility
\nwhich makes one will for progress.\n<\/p>\n

\n    A so-called sattwic man is generally one who is very
\ncomfortably lodged in his virtue and never thinks of coming out of it.1<\/sup>\n<\/p>\n

\n    That puts you millions of leagues away from the divine
\nrealisation.\n<\/p>\n

\n    What helps, so long as you have not found the light within,
\nis to make a certain number of rules for oneself which naturally must not be
\naltogether rigid and fixed, but should be sufficiendy precise to prevent you
\nfrom going completely away from the right path or from making irreparable
\nerrors\u2014errors the consequences of which you undergo throughout your life.\n<\/p>\n

\n    For that it is good to set up a few principles in yourself,
\nwhich however should be in accordance with each one’s nature.\n<\/p>\n

\n                                 \n<\/p>\n

\n
\n   <\/b>
\n  1<\/font><\/sup> According to Indian
\nterminology the sattwic man is he who is moved by the principle of knowledge,
\nequality and light in opposition to the Rajasic man who lives by his desires and
\npassions, and in opposition also to the tamasic man who lives in inertia and
\nobscurity. <\/font>
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-32<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nIf you adopt a collective social rule, at once you submit to the slavery of the
\ncollective rule; and that prevents you almost radically from making any effort
\ntowards transformation.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat is this spiritual or supramental law of which Sri Aurobindo speaks ?<\/i>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n         It is the truth of each being.\n<\/p>\n

\n        Each being carries in himself his
\nspiritual law, his supramental law. It is not the same for all. For every one it
\nis the truth of his being, that is to say, the <\/i>thing he must realise in
\nthe universe and the <\/b> <\/i>place he jnustoccupy in the world.\n<\/p>\n

\nThat is the truth of his being.\n<\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n*  *\n<\/p>\n

\nIX<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\tIt is said : "the more you give, the more you receive". <\/i><\/p>\n

\n\tIs it applicable to physical energy also ? Can one undertake <\/i><\/p>\n

\n\ta physical work which appears to be beyond one’s capacity ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n      If you did not spend you would never receive. The
\ngreat force for the child to grow, to develop is precisely this that he spends
\nwithout counting.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Naturally when you spend you must recover; but what the
\nchild cannot do one day, he will do it the next day. If you do not spend beyond
\nthe limit you have attained, you will never progress. People who do physical
\nculture, for example, if they make some progress, it is precisely because by
\ndegrees they surpass, go beyond what they could do.\n<\/p>\n

\n     The whole thing is a question of measure. The time
\ngiven to recuperation should be proportionate to the time given to expenditure.\n<\/p>\n

\n     But if you stick to what you can do at a given moment\u2014
\nfirst of all, it is impossible, for if you do not progress you go back.
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-33<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n…Therefore you must always make a little effort to do more than you did, try a
\nlittle more, a little better than what you did the previous day or the previous
\nminute\u2014then you are on the ascending path.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Only the more you increase your effort, the more you
\nmust increase your capacity to receive, your occasions for receiving. If you
\nwant to develop your muscles, for example, want them to make a progressive
\neffort, you must at the same time do what is necessary\u2014massage, hydrotherapy
\netc. to increase their capacity for receptivity.\n<\/p>\n

\n     And rest. But the rest should not mean sinking in the
\nin-conscient\u2014that generally tires more than it gives rest\u2014but a consciqus rest,
\na concentration in which you open yourself and absorb the universal forces.\n<\/p>\n

\n     The limits of the possibilities of the body are so
\nelastic ! People who undergo a rational, scientific and methodical training can
\narrive at absolutely staggering results. They get from their body things which,
\nfor the ignorant and the untrained, are absolutely miraculous, simply because
\nthey trained themselves methodically. But certainly they should progressively
\nsurpass what they can do, not only from the point of view of perfection but from
\nthe point of view of power. And if you are afraid of doing too much, you are
\nsure to go down again and lose your capacities.\n<\/p>\n

\n*<\/p>\n

\n*  *\n<\/p>\n

 \n<\/p>\n

\nX<\/b><\/p>\n

\n\tWhy does one get up tired in the morning, and what should one do to have
\n\tbetter sleep ?<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n     If you get up tired in the morning, it is because of
\ntamas, <\/b> <\/i>nothing else, a formidable mass of tamas; I discovered it
\nwhen I began to do the yoga of the body. It is inevitable so long as the body is
\nnot transformed.\n<\/p>\n

