{"id":937,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:23","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=937"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:23","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:23","slug":"05-transformation-of-the-vital-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\/05-transformation-of-the-vital-vol-24-letters-on-yoga-volume-24","title":{"rendered":"-05_Transformation of the Vital.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\nS<\/font>ECTION<\/font>
\nT<\/font>HREE<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n
\nTransformation of the Vital<\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nT<\/font><\/b>HE<\/font>
\ntwo movements whose apparent contradiction confuses your mind, are the two ends
\nof a single consciousness whose motions, now separated from each other, must
\njoin if the life-power is to have its more and more perfect action and fulfilment or the transformation for which we hope. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The vital being
\nwith the life-force in it is one of these ends; the other is a latent dynamic
\npower of the higher consciousness through which the Divine Truth can act, take
\nhold of the vital and its life-force and use it for a greater purpose here. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The Life-Force
\nin the vital is the indispensable instrument for all action of the Divine Power
\non the material world and the physical nature. It is therefore only when this
\nvital is transformed and made a pure and strong instrument of the Divine
\nShakti, that there can be a divine life. Then only can there be a successful
\ntransformation of the physical nature or a free perfected divine action on the
\nexternal world; for with our present means any such action is impossible. That
\nis why you feel that the vital movement gives all the energy one can need, that
\nall things are possible by this energy and that you can get with it any
\nexperience you like, whether good or bad, of the ordinary or of the spiritual
\nlife, \u2013 and that also is why, when this energy comes, you feel power pervading
\nthe body-consciousness and its matter. As for the contact with the Mother in
\nthe vital and your sense of the fine, the magnificent experience it was, \u2013 that
\ntoo is natural and right; for the vital, no less than the psychic and every
\nother part of the being, has to feel the Divine Mother and give itself entirely
\nto her. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    But this must
\nalways be remembered that the vital being and the life-force in man are
\nseparated from the Divine Light and, so separated, they are an instrument for
\nany power that can take hold of them, illumined or obscure, divine or undivine.
\nOrdinarily, the vital energy serves the common obscure or half-conscious<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1289<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

movements of the human
\nmind and human life, its normal ideas, interests, passions and desires. But it
\nis possible for the vital energy to increase beyond the ordinary limits and, if
\nso increased, it can attain an impetus, an intensity, an excitation or
\nsublimation of its forces by which it can become, is almost bound to become
\nan\u00a0 <\/span>instrument either of divine powers,
\nthe powers of the gods, or of Asuric forces. Or, if there is no settled central
\ncontrol in the nature, its action can be a confused mixture of these opposites,
\nor in an inconsequent oscillation serve now one and now the other. It is not
\nenough then to have a great vital energy acting in you; it must be put in
\ncontact with the higher consciousness, it must be surrendered to the true
\ncontrol, it must be placed under the government of the Divine. That is why
\nthere is sometimes felt a contempt for the action of the vital force or a
\ncondemnation of it, because it has an insufficient light and control and is
\nwedded to an ignorant undivine movement. That also is why there is the
\nnecessity of opening to inspiration and power from a higher source. The vital
\nenergy by itself leads nowhere, runs in chequered, often painful and ruinous
\ncircles, takes even to the precipice, because it has no right guidance; it must
\nbe connected with the dynamic power of the higher consciousness and with the
\nDivine Force acting through it for a great and luminous purpose. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    There are two
\nmovements necessary for this connection to be established. One is upward; the
\nvital rises to join with the higher consciousness and steeps itself in the
\nlight and in the impulsion of a higher force: the other is downward; the vital
\nremains silent, tranquillised, pure, empty of the ordinary movements, waiting,
\ntill the dynamic power from above descends into it, changes it to its true self
\nand informs its movements with knowledge as well as power. That is why the
\nsadhak feels sometimes that he is rising up into a happier and nobler
\nconsciousness, entering into a brighter domain and purer experience, but
\nsometimes, on the contrary, feels the necessity of going back into the vital,
\ndoing sadhana there and bringing down into it the true consciousness. There is
\nno real contradiction between these two movements; they are complementary and
\nnecessary to each other, the ascension enabling the divine descent, the descent <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1290<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

fulfilling that for which the
\nascension aspires and which it makes inevitable. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0    <\/span>When you rise with the vital from its lower
\nreaches and join it to the psychic, then your vital being fills with the pure
\naspiration and devotion natural to the psychic; at the same time it gives to
\nthe feelings its own abundant energy, it makes them dynamic for the change of
\nthe whole nature down to the most physical and for the bringing down of the
\ndivine consciousness into earth matter. When it not only touches the psychic
\nbut fuses with the higher mind, it is able to come into contact with and obey a
\ngreater light and knowledge. Ordinarily, the vital is either moved by the human
\nmind and governed by its more or less ignorant dictates, or takes violent hold
\nof this mind and uses it for the satisfaction of its own passions, impulses or
\ndesires. Or it makes a mixture of these two movements; for the ordinary human
\nmind is too ignorant for a better action or a perfect guidance. But when the
\nvital is in contact with the higher mind, it is possible for it to be guided by
\na greater light and knowledge, by a higher intuition and inspiration, a truer
\ndiscrimination and some revelations of the divine truth and the divine will.
\nThis obedience of the vital to the psychic and the higher mind is the beginning
\nof the outgoing of the yogic consciousness in its dynamic action upon life. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    But this too is
\nnot sufficient for the divine life. To come into contact with the higher mind
\nconsciousness is not enough, it is only an indispensable stage. There must be a
\ndescent of the Divine Force from yet loftier and more powerful reaches. A
\ntransformation of the higher consciousness into a supramental light and power,
\na transformation of the vital and its life-force into a pure, wide, calm,
\nintense and powerful instrument of the Divine Energy, a transformation of the
\nphysical itself into a form of divine light, divine action, strength, beauty
\nand joy are impossible without this descending Force from the now invisible
\nsummits. That is why in this yoga the ascent to the Divine which it has in
\ncommon with other paths of yoga is not enough; there must be too a descent of
\nthe Divine to transform all the energies of the mind, life and body. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1291<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

All that is true Truth is the
\ndirect expression in one way or another of the Divine Consciousness. Life is
\nthe dynamic expression of Consciousness-Force when thrown outward to realise
\nitself in concrete harmonies of formation; Love is an intense self-expression
\nof the soul of Ananda, and Light is what always accompanies the supramental
\nConsciousness and its most essential power.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, that is the nature of the
\nvital. It can make the absolute and enthusiastic surrender as well as cause all
\ntrouble possible. Without the vital there is no life-force of creation or
\nmanifestation; it is a necessary instrument of the spirit for life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes. The spirit itself if it
\nwants to manifest in matter must use the vital. It is so that things are
\narranged.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital is an indispensable
\ninstrument \u2013 no creation or strong action is possible without it. It is simply
\na question of mastering it and of converting it into the true vital which is at
\nonce strong and calm and capable of great intensity and free from ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital has to be controlled,
\nand not allowed to do what it likes. It is not the vital that has to control
\nyou, it is you who have to control the vital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is through a change in the
\nvital that the deliverance from the blind vital energy must come \u2013 by the
\nemergence of the true vital which is strong, wide, at peace, a willing
\ninstrument of the Divine and of the Divine alone <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1292<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

It means the life-energy which
\ncomes from within and is in consonance with the psychic being − it is the
\nenergy of the true vital being, but in the ordinary ignorant vital it is
\ndeformed into desire. You have to quiet and purify the vital and let the true
\nvital emerge. Or you have to bring the psychic in front and the psychic will
\npurify and psychicise the vital and then you will have the true vital energy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What has been put into the vital
\nreceptacle by life can be got out by reversing it, turning it towards the
\nDivine and not towards yourself. You will then find that the vital is as
\nexcellent an instrument as it is a bad master.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The human vital is almost always
\nof that nature, but that is no reason why one should accept it as an
\nunchangeable fact and allow a restless vital to drive one as it likes. Even
\napart from yoga, in ordinary life, only those are considered to have full
\nmanhood or are likely to succeed in their life, their ideals or their
\nundertakings who take in hand this restless vital, concentrate and control it
\nand subject it to discipline. It is by the use of the mental will that they
\ndiscipline it, compelling it to do not what it wants but what the reason or the
\nwill sees to be right or desirable. In yoga one uses the inner will and compels
\nthe vital to submit itself to tapasya so that it may become calm, strong,
\nobedient − or else one calls down the calm from above obliging the vital
\nto renounce desire and become quiet and receptive. The vital is a good
\ninstrument but a bad master. If you allow it to follow its likes and dislikes,
\nits fancies, its desires, its bad habits, it becomes your master and peace and
\nhappiness are no longer possible. It becomes not your instrument or the
\ninstrument of the Divine Shakti, but of any force of the Ignorance or even any hostile
\nforce that is able to seize and use it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1293<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

The resistance and the contrary
\nsuggestions come from the vital nature which is in all men obscure and attached
\nto ordinary ideas and aims and easily listens to such ideas and suggestions as
\nthose you mention. Faith and devotion come from the soul and it is only when
\nthe vital has entirely submitted to the soul that one can truly lead the
\nspiritual life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is a great progress if you can
\nnow do that. The chief difficulty in the way of living in the light as well as
\nthe peace and force is the confused and turbid restlessness of man’s vital
\nnature. If that is quieted, the major difficulty is gone. There still remains
\nthe obstacle of the physical nature’s non-understanding or inertia \u2013 but that
\nis less troublesome \u2013 it is more of the nature of a quiet though sometimes
\nobstinate obstruction than a disturbance. If the vital inquietude has been
\ncured then certainly the physical obscurity or non-understanding will go.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That [seeking enjoyment] is the
\nattitude not of the whole vital but of the physical vital, the animal part of
\nthe human being. Of course it cannot be convinced by mental reasoning of any
\nkind. In most men it is the natural and accepted attitude towards life
\nvarnished over with some conventional moralism and idealism as a concession to
\nthe mind and higher vital. In a few this part of the being is gripped and
\nsubordinated to the mental or the higher vital aim, forced to take a
\nsubordinate place so that the mind may absorb itself persistently in mental
\npursuits or idealisms or great political or personal ambitions (Lenin, Hitler,
\nStalin, Mussolini). The ascetic and the Puritan try to suppress it mostly or
\naltogether. In our yoga the principle is that all must become an instrument of
\nthe Spirit and the parts of enjoyment taste the Ananda in things, not the
\nanimal enjoyment of the surface. But the Ananda will not come or will not stay
\nso long as this part is not converted and insists on its own way of
\nsatisfaction.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1294<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Many men are not after happiness
\nand do not believe it is the true aim of life. It is the physical vital that
\nseeks after happiness, the bigger vital is ready to sacrifice it in order to
\nsatisfy its passions, search for power, ambition, fame or any other motive. If
\nyou say it is because of the happiness power, fame etc. gives, that again is
\nnot universally true. Power may give anything else, but it does not usually
\ngive happiness, it is something in its very nature arduous and full of
\ndifficulty to get, to keep or to use \u2013 I speak of course of power in the
\nordinary sense. A man may know he can never have fame in this life but works in
\nthe hope of posthumous fame or in the chase of it. He may know that the
\nsatisfaction of his passion will bring him everything rather than happiness \u2013
\nsuffering, torture, destruction \u2013 yet he will follow his impulse. So also the
\nmind as well as the bigger vital is not bound by the pursuit of happiness. It
\ncan seek Truth rather or the victory of a cause. To reduce all to a single
\nhedonistic strain seems to me to be very poor psychology. Neither Nature nor
\nthe vast Spirit in things are so limited and one-tracked as that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most people do things because
\nthey have to, not out of the happiness they find in the things. It is only its
\nhobbies and penchants that the nature finds some happiness in, not usually in
\nwork − unless of course the work itself is one’s hobby or penchant and
\ncan be indulged in or dropped as one likes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A vital life, \u201ca little higher
\nthan the animals\u201d because of some play of mind, with death as its answer is all
\nthat human existence is as it is ordinarily envisaged. And yet there is an
\naspiration for something more, \u2013 but the religions take hold of it and canalise
\nit into something pointless for life and things remain as they are. Only a few
\nindeed get beyond this limit. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

       The \u201cafter all\u201c\u00b9 is indeed only an excuse. Nobody
\ncan become more than human if he refuses to make a sacrifice of his<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \u00b9After all we are human ―
\nwe have not become gods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage ─1295<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

ego \u2013 for \u201chuman\u201d means a vital
\nanimal ego mentalised by a little outward thought and knowledge. So long as one
\nis satisfied with remaining that, one will remain human \u201ceven here\u201d or
\nanywhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course most men live in their
\nphysical mind and vital, except a few saints and a rather larger number of
\nintellectuals. That is why, as it is now discovered, humanity has made little
\nprogress in the last three thousand years, except in information and material equipment.
\nA little less cruelty and brutality perhaps, more plasticity of the intellect
\nin the elite, a quicker habit of change in forms, that is all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The times now are both worse and
\nbetter than Wordsworth’s − on one side there is a collapse into the worst
\nparts of human nature and a riot of the vital forces, on the other there is in
\ncompensation a greater seeking for something beyond and a seeking with more
\nlight and knowledge in it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Man is a mental being and cannot
\ncome from the vital, although part of him may live in the vital plane or rather
\nin connection with it. Most men in fact live much in the vital and therefore
\nwhen they practise sadhana it is first in the vital plane that they find
\nthemselves, in dreams, experiences etc. When the supramental opens then
\nsomething will descend from the supramental in each as he becomes ready and
\nforms a supramental Purusha in him. What he is now, cannot limit what he will
\nbecome.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That [engagement in physical work
\nor study] is not living in the vital − these are physical and mental
\noccupations merely. Living in the vital is a psychological condition. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u00ad\u2013 1296 <\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Most people live in the vital.
\nThat means that they live in their desires, sensations, emotional feelings,
\nvital imaginations and see and experience and judge everything from that point
\nof view. It is the vital that moves them, the mind being at its service, not
\nits master. In yoga also many people do sadhana from that plane and their
\nexperience is full of vital visions, formations, experiences of all kinds, but
\nthere is no mental clarity or order, neither do they rise above the mind. It is
\nonly the minority of men who live in the mind or in the psychic or try to live
\nin the spiritual plane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the ordinary life people
\naccept the vital movements, anger, desire, greed, sex, etc. as natural,
\nallowable and legitimate things, part of the human nature. Only so far as
\nsociety discourages them or insists to keep them within fixed limits or subject
\nto a decent restraint or measure, people try to control them so as to conform
\nto the social standard of morality or rule of conduct. Here, on the contrary,
\nas in all spiritual life, the conquest and complete mastery of these things is
\ndemanded. That is why the struggle is more felt, not because these things rise
\nmore strongly in sadhaks than in ordinary men, but because of the intensity of
\nthe struggle between the spiritual mind which demands control and the\u00a0 <\/span>vital movements which rebel and want to
\ncontinue in the new as they did in the old life. As for the idea that the
\nsadhana raises up things of the kind, the only truth in that is this that,
\nfirst, there are many things in the ordinary man of which he is not conscious,
\nbecause the vital hides them from the mind and gratifies them without the mind
\nrealising what is the force that is moving the action − thus things that
\nare done under the plea of altruism, philanthropy, service, etc. are largely
\nmoved by ego which hides itself behind these justifications; in yoga the secret
\nmotive has to be pulled out from behind the veil, exposed and got rid of.
\nSecondly, some things are suppressed in the ordinary life and remain lying in
\nthe nature, suppressed but not eliminated; they may rise up any day or they may
\nexpress themselves in various nervous forms or other disorders of the mind
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1297<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

