{"id":936,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=936"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:22","slug":"04-transformation-of-the-mind-vol-24-letters-on-yoga-volume-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/24-letters-on-yoga-volume-24\/04-transformation-of-the-mind-vol-24-letters-on-yoga-volume-24","title":{"rendered":"-04_Transformation of the Mind.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nS<\/font>ECTION<\/font> T<\/font>WO<\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTransformation of the Mind<\/font><\/b> <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    T<\/font><\/b>HERE<\/font> is no reason why one should not
\nreceive through the āhinking mind, as one receives through the vital, the
\nemotional and the body. The thinking mind is as capable of receiving as these
\nare, and, since it has to be transformed as well as the rest, it must be
\ntrained to receive, otherwise no transformation of it could take place. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the ordinary unenlightened activity of the intellect
\nthat is an obstacle to spiritual experience, just as the ordinary unregenerated
\nactivity of the vital or the obscure stupidly obstructive consciousness of the
\nbody is an obstacle. What the sadhak has to be specially warned against in the
\nwrong processes of the intellect is, first, any mistaking of mental ideas and
\nimpressions or intellectual conclusions for realisation; secondly, the restless
\nactivity of the mere mind which disturbs the spontaneous accuracy of psychic
\nand spiritual experience and gives no room for the descent of the true illuminating
\nknowledge or else deforms it as soon as it touches or even before it fully
\ntouches the human mental plane. There are also of course the usual vices of the
\nintellect, \u2013 its leaning towards sterile doubt instead of luminous reception
\nand calm enlightened discrimination; its arrogance claiming to judge things
\nthat are beyond it, unknown to it, too deep for it by standards drawn from its
\nown limited experience; its attempts to explain the supraphysical by the
\nphysical or its demand for the proof of higher and occult things by the
\ncriteria proper to Matter and mind in Matter; others also too many to enumerate
\nhere. Always it is substituting its own representations and constructions and
\nopinions for the true knowledge. But if the intellect is surrendered, open,
\nquiet, receptive, there is no reason why it should not be a means of reception
\nof the Light or an aid to the experience of spiritual states and to the
\nfullness of an inner change. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1243<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

To
\nhave a developed intellect is always helpful if one can enlighten it from above
\nand turn it to a divine use.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nturmoil of mental (intellectual) activity has also to be silenced like the
\nvital activity of desire in order that the calm and peace may be complete.
\nKnowledge has to come but from above. In this calm the ordinary mental
\nactivities like the ordinary vital activities become surface movements with
\nwhich the silent inner self is not connected. It is the liberation necessary in
\norder that the true knowledge and the true life-activity may replace or
\ntransform the activities of the Ignorance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Intellectual
\nactivities are not part of the inner being \u2013 the intellect is the outer mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nintellect can be as great an obstacle as the vital when it chooses to prefer
\nits own constructions to the Truth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Intellect
\nis part of Mind and an instrument of half-truth like the rest of the Mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou have said is perfectly right. To see the Truth does not depend on a big
\nintellect or a small intellect. It depends on being in contact with the Truth
\nand the mind silent and quiet to receive it. The biggest intellects can make
\nerrors of the worst kind and confuse Truth and Falsehood, if they have not the
\ncontact with the Truth or the direct experience. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1244<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Its
\n[the intellect’s] function is to reason from the perceptions of the mind and
\nsenses, to form conclusions and to put things in logical relation with each
\nother. A well-trained intellect is a good preparation of the mind for greater
\nknowledge, but it cannot itself give the yogic knowledge or know the Divine \u2013
\nit can only have ideas about the Divine, but having ideas is not knowledge. In
\nthe course of the sadhana intellect has to be transformed into the higher mind
\nwhich is itself a passage towards the true knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nintellect of most men is extremely imperfect, ill-trained, half-developed \u2013
\ntherefore in most the conclusions of the intellect are hasty, ill-founded and
\nerroneous or, if right, right more by chance than by merit or right working.
\nThe conclusions are formed without knowing the facts or the correct or
\nsufficient data, merely by a rapid inference and the process by which it comes
\nfrom the premisses to the conclusions is usually illogical or faulty \u2013 the
\nprocess being unsound by which the conclusion is arrived at, the conclusion is
\nalso likely to be fallacious. At the same time the intellect is usually
\narrogant and presumptuous, confidently asserting its imperfect conclusions as
\nthe truth and setting down as mistaken, stupid or foolish those who differ from
\nthem. Even when fully trained and developed, the intellect cannot arrive at
\nabsolute certitude or complete truth, but it can arrive at one aspect or side
\nof it and make a reasonable or probable affirmation; but untrained, it is a
\nquite insufficient instrument, at once hasty and peremptory and unsafe and
\nunreliable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nmind does not record things as they are, but as they appear to it. It catches
\nparts, omits others; afterwards the memory and imagination mix together and
\nmake a quite different representation of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis not any weakness of the will or the result of passivity, but an <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1245<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

overhaste
\nof decision upon a mental impulse. That is the usual movement of the mind \u2013 and
\nit is sometimes the fruit of a certain kind of sattwic zeal. But owing to the
\nhaste there is not sufficient time taken to see the opposite side, the defects
\nof the decision taken, or the possible objection that might be made. Peace is
\nthe basis, but into it must come the action of a certain Light from above which
\nshows each thing in its right proportions as a whole \u2013 for the mind at its best
\nis incomplete and usually one-sided in its perceptions without the guidance of
\nsuch a higher Light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most
\npeople who have not knowledge are apt to be opinionated \u2013 they have their ideas
\nand don’t want them to be changed or their fixity disturbed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npoint is that people take no trouble to see whether their intellect is giving
\nthem right thoughts, right conclusions, right views on things and persons,
\nright indications about their conduct or course of action. They have their idea
\nand accept it as truth or follow it simply because it is their idea. Even when
\nthey recognise that they have made mistakes of the mind, they do not consider
\nit of any importance nor do they try to be more careful mentally than before.
\nIn the vital field people know that they must not follow their desires or
\nimpulses without check or control, they know that they ought to have a
\nconscience or a moral sense which discriminates what they can or should do and
\nwhat they cannot or should not do; in the field of intellect no such care is taken.
\nMen are supposed to follow their intellect, to have and assert their own ideas
\nright or wrong without any control; the intellect, it is said, is man’s highest
\ninstrument and he must think and act according to its ideas. But this is not
\ntrue; the intellect needs an inner light to guide, check and control it quite
\nas much as the vital. There is something above the intellect which one has to
\ndiscover and the intellect should be only an intermediary for the action of
\nthat source of true Knowledge. <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1246<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

For
\nthe human thinking mind there are always many sides to everything and it
\ndecides according to its own bent or preference or to its habitual ideas or
\nsome reason that presents itself to the intellect as the best. It gets the real
\ntruth only when something else puts a higher light into it \u2013 when the psychic
\nor the intuition touches it and makes it feel or see.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many
\nthings are bad only in the way people look at them. Things which you consider
\nall right, other people call bad; what you think to be bad, others find quite
\nnatural.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nproper thing is to see all with an unmoved calm, both the \u201cgood\u201d and \u201cbad\u201d as a
\nmovement of Nature on the surface. But to do this truly without error or egoism
\nor wrong reactions needs a consciousness and knowledge that is not personal and
\nlimited.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis very usual for intuitive suggestions to come like that and the mind to
\ndisregard them. It is because the mind is accustomed to follow its own process
\nand cannot recognise or have confidence in the intuition when it comes. The
\nmind has to learn to look at these things when they come and give them value if
\nexperience confirms their truth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In
\nthe sphere of the Spirit are only the eternal truths \u2013 all is eternally itself
\nthere, there is no development, nothing unrealized or striving to be fulfilled.
\nThere are no such things as possibilities therefore. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