\n    You must lie flat on your back and relax all the muscles and
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-34<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nnerves\u2014it is an easy thing to learn\u2014to be like what I call a piece of cloth on
\nthe bed, nothing else remains. If you can do that with the mind also, you get
\nrid of all stupid dreams that make you more tired when you get up than when you
\nwent to bed. It is the cellular activity of the brain that continues without
\ncontrol, and that tires much. Therefore a total relaxation, a kind of complete
\ncalm, without tension in which everything is stopped. But this is only the
\nbeginning.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Afterwards, a self-giving as total as possible, of all,
\nfrom top to bottom, from the outside to the inmost, and an eradication also as
\ntotal as possible of all resistance of the ego, and you begin repeating your
\nmantra\u2014your mantra, if you have one or any other word which has power over you,
\na word leaping from the heart, spontaneously, like a prayer and that sums up
\nyour aspiration. After having repeated a few times, if you are accustomed to it,
\nyou get into trance. And from that trance you pass into sleep. The trance lasts
\nas long as it should and quite naturally, spontaneously you pass into sleep. But
\nwhen you come back from this sleep, you remember everything, the sleep was but a
\ncontinuation of the trance.\n<\/p>\n

\n     Fundamentally the sole purpose of sleep is to enable
\nthe body to assimilate the effect of the trance so that the effect may be
\naccepted everywhere, to enable the body to do its natural function of the night
\nand eliminate the toxins. And when it wakes up, there is no trace of heaviness
\nwhich comes from sleep, the effect of the trance continues.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Even for those who have never been in trance, it is good to
\nrepeat a mantra, a word, a prayer before going into sleep. But there must be a
\nlife in the words, I do not mean an intellectual signification, nothing of that
\nkind, but a vibration. And on the body its effect is extraordinary : it begins
\nto vibrate, vibrate, vibrate…and quietly you let yourself go as though you
\nwanted to get into sleep. The body vibrates more and more and still more and
\naway you go. That is the cure for tamas.\n<\/p>\n

\n    It is tamas which causes bad sleep. There are two kinds of
\nbad sleep : the sleep that makes you heavy, dull, as though you
\n\n<\/p>\n

\nPage-35<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\nlose all the effect of the effort you put in during the preceding day; and the
\nsleep that exhausts you as if you were passing your time in fight. I have
\nnoticed that if you cut your sleep into slices (it is simply a habit to form)
\nthe nights become better. That is to say, you must be able to come back to your
\nnormal consciousness and aspiration at fixed intervals\u2014come back to the call of
\nthe consciousness….But for that you must not make use of an alarm bell. When
\nyou are in trance, it is not good to be shaken out of it.\n<\/p>\n

\n     When you are about to go into sleep, you can make a
\nformation and say "I shall wake up at such an hour (you do that very well when
\nyou are a child). For the first stretch of sleep you must count at least three
\nhours; for the last one hour is sufficient. But the first one must be three
\nhours at the minimum. On the whole, you have to remain in bed at least seven
\nhours; in six hours you have not time enough to do much (naturally I am looking
\nfrom the point of view of sadhana, to make the nights useful).\n<\/p>\n

\n    To make use of the nights is an excellent thing, it has a
\ndouble effect: a negative effect, it prevents you from falling backward, losing
\nwhatever you have gained\u2014that, indeed, is painful\u2014and a positive effect, you
\nmake some progress, you continue your progress. You make use of the night, then
\nthere is no trace of fatigue any more.\n<\/p>\n

\n    Two things you must eliminate : falling into the torpor of
\nthe inconscience, with all these things of the subconscient and of the
\ninconscient that rise up, invade you, enter into you; and a vital and mental
\nsuperactivity where you pass your time in fighting, literally\u2014terrible battles.
\nPeople come out of that state bruised, as if they had received blows\u2014and they
\ndid receive them, then it is not "as if" ! And I see only one way, change the
\nnature of sleep.\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\nPage-40<\/p>\n

\n

\n

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

  THE MOTHER   Questions and Answers             Sri Aurobindo Ashram Pondicherry November, 1960       Reprinted from The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-07-questions-and-answers-november-1956-november1962","wpcat-137-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5498","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=5498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5498\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}