or vital or body without it being
\nevident what is their real cause. This has been recently discovered by European
\npsychologists and much emphasised, even exaggerated in a new science called
\npsycho-analysis. Here again, in sadhana one has to become conscious of these
\nsuppressed impulses and eliminate them − this may be called rising up,
\nbut that does not mean that they have to be raised up into action but only
\nraised up before the consciousness so as to be cleared out of the being. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    As for some men being able to control themselves and
\nothers being swept away, that is due to difference of temperament. Some men are
\nsattwic and control comes easy to them, up to a certain point at least; others
\nare more rajasic and find control difficult and often impossible. Some have a
\nstrong mind and mental will and others are vital men in whom the vital passions
\nare stronger and more on the surface. Some do not think control necessary and
\nlet themselves go. In sadhana the mental or moral control has to be replaced by
\nthe spiritual mastery \u2013 for that mental control is only partial and it controls
\nbut does not liberate; it is only the psychic and spiritual that can do that.
\nThat is the main difference in this respect between the ordinary and the
\nspiritual life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [the reason for calm and
\nself-control in people in ordinary life] is social pressure accompanied by a
\ncertain habit of mental control born of the social pressure. It is not from
\npeace at all. Remove the social pressure even partly and as in England and
\nAmerica recently people let themselves go and do according to the vital
\nimpulses instead of controlling them \u2013 except of course those who stick to the
\nreligious and moral ideas of the past even when society drifts away from these
\nideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is very commonly a gulf
\nbetween the higher parts and the lower vital even in ordinary life \u2013 in yoga it
\nis apt to get emphasised until the lower vital changes, but if we can judge
\nfrom<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage-1298<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the majority of people here, that
\nchange is most extraordinarily difficult. <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

At present your experiences are
\non the mental plane, but that is the right movement. Many sadhaks are unable to
\nadvance because they open the vital plane before the mental and psychic are
\nready. After some beginning of true spiritual experiences on the mental plane
\nthere is a premature descent into the vital and great confusion and
\ndisturbance. This has to be guarded against. It is still worse if the vital
\ndesire-soul opens to experience before the mind has been touched by the things
\nof the spirit. <\/p>\n

   <\/p>\n

    Aspire always
\nfor the mind and psychic being to be filled with the true consciousness and
\nexperience and made ready. You must aspire especially for quietness, peace, a
\ncalm faith, an increasing steady wideness, for more and more knowledge, for a
\ndeep and intense but quiet devotion. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Do not be
\ntroubled by your surroundings and their opposition. These conditions are often
\nimposed at first as a kind of ordeal. If you can remain tranquil and
\nundisturbed and continue your sadhana without allowing yourself to be inwardly
\ntroubled under these circumstances, it will help to give you a much needed
\nstrength; for the path of yoga is always beset with inner and outer
\ndifficulties and the sadhak must develop a quiet, firm and solid strength to
\nmeet them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your former sadhana was mostly on
\nthe vital plane. The experiences of the vital plane are very interesting to the
\nsadhak but they are mixed, i.e., not all linked with the higher Truth. A
\ngreater, purer and firmer basis for the sadhana has to be established − the
\npsychic basis. For that reason all the old experiences are stopped. The heart
\nhas to be made the centre and through bhakti and aspiration you have to bring
\nforward the psychic being and enter into close touch with the Divine Shakti. If <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1299<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

you can do this, your sadhana
\nwill begin again with a better result.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is evident that your sadhana
\nhas been up till now in the mind \u2013 that is why you found it easy to concentrate
\nat the crown of the head, because the centre there directly commands the whole
\nmental range. The mind quieted and experiencing the effects of the sadhana
\nquieted the vital disturbance, but did not clear and change the vital nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Now the sadhana
\nseems to be descending into the vital to clear and change it. The first result
\nis that the difficulty of the vital has shown itself \u2013 the ugly images and
\nalarming dreams come from a hostile vital plane which is opposed to the
\nsadhana. From there also comes the renewal of the agitation, the disinclination
\nand resistance to the sadhana. This is not a going back to the old condition,
\nbut the result of a pressure of the yoga-Force on the vital for change to which
\nthere is a resistance. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    It is this
\ndescent of the sadhana to free the vital being that made you feel the necessity
\nof concentrating in the region of the heart; for in the region of the heart is
\nthe psychic centre and below, behind the navel, is the vital centre. If these
\ntwo can be awakened and occupied by the yoga-Force, then the psychic
\n(Soul-Power) will command the vital range and purify the vital nature and
\ntranquillise \u00a0<\/span>it and turn it to the
\nDivine. It will be best if you are able to concentrate at will in the heart
\nregion and at the crown of the head, for that gives a more complete power of
\nsadhana. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The other
\nexperiences you have are the beginning of the change in the vital, e.g., peace
\nwith yourself and those you thought had injured you, joy and freedom from all
\nworldly cares and desires and ambitions. These came too with a quieted mind,
\nbut they can be fixed only when the vital is liberated and tranquillised. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Whatever
\ndifficulties or troubles arise, the one thing is to go on quietly with full
\nfaith in the Divine Power and the guidance, opening steadily and progressively
\nthe whole being to the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1300<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

workings of the sadhana till all
\nbecomes conscious and consenting to the needed change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

It is an oscillation due to
\nsomething in the resistant part (not the whole of it) being still dissatisfied
\nat the call to change. When any vital element is disappointed, dissatisfied,
\ncalled or compelled to change but not yet willing, it has the tendency to
\ncreate non-response or non-co-operation of the vital, leaving the physical dull
\nor insensible without the vital push. With the psychic pressure this remnant of
\nresistance will pass.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital may understand, but
\nthat is not enough, it must wholeheartedly call for the peace and
\ntransformation. There must be a large part of it unable to change its position
\nand give up its moods or its way of receiving things; otherwise these
\ndepressions could not be so acute. There is no reason why you should not get
\nthe peace, but this must change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It seems to be some tamas or
\ninertia coming down on the system. It is sometimes like that when the vital
\ngets dissatisfied with the conditions or with what has been attained and
\ninitiates a sort of non-co-operation or passive resistance, saying, \u201cAs I am
\nnot satisfied, I won’t take interest in anything or help you to do anything.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

         It may be because I asked to stop meditating and to wait. The vital does not
\nlike waiting. But I had to tell you that because of the burning of the centres,
\nthe disturbance of sleep and the rest − these must go before you can
\nmeditate in the right way and with success. If you meditate at all now, it
\nshould be only in calm and peace with a very quiet aspiration for the divine
\ncalm and peace to descend into you.
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1301<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

           It is also
\nperhaps due to your penchant for Nirvana. For the desire of Nirvana easily
\nbrings this kind of collapse of the energies. Nirvana is not the aim of my
\nyoga \u2013 but whether for Nirvana or for this yoga, calm and peace in the whole
\nbeing are the necessary foundation of all siddhi. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have always told you that you
\nought not to stop your poetry and similar activities. It is a mistake to do so
\nout of asceticism or with the idea of tapasya. One can stop these things when
\nthey drop of themselves, because one is full of experience and so interested in
\none’s inner life that one has no energy to spare for the rest. Even then, there
\nis no rule for giving up; for there is no reason why poetry etc. should not be
\npart of sadhana. The love of applause, the desire for fame, the ego-reaction
\nhave to be given up, but that can be done without giving up the activity
\nitself. Your vital needs some activity \u2013 most vitals do − and to deprive
\nit of its outlet, an outlet that can be helpful and not harmful, makes it
\nsulking, indifferent and desponding or else inclined to revolt at any moment
\nand throw up the sponge. Without the assent of the vital it is difficult to do
\nsadhana \u2013 it non-co-operates, or it watches with a grim, even if silent
\ndissatisfaction ready to express at any moment doubt and denial; or it makes a
\nfurious effort and then falls back saying: \u201cI have got nothing.\u201d The mind by
\nitself cannot do much, it must have support from the vital and for that the
\nvital must be in a cheerful and acquiescent state. It has the joy of creation
\nand there is nothing spiritually wrong in creative action. Why deny your vital
\nthis joy of outflow? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    I had already
\nhinted to you that to be able to wait for the Divine Grace (not in a tamasic
\nspirit but with sattwic reliance) was the best course for you. Prayer, yes −
\nbut not prayer insisting on immediate fulfilment − but prayer that is
\nitself a communion of the mind and heart with the Divine and can have the joy
\nand satisfaction of itself, trusting for fulfilment by the Divine in his own
\ntime. Meditation? Yes, but your meditation has got into a wrong āsana<\/i>, that of an eager and
\nvehement wrestling followed by a bitter despair. It is no use getting on with
\nit like
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1302<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

that: it is better to drop it
\ntill you get a new āsana<\/i>. (I am
\nreferring to the old Rishis who established an āsana<\/i>, a place and a fixed position, where they would sit
\nstill till they got siddhi − but if the āsana<\/i> \u00a0<\/span>got successfully
\ndisturbed by wrong forces like Asuras, Apsaras etc., they left it and sought
\nfor a new one.) Moreover, your meditation is lacking in quietude: you meditate
\nwith a striving mind, but it is in the quiet mind that the experience comes, as
\nall yogis agree − the still water that reflects rightly the sun, the cup
\nmade empty before the soma-rasa<\/i> of
\nthe spirit may be poured in it. Prepare the mind and heart till things begin to
\nflow into them in a spontaneous current when all is ready.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, dryness comes usually when
\nthe vital − here certainly the vital physical − dislikes a movement
\nor condition or the refusal of its desires and starts non-co-operation. But
\nsometimes it is a condition that has to be crossed through, e.g. the neutral or
\ndry quietude which sometimes comes when the ordinary movements have been thrown
\nout but nothing positive has yet come to take their place (e.g. peace, joy, a
\nhigher knowledge or force and action).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ordinary freshness, energy,
\nenthusiasm of the nature comes either from the vital, direct when it is
\nsatisfying its own instincts and impulses, indirect when it co-operates with or
\nassents to the mental, physical or spiritual activities. If the vital resents,
\nthere is revolt and struggles. If the vital no longer insists on its own
\nimpulses and instincts but does not co-operate there is either dryness or a
\nneutral state. Dryness comes in when the vital is quiescent but passively
\nunwilling, not interested, the neutral state when it neither assents nor is
\nunwilling, \u2013 simply quiescent, passive. This, however, the neutral state can
\ndeepen into positive calm and peace by a greater influx from above which keeps
\nthe vital not only quiescent but at least passively acquiescent. With the active
\ninterest and consent of the vital the peace becomes a<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1303<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

glad or joyful peace or a strong
\npeace supporting and entering into action or active experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital can be all right when
\nthings are going on swimmingly, but when difficulties become strong, it sinks
\nand lies supine. Also if a bait is held out to the vital ego, then it can
\nbecome enthusiastic and active.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is because the vital was very
\nmuch under the grip of its desires and so, now that it is separately active,
\nnot controlled by mental will, it kicks and cries whenever its desires are not
\nsatisfied. That is an ordinary movement of the human vital when not dominated
\nand kept in its place by the mental will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No doubt it was the silence \u2013 the
\nslight dryness must have been the reaction caused in the physical vital by the
\n\u201cuninterest\u201d in external things \u2013 because the physical vital depends very much
\non this external interest. When it gets more accustomed to the silence, then
\nthe dryness disappears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The nervous being is under the
\ninfluence of the vital forces; when they are denied or pushed out, it becomes
\ndepressed and wants to call them back \u2013 for it is accustomed to get the
\npleasure and strength of life from the vital movements and not from the
\nspiritual or divine Force above.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The feeling of the desert comes
\nbecause of the resistance of the vital which wants life to be governed by
\ndesire. If that is not <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1304<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

allowed, it regards existence as
\na desert and puts that impression on the mind. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

           The Shakti in the heart is the
\npsychic Force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Certainly it is better if the
\nvital is brought to the true movement \u2013 renouncing its wrong movements and
\nasking only for growth of the self-realisation, psychic love and psychicisation
\nof the nature. But it is possible to get rid from above of the more active
\nforms of obstruction even with a neutral vital. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IV<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cardinal defect, that which
\nhas been always standing in the way and is now isolated in an extreme
\nprominence, is seated or at least is at present concentrated in the lower vital
\nbeing. I mean that part of the vital-physical nature with its petty and
\nobstinate egoism which actuates the external human personality, \u2013 that which
\nsupports its surface thoughts and dominates its habitual ways of feeling,
\ncharacter and action. I am not concerned here with the other parts of the being
\nand I do not speak of anything in the higher mind, the psychic self or the
\nhigher and larger vital nature; for, when the lower vital rises, these are
\npushed into the background, if not covered over for the time, by this lower
\nvital being and this external personality. Whatever there may be in these
\nhigher parts, aspiration to the Truth, devotion, or will to conquer the
\nobstacles and the hostile forces, it cannot become integral, it cannot remain
\nunmixed or unspoilt or continue to be effective so long as the lower vital and
\nthe external personality have not accepted the Light and consented to change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