        In life, on the other
\nhand, all is a play of possibilities \u2013 nothing is realised, all is seeking to
\nbe realised \u2013 or if not yet seeking, then waiting behind the veil for that.
\nNothing is realised <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1247<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

in
\nits highest form, in its truth or completeness, but all is possible. All these
\npossibilities are derived from the truths above, e.g., the possibility of
\nknowledge, the possibility of love, the possibility of joy, etc. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Intellect, will, etc. are intermediaries which try to catch
\nsomething of the hidden higher truths and bring them into life or else raise
\nlife to them so that the possibilities of life here may become the complete
\nrealities that are already there above.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nintellect is made up of imaginations, perceptions, inferences. The pure reason
\nis quite another thing, but only a few are able to use it. As for knowledge in
\nyoga, it comes first from the higher mind, but even that does not see the whole
\nTruth, only sides of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pure
\nreason deals with things in themselves, ideas, concepts, the essential nature
\nof things. It lives in the world of ideas. It is philosophic and metaphysical
\nin its nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\ndepends on the meaning you attach to words used; it is a matter of
\nnomenclature. Ordinarily, one says a man has intellect if he can think well;
\nthe nature and process and field of the thought do not matter. If you take
\nintellect in that sense, then you can say that intellect has different strata,
\nand Ford belongs to one stratum of intellect, Einstein to another \u2013 Ford has a
\npractical and executive business intellect, Einstein a scientific discovering
\nand theorising intellect. But Ford too in his own field theorises, invents,
\ndiscovers. Yet would you call Ford an intellectual or a man of intellect? I
\nwould prefer to use for the general faculty of mind the word intelligence. Ford
\nhas a great and forceful practical intelligence, keen, quick, successful,
\ndynamic. He has a brain that can deal with thoughts also, but even there his
\ndrive is towards practicality. He believes in rebirth <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1248<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

(metempsychosis),
\nfor instance, not for any philosophic reason, but because it explains life as a
\nschool of experience in which one gathers more and more experience and develops
\nby it. Einstein has, on the other hand, a great discovering scientific
\nintellect, not, like Marconi, a powerful practical inventive intelligence for
\nthe application of scientific discovery. All men have, of course, an
\n\u201cintellect\u201d of a kind; all, for instance, can discuss and debate (for which you
\nsay rightly intellect is needed); but it is only when one rises to the realm of
\nideas and moves freely in it that you say, \u201cThis man has an intellect.\u201d Address
\nan assembly of peasants, you will find, if you give them scope, that they can
\nput to you points and questions which may often leave the parliamentary debater
\npanting. But we are content to say that these peasants have much practical
\nintelligence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The power to discuss and debate is, as I say, a common human
\nfaculty \u2013 and habit. Perhaps it is here that man begins to diverge from the
\nanimal; for animals have much intelligence, many animals and even insects have
\nsome rudimentary power of practical reasoning, but so far as we know, they do
\nnot meet and put their ideas about things side by side or sling them at each
\nother in a debate,\u00b9\u00a0 <\/span>as even the most
\nignorant human can do and very animatedly does.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But this, though a general faculty of the race, is very
\noften specialised, so much so that a man whom it is dangerous to cross in
\ndebate in the field of literature or of science or of philosophy may yet make a
\nfool of himself and wallow contentedly in a quagmire of blunders and fallacies
\nif he discusses politics or economics or, let us say, spirituality or yoga. His
\nonly salvation is the blissful depth of his ignorance which prevents him from
\nseeing what a mess he has made. Again, a man may be a keen legal or political
\ndebater, the two very commonly go together, yet no intellectual. I admit that a
\nman must have some logical intellect to debate well. But, after all, the object
\nof debate is to win, to make your point, and you may do that even if your point
\nis false; success, not truth, is the aim of debate. So I admit what you say
\nwith reservations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I agree also that labels, even when applied to less
\ndeveloped<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9 Perhaps the crows do in the
\ncrow-Parliament sometimes!<\/span> <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1249<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

persons,
\nare unsatisfactory. What we really do is to pick out something prominent and
\nlabel with that as if it were all the person. But classification is impossible
\nwithout that and man’s intellect is driven always to classify, fix
\ndistinctions, set apart with a label. The philosophers have pointed out that
\nScience does it too rigidly and in doing so cuts falsely across the truth of
\nNature. But if we do not do that, we cannot have any Science.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If
\nthe intellectual will always have a greater wideness and vastness, how can we
\nbe sure that he will have an equal fervour, depth and sweetness with the
\nemotional man? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It may be that homo
\nintellectualis<\/i> will remain wider and homo
\npsychicus<\/i> will remain deeper in heart (even when the latter’s inner mind
\nopens up).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do not confuse the higher knowledge and the mental
\nknowledge. The intellectual man will be able to give a wider and more orderly
\nexpression to what higher knowledge he gets than the homo psychicus<\/i>; but it does not follow he will have more of it. He
\nwill have that only if he rises to an equal width and plasticity and
\ncomprehensiveness of the higher knowledge planes. In that case he will replace his
\nmental by his above-mental capacity. But for many intellectuals, so-called,
\ntheir intellectuality may be a stumbling-block as they bind themselves with
\nmental conceptions or stifle their psychic fire under the heavy weight of
\nrational thought. On the other hand, I have seen comparatively uneducated
\npeople expressing higher knowledge with an astonishing fullness and depth and
\naccuracy which the stumbling movements of their brain could never have allowed
\none to suppose possible. Therefore, why fix beforehand by the mind what will or
\nwill not be possible when the above-mind reigns? What the mind conceives as
\n\u201cmust be\u201d need not be the measure of the \u201cwill be\u201d. Such and such a homo intellectualis<\/i> may turn out to be a
\nmore fervent God-lover than the effervescent emotional man; such and such an
\nemotionalist may receive and express a wider knowledge than his intellect or
\neven the intellect of the intellectual man could have harboured or organised.
\nLet <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1250<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

us
\nnot bind the phenomena of the higher consciousness by the possibilities and
\nprobabilities of a lower plane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An
\nunintellectual mind cannot bring down the Knowledge? What then about
\nRamakrishna? Do you mean to say that the majority of the sadhaks here who have
\nnot learned logic and are ignorant of philosophy will never get Knowledge?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If
\none has faith and openness that is enough. Besides there are two kinds of
\nunderstanding \u2013 understanding by the intellect and understanding in the
\nconsciousness. It is good to have the former if it is accurate, but it is not
\nindispensable. Understanding by the consciousness comes if there is faith and
\nopenness, though it may come only gradually and through steps of experience.
\nBut I have seen people without education or intellectuality understand in this
\nway perfectly well the course of the yoga in themselves, while intellectual men
\nmake big mistakes, e.g. take a neutral mental quietude for the spiritual peace
\nand refuse to come out of it in order to go farther.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nthe active mind in people with a very intellectual turn can be an obstacle to
\nthe deeper more silent spiritual movement. Afterwards when it is turned into
\nthe higher thought (intuitive, or overmental) it becomes on the contrary a
\ngreat force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nthinking mind has to learn how to be entirely silent. It is only then that true
\nknowledge can come. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1251<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Good;
\ncessation of thought and other vibrations is the climax of the inner silence.
\nWhen once one has got that, it is easier for the true knowledge to come from
\nabove in place of the mental thought.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis necessary to curb the mind’s impatience a little. Knowledge is progressive \u2013
\nif it tries to leap up to the top at once, it may make a hasty construction
\nwhich it will have afterwards to undo. The knowledge and experience must come
\nby degrees and step by step.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In
\nthe mind there is always a certain haste to seize quickly at what is presented
\nto it as the highest Truth. That is unavoidable, but the more one is stilled in
\nmind the less it will distort things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That
\nis always the difficulty with the mind. It must learn to be silent and let the
\nknowledge come without trying to catch hold of it for its own play.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nattempt of the mind and vital to seize on the experience is always one of the
\nchief obstacles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An
\nexperience should be allowed its full time to develop or have its full effect.
\nIt should not be interrupted except in case of necessity or, of course, if it
\nis not a good experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