  It was
\ninevitable that in the course of the sadhana these inferior parts of the nature
\nshould be brought forward in order that like the rest of the being they may
\nmake the crucial choice and either accept or refuse transformation. My whole
\nwork depends upon this movement; it is the decisive ordeal of this yoga. For the
\nphysical consciousness and the material life cannot change <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1305<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

if this does not change. Nothing
\nthat may have been done before, no inner illumination, experience, power or
\nAnanda is of any eventual value, if this is not done. If the little external
\npersonality is to persist in retaining its obscure and limited, its petty and
\nignoble, its selfish and false and stupid human consciousness, this amounts to
\na flat negation of the work and the sadhana. I have no intention of giving my
\nsanction to a new edition of the old fiasco, a partial and transient spiritual
\nopening within with no true and radical change in the law of the external
\nnature. If, then, any sadhak refuses in practice to admit this change or if he
\nrefuses even to admit the necessity for any change of his lower vital being and
\nhis habitual external personality, I am entitled to conclude that, whatever his
\nprofessions, he has not accepted either myself or my yoga. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    I am well aware
\nthat this change is not easy, the dynamic will towards it does not come at once
\nand is difficult to fix, and, even afterwards, the sadhak often feels helpless
\nagainst the force of habit. Knowing this, the Mother and myself have shown and
\nare still showing sufficient patience in giving time for the true spirit to
\ncome up and form and act effectively in the external being of those around us.
\nBut if in anyone this part not only becomes obstinate, self-assertive or
\naggressive, but is supported and justified by the mind and will and tries to
\nspread itself in the atmosphere, then it is a different and very serious
\nmatter. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The difficulty
\nin the lower vital being is that it is still wedded to its old self and in
\nrevolt against the Light; it has not only not surrendered either to a greater
\nTruth or to myself and the Mother, but it has up to now no such will and hardly
\nany idea even of what true surrender is. When the lower vital assumes this
\nattitude it takes its stand upon a constant affirmation of the old personality
\nand the past forms of the lower nature. Every time they are discouraged, it
\nsupports and brings them back and asserts its right to freedom, − the
\nfreedom to affirm and follow its own crude and egoistic ideas, desires,
\nfancies, impulses or convenience whenever it chooses. It claims secretly or in
\nso many words the right to follow its nature, \u2013 its human unregenerate nature,
\nthe right to be itself, \u2013 its natural original unchanged self with all the
\nfalsehood, ignorance and incoherence <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1306<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

proper to this part of the being.
\nAnd it claims or, if it does not claim in theory, it asserts in practice the
\nright to express all this impure and inferior stuff in speech and act and
\nbehaviour. It defends, glosses over, paints in specious colours and tries to
\nprolong indefinitely the past habitual ways of thinking, speaking and feeling
\nand to eternise what is distorted and misformed in the character. This it does
\nsometimes by open self-assertion and revolt, branding all that is done or said
\nagainst it as error or oppression or injustice, sometimes behind a cover of
\nself-deception or a mask of dissimulation, professing one thing and practising
\nanother. Often it tries to persuade itself and to convince others that these
\nthings are the only right reason and right way of acting for itself or for all
\nor even that they are part of the true movement of the yoga. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    When this lower
\nvital being is allowed to influence the action, as happens when the sadhak in
\nany way endorses its suggestions, its attitude, whether masked to himself or
\ncoming to the surface, dictates a considerable part of his speech and action
\nand against it he makes no serious resistance. If he is frank with himself and
\nstraightforward to the Mother, he will begin to recognise the source and nature
\nof the obstacle and will soon be on the direct road to correct and change it.
\nBut this, when under the adverse influence, he persistently refuses to be; he
\nprefers to hide up these movements under any kind of concealment, denial,
\njustification or excuse or other shelter. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    In the nature
\nthe resistance takes certain characteristic forms which add to the confusion
\nand to the difficulty of transformation. It is necessary to outline some of
\nthese forms because they are sufficiently common, in some in a less, in others
\nin a greater degree, to demand a strong and clear exposure. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    1 A certain
\nvanity and arrogance and self-assertive rajasic vehemence which in this\u00a0 <\/span>smaller vital being are, for those who have a
\npronounced strength in these parts, the deformation of the vital force and
\nhabit of leading and domination that certain qualities in the higher vital gave
\nthem. This is accompanied by an excessive amour-propre<\/i>
\nwhich creates the necessity of making a figure, maintaining by any means
\nposition and prestige, even of posturing before others, influencing,
\ncontrolling or \u201chelping\u201d <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1307<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

them, claiming the part of a
\nsuperior sadhak, one with greater knowledge and with occult powers. The larger
\nvital being itself has to give up its powers and capacities to the Divine
\nShakti from whom they come and must use them only as the Mother’s instrument
\nand according to her directions; if it intervenes with the claim of its ego and
\nputs itself between her and the work or between her and other sadhaks, then
\nwhatever its natural power, it deviates from the true way, spoils the work,
\nbrings in adverse forces and wrong movements and does harm to those whom it
\nimagines it is helping. When these things are transferred to the smallness of
\nthe lower vital nature and the external personality and take lower and pettier
\nforms, they become still more false to the Truth, incongruous, grotesque, and
\nat the same time can be viciously harmful, though in a smaller groove. There is
\nno better way of calling in hostile forces into the general work or of
\nvitiating and exposing to their influence one’s own sadhana. On a smaller scale
\nthese defects of vanity, arrogance and rajasic violence are present in most
\nhuman natures. They take other forms, but are then also a great obstacle to any
\ntrue spiritual change. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    2. Disobedience
\nand indiscipline. This lower part of the being is always random, wayward,
\nself-assertive and unwilling to accept the imposition on it of any order and
\ndiscipline other than its own idea or impulse. Its defects even from the
\nbeginning stand in the way of the efforts of the higher vital to impose on the
\nnature a truly regenerating tapasya. This habit of disobedience and disregard
\nof discipline is so strong that it does not always need to be deliberate; the
\nresponse to it seems to be immediate, irresistible and instinctive. Thus
\nobedience to the Mother is repeatedly promised or professed, but the action
\ndone or the course followed is frequently the very opposite of the profession
\nor promise. This constant indiscipline is a radical obstacle to the sadhana and
\nthe worst possible example to others. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    3.
\nDissimulation and falsity of speech. This is an exceedingly injurious habit of
\nthe lower nature. Those who are not straightforward cannot profit by the
\nMother’s help, for they themselves turn it away. Unless they change, they
\ncannot hope for the descent of the supramental Light and Truth into the lower
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1308<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

vital and physical nature; they
\nremain stuck in their own self-created mud and cannot progress. Often it is not
\nmere exaggeration or a false use of the imagination embroidering on the actual
\ntruth that is marked in the sadhak, but also a positive denial and distortion as
\nwell as a falsifying concealment of facts. This he does sometimes to cover up
\nhis disobedience or wrong or doubtful course of action, sometimes to keep up
\nhis position, at others to get his own way or indulge his preferred habits and
\ndesires. Very often, when one has this kind of vital habit, he clouds his own
\nconsciousness and does not altogether realise the falsity of what he is saying
\nor doing; but in much that he says and does, it is quite impossible to extend
\nto him even this inadequate excuse. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    4. A dangerous
\nhabit of constant self-justification. When this becomes strong in the sadhak,
\nit is impossible to turn him in this part of his being to the right
\nconsciousness and action because at each step his whole preoccupation is to
\njustify himself. His mind rushes at once to maintain his own idea, his own
\nposition or his own course of action. This he is ready to do by any kind of
\nargument, sometimes the most clumsy and foolish or inconsistent with what he
\nhas been protesting the moment before, by any kind of mis-statement or any kind
\nof device. This is a common misuse, but none the less a misuse of the thinking
\nmind; but it takes in him exaggerated proportions and so long as he keeps to
\nit, it will be impossible for him to see or live the Truth. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Whatever the
\ndifficulties of the nature, however long and painful the process of dealing
\nwith them, they cannot stand to the end against the Truth, if there is or if
\nthere comes in these parts the true spirit, attitude and endeavour. But if a
\nsadhak continues out of self-esteem and self-will or out of tamasic inertia to
\nshut his eyes or harden his heart against the Light, so long as he does that,
\nno one can help him. The consent of all the being is necessary for the divine
\nchange, and it is the completeness and fulness of the consent that constitutes
\nthe integral surrender. But the consent of the lower vital must not be only a
\nmental profession or a passing emotional adhesion; it must translate itself
\ninto an abiding attitude and a persistent and consistent action. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1309<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

This yoga can only be done to the
\nend by those who are in total earnest about it and ready to abolish their
\nlittle human ego and its demands in order to find themselves in the Divine. It
\ncannot be done in a spirit of levity or laxity; the work is too high and
\ndifficult, the adverse powers in the lower Nature too ready to take advantage
\nof the least sanction or the smallest opening, the aspiration and tapasya
\nneeded too constant and intense. It cannot be done if there is a petulant
\nself-assertion of the ideas of the human mind or wilful indulgence of the
\ndemands and instincts and pretensions of the lowest part of the being, commonly
\njustified under the name of human nature. It cannot be done if you insist on
\nidentifying these lowest things of the Ignorance with the divine Truth or even
\nthe lesser truth permissible on the way. It cannot be done if you cling to your
\npast self and its old mental, vital and physical formations and habits; one has
\ncontinually to leave behind his past selves and to see, act and live from an
\nalways higher and higher conscious level. It cannot be done if you insist on
\n\u201cfreedom\u201d for your human mind and vital ego. All the parts of the human being
\nare entitled to express and satisfy themselves in their own way at their own risk
\nand peril, if he so chooses, as long as he leads the ordinary life. But to
\nenter into a path of yoga whose whole object is to substitute for these human
\nthings the law and power of a greater Truth and the whole heart of whose method
\nis surrender to the Divine Shakti, and yet to go on claiming this so-called
\nfreedom, which is no more than a subjection to certain ignorant cosmic Forces,
\nis to indulge in a blind contradiction and to claim the right to lead a double
\nlife. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Least of all
\ncan this yoga be done if those who profess to be its sadhaks continue always to
\nmake themselves centres, instruments or spokesmen of the forces of the
\nIgnorance which oppose, deny and ridicule its very principle and object. On one
\nside there is the supramental realisation, the overshadowing and descending
\npower of the supramental Divine, the light and force of a far greater Truth
\nthan any yet realised on the earth, something therefore beyond what the little
\nhuman mind and its logic regard as the only permanent realities, something
\nwhose nature and way and process of development here it cannot conceive or<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1310<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

perceive by its
\nown inadequate instruments or judge by its puerile standards; in spite of all
\nopposition this is pressing down for manifestation in the physical consciousness
\nand the material life. On the other side is this lower vital nature with all
\nits pretentious arrogance, ignorance, obscurity, dullness or incompetent
\nturbulence, standing for its own prolongation, standing against the descent,
\nrefusing to believe in any real reality or real possibility of a supramental or
\nsuperhuman consciousness and creation, or, still more absurd, demanding, if it
\nexists at all, that it should conform to its own little standards, seizing
\ngreedily upon everything that seems to disprove it, denying the presence of the
\nDivine, − for it knows that without that presence the work is impossible,
\n− affirming loudly its own thoughts, judgments, desires, instincts, and,
\nif these are contradicted, avenging itself by casting abroad doubt, denial,
\ndisparaging criticism, revolt and disorder. These are the two things now in
\npresence between which every one will have to choose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    For
\nthis opposition, this sterile obstruction and blockade against the descent of
\nthe divine Truth cannot last for ever. Every one must come down finally on one
\nside or the other, on the side of the Truth or against it. The Supramental
\nrealisation cannot coexist with the persistence of the lower Ignorance; it is
\nincompatible with continued satisfaction in a double nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There can be only one \u201csolution\u201d
\nfor this kind of struggle, \u2013 to recognise these feelings for what they are,
\nunregenerated movements of the old vital nature, and to reject these vital
\nsuggestions as suggestions of adverse forces that want to push you out of the
\nstraight path. If the mind of the sadhak supports these vital movements, if any
\npart of his nature accepts and cherishes them, then, so long as he allows them
\nto do so, he cannot get rid of the struggle. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    All these
\nsuggestions are very familiar, and they are always the same both in expression
\nand substance. The reactions too are always the same and their very nature is
\nsufficient to show the source from which they come, \u2013 disappointment of
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page ─ 1311<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

unsatisfied desire, despondency,
\ndiscontent, unhappiness, the sense of grievance and injustice, revolt, a fall
\nto tamas and inertia (because the vital being refuses participation in the
\nspiritual effort unless its egoistic demands are conceded,) dryness, dullness,
\ncessation of the sadhana. The same phrases even are repeated, \u2013 \u201cno life in
\nthis existence\u201d, \u201csuffocation\u201d, \u201climitation\u201d, \u201cair-tight compartments\u201d; and all
\nthis simply means that the lower vital nature \u2013 or some part of it \u2013 is in revolt
\nand wants something else than the divine Truth and the tapasya that leads to
\nthe supramental change. It refuses to give up ego and desire and claim and
\ndemand or to accept a true self-giving and surrender, while yet it feels the
\npressure on it to transform itself into an instrument of the divine life. It is
\nthis pressure that it calls suffocation. The refusal to let it expand its
\ndesires and make a big place for itself it calls limitation of the being. The
\ncalm, purity, collected silence which are the basis of the tapasya for the
\nsupramental change, \u2013 this is what it stigmatises as \u201cno life\u201d. Right rule and
\ninsistence on self-denial and self-mastery and restraint from claim and demand
\nare what it calls \u201cair-tight compartments.\u201d And the worst suggestions and most
\ndangerous deception come when this spirit of demand and desire is dissimulated
\nin a spiritual garb and takes a form which makes it seem to the sadhak a part
\nof the yoga. <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    There is only
\none way of escape from this siege of the lower vital nature. It is the entire
\nrejection of all egoistic vital demand, claim and desire and the replacement of
\nthe dissatisfied vital urge by the purity of psychic aspiration. Not the
\nsatisfaction of these vital clamours nor, either, an ascetic retirement is the
\ntrue solution, but the surrender of the vital being to the Divine and a
\nsingle-minded consecration to the supreme Truth into which desire and demand
\ncannot enter. For the nature of the supreme Truth is Light and Ananda, and
\nwhere desire and demand are there can be no Ananda. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    It is not the
\nvital demand but the psychic urge that alone can bring the nature towards the
\nsupramental transformation; for it alone can change the mental and vital and
\nshow them their own true movement. But constantly the vital demand is being
\ntaken for the psychic aspiration; and yet the difference is clear. In the
\npsychic aspiration there are none of these reactions, there is<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1312<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

no revolt, no justification of
\nrevolt: for the psychic aspires through inner union with the Divine and
\nsurrender. It does not question and challenge, but seeks to understand through
\nunity with the Divine Will. It does not ask for small personal satisfactions,
\nbut finds its satisfaction in the growth of the Truth within the being; what it
\nseeks and finds is not any indulgence of a vital and physical claim, but the
\ntrue nearness which consists in the constant presence of the Divine in the heart
\nand the rule of the Divine in all the Nature. The cry of the psychic is always,
\n\u201cLet the Truth prevail, let Thy will be done and not mine\u201d. But the clamour of
\nthe vital is the very opposite: it calls to the Divine, \u201cLet my will be Thine;
\nobey my insistences, satisfy my desires, then only will I seek and accept Thee,
\nfor then only will I consent to see the Divine in Thee\u201d. It is hardly necessary
\nto say which is the way to the Truth or which the right solution of any
\nstruggle in the nature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The only
\ncreation for which there is any place here is the supramental, the bringing of
\nthe divine Truth down on the earth, not only into the mind and vital but into
\nthe body and into Matter. Our object is not to remove all \u201climitations\u201d on the
\nexpansion of the ego or to give a free field and make unlimited room for the
\nfulfilment of the ideas of the human mind or the desires of the ego-centred
\nlife-force. None of us are here to \u201cdo as we like\u201d, or to create a world in
\nwhich we shall at last be able to do as we like; we are here to do what the
\nDivine wills and to create a world in which the Divine Will can manifest its
\ntruth no longer deformed by human ignorance or perverted and mistranslated by
\nvital desire. The work which the sadhak of the supramental yoga has to do is not
\nhis own work for which he can lay down his own conditions, but the work of the
\nDivine which he has to do according to the conditions laid down by the Divine.
\nOur yoga is not for our own sake but for the sake of the Divine. It is not our
\nown personal manifestation that we are to seek, the manifestation of the
\nindividual ego freed from all bounds and from all bonds, but the manifestation
\nof the Divine. Of that manifestation our own spiritual liberation, perfection,
\nfullness is to be a result and a part, but not in any egoistic sense or for
\nany\u00a0 <\/span>go-centred or self-seeking purpose.
\nThis liberation, perfection, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1313<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

fullness too must not be pursued
\nfor our own sake, but for the sake of the Divine. I emphasise this character of
\nthe creation because a constant forgetfulness of this simple and central truth,
\na conscious, half-conscious or wholly ignorant confusion about it has been at
\nthe root of most of the vital revolts that have spoiled many an individual
\nsadhana here and disturbed the progress of the general inner work and the
\nspiritual atmosphere. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The
\nsupramental creation, since it is to be a creation upon earth, must be not only
\nan inner change but a physical and external manifestation also. And it is
\nprecisely for this part of the work, the most difficult of all, that surrender
\nis most needful; for this reason, that it is the actual descent of the
\nsupramental Divine into Matter and the working of the Divine Presence and Power
\nthere that can alone make the physical and external change possible. Even the
\nmost powerful self-assertion of human will and endeavour is impotent to bring
\nit about; as for egoistic insistence and vital revolt, they are, so long as
\nthey last, insuperable obstacles to the descent. Only a calm, pure and
\nsurrendered physical consciousness, full of the psychic aspiration, can be its
\nfield; this alone can make an effective opening of the material being to the
\nLight and Power and the supramental change a thing actual and practicable. It
\nis for this that we are here in the body, and it is for this that you and other
\nsadhaks are in the Ashram near us. But it is not by insistence on petty demands
\nand satisfactions in the external field or on an outer nearness pleasing to the
\nvital nature and its pride or desire that you can get the true relation with
\nthe Divine in this province. If you want the realisation there, it is the true
\nnearness that you must seek, the descent and presence of the Mother in your
\nphysical consciousness, her constant inner touch in the physical being and its
\nactivities, her will and knowledge behind all its work and thought and movement
\nand the ever present Ananda of that presence expelling all vital and physical
\nseparateness, craving and desire. If you have that, then you have all the
\nnearness you can ask for, and the rest you will gladly leave to the Mother’s
\nknowledge and will to decide. For with this in you there can be no feeling of
\nbeing kept away, no sense of a gulf and distance, no complaint of a unity that
\nis lacking or an empty dryness and denial of nearness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1314<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

           A time comes
\nwhen after a long preparation of the mind and vital being, it becomes necessary
\nto open also the physical\u00a0 <\/span>nature. But
\nwhen that happens very often the vital exaltation which can be very great when
\nthe experience is on its own plane, falls away and the obscure obstructive
\nphysical and gross material consciousness appears in its unrelieved inertia.
\nInertia, tamas, stupidity, narrowness and limitation, an inability to progress,
\ndoubt, dullness, dryness, a constant forgetfulness of the spiritual experiences
\nreceived are the characteristics of the unregenerated physical nature, when
\nthat is not pushed by the vital and is not supported either by the higher
\nmental will and intelligence. This seems to be in part what has temporarily
\nhappened to you; but the way out is not to excite the physical by any vital
\nrevolt and outcry, or to blame for your condition either circumstances or the
\nMother, \u2013 for that will only make things worse and increase the tamas, dryness,
\ndullness, inertia, \u2013 but to recognise that there is here an element of the
\nuniversal Nature reflected in yours, which you must eliminate. And this can
\nonly be done by more and more surrender and aspiration and by so bringing in
\nfrom beyond the vital and the mind the divine peace, light, power and presence.
\nThis is the only way towards the transformation and fulfilment of the physical
\nnature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    I do not think
\nafter what I have written, I need add anything about the specific complaints
\nthat you make in your letter. Two things perhaps need to be made clear. First,
\nthe arrangements actually in existence about the work, about external demands,
\nabout correspondence and \u201cseeing\u201d people are the only feasible ones in the
\npresent circumstances, if the heavy work the Mother has to do is to be at all physically
\npossible. Next, it is precisely by action in silence that we can best do our
\nwork much more than by speech or writing, which can only be subordinate and
\nsecondary. For in this yoga those will succeed best who know how to obey and
\nfollow the written and spoken word, but can also bear the silence and feel in
\nit and receive (without listening to other voices or mistaking mental and vital
\nsuggestions and impulsions for the divine Truth and the divine Will) help,
\nsupport and guidance.  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1315<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

In your letter… you write that
\nyou are very tired, restlessness and tamas prevail in the physical, and there
\nis a constant struggle more or less intense between the psychic being and the
\nphysical nature. Now this was exactly your condition in the last months when
\nyou were here. Then you wanted to go because the pressure was too great,
\nbecause the struggle with the restless and tamasic physical nature and the
\nAsuric influence was too hard and continuous, because you felt very tired and
\nneeded to go away for a rest, for respite, to recover. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    How then can
\nyou come back in the same condition? The pressure will be still greater than
\nbefore, the struggle constant; you are likely to be still more tired and
\ndepressed than you were. And it will be harder for you to bear because the
\npersonal position will entirely be changed. You will have no special place, no
\nauthority delegated, no work entrusted to you; you will not be near the Mother
\nbut at a distance among others. The Asuric nature in you which had become an
\nintolerable hindrance to the work and dangerous to yourself and to others will
\nbe given no kind of indulgence. It is clear that you would find the conditions
\nunbearable unless you had undergone in the meantime a fundamental change.
\nTherefore you must not ask to come here until you have acquired a stable quiet
\nand peace both within you and in your external atmosphere. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Wherever you
\nare, we shall always be near to your psychic being and ready to help it to
\nconquer. As things are with you now, that help is likely to act better at a
\ndistance than when you were near and were at every moment repelling it by your
\nwrong inner movements and reactions and your wrong speech and acts. But to
\nprofit by our help you will have to do what you have never yet really done, at
\nleast in your external being. You will have in your physical nature itself
\nresolutely to turn from the Asura and his ways and refuse to indulge him on any
\npretext in any thought, feeling, speech or action which would help him still to
\npossess your instruments and determine or influence your attitude and your acts.
\nTo become quiet and quietly and simply to maintain this persistent and patient
\nrejection with our help, without rajasic struggle, sincerely and in fact and in
\nevery detail, not merely in wish and idea, is what you need to do. To be <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1316<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

divided, to aspire in one part of
\nyour being and to indulge and justify and cherish the wrong movements with
\nanother part can lead to nothing but endless struggle and fatigue. Only by this
\nturn and change will the struggle and fatigue pass away and purity come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is now one month since you
\nwrote your letter announcing the new favourable turn in your sadhana. You will
\nhave had time to see whether the turn was decisive and how far it has moved
\ntowards completeness. The test will be whether it gets rid fundamentally of the
\nAsuric turn in your external being. All ambition, pride and vanity must
\ndisappear from the thoughts and the feelings. There must be no seeking now or
\nin the future for place, position or prestige, no stipulation for a high seat
\namong the elect, no demand for a special closeness to the Mother, no claim or
\nassertion of right, no attempt to thrust yourself between her and others, no
\nendeavour to intercept what she is giving to them or to share in it, no
\nimposing of yourself on her or on other sadhaks. All falsehood must be rejected
\nfrom the speech, thought and action and all ostentation, arrogance and
\ninsolence. A simple, quiet and unpretending aspiration to the Truth and reception
\nof it for its own sake and not for any profit it may bring you, a
\nstraightforward acceptance of the Mother’s will whatever it may be, a complete
\ncasting away of all pretensions and pretences, a readiness to obey completely
\nand without reserve and to accept any position and any discipline given are the
\nonly conditions on which a divine change can be effected in you. It is for this
\nthat you must strive. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    On our side we
\nawait a certain conquest on the material plane, which is not yet accomplished,
\nbefore we can tell you to return. As you yourself saw once, till this is done
\nyour stay here would not be helpful to you. When you are ready in your inner
\ncondition and things are ready here, then the Mother will call you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want to change, you must first
\nresolutely get rid of the <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1317<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

defects of your vital being,
\npersevering steadily, however difficult it may be or however long it may take,
\ncalling in always the divine help and compelling yourself always to be entirely
\nsincere. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    As
\nfor fitness and unfitness, nobody is entirely fit for this yoga; one has to
\nbecome fit by aspiration, by abhyāsa<\/i>,
\nby sincerity and surrender. If you have always desired the spiritual life, it
\nis the psychic part of you that desired it, but your vital has always come in
\nthe way. Establish a sincere will in the vital; do not allow personal desires
\nand demands and selfishness and falsehood to mix in your sadhana; then alone
\nthe vital in you will become fit for the sadhana. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    If
\nyou want your endeavour to succeed, it must become always purer and more steady
\nand persistent. If you practise sincerely, you will get the help needed by you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Evidently, the condition into
\nwhich you have fallen is due to an upsurging of suppressed elements in the
\nlower vital nature. It has been compelled by the mind and the higher vital part
\nin you to give up the little \u201cjoys and pleasures\u201d to which it was habituated,
\nbut it − or at any rate the subconscient part of it which is often the
\nmost powerful \u2013 did that without entire conviction and probably with
\n\u201creservations\u201d and \u201csafeguards\u201d and in exchange for a promise of compensations,
\nother and greater joys and pleasures to replace all it was losing. This is
\nevident from what you write; your description of the nature of the depression,
\nthe return of what you call impure thoughts which are merely indices of the
\nsubconscient lower vital desire-complex, the doubt thrown upon the generosity
\nof the Divine, the demand for compensation for losses, something like striking
\na bargain with the Divine, a quid pro quo<\/i>
\npact, are all unmistakable. Latterly, there has been a combination of
\ncircumstances which have rather suddenly increased the deprivation of its
\nformer outlets; this attack is its way of non-co-operation or protest. There is
\nonly one way to deal with it, \u2013 to cast the whole thing away, depression,
\ndemands, doubts, sex-thoughts, the whole undesirable baggage, and have in its
\nplace the one true movement,
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1318<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the call for the consciousness
\nand the presence of the Divine. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    It
\nmay be that behind this persistence of the lower vital demand for satisfaction
\nthere was something not quite clear in the obscure part of the physical mind in
\nyour mental attitude towards the yoga. You seem to regard this demand for the
\nreplacement of the old lower vital satisfactions by other joys and pleasures as
\nsomething quite legitimate; but joys and pleasures are not the object of yoga
\nand a bargain or demand for a replacement of this kind can be no legitimate or
\nhealthy element in the sadhana. If it is there, it will surely impede the flow
\nof spiritual experience. Ananda, yes; but Ananda and the spiritual happiness
\nwhich precedes it (adhyātma-sukham<\/i>)
\nare something quite different from joys and pleasures. And even Ananda one
\ncannot demand or make it a condition for pursuing the sadhana \u2013 it comes as a
\ncrown, a natural outcome and its true condition is the growth of the true
\nconsciousness, peace, calm, light, strength, the equanimity which resists all
\nshocks and persists through success and failure. It is these things which must
\nbe the first objects of the sadhana, not any hedonistic experience even of the
\nhighest kind; for that must come of itself as a result of the Divine Presence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Meanwhile,
\nthe first thing you must do is to throw out this perilous stuff of despondency
\nand its accompaniments and recover a quiet and clear balance. A quiet mind and
\na quiet vital are the first conditions for success in sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is evident that you still
\ncherish some misunderstanding about peace and joy and Ananda. (Peace, by the
\nway, is not joy \u2013 for peace can be there even when joy is quiescent.) It is not
\na fact that one ought not to pray or aspire for peace or spiritual joy. Peace
\nis the very basis of all the siddhi in the yoga, and why should not one pray or
\naspire for foundation in the yoga? Spiritual joy or a deep inner happiness (not
\ndisturbed even when there come superficial storms or perturbations) is a
\nconstant concomitant of contact or union with the Divine, and why should it be
\nforbidden to pray or aspire for contact with the Divine and the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1319<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