During
\nthe experience the mind should be quiet. After the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> <\/span>
\n1252<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

experience
\nis over it can be active. If it is active while it is there, the experience may
\nstop altogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To
\nthink and question about an experience when it is happening is the wrong thing
\nto do; it stops it or diminishes it. Let the experience have its full play \u2013 if
\nit is something like this \u201cnew life force\u201d or peace or Force or anything else
\nhelpful. When it is over, you can think about it \u2013 not while it is proceeding.
\nFor these experiences are spiritual and not mental and the mind has to be quiet
\nand not interfere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis something in you that does want to stick to the habit of mentalising about
\neverything. So long as you were not having real experiences it did not matter.
\nBut once real experiences begin you have to learn to approach them in the right
\nway.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nhave to learn by experience. Mental information (badly understood, as it always
\nis without experience) might rather hamper than help. In fact there is no fixed
\nmental knowledge about these things, which vary infinitely. You must learn to
\ngo beyond the hankering for mental information and open to the true way of
\nknowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nare two centres or parts of the consciousness \u2013 one is a witness,
\nsāk<\/span>ş<\/span><\/i>i
\n<\/i>
\n<\/span>and
\nobserves, the other consciousness is active and it is this active consciousness
\nthat you felt going down deep into the vital being. If your mind had not become
\nactive, you would have known where it went and what it went there to experience
\nor do. When there is an experience, you should not begin to think about it, for
\nthat is of no use at all and it only <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1253<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

stops
\nthe experience \u2013 you should remain silent, observe and let it go on to its end.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIt
\nwas not an imagination, but an experience. When such an experience occurs, the
\nattempt to take hold of it mentally and continue it may on the contrary
\ninterrupt it. It is best to let it continue of itself; if it ceases, it is
\nlikely to recur.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Aspiration
\nduring the period of experience is not so necessary. It is in the intervals
\nthat it should be there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nthe personal mind is still, whatever mental action is needed is taken up and
\ndone by the Force itself which does all the necessary thinking and
\nprogressively transforms it by bringing down into it a higher and higher plane
\nof perception and knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis perfectly possible to do work in an entire emptiness without any
\ninterference or activity of the lower parts of the consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis in the silence of the mind that the strongest and freest action can come,
\ne.g., the writing of a book, poetry, inspired speech, etc. When the mind is
\nactive it interferes with the inspiration, puts in its own small ideas which get
\nmixed up with the inspiration or starts something from a lower level or simply
\nstops the inspiration altogether by bubbling up with all sorts of mere mental
\nsuggestions. So also intuitions or action, etc. can come more easily when the
\nordinary inferior movement of the mind is not there. It is also in the silence
\nof the mind that it is easiest for
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1254<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

knowledge
\nto come from within or above, from the psychic or from the higher
\nconsciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nabsence of thought is quite the right thing \u2013 for the true inner consciousness
\nis a silent consciousness which has not to think out things, but gets the right
\nperception, understanding and knowledge in a spontaneous way from within and
\nspeaks or acts according to that. It is the outer consciousness which has to
\ndepend on outside things and to think about them because it has not this
\nspontaneous guidance. When one is fixed in this inner consciousness, then one
\ncan indeed go back to the old action by an effort of will, but it is no longer
\na natural movement and, if long maintained, becomes fatiguing. As for the
\ndreams, that is different. Dreams about old bygone things come up from the
\nsubconscient which retains the old impressions and the seeds of the old
\nmovements and habits long after the waking consciousness has dropped them.
\nAbandoned by the waking consciousness, they still come up in dream; for in
\nsleep the outer physical consciousness goes down into the subconscient or
\ntowards it and many dreams come up from there. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The silence in which all is quiet and one remains as a
\nwitness while something in the consciousness spontaneously calls down the higher
\nthings is the complete silence which comes when the full force of the higher
\nconsciousness is upon mind and vital and body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npure inspiration and conception is something quite different \u2013 it comes from
\ndeep within or from high above. This is the lower vital mind at work making
\nformations. When the calmness is there, all sorts of things may rise on the
\nsurface \u2013 they have not to be accepted, but simply looked at. In time the
\ncalmness will be so developed as to quell the vital and outer mind also and in
\nthat complete quietude the true perceptions will come. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1255<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Not
\nto allow the mind to bubble up with all sorts of ideas and feelings etc. but to
\nremain quiet and learn to think and feel only what is true and right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ndanger of the mental forces is when the higher consciousness descends they tend
\n(unless there is a deep silence) to become active in the consciousness for
\nforming ideas of a mental type which can always be misapplied. First there
\nshould be a basis of entire calm, peace and silence \u2013 if there is activity, it
\nshould be that of a knowledge coming down and the mind silent receiving it
\naccurately. This you can easily have, provided the mind is quiet. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The danger of the vital is that of taking hold of love, Ananda,
\nthe sense of Beauty and using it for its own purposes, for vital human
\nrelations or interchange or else some kind of mere enjoyment of its own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In
\nthe West the physical mind is too dominant, so that the psychic does not so
\neasily get a chance \u2013 except of course in exceptional people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After
\nall India with
\nher mentality and method has done a hundred times more in the spiritual field
\nthan Europe with her intellectual doubts and
\nquestionings. Even when a European overcomes the doubt and questioning, he does
\nnot find it as easy to go as fast and far as an Indian with the same force of
\npersonality because the stir of mind is still greater. It is only when he can
\nget beyond that that he arrives, but for him it is not so easy. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the other hand however your statement is correct. It is
\n\u201cnatural considering the times\u201d and the occidental mentality prevalent
\neverywhere. It is also probably necessary that this should be faced and
\novercome before any Supramental realisation is <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1256<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

possible
\nin the earth-consciousness \u2013 for it is the attitude of the physical mind to
\nspiritual things and as it is in the physical that the resistance has to be
\novercome before the mind can be overpassed in the way required for this yoga,
\nthe strongest possible representation of its difficulties was indispensable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To
\nreject doubts means control of one’s thoughts \u2013 very certainly so. But the
\ncontrol of one’s thoughts is as necessary as the control of one’s vital desires
\nand passions or the control of the movements of one’s body \u2013 for the yoga, and
\nnot for the yoga only. One cannot be a fully developed mental being even, if
\none has not a control of the thoughts, is not their observer, judge, master, \u2013
\nthe mental Purusha, manomaya<\/i> puruş<\/span>a<\/i>, sāk<\/i>ş<\/span>ī<\/i>, anumantā<\/i>, īśvara<\/i>. It is no more proper for the mental being to be
\nthe tennis-ball of unruly and uncontrollable thoughts than to be a rudderless
\nship in the storm of the desires and passions or a slave of either the inertia
\nor the impulses of the body. I know it is more difficult because man being
\nprimarily a creature of mental Prakriti identifies himself with the movements
\nof his mind and cannot at once dissociate himself and stand free from the swirl
\nand eddies of the mind whirlpool. It is comparatively easy for him to put a
\ncontrol on his body, at least on a certain part of its movements; it is less
\neasy but still very possible after a struggle to put a mental control on his
\nvital impulsions and desires; but to sit like the Tantric yogi on the river,
\nabove the whirlpool of his thoughts, is less facile. Nevertheless, it can be
\ndone; all developed mental men, those who get beyond the average, have in one
\nway or other or at least at certain times and for certain purposes to separate
\nthe two parts of the mind, the active part which is a factory of thoughts and
\nthe quiet masterful part which is at once a Witness and a Will, observing them,
\njudging, rejecting, eliminating, accepting, ordering corrections and changes,
\nthe Master in the House of Mind, capable of self-empire, sāmrājya<\/i>. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The yogi goes still farther; he is not only a master there,
\nbut even while in mind in a way, he gets out of it as it were and stands above
\nor quite back from it and free. For him the image of the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1257<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