joy that attends it? As for
\nAnanda, I have already explained that I mean by Ananda something greater than
\npeace or joy, something that, like Truth and Light, is the very nature of the
\nsupramental Divine. It can come by frequent inrushes or descents, partially or
\nfor a time even now, but it cannot remain in the system so long as the system
\nhas not been prepared for it. Meanwhile, peace and joy can be there
\npermanently, but the condition of this permanence is that one should have the
\nconstant contact or indwelling of the Divine, and this comes naturally not to
\nthe outer mind or vital but to the inner soul or psychic being. Therefore one
\nwho wants his yoga to be a path of peace or joy must be prepared to dwell in
\nhis soul rather than in his outer mental and emotional nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    I objected in a
\nformer letter not to aspiration but to a demand, to making peace, joy or Ananda
\na condition for following the yoga. And it is undesirable because if you do so,
\nthen the vital, not the psychic, takes the lead. When the vital takes the lead,
\nthen unrest, despondency, unhappiness can always come, since these things are
\nthe very nature of the vital \u2013 the vital can never remain constantly in joy and
\npeace, for it needs their opposites in order to have the sense of the drama of
\nlife. And yet when unrest and unhappiness come, the vital at once cries, \u201cI am
\nnot given my due, what is the use of my doing the yoga?\u201d Or else, it makes a
\ngospel of its unhappiness and says that the path to fulfilment must be a tragic
\nroad through the desert. And yet it is precisely this predominance of the vital
\nin us that makes a necessity of the passage through the desert. If the psychic
\nwere always there in front, the desert would be no longer a desert and the
\nwilderness would blossom with the rose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Ananda you describe is
\nevidently that of the inner vital when it is full of the psychic influence and
\nfloods with it the external vital also. It is the true Ananda and there is
\nnothing in it of the old vital nature. When the psychic thus uses the vital to
\nexpress itself, this kind of intense ecstasy is the natural form it takes. This
\nintensity and the old vital excitement are two quite <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1320<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

different things and must not be
\nconfused together. Where there is the intensity with a pure and full
\nsatisfaction, contentment and gratitude leaving no room for claim, demand or
\ndepressing reaction, that is the true vital movement.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the vital being has been
\ntouched by the psychic, mere vital pleasure has no longer any interest, and may
\nalso be felt as a disturbance and discomfort because of the lowering effect
\nupon the consciousness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Pain can be
\nturned into Ananda, but I don’t think that there is a special stage for that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once the vital being has come
\nforward and shown its difficulty \u2013 there is nobody who has not one crucial
\ndifficulty or another there \u2013 it must be dealt with and conquered. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

       It must be
\ndealt with not by the mind but directly by the supramental power. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

     Not peace and
\nknowledge in the mind, but peace, faith, calm strength in the vital being
\nitself (and especially in this part of it that is defective) is the thing to be
\nestablished. To open yourself and allow all this to be brought down into it is
\nthe proper course. The deficiency is not in the higher mind or mind proper;
\nthere is therefore no use in going back to establish mental peace. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The difficulty
\nis in that part of the vital being which is not sufficiently open and confident
\nand not sufficiently strong and courageous and in the physical mind which lends
\nits support to these things. To get the supramental light and calm and strength
\nand intensity down there is what you need. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    You may have
\nall the mental knowledge in the world and yet be impotent to face vital
\ndifficulties. Courage, faith, sincerity towards the Light, rejection of
\nopposite suggestions and adverse voices are there the true help. Then only can
\nknowledge itself be at all effective. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Not mental
\ncontrol but some descent of a control from <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1321<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

above the mind is the power
\ndemanded in the realisation. This control derived eventually from the supermind
\nis a control by the Divine Power.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you see more clearly any
\ndeficiencies of your vital nature and the necessity of a transformation, that
\nitself is a sign of psychic growth. They should not be a cause of
\ndiscouragement, for these are common defects of the human vital, and by an
\nincreased psychic opening they will lose their hold and finally disappear. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    As for the
\ndiminution of mental control over the vital movements, that often happens
\ntemporarily in the course of the yoga. Mental control has to be replaced by a
\ngreater control from above and by the calm, purity and strong peace of the
\nvital itself opened to the Divine Force and its government of the whole nature.\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Do not allow
\nyourself to be troubled or discouraged by any difficulties, but quietly and
\nsimply open yourself to the Mother’s force and allow it to change you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not at all true that the
\nMother takes away the mental control − that is one of the many foolish
\nmisinterpretations that certain sadhaks make about the sadhana. What is true \u2013
\nand that is the cause of what you feel − is that when you try to control
\nfully your habitual movements in the vital by the sadhana, instead of sometimes
\ncontrolling them and sometimes indulging, then they make a violent resistance
\nso that they seem to increase. The sadhak has to stand firm and refuse to be
\noverborne or discouraged by this violence. In dream it is usually the case that
\neven what one has thrown out from the waking state, comes up for a long time \u2013
\nthat is because all these things remain still in the subconscient and it is the
\nsubconscient that creates a great part of people’s dreams. Thus if one no
\nlonger has sexual desires in the waking state he can still have sex-dreams
\n− and emissions − with a more or less frequent recurrence; he can
\nstill <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1322<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

meet people in dreams whom he
\nnever sees or hears or thinks of in his waking hours − and so on. All the
\nmore are such dreams likely to come when the waking mind is not free.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It depends on what is meant by a
\nwrong or unnecessary movement. Certain things have to fall off before the
\nestablishment [of the higher consciousness] can be complete<\/i>. Others that are unnecessary have to be put aside if they
\nare incompatible with the full sadhana or the growth of the inner
\nconsciousness, but can be continued if the consciousness established is such
\nthat doing or not doing makes no difference to it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The phrase [\u201cwrong movements in
\nsadhana\u201d] covers pretty nearly everything that is hurtful to spiritual progress
\n\u2013 movements of doubt, revolt, egoistic desire or ambition, sexual indulgence
\nare the most common, but there are plenty of others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The outward revolt is the refusal
\nof discipline and obedience \u2013 the inward revolt is of many kinds, it may take
\nmany forms, e.g. a revolt of the vital against the Mother, a revolt of the mind
\nagainst the Truth, a rejection of the spiritual life, a demand to enthrone the
\nego as the Divine or to serve something that flatters the vital ego and
\nsupports its demands and call that the Divine, a response to vital suggestions
\nof distrust, despair, self-destruction or departure \u2013 and many others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Vehemence comes from the
\nunregenerate vital ego which is just the thing that stands most in the way of
\nthe transformation; other things are comparatively mild obstacles compared with
\nthis part of the being. It is much better that the Mother refused <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1323<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

consideration to this part of you
\n− consideration would have been a much more dangerous test than refusal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[\u201cVital consecration\u201d:]
\nConsecration means offering and making sacred to the Mother so that the whole
\nvital nature may belong to her and not to the lower nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [vital consecration] is to
\noffer all the vital nature and its movements to the Divine so that it may be
\npurified and only the true movements in consonance with the Divine Will may be
\nthere and all egoistic desires and impulses disappear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sometimes the aspiration is felt
\nat the navel, but that is part of the larger vital. The lower vital is below.
\nThe lower vital aspires by offering all its small movements in the fire of
\npurification, by calling for the light and power to descend into it and rid it
\nof its little greeds, jealousies, resistances and revolts over small matters,
\nangers, vanities, sexualities etc. to be replaced by the right movements
\ngoverned by selflessness, purity, obedience to the urge of the Divine Force in
\nall things.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is evident that the lower
\nvital has received the Divine Consciousness when even in the small movements of
\nlife there is an aspiration to the Divine, a reference as it were to the Divine
\nLight for guidance or some feeling of offering to the Divine or guidance by the
\nDivine. The lower vital commands the little details of emotion, impulse,
\nsensation, action \u2013 it is these that, when converted, it offers to the Divine
\ncontrol for transformation. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1324<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It is true that for the external
\nvital an outer discipline is necessary for the purification, otherwise it
\nremains restless and fanciful and at the mercy of its own impulses − so
\nthat no basis can be built there for a quiet and abiding higher consciousness
\nto remain firmly. The attitude you have taken for the work is, of course, the
\nbest one and, applying it steadily, the progress you feel was bound to come and
\nis sure to increase.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Discipline:] To live and act
\nunder control or according to a standard of what is right \u2013 not to allow the
\nvital or the physical to do whatever they like and not to let the mind run
\nabout according to its fancy without truth or order. Also to obey those who
\nought to be obeyed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An overmastering impulse is not
\nnecessarily an inspiration of true guidance; in following always such impulses
\none is more likely to become a creature of random caprices. Inexhaustible
\nenergy is an excellent thing, but not an energy without discipline.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The will ought to have the same
\nmastery over impulses as over the thoughts. Many people find it easier to
\ncontrol an impulse than to prevent a thought.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [inability to accomplish
\nanything in life] usually comes from a certain instability in the lower vital
\nwhich does not give a consistent support to the Will, but is restless and
\nfluctuates from one interest to another. It does not mean an incapacity for
\nsuccess − usually one who has that could succeed in many directions, but
\nthe fluctuation prevents sustained success in any. It is a defect that has to
\nbe got over and can be got over. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1325<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

The first is vital indecision \u2013
\nthe other is vital instability. Those who can’t choose, have the vital
\nindecision and it is usually due to a too active physical mind, seeing too many
\nthings or too many sides at a time. The other rises from a lack of control and
\ntoo much impulse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are some who are solid and
\ntenacious in their vital, it is they who can be steady \u2013 others are more
\nmercurial and easily moved by impulses, it is these who are sometimes
\nenthusiastic, sometimes drop into fatigue. It is a matter of temperament. On
\nthe other hand the mercurial people are often capable of a quicker ardour, so
\nthat they can progress fast if they want in their own way. In any case the
\nremedy for all that is to find one’s true self above mind and vital and so not
\nbound by temperament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The bitterness you feel is that of a restless and
\ndissatisfied vital which did not get what it desired because it could not
\ndesire anything strongly and persistently. Otherwise it could have all the
\nvital desires − marriage, friends, position, etc. \u2013 but it could stick to
\nnothing owing to a kind of weak restlessness. In the yoga it has shown the same
\nrestless weakness, \u2013 otherwise it could by this time have attained something,
\nand besides there was the sex-impulse which it would neither satisfy nor leave.
\nYou must know what you want and want it with your whole will \u2013 it is only so
\nthat there can be an end of this restlessness and failure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If he wants to make himself some
\nday fit for the spiritual life, the first thing to be avoided is vital
\nrestlessness. To do the work one has to do with a quiet mind, making an
\noffering of it to the Divine and trying to get rid of egoism and vital desire,
\nis the best way to prepare oneself. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1326<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

You should not indulge this sense
\nof grief − remain calm, confident, turned to the one Will in all
\ncircumstances; that is the way to secure that each step will be taken in the
\nright measure and produce its best possible consequences. Regard henceforth the
\nquestion of X and your relation with X as a minor and subordinate thing on the
\nouter side of your sadhana. If you take it as a problem of the first
\nimportance, it will become that and stand in your way again. Look at it as a
\nquestion from the past that has been firmly settled and put in its place and
\nturn to the central aim of your sadhana. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    For the rest,
\napart from this circumstance, you need change nothing in the inward aim and
\nconcentration of your will and endeavour on the one thing to be done \u2013 the
\nentire self-giving and self-dedication of your inner and outer being to the
\nDivine alone. If you can adopt firmly the right inward attitude, it may even be
\neasier so than by an outward rule for your main guidance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The one thing necessary is to
\narrive at a fixed and definite choice in the mind which one can always oppose
\nto the vital disturbance. Disturbance in the vital will always come so long as
\nthe full peace has not descended there, but with a fixed resolution in the mind
\nkept always to the front the acuteness of the disturbance can disappear and the
\nroad become shorter. <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

It is the lower (physical) vital
\nthat acts like that. This part of Nature does not act according to reason, it
\nhas no understanding of things. It acts only according to desire, impulse and
\nhabit. The mind and the heart and the higher vital have understood and put
\nthemselves on the side of the Peace and Force that are acting to transform the
\nnature. But this still responds to the old forces when they touch it. It is a question
\nof getting down the Peace and Force and Light into this part, so that whenever
\nthe outside forces of the lower Nature touch they will find that force <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1327<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

there and not the old response.
\nIt is a little difficult because of the long past habit, but it will come more
\nand more as the Force descends into the body and pervades it in its descent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The opposition of the vital is
\nnever reasonable, even when it puts forward reasons. It acts from its nature
\nand habit of desire not from reason.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is perhaps something of all
\nthat \u2013 but this part of the vital has no precise reasons to support itself with
\n\u2013 it takes hold of any mood of disappointment or strong sense of difficulty. It
\nis a factor in all human natures, \u2013 restless, desiring, eager, despondent,
\nunstable. Stand back from it and do not allow it to govern or move you. There
\nis a right part of the vital which must be used \u2013 ardent, sensitive to the
\nhigher things, capable of great love and devotion. Strengthen that and support
\nit on the psychic and on the peace and wideness that comes from above.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not a question of feeling
\nsorrow or joy or any other emotion, everybody does that who has not overcome
\nthe ordinary Nature. That is not sentimental but emotional. Sentimentalism
\ncomes in when you take pleasure either in indulging or in displaying the
\nfeeling or when you have them for no reason or without sufficient reason.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The lower vital is not a part
\nthat listens to reason. There is no why to its action; it acts in a particular
\nway because it has been accustomed to act in that way, and it goes on even if
\nthe doing brings a painful reaction. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1328<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

The doubts of the sadhaks more
\noften rise from the vital than from the true mental − when the vital goes
\nwrong or is in trouble or depression, the doubts rise and repeat themselves in
\nthe same form and the same language, no matter how much the mind had been
\nconvinced by either patent proofs or intellectual answers. I have noticed that
\nalways the vital is irrational (even when it uses the reason to justify itself)
\nand it believes or disbelieves according to its feeling, not according to
\nreason.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital started in its
\nevolution with obedience to impulse and no reason \u2013 as for strategy, the only
\nstrategy it understands is some tactics by which it can compass its desires. It
\ndoes not like the voice of knowledge and wisdom \u2013 but curiously enough by the
\nnecessity which has grown up in man of justifying action by reason, the vital mind<\/i> has developed a strategy of
\nits own which is to get the reason to find out reasons for justifying its own
\nfeelings and impulses. When the reason is too clear to lend itself to this
\ngame, the vital falls back on its native habit of shutting its ears and going
\non its course. In these attacks, the plan of unfitness, \u201cSince you are not
\npleased with my impulses and I can’t change them, that shows I am unfit, so I
\nhad better go\u201d is the counter strategy it adopts. But even if one counters
\nthat, the impulse itself is sufficient, coming strongly as it does from
\nuniversal Nature, to restore to the vital for a short time its old blind
\nirrational instinct to obey the push that has come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The vital always prefers to cover
\nits movements from the Light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have to develop
\ndiscrimination so that it becomes impossible for the vital to deceive you. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 1329<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