factory
\nof thoughts is no longer quite valid; for he sees that thoughts come from
\noutside, from the universal Mind or universal Nature, sometimes formed and
\ndistinct, sometimes unformed and then they are given shape somewhere in us. The
\nprincipal business of our mind is either a response of acceptance or a refusal
\nto these thought-waves (as also vital waves, subtle physical energy waves) or
\nthis giving a personal-mental form to thought-stuff (or vital movements) from
\nthe environing Nature-Force. It was my great debt to Lele that he showed me
\nthis. \u201cSit in meditation,\u201d he said, \u201cbut do not think, look only at your mind;
\nyou will see thoughts coming into it<\/i>;
\nbefore they can enter throw these away from your mind till your mind is capable
\nof entire silence.\u201d I had never heard before of thoughts coming visibly into
\nthe mind from outside, but I did not think either of questioning the truth or
\nthe possibility, I simply sat down and did it. In a moment my mind became
\nsilent as a windless air on a high mountain summit and then I saw one thought
\nand then another coming in a concrete way from outside; I flung them away
\nbefore they could enter and take hold of the brain and in three days I was
\nfree. From that<\/p>\n

moment,
\nin principle, the mental being in me became a free Intelligence, a universal
\nMind, not limited to the narrow circle of personal thought as a labourer in a
\nthought factory, but a receiver of knowledge from all the hundred realms of
\nbeing and free to choose what it willed in this vast sight-empire and
\nthought-empire. I mention this only to emphasise that the possibilities of the
\nmental being are not limited and that it can be the free Witness and Master in
\nits own house. It is not to say that everybody can do it in the way I did it
\nand with the same rapidity of the decisive movement (for, of course, the latter
\nfullest developments of this new untrammelled mental power took time, many
\nyears) but a progressive freedom and mastery of one’s mind is perfectly within
\nthe possibilities of anyone who has the faith and the will to undertake it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nerror comes from thinking that your thoughts are your own and that you are
\ntheir maker and if you do not create thoughts (i.e. think), there will be none.
\nA little observation ought to show <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1258<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

that
\nyou are not manufacturing your own thoughts, but rather thoughts occur in you.
\nThoughts are born, not made \u2013 like poets, according to the proverb. Of course,
\nthere is a sort of labour and effort when you try to produce or else to think
\non a certain subject, but that is a concentration for making thoughts come up,
\ncome in, come down, as the case may be, and fit themselves together. The idea
\nthat you are shaping the thoughts or fitting them together is an egoistic
\ndelusion. They are doing it themselves, or Nature is doing it for you, only
\nunder a certain compulsion; you have to beat her often in order to make her do
\nit, and the beating is not always successful. But the mind or nature or mental
\nenergy \u2013 whatever you like to call it \u2013 does this in a certain way and carries
\non with a certain order of thoughts, haphazard intelligentialities (excuse the
\nbarbarism) or asininities, rigidly ordered or imperfectly ordered
\nintellectualities, logical sequences and logical inconsequences, etc., etc. How
\nis an intuition to get in in the midst of that waltzing and colliding crowd? It
\ndoes sometimes; in some minds often intuitions do come in, but immediately the
\nordinary thoughts surround it and eat it up alive, and then with some fragment
\nof the murdered intuition shining through their non-intuitive stomachs they
\nlook up smiling at you and say, \u201cI am an intuition, sir.\u201d But they are only
\nintellect, intelligence or ordinary thought with part of a dismembered and
\ntherefore misleading intuition inside them. Now in a vacant mind, vacant but
\nnot inert, (that is important) intuitions have a chance of getting in alive and
\nwhole. But don’t run away with the idea that all that comes into an empty mind
\nwill be intuitive. Anything, any blessed kind of idea can come in. One has to
\nbe vigilant and examine the credentials of the visitor. In other words, the
\nmental being must be there, silent but vigilant, impartial but discriminating.
\nThat is, however, when you are in search of truth. For poetry, so much is not
\nnecessary. There it is only the poetic quality of the visitor that has to be
\nscrutinised and that can be done after he has left his packet \u2013 by results.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That
\nis the way things come, only one does not notice. Thoughts, <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1259<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

\nideas,
\nhappy inventions etc., etc., are always wandering about (in thought-waves or
\notherwise), seeking a mind that may embody them. One mind takes, looks, rejects
\n\u2013 another takes, looks, accepts. Two different minds catch the same
\nthought-form or thought-wave, but the mental activities being different, make
\ndifferent results out of them. Or it comes to one and he does nothing, then it
\nwalks off saying, \u201cO this unready animal!\u201d and goes to another who promptly
\nwelcomes it and it settles into expression with a joyous bubble of inspiration,
\nillumination or enthusiasm of original discovery or creation and the recipient
\ncries proudly, \u201cI, I have done this.\u201d Ego, sir! ego! You are the recipient, the
\nconditioning medium, if you like \u2013 nothing more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

First
\nof all, these thought-waves, thought-seeds or thought-forms or whatever they
\nare, are of different values and come from different planes of consciousness.
\nThe same thought-substance can take higher or lower vibrations according to the
\nplane of consciousness through which the thoughts come in (e.g., thinking mind,
\nvital mind, physical mind, subconscient mind) or the power of consciousness
\nwhich catches them and pushes them into one man or another. Moreover, there is
\na stuff of mind in each man and the incoming thought uses that for shaping
\nitself or translating itself (transcribing we usually call it), but the stuff
\nis finer or coarser, stronger or weaker, etc., etc., in one mind than in
\nanother. Also, there is a mind-energy actual or potential in each which differs
\nand this mind-energy in its recipience of the thought can be luminous or
\nobscure, sattwic, rajasic or tamasic with consequences that vary in each case.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They
\n[the ideas in the universal Mind] take word-form in the mind when they enter
\ninto it \u2013 unless they come from beings, not as mere idea-forces. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1260<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

This
\nis a wrong psychology. Thought is quite possible without words. Children have
\nthoughts, animals too \u2013 thoughts can take another form than words. Thought
\nperceptions come first \u2013 language comes to express the perceptions and itself
\nleads to fresh thoughts.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mental
\nknowledge is of little use except sometimes as an introduction pointing towards
\nthe real knowledge which comes from a direct consciousness of things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is
\ngetting knowledge from above and getting it by the mind in its own capacity the
\nsame thing? If the mind is capable then there is no need of knowledge from
\nabove, it can do the getting of knowledge by its own greatness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis not a mental knowledge that is necessary, but a psychic perception or a
\ndirect perception in the consciousness. A mental knowledge can always be
\nblinded by the tricks of the vital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[greater perfection in knowledge] can come only by further development and the
\nactivity of another kind of knowledge communicating itself to the physical and
\ntaking up gradually the functions of the mind in all its parts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Knowledge
\nis always better than ignorance. It makes things <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1261<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

possible
\nhereafter if not at the moment, while ignorance actively obstructs and
\nmisleads.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nare different kinds of knowledge. One is inspiration, i.e. something that comes
\nout of the knowledge planes like a flash and opens up the mind to the Truth in
\na moment. That is inspiration. It easily takes the form of words as when a poet
\nwrites or a speaker speaks, as people say, from inspiration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nidea is not enough. It gives only a half-light \u2013 you must get to all the Truth
\nthat lies behind the idea and the object together. Being, consciousness, force
\n\u2013 that is the triple secret.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis a power in the idea \u2013 a force of which the idea is a shape. Again, behind
\nthe idea and force and word there is what is called the spirit, \u2013 a
\nconsciousness which generates the force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nconsciousness comes from the one Consciousness \u2013 Knowledge is one aspect of the
\nDivine Consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[spiritual knowledge] is the conscious experience of the Truth, seen, felt,
\nlived within and it is also a spiritual perception (more direct and concrete
\nthan the intellectual) of the true significance of things which may express
\nitself in thought and speech, but is independent of them in itself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\nwas speaking of your experiences of the higher consciousness, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1262<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of
\nyour seeing the Mother in all things \u2013 these are what are called spiritual
\nrealisations, spiritual knowledge. Realisations are the essence of knowledge;
\nthoughts about them, expression of them in words are a lesser knowledge and if
\nthe thoughts are merely mental without experience or realisation, they are not
\nregarded as Jnana in the spiritual sense at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nmind in its higher part is aware of being one with the Divine, in all ways, in
\nall things \u2013 having that supreme knowledge, it is not disturbed by its own
\nignorance and impotence in its lower instrumental parts; it looks on all that
\nwith a smile and remains happy and luminous with the light of the supreme
\nknowledge. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The consciousness of union with the Divine is for the
\nspiritual seeker the supreme knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nit happens like that. A touch of realisation is enough to set the higher mind
\nknowledge or the illumined mind knowledge flowing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Such
\nquestions should not be allowed to stop the flow [of higher knowledge].
\nAfterwards one can consider them and get the answer. The knowledge that comes
\nis not necessarily complete or perfect in expression; but it must be allowed to
\ncome freely and amplifications or corrections can be made afterwards.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Neither
\nknowledge nor anything else is constant at first \u2013 and even when it is there
\none cannot expect it to be always active. That comes afterwards. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1263<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

What
\nis to be left out is the ego. Limitation of knowledge will necessarily be there
\nso long as there is not the fullest wideness from above; that does not matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your
\nmind is too active. If it were more quiet and less questioning and
\nargumentative and restlessly wanting to find devices it seems to me that there
\nwould be more chance of knowledge coming down and of intuitive,
\nnon-intellectual consciousness developing within you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So
\nlong as the outer mind is not quiet, it is impossible for the intuition to
\ndevelop. So if you want to go on asking intellectual questions about what is
\nbeyond the intellect until the intuition develops in spite of this activity,
\nyou will have to go on for ever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis the physical mind that raises all these questions and cannot understand or
\ngive the right answer. The real knowledge and understanding can only come if
\nyou stop questioning with the small physical mind and allow a deeper and wider
\nconsciousness which is there within you to come out and grow. You would then
\nget automatically the true answer and the true guidance. Your mistake is to
\nattach so much importance to the external mind and its ideas and perceptions
\ninstead of concentrating on the growth of the inner consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A
\nthousand questions can be asked about anything whatsoever, but to answer would
\nrequire a volume, and even then the mind would understand nothing. It is only
\nby a growth in the consciousness itself that you can get some direct perception
\nof these <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1264<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

things.
\nBut for that the mind must be quiet and a direct feeling and intuition take its
\nplace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nyou get the true intuitive plane, there will be no need for instructions or
\nquestions as to how to do sadhana. The sadhana will do itself under the light
\nof the intuition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That
\nis always the case. Things said of sadhana \u2013 or any kind of real truth \u2013 always
\ngive more meaning with the growth of consciousness and experience. That is why
\nwhen one rises in the level of consciousness the truth seen before in the mind
\nbecomes a new and vastly deeper thing always.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\none thing always is to let the Peace and Power work and not allow the mind to
\nseek after things and get disturbed. All the values of the mind are
\nconstructions of ignorance \u2013 it is only when your psychic being comes forward
\nthat you have the true knowledge \u2013 for your psychic being knows.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nthat is the point. The ordinary mind governed by the vital desires and its own
\nmental formations cannot understand \u2013 it must fall quiet and allow the Peace
\nand Force to work so as to bring another consciousness with the true Light in
\nit. When that is done, these questionings and their reactions will have no
\nplace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nhave only to allow the consciousness to develop \u2013 at first there will be
\nmistakes as well as true ideas, but when there is sufficient development and
\nthe Mother’s force and knowledge <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1265<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

directly
\nworking in you, things will become more and more right\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 not only so, but you will have the certitude.
\nAt present there is still too much of the old physical mind for perceptions to
\nbe always right. As the Peace and Force take direct and complete possession of
\nthe physical consciousness, this will change and the consciousness develop more
\nsurely and with a greater light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Get
\nback to the true feeling<\/i> of the Force
\nand Peace \u2013 the understanding will grow with the growth of that feeling and
\nexperience. For with the Force and Peace comes always something of the Light
\nand it is the Light illumining the mind that brings the understanding. So long
\nas you try to understand with the unillumined mind, mistakes and
\nnon-understanding are inevitable. <\/p>\n

III<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis the nature of the physical mind not to believe or accept anything that is
\nsupraphysical unless it is enlightened and compelled by the light to do it. Do
\nnot identify yourself with this mind, do not consider it as yourself but only
\nas an obscure functioning of Nature. Call down the light into it until it is
\ncompelled to believe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nit [the physical mind] reasons, but on the basis of external data mostly \u2013 on
\nthings as they appear to the outer mind and senses or the habitual ideas to
\nwhich it is accustomed or to a purely external knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[the physical mind] is the instrument of understanding and ordered action on
\nphysical things. Only instead of being obscure and ignorant and fumbling as now
\nor else guided only by an external knowledge it has to become conscious of the
\nDivine and <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1266<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

to
\nact in accordance with an inner light, will and knowledge putting itself into
\ncontact and an understanding unity with the physical world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nmeans that the outer physical mind has a certain obscurity in it which impedes
\nthe knowledge from coming out. This obscurity is universal in the external
\nphysical mind \u2013 you feel it more just now because it is in the physical
\nconsciousness that the opposition is now centred. It will pass as soon as the
\nForce can descend through the mind and vital and act directly on the physical
\nnature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou felt was the obscurity of the external physical mind and nature (the centre
\nin the throat is the centre of this external mind). So long as that is there
\nthe external nature and action remain as they always were and there is no
\ncorrespondence between it and the inner spiritual consciousness and experience.
\nThis cannot disappear by a single experience; a steady will to change is
\nnecessary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou say is quite true. No personal effort can get these things done; that is
\nwhy we tell you always to keep yourself quiet and let the peace and the force
\nwork. As for understanding, it is your physical mind that wants to understand,
\nbut the physical mind is incapable of understanding these things by itself \u2013
\nfor it has no knowledge of them and no means of knowledge. Its standards also
\nare quite different from the standards of the true knowledge. All the physical
\nmind can do is to be quiet and allow the light to come into it, accepting it,
\nnot interposing its own ideas \u2013 then it will progressively get the knowledge.
\nIt can’t get it in this way; it must surrender.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1267<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

It
\nis the function of the outward physical mind to deal with external things \u2013
\nthat is why it wants always to be busy with them. What it has to learn is to be
\nquiet and to act only when the Will wants to use it, when it is really needed \u2013
\nand also to act only on what the Will wants to deal with, not run about in a
\nrandom manner. When it becomes quiet, it can then go inside and come into
\ncontact and unity with the inner physical consciousness. The wideness and peace
\nas it grows can do much to quiet the physical mind and give it an inward source
\nof deeper action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou have now seen and describe in your letter is the ordinary activity of the
\nphysical mind which is full of ordinary habitual and constantly recurrent
\nthoughts and is always busy with external objects and activities. What used to
\ntrouble you before was the vital mind which is different, \u2013 for that is always
\noccupied with emotions, passions, desires, reactions of all kinds to the
\ncontacts of life and the behaviour of others. The physical mind also can be
\nresponsive with these things but in a different way \u2013 its nature is less that
\nof desire than of habitual activity, small common interests, pains and
\npleasures. If one tries to control or suppress it, it becomes more active. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To deal with this mind two things are necessary, (1) not so
\nmuch to try to control or fight with or suppress it as to stand back from it:
\none looks at it and sees what it is but refuses to follow its thoughts or run
\nabout among the objects it pursues, remaining at the back of the mind quiet and
\nseparate; (2) to practise quietude and concentration in this separateness,
\nuntil the habit of quiet takes hold of the physical mind and replaces the habit
\nof these small activities. This of course takes time and can only come by
\npractice. What you propose to do is therefore the right thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Detach
\nyourself from it [the habitual movement of thoughts] \u2013 make your mind external
\nto it, something that you can observe <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1268<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

as
\nyou observe things occurring in the street. So long as you do not do that it is
\ndifficult to be the mind’s master.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Quite
\nright. But that is a common experience \u2013 it is extraordinary how long it takes
\nfor the simple and right thing to do to dawn on the physical mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[the psychic] can have a very great influence [on the physical mind] by giving
\nit the right attitude and the right way of looking at things so that it
\nsupports the emotional being in its aspiration, love and surrender and itself
\ngets interest, faith and insight in the inner truth of things instead of seeing
\nonly their outer aspects and following false inferences and appearances. It
\nalso helps it to get rid of the narrowness and doubt which are the chief
\ndefects of the physical mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npsychic if it gets hold of them [the physical mind and the vital physical] can
\nchange completely their will and outlook and orientation and open them to the
\ntrue perception of things and right impulse. The mind and higher vital can help
\nmuch towards that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nthe physical mind is disturbed by the vital, it is not easily convinced because
\nits reasoning is supplied to it by the vital which thinks according to its own
\ndesires and feelings \u2013 unless a great clarity from the psychic or from the
\nthinking mind above comes to the rescue. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