Be careful about vital movements
\nand formations \u2013 when you allow them, you are on the dangerous slope.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The whole significance of your
\nsentences was that you had made all the necessary resolutions, but you could
\nnot carry them out because the Force refused to support you. That is the usual
\ntrick of the vital mind when it wants to rid itself of the blame for
\ndifficulties or want of progress in the sadhana: \u201cI am doing all I can, but the
\nForce is not supporting me\u201d. It is no use your quoting other sentences, because
\nyou write now one thing, now another, shifting your ground for the sake of your
\nargument. If logic could help you to get rid of this trickiness of the vital
\nmind, it would be worth while learning Logic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As to what you ask about anything
\nelse being behind than what your mind was conscious of in its surface
\nintention, there is more often than not something behind when the vital meddles
\nin the matter \u2013 and it is a part of self-knowledge not to be misled by the
\nmind’s surface movements but to detect this something behind. For it is the
\nhabit of the vital to make a mask of the mind’s arrangements about feelings and
\nactions in order to conceal even from the self-observation of the doer the
\nsecret underlying motive or forces behind the speech, act or feelings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your letter of the morning came
\nentirely from the disturbed and wounded vital; that was why I was in no hurry
\nto answer. I do not know why you are so ready to believe that myself or the
\nMother act from ordinary movements of anger, vexation or displeasure; there was
\nnothing of the kind in what I wrote. You had been repeatedly falling from your
\nattained level of a higher consciousness and, in spite of our suggestions to
\nyou to see what was pulling you down, your only reply was that you could see<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1330<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

nothing. We know perfectly well
\nthat it was a part of your vital which did not want to change and, not wanting
\nto change, was hiding itself from the mind and the mind itself did not seem
\nvery willing to see, \u2013 so we thought it necessary when you gave us a chance by
\nwhat you wrote \u2013 first about X and secondly about the thoughts of the past
\n− to indicate plainly and strongly the nature of the obstacle \u2013 on one
\nside your old sentiment persisting in the opposite form of anger, resentment
\nand wounded feelings, on the other the vital’s habit of self-esteem, censorious
\njudgment of others, the sense of superiority in sadhana or in other respects, a
\nwish to appear well before others and before yourself also. This especially has
\na blinding influence and prevents the clear examination of oneself and the
\nperception of the obstacles that are interfering with the spiritual progress.
\nEven if the mind aspires to know and change, a habit of that kind acting
\nconcealed in the vital is quite enough to stand in the way and prevent both the
\nknowledge and the change. I was therefore careful to speak plainly of vanity
\nand self-righteousness, so that this part of the vital might not try not to
\nsee. The Mother speaks or writes much more pointedly and sharply to those whom
\nshe wishes to push rapidly on the way, because they are capable of it, and they
\ndo not resent or suffer but are glad of the pressure and the plainness, because
\nthey know by experience that it helps them to see their obstacles and change.
\nIf you wish to progress rapidly you must get rid of this vital reaction of abhimāna,<\/i> suffering, wounded
\nfeeling, seeking for argument of self-justification, outcry against the touch
\nthat is intended to liberate \u2013 for so long as you have these, it is difficult
\nfor us to deal openly and firmly with the obstacles created by the vital
\nnature. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    In regard to
\nthe difference between you and X. The Mother’s warning to you against the
\nundesirability of too much talk, loose chat and gossip, social self-dispersion
\nwas entirely meant and stands; when you indulge in these things, you throw
\nyourself out into a very small and ignorant consciousness in which your vital
\ndefects get free play and this is likely to bring you out of what you have
\ndeveloped in your inner consciousness. That was why we said that if you felt a
\nreaction against these things when you went to X’s, it was a sign of your
\n(psychic) <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1331<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

sensitiveness coming into you
\n− into your vital and nervous being, and we meant that it was all for the
\ngood. But in dealing with others, in withdrawing from these things you should
\nnot allow any sense of superiority to creep in or force on them by your manner
\nor spirit a sense of disapproval or condemnation or pressure on them to change.
\nIt is for your personal inward need that you draw back from these things, that
\nis all. As for them, what they do in these matters, right or wrong, is their
\naffair, and ours; we will deal with them according to what we see as necessary
\nand possible for them at the moment and for that purpose we can not only deal
\nquite differently with different people, allowing for one what we forbid for
\nanother, but we may deal differently with the same person at different times,
\nallowing or even encouraging today what we shall forbid tomorrow. X’s case is
\nquite different from yours, for there is no resemblance in your natures. I told
\nyou that or something like it long ago and I emphasised in my letter to X that
\nwhat might be the rule for myself or Y was not to be applied or going to be
\napplied in his case. To deal otherwise would be to create difficulties in his
\nsadhana and not to make it easier for him or swifter. I have also told him
\nquite clearly in my letter that the attempt at meeting and mixing with others \u2013
\nwhich in the ordinary human life is attempted by sociableness and other
\ncontacts − has to be realised in yoga on another plane of consciousness
\nand without the lower mixture \u2013 for a higher unity with all on a spiritual and
\npsychic basis. But the way, the time, the order of movements by which this is
\ndone, need not be the same for everybody. If he attempted to force himself it
\nwould lead to gloom, despondency and an artificial movement which would not be
\nthe true way to success. A human soul and nature cannot be dealt with by a set
\nof mental rules applicable to everybody in the same way; if it were so, there
\nwould be no need of a Guru, each could set his chart of yogic rules before him
\nlike the rules of Sandow’s exercise and follow them till he became the perfect
\nSiddha! <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    I have said so
\nmuch in order to let you understand why we do not deal in the same way with X
\nas with you or another. The tendency to take what I lay down for one and apply
\nit without discrimination to another is responsible for much <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1332<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

misunderstanding. A general
\nstatement too, true in itself, cannot be applied to everyone alike or applied
\nnow and immediately without consideration of condition or circumstance or
\nperson or time. I may say generally that to bring down the supermind is my aim
\nin the yoga or that to do that one has first to rise out of mind into overmind,
\nbut if on the strength of that, anybody and everybody began trying to pull down
\nthe supermind or force his way immediately out of mind into overmind, the result
\nwould be disaster. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Therefore
\nconcern yourself with your own progress and follow there the lead the Mother
\ngives you. Leave others to do the same; the Mother is there to guide and help
\nthem according to their need and their nature. It does not in the least matter
\nif the way she follows with him seems different or the opposite of that which
\nshe takes with you. That is the right one for him as this is the right one for
\nyou. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    You have now
\nbegun to see the difficulties that are still there in your vital; keep to that
\nclear perception, let it grow clearer and more precise. Concentrate on what you
\nhave to do and do not let yourself be disturbed this way and that by irrelevant
\npreoccupations or any other influence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is certainly not the answering
\nof questions that will remove the underlying cause of the recurrence. Even if
\nthe answers satisfy, it could only be for a time. The same questionings would
\nrise either in a mechanical reiteration − for it is not truly the reason
\nfrom which they arise, it is a certain part of the vital consciousness affected
\nby the surrounding atmosphere \u2013 or else presented from a shifted ground or a
\nsomewhat changed angle of vision. The difficulty can only disappear if you
\nremain resolute that it shall disappear \u2013 if you refuse to attach any value to
\nthe justifications which the mind is made<\/i>
\nto put forward for your \u201csadness\u201d under this atmospheric influence and, as you
\ndid in certain other matters, stick fast to the resolution to make the yogic
\nchange, to awake the psychic fully, not to follow the voices of the mind but to
\ndo rather what the Mother asks of you, persisting however difficult it may be<\/i> or seem to be. It is so that the
\npsychic can fully <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1333<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

awake and establish its
\ninfluence, not on your higher vital where it is already awake, but on the lower
\nvital, for it is there that your difficulties are and that this vital
\ndepression recurs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is indeed amazing that you
\nshould have lost yourself to an extravagant deception such as X has set on
\nfoot. It is simply the spirit of vital falsehood, dramatic and romantic,
\nobscuring the reason and shutting out common sense and simple truth. To clear
\nthe vital, you must get out of it all compromise with falsehood \u2013 no matter how
\nspecious the reason it advances \u2013 and get the habit of simple straightforward
\npsychic truth engraved in it so that nothing may have a chance to enter. If
\nthis lesson can be imprinted in that part of the vital which is capable of such
\ncompromises some good will come out of this wrong movement. Put the Mother’s
\nnotice henceforth at the door of your vital being, \u201cNo falsehood hereafter
\nshall ever enter here\u201d, and station a sentry there to see that it is put into
\nexecution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As regards your defence of X,
\nthey sound like X’s own ideas and very queer ideas they are. If they are right,
\nwe should have to come to the following conclusions: \u2013 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    l. Sattwa is
\nnot the best passage towards realisation, Rajas is the best way to become
\nspiritual. It is the rajasic man with his fierce ego and violent passions who
\nis the true sadhak of the Divine. <\/p>\n

    2. The Asura is
\nthe best Bhakta. The Gita is quite wrong in holding up the Deva nature as the
\ncondition of realisation and the Asura nature as contrary to it. It is the
\nother way round. <\/p>\n

    3. Ravana,
\nHiranyakashipu, Shishupala were the greatest devotees of the Divine because
\nthey were capable of hostility to the Divine and so were liberated in a few
\nlives \u2013 compared with them the great Rishis and Bhaktas were very poor
\nspiritual vessels. I am aware of the paradox about Ravana in the Purana, but
\nlet me point out that these Asuras and Rakshasas did not <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1334<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

pretend to be disciples or
\nworshippers of Rama or Krishna or Vishnu or use their
\nposition as disciples to get Moksha by revolt \u2013 they got it by being enemies
\nand getting killed and absorbed into the Godhead. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    4. Obedience to
\nthe Guru, worship of the Divine are all tommy rot and fit only for sheep, not
\nmen. To turn round furiously on the Guru or the Divine, abuse him, express
\ncontempt, challenge his sincerity, declare his actions to be wrong, foolish or
\na trick \u2013 to assert oneself as right at every point and his judgment as
\nmistaken, prejudiced, absurd, false, a support of devils etc., etc. is the best
\nway of devotion and the true relation between Guru and Shishya. Disobedience is
\nthe highest respect to the Guru, anger and revolt are the noblest worship one
\ncan give to the Divine. <\/p>\n

    5. One who
\ntakes the blows of Mahakali with joy as a means of discovering his faults and
\nincreasing in light and strength and purity is a sheep and unworthy of
\ndisciplehood \u2013 one who responds to the quietest pressure to change by revolt
\nand persisting in his errors is a strong man and a mighty Adhar and a noble
\ndisciple on the way to perfection. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    I could go on
\nmultiplying the consequences, but I have no time. Do you really believe all
\nthese things? They are the natural consequences of X’s theory or of this theory
\nof revolt as the way to perfection. If you accept the premiss, you have to
\naccept the logical consequences. That is what X did \u2013 only he called his errors
\nTruth and the way prescribed by me as falsehood explicable only by the fact
\nthat I was a \u201cMaster who had forgotten his higher self\u201d. And the consequences
\nled to his departure, not willed by us, but by his own choice \u2013 and under such
\ncircumstances that he has made it a practical impossibility for me to let him come
\nback unless he undergoes a change which the experience of the past does not
\nwarrant me in thinking possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your analysis is perfectly
\naccurate \u2013 with this clear knowledge of the mechanism of the whole thing it
\nshould be easier to get rid of these ignorant forces. It is true that they care
\nnothing for <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1335<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

truth or reason and appeal only
\nto the blind feelings of the vital, but still the light of the true
\nconsciousness turned steadily on them ought to so much enlighten your own vital
\nthat it will no longer lend itself to the things that seek to disturb it and be
\nready to take its stand in the calm and happiness of surrender to the Divine. <\/p>\n


\nVI<\/span><\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tThe difficulty you have in your vital is not peculiar to you, but is in
\n\t\tsome degree and in some form or another a fairly general malady. Its
\n\t\tconstant return, the mechanical irrational return even when all the rest
\n\t\tof the nature has rejected it, is due to the obstinacy of the material
\n\t\tconsciousness always repeating the old movement in the old groove at the
\n\t\tleast touch from the old habitual forces. It is a question of faith,
\n\t\tpatience and persistence. One must be more obstinate than the obstinate
\n\t\tmaterial nature and persevere until the light and truth can take
\n\t\tpermanent hold of the parts which are still responsive to the old
\n\t\tmovements. There can be no doubt that with this perseverance the Truth
\n\t\twill in the end conquer. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