        It is the psychic consciousness, not
\nperfect but still well developed, that supports some of those whom you mention
\nand makes it easy for them to go on in faith \u2013 but it is only after much vital
\ndifficulty that it developed in them, \u2013 and there is <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1269<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

no
\nreason why that should not happen speedily in you also.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[the physical mind being intuitivised] is when instead of seeing things as they
\nappear to the external mind and senses, one begins to see things about them
\nwith a subtler physical mind and sense \u2013 e.g. seeing intuitively what is to be
\ndone, how to do it, what the object (even so-called inanimate objects) wants or
\nneeds, what is likely to happen next (or sometimes sure to happen), what forces
\nare at play on the physical plane etc. etc. Even the body becomes intuitively
\nconscious in this way, feels without being told by the mind what it has to do,
\nwhat it has to avoid, what is near it or coming to it (though unseen) etc. etc.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Certainly.
\nIt [the changed physical mind] can press upon it [the physical vital] the true
\nattitude and feeling, make the incoming of the wrong suggestions and impulsions
\nmore difficult and give full force to the true movements. This action of the
\nphysical mind is indispensable for the change of the whole physical
\nconsciousness even to the most material, though for that the enlightening of
\nthe subconscient is indispensable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIV<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For
\none who wants to practise sadhana, sadhana must come first \u2013 reading and mental
\ndevelopment can only be subordinate things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mental
\ndevelopment may or may not help sadhana \u2013 if the mind is too intellectually
\ndeveloped on certain rationalistic lines, it may hinder. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1270<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

I
\ndon’t know that it [mental work] helps the sadhana and I don’t quite understand
\nwhat is meant by the phrase. What is a fact is that mental work like physical
\nwork can be made a part of the sadhana, \u2013 not as a rival to the sadhana or as
\nanother activity with equal rights and less selfish and egoistic than seeking
\nthe Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis obvious that poetry cannot be a substitute for sadhana; it can be an
\naccompaniment only. If there is a feeling (of devotion, surrender etc.), it can
\nexpress and confirm it; if there is an experience, it can express and strengthen
\nthe force of experience. As reading of books like the Upanishads or Gita or
\nsinging of devotional songs can help, especially at one state or another, so
\nthis can help also. Also it opens a passage between the external consciousness
\nand the inner mind or vital. But if one stops at that, then nothing much is
\ngained. Sadhana must be the main thing and sadhana means the purification of
\nthe nature, the consecration of the being, the opening of the psychic and the
\ninner mind and vital, the contact and presence of the Divine, the realisation
\nof the Divine in all things, surrender, devotion, the widening of the
\nconsciousness into the cosmic Consciousness, the Self one in all, the psychic
\nand the spiritual transformation of the nature. If these things are neglected
\nand only poetry and mental development and social contact occupy all the time,
\nthen that is not sadhana. Also the poetry must be written in the true spirit,
\nnot for fame or self-satisfaction, but as a means of contact with the Divine
\nthrough inspiration or of the expression of one’s own inner being as it was
\nwritten formerly by those who left behind them so much devotional and spiritual
\npoetry in India; it does not help if it is written only in the spirit of the
\nwestern artist or litterateur. Even works or meditation cannot succeed unless
\nthey are done in the right spirit of consecration and spiritual aspiration
\ngathering up the whole being and dominating all else. It is lack of this
\ngathering up of the whole life and nature and turning it towards the one aim,
\nwhich is the defect in so many here that lowers the atmosphere and stands in
\nthe way <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1271<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

of
\nwhat is being done by myself and the Mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Study
\ncannot take the same or a greater importance than sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIf
\nthe power to meditate long is there, a sadhak will naturally do it and care
\nlittle for reading \u2013 unless he has reached the stage when everything is part of
\nthe yogic consciousness because that is permanent. Sadhana is the aim of a
\nsadhak, not mental development. But if he has spare time, those who have the
\nmental turn will naturally spend it in reading or study of some kind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dhyāna<\/i> and work are both helpful
\nfor this yoga to those who can do both. Reading
\nalso can be made helpful.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Half
\nan hour’s meditation in the day ought to be possible \u2013 if only to bring a
\nconcentrated habit into the consciousness which will help it, first to be less
\noutward in work and, secondly, to develop a receptive tendency which can bear
\nits fruits even in the work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nreading can be done for the improvement of the mental instrument as part of the
\nsadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In
\nthe beginning of the sadhana you need nothing more than just what you say,
\n\u201cconcentration with faith, devotion and sincerity\u201d <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1272<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

on a
\nform of the Divine Being \u2013 you can add prayer or the name, if you like. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

        Reading
\ngood books can be of help in the early mental stage \u2013 they prepare the mind,
\nput it in the right atmosphere, can even, if one is very sensitive, bring some
\nglimpses of realisation on the mental plane. Afterwards the utility diminishes
\n\u2013 you have to find every knowledge and experience in yourself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This
\nis quite a normal movement. In reading these books you get into touch with the
\nForce behind them and it is this that pushes you into meditation and a
\ncorresponding experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nif one has thought much of one kind of realisation and absorbed the idea deeply
\n\u2013 then it is quite natural that the spiritual experience of it should be one of
\nthe first to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your
\nobjection was to learning languages and specially French as inimical to peace
\nand silence because it meant activity. The mind, when it is not in meditation
\nor in complete silence, is always active with something or other \u2013 with its own
\nideas or desires or with other people or with things or with talking etc. None
\nof these is any less an activity than learning languages. Now you shift your
\nground and say it is because owing to their study they have no time for
\nmeditation that you object. That is absurd, for if people want to meditate,
\nthey will arrange their time of study for that; if they don’t want to meditate,
\nthe<\/p>\n

reason
\nmust be something else than study and if they don’t study they will simply go
\non thinking about \u201csmall things\u201d. Want of time is not the cause of their
\nnon-meditation and pressure for study is not the cause.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1273<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Study
\nand inner silence are good but develop one part of the being only \u2013 the inner
\nsilence can also support a wider work and life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\n[reading] does not take one inwards in any real sense \u2013 it only takes one from
\nthe more physical to the more mental part of the external consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A
\ntime must come when the reading as well as any other outward occupation does
\nnot interfere with the pressure or activity of the higher consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nreading must learn to accommodate itself to the pressure \u2013 that is, be done by
\nthe outer mind while the inner being remains in concentration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That
\nis good. Reading ought not to
\nabsorb the consciousness \u2013 there ought to be the larger part behind detached
\nand conscious in a larger way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\ncan remember at the beginning and offer your reading to the Divine and at the
\nend again. There is a state of consciousness in which only a part of it is
\nreading or doing the work and behind there is the consciousness of the Divine
\nalways.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nthe passion for reading or study seizes hold of the mind, it is like that; one
\nwants to spend all the time doing it. It is a force that wants to satisfy
\nitself \u2013 like other forces \u2013 and takes hold of the consciousness for its
\npurpose. One has to utilize these forces without letting them take hold; for
\nthis there must be the <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1274<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

central
\nbeing always in control of the forces of Nature that come to it, deciding for
\nitself the choice of what it shall accept, how use, how arrange their action.
\nOtherwise each Force catches hold of some part of the personality (the student,
\nthe social man, the erotic man, the fighter) and uses and drives the being
\ninstead of being controlled and used by it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nmovements you describe are not peculiar to you, they are the natural turn of
\nthe vital mind and take similar forms in most people. In sadhana this mind has
\nto be quieted like the rest and its energy controlled, transformed and put to
\nproper purpose; but that takes time and comes only with the growth of the
\nlarger consciousness. The pressure of these movements is too normal for it to
\nbe a good cause for discouragement. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do not think you should stop reading so long as the
\nreading itself does not, as a passion, fall away from the mind; that happens
\nwhen a higher order of consciousness and experiences begin within the being.
\nNor is it good to force yourself too much to do only the one work of painting.
\nSuch compulsion of the mind and vital tends usually either to be unsuccessful
\nand make them more restless or else to create some kind of dullness and
\ninertia. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the work simply aspire for the Force to use you, put
\nyourself inwardly in relation with the Mother when doing it and make it your
\naim to be the instrument for the expression of beauty without regard to
\npersonal fame or the praise and blame of others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Writing
\nitself on ordinary subjects has the externalising tendency unless one has got
\naccustomed to write (whatever be the subject) with the inner consciousness
\ndetached and free from what the outer is doing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis not so easy to do mental work and do sadhana at the same time, for it is
\nwith the mind that the sadhana is done. If one gets<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1275<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

back
\nfrom the mind as well as the body and lives in the inner Purusha consciousness
\nthen it is possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nonly way is to separate the Prakriti and Purusha. When you feel something
\nwithin watching all the mental activities but separate from them, just as you
\ncan watch things going on outside in the street, then that is the separation of
\nPurusha from mental Prakriti.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That
\nonly means that you cannot separate yourself from your mental consciousness in
\nits activity. Naturally, if you take your mental consciousness off the reading,
\nyou can’t understand what is being read, for it is with the mental
\nconsciousness that one understands. You have not to make the mental
\nconsciousness separate from the reading, but yourself separate from the mental
\nconsciousness. You have to be the Witness watching it reading or writing or
\ntalking, just as you watch the body acting or moving. <\/p>\n

\nV<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\nsee no objection to his going on with his studies, \u2013 whether they will be of
\nany use to him for a life of sadhana will depend on the spirit in which he does
\nthem. The really important thing is to develop a stage of consciousness in
\nwhich one can live in the Divine and act from it on the physical world. A
\nmental training and discipline, knowledge of men and things, culture,
\ncapacities of a useful kind are a preparation that the sadhak would be all the
\nbetter for having \u2013 even though they are not the one thing indispensable.
\nEducation in India gives very little of these things, but if one knows how to
\nstudy without caring much for the form or for mere academic success, the life
\nof the student can be used for the purpose. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1276<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

There
\nis no reason why X should not complete his studies or learn something which
\nwill make him useful in life. To be useless is not a qualification for yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\ndoes not help for spiritual knowledge to be ignorant of things of this world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\ncan’t give you a more definite answer. Study is of importance only if you study
\nin the right way and with the turn for knowledge and mental discipline.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nReading
\nand study are only useful to acquire information and widen one’s field of data.
\nBut that comes to nothing if one does not know how to discern and discriminate,
\njudge, see what is within and behind things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No,
\nnot necessarily. It [study of Logic] is a theoretical training; you learn by it
\nsome rules of logical thinking. But the application depends on your own
\nintelligence. In any sphere of knowledge or action a man may be a good theorist
\nbut a poor executist. A very good military theorist and critic if put in
\ncommand of an army might very well lose all his battles, not being able to suit
\nthe theories rightly to the occasion. So a theoretical logician may bungle the
\nproblems of thought by want of insight, of quickness of mind or of plasticity
\nin the use of his capacities. Besides, logic is not the whole of thinking;
\nobservation, intuition, sympathy, many-sidedness are more important. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1277<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

I am
\nnot aware that by learning logic one gets freed from physical things. A few
\nintellectuals lead the mental life and are indifferent to physical needs to a
\ngreat extent, but these are very few.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mental
\ntraining consists of reading, learning about things, acquiring complete and
\naccurate information, training oneself in logical thinking, considering
\ndispassionately all sides of a question, rejecting hasty or wrong inferences
\nand conclusions, learning to look at all things clearly and as a whole.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Common
\nsense by the way is not logic (which is the least commonsense-like thing in the
\nworld), it is simply looking at things as they are without inflation or
\ndeflation \u2013 not imagining wild imaginations \u2013 or for that matter despairing \u201cI
\nknow not why\u201d despairs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A
\nwell-trained intellect and study are two different things \u2013 there are plenty of
\npeople who have read much but have not a well-trained intellect. Inertia can
\ncome to anybody, even to the most educated people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A
\nman may have read much and yet be mentally undeveloped. It is by thinking,
\nunderstanding, receiving mental influences from his intellectual superiors that
\na man’s mind develops.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nIntelligence
\ndoes not depend on the amount one has read, it is a quality of the mind. Study
\nonly gives it material for its work as life also does. There are people who do
\nnot know how to <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1278<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

read
\nand write who are more intelligent than many highly educated people and
\nunderstand life and things better. On the other hand, a good intelligence can
\nimprove itself by reading because it gets more material to work on and grows by
\nexercise and by having a wider range to move in. But book-knowledge by itself
\nis not the real thing, it has to be used as a help to the intelligence but it
\nis often only a help to stupidity or ignorance\u00a0
\n<\/span>− ignorance because knowledge of facts is a poor thing if one
\ncannot see their true significance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis no such rule. It is better if the mind is strong and developed, but
\nscholarship does not necessarily create a strong and developed mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His
\nmain grievance with respect to the intellectuals is that he is cut off from all
\ndiscussion of mental things and mental stimuli and so his mental energies are
\nbecoming atrophied. But a man who has a mental life ought surely not to be
\ndependent on others for it, since that life is found within \u2013 there ought to be
\nsprings within that flow of their own force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou can do is to read not for pastime but with the clear intention of
\nfurnishing your mind with knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To
\nread what will help the yoga or what will be useful for the work or what will
\ndevelop the capacities for the divine purpose. Not to read worthless stuff or
\nfor mere entertainment or for a dilettante intellectual curiosity which is of
\nthe nature of a mental dram-drinking. When one is established in the highest
\nconsciousness, one can read nothing or everything; it makes no difference \u2013 but
\nthat is still far off. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1279<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

Writing
\nand reading absorb the mind and fill it with images and influences; if the images
\nand influences are not of the right kind, they naturally turn away from the
\ntrue consciousness. It is only if one has the true consciousness well
\nestablished already that one can read or write anything whatever without losing
\nit or without any other harm.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis not necessary to be in touch with the outside world in this way; it may be
\nuseful under certain circumstances and for some purposes. It may act too as a
\nhindrance. All depends upon the consciousness from which it is done. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The reading of books of a light character may act as a
\nrelaxation of the mental consciousness. In the early stages it is not always
\npossible to keep the mind to an unbroken spiritual concentration and endeavour
\nand it takes refuge in other occupations, feeling even instinctively drawn to
\nthose of a lighter character.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\ndepends upon the nature of the things read whether they are helpful to the
\ngrowth of the being or not. No general rule can be made. It cannot be said that
\npoetry or dramas ought or ought not to be read \u2013 depends on the poem and the
\nplay \u2013 with the rest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\ndepends on the nature of the book. Philosophy makes the mind subtle in certain
\ndirections \u2013 ought to do so. The only harm it can do is if the mind begins
\nclinging to ideas instead of going forward to direct experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nthat is the right way to read these things. These philosophies are mostly
\nmental intuitions mixed with much guessing
\n
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span>1280<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