   
\nIt would make it easier if you could get rid of certain fixed ideas and of the
\nhabitual reaction of depression or despair when these recurrences come. For
\ninstance, dismiss any question about the \u201cpossibility\u201d of conversion of your
\nvital being; you should see rather that it is certain and not merely possible.
\nWhen there are these recurrences, do not allow yourself to be depressed by them,
\nbut simply observe and stand back and call in the higher force with the full
\nconfidence that these are mechanical recurrences and in substance nothing more \u2013
\nhowever strong they may seem in appearance. The principle of mechanical
\nrepetition is very strong in the material nature, so strong that it makes one
\neasily think that it is incurable. That, however, is only a trick of the forces
\nof this material inconscience; it is by creating this impression that they try
\nto endure. If, on the contrary, you remain firm, refuse to be depressed or
\ndiscouraged and, even in the moment of attack, affirm the certainty of eventual
\nvictory, the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─1336<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nvictory itself will come much more easily and sooner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nthe vital takes hold of a thing, it is often like that \u2013 it fixes it continually
\non the mind till it is either satisfied or the hold thrown off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nshould not allow yourself to be discouraged by any persistence of the movements
\nof the lower vital nature. There are some that tend always to persist and return
\nuntil the whole physical nature is changed by the transformation of the most
\nmaterial consciousness; till then their pressure recurs \u2013 sometimes with a
\nrevival of their force, sometimes more dully \u2013 as a mechanical habit. Take from
\nthem all life-force by refusing any mental or vital assent; then the mechanical
\nhabit will become powerless to influence the thoughts and acts and will finally
\ncease.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nvery often when one thinks a particular resistance is finished and is no longer
\nin the vital that it surges up again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nexacerbation of certain vital movements is a perfectly well-known phenomenon in
\nyoga and does not mean that one has degenerated, but only that one has come to
\nclose grips instead of to a pleasant nodding acquaintance with the basic
\ninstincts of the earthly vital nature. I have had myself the experience of this
\nrising to a height, during a certain stage of the spiritual development, of
\nthings that before hardly existed and seemed quite absent in the pure yogic
\nlife. These things rise up like that because they are fighting for their
\nexistence \u2013 they are not really personal to you and the vehemence of their
\nattack is not due to any \u201cbadness\u201d in the personal nature. I dare say seven
\nsadhaks<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1337<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

out of
\nten have a similar experience. Afterwards when they cannot effect their object
\nwhich is to drive the sadhak out of his sadhana, the whole thing sinks and there
\nis no longer any vehement trouble. I repeat that the only serious thing about it
\nis the depression created in you and the idea of inability in the yoga that they
\ntake care to impress on the brain when they are at their work. If you can get
\nrid of that, the violence of the vital attacks is only the phenomenon of a stage
\nand does not in the end matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nthese things are there in human nature, habitual movements, which show their
\ntrue nature only when the light of the higher consciousness is turned on them.
\nEven after they have been rejected the possibility of a response to such
\nsuggestions from outside remains in the grain of the lower vital or
\nvital-physical or the subconscient till there is the full enlightenment there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nfact that your vital \u201cgoes out of the poise\u201d and accepts them [ego, demand,
\ndesire] means that you keep yourself open to them. The sign that these things
\nare no longer admitted is when the inner vital rejects them so that they become
\nsuggestions only and nothing else. There may arise a surge of suggestions or
\nwaves from the general nature, but they cannot get admission. It is only then
\nthat a will can be kept in which one is untouched by the general atmosphere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nmust be that on that occasion the consciousness got lowered and some vital wave
\ncame in from the atmosphere resuscitating the old vibrations of the restless
\nvital which had quieted down. You must separate yourself from them and get the
\npoise of quietude again. They have no longer any real basis in mind or heart,
\nthey rely only on the force of repetition that comes up from the subconscient
\nand once started try to keep these old <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1338<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

ideas
\nand feelings repeating themselves so as to prevent the consciousness from
\nsettling down into quietude. But the poise once obtained is there and has only
\nbeen covered up and has got to be uncovered again from these cloudings. You must
\nget the habit of keeping quiet somewhere in yourself when these attacks come, of
\nkeeping something within that refuses to say ditto to these suggestions or
\naccept them as its own proper thoughts and feelings. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAnyhow the Force will be put to help you; receive it and all that will go.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was
\nevidently not the action of something that is rooted still within, but an old
\nmovement returning from outside (from the universal Nature) to which something
\nin the vital still responds by force of habit, force of accustomed recurrence.
\nThis is shown by the fact that you felt nothing at the time − only afterwards;
\nalso by the alternations of quiet and unrest after calling the Force, as if of
\nsomething losing its hold and then trying to get it back and hold on still.
\nThings thrown out always come back like that relying on the old habit of
\nresponse in the stuff of the nature, \u2013 the old vibration. By throwing it out
\nwhenever it comes, in the end the part which responds begins to understand that
\nit must not and is gradually or quickly liberated from the habit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nnormal that when special pressure is put on a vital movement, a resistance
\nwhether in the vital itself (here vital-physical) or in the subconscient should
\nmanifest itself. It is sometimes a real resistance, sometimes it is only the pravrtti<\/i> presenting itself for purification.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nonly way to get rid of these vital movements is to do persistently what he
\ndescribes himself as doing with the invading forces \u2013 i.e. he must be always
\nvigilant, try always at every moment to be conscious, always reject these
\nthings, refusing to take pleasure <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1339<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

in
\nthem, call on the Mother, bring down the descent of the Light. If they return
\npersistently he must not be discouraged; it is not possible to change the nature
\nat once, it takes a long time. If, however, he can keep the psychic
\nconsciousness in the front, then it will be much easier and there will be much
\nless difficulty and trouble in the change. That can be done by constant
\naspiration and abhyāsa.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nlower vital in most human beings is full of grave defects and of movements that
\nrespond to hostile forces. A constant psychic opening, a persistent rejection of
\nthese influences, a separation of oneself from all hostile suggestions and the
\ninflow of the calm, light, peace, purity of the Mother’s power would eventually
\nfree the system from the siege. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nWhat is needed is to be quiet and more and more quiet, to look on these
\ninfluences as something not yourself which has intruded, to separate yourself
\nfrom it and deny it and to abide in a quiet confidence in the Divine Power. If
\nyour psychic being asks for the Divine and your mind is sincere and calls for
\nliberation from the lower nature and from all hostile forces and if you can call
\nthe Mother’s power into your heart and rely upon it more than on your own
\nstrength, this siege will in the end be driven away from you and strength and
\npeace take its place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nalways better to have peace. As for the vital, there is always something in it
\nthat resists and tries to retard, but if the inner being opens sufficiently and
\nyou can live in the inner being, peace can descend and establish itself there in
\nsuch a way that the vital movements of the surface may be there but will not be
\nable to break the inner peace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\none thing you have to avoid is losing patience; for that only prolongs the vital
\ntrouble. If the vital is to be changed <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page ─ 1340<\/font><\/span><\/h5>\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n

\n(fundamentally) it always gives constant trouble like this until one can seat
\noneself fixedly in the calm of the inner consciousness and keep the vital
\nmovements quite on the surface.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why
\nshould you suppose it is vain? The purification of the vital takes a long time
\nbecause until all the parts are free, none is quite free and because they use a
\nmultitude of movements which have to be changed or enlightened, − and moreover
\nthere is a great habit of persistence and resistance in the habitual movements
\nof the nature. One therefore easily thinks that one has made no progress, − but
\nall sincere and sustained effort of purification has its result and after a time
\nthe progress made will become evident.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nbecause both your mind and vital have become sincere that the attack is strong
\nand seems to you abnormal. Before as you were yielding from time to time, the
\npart that wants was not acutely insistent and, when it pressed, it was not so
\nacutely felt by the rest of the vital nature. It is your mental, psychic and
\nhigher vital beings that now stand completely apart from it. It is your
\nphysical-vital that still keeps the desire and is pushed from time to time by
\nopposite forces to make the desire active. It was also this desire that created
\nthe physical disturbance from which you suffered a few days ago. You must get
\nrid of this desire of the lower vital altogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nnot the mind, but the psychic being that made the suggestion through the mind.
\nThere is a part of the mind that is under the influence of the Truth and can be
\nthe channel of the psychic being’s knowledge or feeling; there is another part
\nthat answers to the vital and expresses and supports the difficulties and
\noppositions in the nature. If the whole mind refuses to respond to the vital or
\naccept or support its suggestions then much of the force <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1341<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

of the
\nvital attack disappears and one is more able to put a pressure on the vital and
\noblige it also to listen to the psychic and change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhat happened in your case was that the whole vital difficulty − the main one of
\nthe family − massed itself together and rose. When an attack like that is
\novercome, there is always a clearance of the inner atmosphere. It must not be
\nallowed to gather force again − and for that the mind must always follow the
\npsychic suggestion and refuse at once to harbour the opposite suggestions and at
\nthe same time keep itself open to the Mother, so that the Mother’s Force may
\ncome down into it and occupy it and work there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nhappens usually is that something touches the vital, often without one’s knowing
\nit, and brings up the old ordinary or external consciousness in such a way that
\nthe inner mind gets covered up and all the old thoughts and feelings return for
\na time. It is the physical mind that becomes active and gives its assent. If the
\nwhole mind remains quiet and detached observing the vital movement but not
\ngiving its assent, then to reject it becomes more easy. This established
\nquietude and detachment of the mind marks always a great step forward made in
\nthe sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But
\nwhat do you want to do with all these obscure and useless vital movements that
\ntorment you, these wrong thoughts,
\nsuggestions, confusions, inabilities etc.? <\/span>You seem to write as if you
\nthought they must be kept and changed? But why kept and how changed? What would
\nbe the use? But precisely what you have got to do is to \u201cshut them out\u201d, to
\nreject, refuse to keep them, refuse to have them. It is precisely to see in
\nanother way, to see in the true way that the Force is pressing on you. It would
\nindeed be a great blessing if you could forget these other wrong things
\naltogether. Again, why do you want to keep and change the \u201cwrong things\u201d as you
\nyourself call them? If you have an <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1342<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nillness, do you want to keep and change the pains, the sickness and all the rest
\nof it? It is to throw out the illness that you want, for the body to forget it,
\nnot keep any impression of it, to lose even the possibility of having it again,
\nto live and feel in quite another way, the way of health. It is just the same
\nhere.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nthis idea that you are helpless because the vital consents to the wrong movement
\nthat comes in the way. You have to put your inner will and the Mother’s light on
\nthe vital so that it shall change, not leave it to do what it likes. If one is
\nto be \u201chelpless\u201d and moved by any part of the instrumental being, how is change
\npossible? The Mother’s force or the psychic can act, but on condition that the
\nassent of the being is there. If the vital is left to do what it likes, it will
\nalways go after its old habits; it has to be made to feel that it must change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you
\nwant to get back your faith and keep it, you must first quiet your mind and make
\nit open and obedient to the Mother’s force. If you have an excited mind at the
\nmercy of every influence and impulse, you will remain a field of conflicting and
\ncontrary forces and cannot progress. You will begin to listen to your own
\nignorance instead of the Mother’s knowledge and your faith will naturally
\ndisappear and you will get into a wrong condition and a wrong attitude. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nYour ailment is evidently in its foundation an illness of the nerves and not an
\nordinary physical disease. These maladies are a creation of the pressure of
\nhostile forces; they increase if anything in you assents to them and accepts,
\nand the more the mind gives value to them and dwells on them, the more they
\ngrow. The only way is to remain quiet, dissociate yourself and refuse to accept
\nit or make much of it, allow the calm and strength that the Mother has been
\nputting around you to enter your mind and permeate your nervous system. To do
\notherwise is to place yourself on the side of the hostile forces that are <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage −1343<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nafflicting you. The cure may take long because your nervous system has been long
\nsubjected to these influences and, when they are evicted, they return with
\nviolence to re-establish their hold. But if you can acquire and keep patience
\nand fortitude and the right consciousness and right attitude with regard to
\nthese things, the hold they have will progressively disappear.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nThere are defects in your vital nature which stand in the way of a settled
\nspiritual progress, but they can be eliminated if, dropping all exaggerated
\nideas of \u201csin\u201d and unfitness, you look quietly at them and recognise and reject
\nthem. Tranquillise in yourself all over-eager demands and desires, all
\nexcitement and exaggeration of opposite feelings and impulses, seek first
\nintensity of devotion, but also calm, strength, purity and peace. Allow a quiet
\nand steady will to progress to be settled in you; learn the habit of a silent,
\npersistent and thorough assimilation of what the Mother puts into you. This is
\nthe sound way to advance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nwould not be at all right to yield to these suggestions which are obviously
\nthere of a force that wants to make use of the unease and disappointment of the
\nvital in order to draw you to break your sadhana. These are the usual
\nsuggestions that come to all under the stress of the vital condition: \u201cI am not
\nfit for this sadhana. I must go, I cannot stay here. The Mother does not love
\nme. I have given up everything and got nothing. The struggle makes me too
\nmiserable; let me go.\u201d As a matter of fact, there is no real foundation for
\nthese suggestions. Because an acute struggle has come, it would be absurd to
\nconclude that you are unfit for the sadhana and to give it up after going so
\nfar. It is because you have asked the physical-vital to give up certain of its
\ncherished attachments and habits that it is in this condition; unable to resist
\naltogether, miserable at being deprived, it accepts these suggestions as an
\nexcuse for escape from the pressure you have put upon it. The acuteness of the
\nstruggle is due to the vehemence of the attack, but still more to this vital or
\na part of it responding to the suggestions; otherwise a less disturbing, even if
\na slower, movement would be quite possible. The Mother has <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─1344<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

in no
\nway changed towards you nor is she disappointed with you\u2014that is the suggestion
\ndrawn from your own state of mind and putting its wrong sense of disappointment
\nand unfitness on the Mother. She has no reason to change or be disappointed, as
\nshe has always been aware of the vital obstacles in you and still expected and
\nexpects you to overcome them. The call to change certain things that seem to be
\nin the grain of character is proving difficult even for the best sadhaks, but
\nthe difficulty is no proof of incompetence. It is precisely this impulse to go
\nthat you must refuse to admit − for so long as these forces think they can bring
\nit about, they will press as much as they can on this point. You must also open
\nyourself more to the Mother’s Force in that part and for that it is necessary to
\nget rid of this suggestion about the Mother’s disappointment or lack of love,
\nfor it is this which creates the reaction at the time of Pranam. Our help,
\nsupport, love are there always as before − keep yourself open to them and with
\ntheir aid drive out these suggestions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

All
\ndepression is bad as it lowers the consciousness, spends the energy, opens to
\nadverse forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do not
\nallow yourself to admit any movement of vital depression, still less a depressed
\ncondition. As for the external being, it is always, not only in you but in
\neveryone, a difficult animal to handle. It has to be dealt with by patience and
\na quiet and cheerful perseverance; never get depressed by its resistance, for
\nthat only makes it sensitive and aggrieved and difficult, or else discouraged.
\nGive it rather the encouragement of sunlight and a quiet pressure, and one day
\nyou will find it opening entirely to the Grace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nouter being does not care for the sadhana unless it gets<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1345<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nsomething by it which is to it pleasant or gratifying or satisfying − depression
\ntherefore comes easy to it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nNaturally, if the vital is quiet and allows the mind to see things rightly,
\nthere will not be this depression.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These
\nfeelings of despair and exaggerated sense of self-depreciation and helplessness
\nare suggestions of a hostile Force and should never be admitted. The defects of
\nwhich you speak are common to all human nature and the external being of every
\nsadhak is full of them; to become aware of them is necessary for the
\ntransformation, but it must be done with a quiet mind and with the faith and
\nsurrender to the Divine and assured aspiration to the higher consciousness,
\nwhich are proper to the psychic being. The transformation of the external being
\nis the most difficult part of the yoga and it demands faith, patience, quietude
\nand firm determination. It is in that spirit that you have to throw these
\ndepressions aside and go steadily on with the yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I did
\nnot receive any letter from you so recently as a fortnight or three weeks ago.
\nIf you feel in a pitiable condition, it is certainly not because you have
\nincurred our displeasure. I have said that we are always with you and it is
\ntrue, but to feel it you must draw back from your vital and be able to
\nconcentrate in your inner being. If you do that faithfully and sincerely, after
\na time you will feel the connection and the rapport. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