(speculation),
\nbut behind, if one knows, one can catch some Truth to which they correspond.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\ndon’t know that there is anything false in your philosophical reflections.
\nPhilosophy is of course a creation of the mind but its defect is not that it is
\nfalse, but that a philosophical system is only a section of the Truth which the
\nphilosopher takes as a whole. If one does not shut oneself up like that but
\nlooks at all sides, there is no harm in philosophising.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nDivine Truth is greater than any religion or creed or scripture or idea or
\nphilosophy \u2013 you must not tie yourself to any of these things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do
\nnot know about this Commentary, but most commentaries on the Upanishads are
\nwritten out of the reasoning and speculating intellect. They may be of use to
\npeople who are trying to find out intellectually the meaning of the Upanishads \u2013
\nthey can be of no help to you as a sadhak who are seeking experience, \u2013 is
\nlikely rather to confuse the mind by taking it off the true basis and throwing
\nit out from the road of experience and spiritual receptivity into the tangle of
\nintellectual debate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Metaphysics
\ndeals with the ultimate cause of things and all that lies behind the world of
\nphenomena. As regards mind and consciousness, it asks what they are, how they
\ncame into existence, what is their relation to Matter, Life, etc. Psychology
\ndeals with mind and consciousness and tries to find out not so much their
\nultimate nature and relations as their actual workings and the rule and law of
\nthese workings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1281<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

I
\nthink some knowledge of science will be most useful to you \u2013 that field is
\nquite a blank for most people here, and yet the greater part of modern thought
\nand knowledge is influenced by it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\ndon’t quite know about the novel. People bring in the relations of man and
\nwoman because it has been the habit for centuries to make every novel turn
\naround that \u2013 except in the few which deal with history or adventure or similar
\nthings. In a novel based on spiritual philosophy should not the man and woman
\nidea go into the background or disappear, the spiritual love not having
\nanything based at all on sex, but on the relation between soul and soul?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nonly harm in reading these things is that the vital makes it an excuse for
\nsexual excitement. Otherwise there is no harm in reading for knowledge \u2013 the
\nfacts of existence have to be known, and we should learn them with a free and
\ndispassionate mind. But such reading has to be avoided, if there is any vital
\nreaction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis not against the principle of yogic life to know what is happening in the
\nworld\u2014what is unyogic is to be attached to these things and not able to do
\nwithout them or to think of them as a matter of main importance. The
\nall-important thing must be the sadhana, the growth into a new consciousness
\nand a new inner life. The rest must be done with detachment and without getting
\nabsorbed in them. The feeling must be such that if the Mother were to tell you
\nnever to see a newspaper at all, it would be no deprivation to you and you
\nwould not even feel the difference.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obviously
\nthere are many things that apply to all equally and cannot be avoided in that
\nway. The dictum that each has his
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1282<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

own
\nway is not true; each has his own way of following the common way and the \u201cown
\nway\u201d may often be very defective.Of course it is true that natures are
\ndifferent and the approach whether to the sadhana or to other things. One can
\nsay generally that newspaper reading or novel reading is not helpful to the
\nsadhana and is at least a concession to the vital which is not yet ready to be
\nabsorbed in the sadhana \u2013 unless and until one is able to read in the right way
\nwith a higher consciousness which is not only not \u201cdisturbed\u201d by the reading or
\ndistracted by it from the concentrated yoga-consciousness but is able to make the
\nright use of what is read from the point of view of the inner consciousness and
\nthe inner life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Reasons
\ngiven of course prove nothing \u2013 they may be only excuses put forward by the
\nmind for doing what the vital wants. The newspapers obviously carry with them a
\nlowering atmosphere. It is a question of fact whether one can separate oneself
\nsufficiently not to be pulled down by it. At the time of reading there is
\ncertainly a lower pitch of the consciousness in the frontal or outward parts.
\nOnly, if one has a consciousness behind which is not affected, then one can
\nrevert immediately after reading to the normal higher level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Merely
\nfollowing external rules cannot of course be sufficient. They are only an aid
\nto the inner effort until the inner consciousness is thoroughly established.
\nUsually much reading of newspapers in the ordinary way keeps one attached to
\nthe ordinary view and vision of things and interested in that \u2013 when one has
\nthe inner consciousness one can see things happening in the world with another
\neye of knowledge and then reading can be of some use, though even then most of
\nwhat is published is empty and futile. But the mere not-reading by itself is
\nnot effective. Also if one has need of a distraction, reading newspapers serves
\nthe purpose. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1283<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

To be interested in outward things is not wrong in itself
\n− it depends on the way in which one is interested. If it is done as part
\nof the sadhana, looking on them from the true consciousness, then they become a
\nmeans for the growth of the being. It is that that matters, to get the true
\nconsciousness \u2013 and it is this that comes in you when you have the sense of the
\nPeace and the working of the Force in it. There is no real reason for
\ndiscontent or dissatisfaction with yourself \u2013 since progress is being made in
\nspite of the resistance of the lower forces. The pressure which is translated
\nby the heaviness in the stomach has to be got rid of \u2013 it is there that there
\nis the chief resistance still. Peace within and a cheerful confidence and
\ngladness without is what is wanted \u2013 then this kind of nervous pressure and
\ndisorder would cease.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nOne
\ndoes not learn English or French as an aid to the sadhana; it is done for the
\ndevelopment of the mind and as part of the activity given to the being. For
\nthat purpose learning French is as good as learning English and, if it is
\nproperly done, better. Nor is there any reason, if one has the capacity, to
\nlimit oneself to one language only.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Knowing
\nlanguages is part of the equipment of the mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\ndepends on what you want to do with the language. If it is only to read the
\nliterature, then to learn to read, pronounce and understand accurately is
\nsufficient. If it is a complete mastery one wants, then conversation and writing
\nhave to be thoroughly learned in the language.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\ndepends; to read many books quickly gives freedom and ease <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1284<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

and
\nfamiliarity with the language. The other method is necessary for thoroughness
\nand accuracy in detail.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nis the thinking mind that works out ideas \u2013 the externalising mental or
\nphysical mind gives them form in words. Probably you have not developed this
\npart sufficiently. The gift of verbal expression is comparatively rare. Most
\npeople are either clumsy in expression or if they write abundantly, it is
\nwithout proper arrangement and style. But this is of no essential importance in
\nsadhana \u2013 all that is needed is to convey clearly the perceptions and
\nexperiences of the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\nnever heard that learning logic was necessary for good expression. So far as I
\nknow, very few good writers ever bothered about learning that subject.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\npower of expression comes by getting into touch with the inner source from
\nwhich these things come. A calm and silent mind is a great help for the free
\nflow of the power, but it is not indispensable, nor will it of itself bring it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nKnowledge from above or whatever comes down can express itself in any language.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nthe knowledge comes strongly from above, it very often brings its own language
\nand the defects of the instrument are overcome. There are people who knew very
\nlittle but when the knowledge began to flow they wrote wonderfully \u2013 when it
\nwas <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1285<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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

not
\nflowing, their language became incorrect and ordinary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Expression
\nis another matter, but Ramakrishna was an uneducated, non-intellectual man, yet
\nhis expression of knowledge was so perfect that the biggest intellects bowed
\ndown before it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thought
\nand expression always give one side of things; the thing is to see the whole
\nbut one can express only a part unless one writes a long essay. Most thinkers
\ndo not even see the whole, only sides and parts \u2013 that is why there is always
\nconflict between philosophies and religions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nis expressed is only a part of what is behind \u2013 which remains unexpressed and
\nin the language of the manifestation inexpressible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nvoice brings a vibration of force which it is more difficult to put in writing
\nwhich is a more mechanic vehicle \u2013 although the written word can have a special
\npower of its own. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage <\/span>
\n─<\/span> 1286<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECTION TWO    Transformation of the Mind        THERE is no reason why one should not receive through the āhinking mind, as one receives…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-24-letters-on-yoga-volume-24","wpcat-19-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936","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=936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}