       The meaning of the phrase
\nyou speak of is this, that usually the vital tries to resist the call to change.
\nThat is what is meant by revolt or opposition. If the inner will insists and
\nforbids revolt or opposition, the vital unwillingness may often take the form of
\ndepression and dejection, accompanied by a resistance in the physical mind which
\nsupports the repetition of old ideas, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1346<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nhabits, movements or actions while the body consciousness suffers from an
\napprehension or fear of the called-for change, a drawing back from it or a
\ndullness which does not receive the call. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nIt is these things you have to get rid of. But a sorrowful or despondent mood is
\nnot the proper condition for doing that. You have to stand back from the feeling
\nof suffering, anguish and apprehension, reject it and look quietly at the
\nresistance, applying always to yourself your will to change and insisting that
\nit shall be done and cannot fail to be done now or later with the divine help
\nbecause the divine help is there. It is then that the strength can come to you
\nthat will overcome the difficulties.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A
\nweeping that comes with the feeling you speak of is the sign of a psychic sorrow
\n− for it translates an aspiration of the psychic being. But depression and
\nhopelessness ought not to come. You should rather cling to the faith that since
\nthere is a true aspiration in you, it is sure to be fulfilled, whatever the
\ndifficulties of the external nature. You must recover in that faith the inner
\npeace and quietude while at the same time keeping the clear insight into what
\nhas to be done and the steady aspiration for the inner and outer change.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do
\nnot know that sadness has the power to cure [the dryness in the vital]. I have
\nmyself followed the Gita’s path of equanimity − but for some the psychic sadness
\nmay be necessary. But I think it is more an indication of a mistake than a cure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nrule in yoga is not to let the depression depress you, to stand back from it,
\nobserve its cause and remove the cause; for the cause is always in oneself,
\nperhaps a vital defect somewhere, a wrong movement indulged or a petty desire
\ncausing a <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1347<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nrecoil, sometimes by its satisfaction, sometimes by its disappointment. In yoga
\na desire satisfied, a false movement given its head produces very often a worse
\nrecoil than disappointed desire. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nWhat is needed for you is to live more deeply within, less in the outer vital
\nand mental part which is exposed to these touches. The inmost psychic being is
\nnot oppressed by them; it stands in its own closeness to the Divine and sees the
\nsmall surface movements as surface things foreign to the true Being.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nindeed good that the psychic intervened and prevented the mind from taking the
\nwrong direction. It is not possible that there should not be stumbles, failures,
\netc. in the work of self-purification and change, but to feel upset or
\nremorseful over them is harmful rather than helpful; it easily brings
\ndepression, and depression brings clouding of the mind and weakness. To observe
\ncalmly the wrong movement and its nature (here it was the tongue that was at
\nfault and the tongue is always an easily erring member) and to set it right
\ninwardly is always the best way. Calm, especially when the true spiritual calm
\nof the Self is there, is the thing that must always be preserved; with that
\neverything else can be done in time and with the least trouble.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTamasic indifference is one thing and the absence of sorrow is another. One has
\nto observe what is wrong and do all that one can to set it right. Sadness in
\nitself has no power to cure what is wrong, a firm quiet persistent will has the
\npower.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nwas nothing wrong in helping with the cooking. But if there were a wrong
\nmovement in that, it is not to be met by getting depression − for depression
\nitself is a wrong or mistaken movement; and how can one mistake be corrected by
\nanother? The proper way to deal with a wrong movement is to look quietly <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1348<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

at it
\nand put the consciousness right at that point.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nIt is also a mistake to take quietude for callousness. If you are no longer
\ndisturbed by what people say or do, then that is a great progress. If you have
\nno abhimāna
\n<\/span><\/i>against the Mother, that also is surely very desirable.
\nAbhimāna<\/i>, disturbance etc. may be signs of life but of a vital, not of the
\ninner life. They must quiet down and give room for the inner life. At first the
\nresult may be a neutral quiet, but one has often to pass through that to arrive
\nat a more positive new consciousness. When the mind thus falls quiet the
\nthoughts of the past, all sorts of repetitive or mechanical thoughts begin to
\nrise up − these are from the physical mind or the subconscient. One has to
\nrefuse them and let them pass away, aspiring for the complete mental quietude in
\nwhich the new consciousness can reveal itself little by little. Remain firm and
\nquiet with the right will in you and let the Force do its work. That will may
\nnot bear recognisable fruit at once, but adhere to it and the fruit will come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nRemorse, repentance, is the natural movement of the vital mind when it sees it
\nhas done a mistake. It is certainly better than indifference. Its disadvantage
\nis that it disturbs the vital stuff and sometimes leads to depression or
\ndiscouragement. For that reason what is usually recommended to the sadhak is a
\nquiet recognition of the mistake with a sincere aspiration and will that it
\nshould not be repeated or at least that the habit of making such mistakes should
\nsoon be eliminated. At a higher stage of development when the inner calm is
\nestablished, one simply observes the defects of the nature as defects of a
\nmachinery that one has to put right and calls down the Light and Force for its
\nrectification. In the beginning however the movement of repentance even helps
\nprovided it does not bring discouragement or depression.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nouter reasons [for despondency] are created by the mind <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1349<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

and it
\nis the mind that responds or does not respond to them. Nothing outward can
\naffect unless the mind (vital mind usually) represents them to itself in a
\nparticular way and makes its own response.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the
\nmind does not respond to any suggested reasons for despondency, that is indeed a
\ngreat liberation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nvital mind is part of the vital. If mind (mental mind, vital mind, physical
\nmind, subconscient mind) does not respond to outer things, depression is
\nimpossible. The self at one end, the stone at the other never get into
\ndepression and between them the true mind, true vital, true physical
\nconsciousness never get depression because they do not give responses to things
\nthat create depression.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nseem to rely very much on X and his experiences and ideas about them. X’s
\nexperience proves nothing because he is quite ignorant. His depression comes
\nfrom outside and has its causes, only his vital mind does not record or
\nunderstand the causes, but there is a response to them all the same. Because the
\nvital mind has in the past always associated depression with these causes and
\nthat impression remains in the vital stuff, so it responds to their touch with
\nthe usual reaction taught to it by the vital mind. An ignorant and untrained
\nmind like X’s cannot be expected to realise the secret machinery of the
\nmovements of his own consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After
\nyou went from here it seems that the vital difficulties which you were emerging
\nfrom here came back with your return to the atmosphere and that was the cause of
\nthe violent depression and ill-health that fell upon you. The depression again
\nwas <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1350<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the
\ncause why everything went wrong and the arrangements made fell through or took a
\nwrong turn. For depression prevents the Force from flowing through and calls in
\nthe adverse forces and gives them a chance to destroy the helpful formations
\nthat are made. All the trouble and difficulty you have had will disappear or be
\nminimised if you shake off this tendency to depression altogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nHowever or from wheresoever it came, the only thing to do with a depression is
\nto throw it out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nweakness in yourself of which you speak is there, as the persistency of these
\nmovements show, but it is not in the heart − your heart is all right − but in
\nthe lower vital nature. All your weaknesses are there; the rest of your being is
\nquite strong enough for the spiritual life. But this inadequacy of the lower
\nvital is not peculiar to you, it is present in almost every human being. This
\ntendency to irrational sadness and despondency and these imaginations, fears and
\nperverse reasonings − always repeating, if you will take careful notice, the
\nsame movements, ideas and feelings and even the same language and phrases like a
\nmachine − is a characteristic working of the lower vital nature. The only way to
\nget rid of it is to meet it with a fixed resolution of the higher vital and the
\nmind and the psychic being to combat, reject and master it. As you were
\ndetermined to master the sex-impulse and the desire of the palate, so you must
\ndetermine to master this \u201cirrational knot\u201d of despondency and the lower vital
\nnature. If you indulge it and regard it as a natural part of yourself with good
\ncauses for existence or if you busy yourself finding this or that justification
\nwhen it comes, there is no reason why it should let go its unpleasant grip upon
\nyou. Be firm and courageous here, as you have learnt to be with other movements
\nof your lower vital; you will then find less difficulty in your meditation and
\nyour general sadhana. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1351<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It is
\nthe weakness in the vital which enables them [the forces of dissatisfaction and
\ndesire] to keep up their attack. Instead of allowing the weakness revive your
\nwill and aspiration and let them throw out this egoistic darkness….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAlso allow no demand of the human vital to rise up in clamour of egoistic revolt
\nor if one rises see that you or no part of you identify yourself with it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nfeelings and movements of the past always return at night in sleep. It is only
\nwhen the consciousness that generated them is changed and cleared in the waking
\nstate, that afterwards one can clear them out of the sleep also. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nYou are listening too much to the suggestions of the outer consciousness, \u201cnot
\nbeing able,\u201d etc. etc. Since you did begin to open a little for a time, it shows
\nthat you are able. You have to get back to that movement; for that you must
\npersuade this outer vital not to go on repeating \u201cI am not able, my efforts
\ncannot succeed, I am too crooked etc.\u201d − or if it goes on, you must not listen
\nto it. You must affirm and concentrate on the possibility that was shown you and
\nnot on the supposed impossibility.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nclear that the force and peace are descending and working more and more to fix
\nthemselves in you. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nThe other feelings, the wanting to be sad, the fear of being happy, the
\nsuggestion of incapacity or unfitness are the usual movements of the vital
\nformation which is not yourself and they come up to try and prevent the change
\nin you. You have only to refuse to accept these suggestions and put yourself
\npersistently on the side of the Truth in you which will make you free and happy,
\nand all will be well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who
\ndoes not feel the confusion or ignorance somewhere in<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1352<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nhimself so long as the full light and the true force have not come? Your mistake
\nis to be always thinking about the confusion and struggling with it, dwelling on
\nit, magnifying it by thinking about it, treating it as if it were the only thing
\nreal and true. When you feel the force, turn to the force and let it act − it is
\nthat Force and not you or your brooding and struggles that can get rid of the
\nconfusion and darkness. What is the use of examining whether your faith and
\nconfidence are of the \u201ctrue\u201d kind or not? To feel the force, be quiet, let it
\nact is all that is needed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\ngood that you go back from this struggle towards the quiet foundation that helps
\nthe opening. All this struggling and confusion and harassing self-depreciation
\nis the old wrong way of proceeding; it is mental and vital and cannot succeed;
\nit is in the quiet mind that the opening must come. Then the psychic being, the
\nsoul in you begins to come forward. The soul knows and sees the Truth; the mind
\nand vital do not − until they are enlightened by the soul’s knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nnot true that you cannot or will never be put right. It is what appears to you
\nwhen your lower vital is restless or else your physical mind comes uppermost.
\nOnly it is true that if you could keep yourself always in that part of you which
\nis in contact, the thing would be done sooner and with much less difficulty and
\ntrouble.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If
\nthere is this unconsciousness, you have to learn to be conscious in all your
\nactions, so that the vital movements will no longer be able to deceive you or
\ntake any cover. You must make a point of being perfectly sincere in looking at
\nthese vital movements and seeing them as they are.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nIf once you can open in the  <\/span>psychic being
\nand keep it open, then from within yourself will come constantly a perception
\nthat <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1353<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

will
\nshow you at each step the actual truth and keep you on your guard against any
\nkind of deception. If you aspire constantly and allow the peace to grow and the
\nForce to work in you, this opening will come.<\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

I have
\nnever said that to overcome doubt is easy; it is difficult because it is the
\nnature of something in the human physical mind to cling to doubt for its own
\nsake. It is not easy to overcome gloom, depression, grief and suffering because
\nsomething in the human vital clings to it and almost needs it as part of the
\ndrama of life. So also I have never said that sex, anger, jealousy, etc. were
\neasy to overcome. I have said it was difficult because they were ingrained in
\nthe human vital and even if thrown out were always being brought into it either
\nby its own habit or by the invasion of the general Nature and the resurgence of
\nits old response…. The external consciousness − the physical mind and
\nconsciousness of man\u2014hates its own suffering and if left to itself dislikes also
\nto see others suffer. But if you will try to fathom the significance of your
\nadmission of liking drama or of the turn towards drama from which very few human
\nbeings escape, and if you go deep enough, you will find that there is something
\nin the vital which likes suffering and clings to it for the sake of the drama.
\nIt is something below the surface, but it is strong, almost universal in human
\nnature and difficult to eradicate unless one recognises it and gets inwardly
\naway from it. The mind and the physical of man do not like suffering, for if
\nthey did, it would not be suffering any longer, but this thing in the vital
\nwants it in order to give a spice to life. It is the reason why constant
\ndepressions can go on returning and returning even though the mind longs to get
\nrid of them, because this in the vital responds, goes on repeating the same
\nmovement like a gramophone as soon as it is got going and insists on turning the
\nwhole round of the oft-repeated record. It does not really depend on the reasons
\nwhich the vital gives for starting off to the round, these are often of the most
\ntrivial character and wholly insufficient to justify it. It is only by <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1354<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

a
\nstrong will to detach oneself, not to justify, to reject, not to welcome that
\none can in the end get rid of this most troublesome and dangerous streak in
\nhuman nature. When therefore we speak of the vital comedy, of the vital drama,
\nwe are speaking from a psychological knowledge which does not end with the
\nsurface of things but looks at these hidden movements. It is impossible to deal
\nwith things for the purposes of yoga if we confine ourselves to the surface
\nconsciousness only: it is also quite according to the rule of these reactions
\nthat your despondency should have come immediately after a considerable progress
\nin bhakti and the will to surrender in the inner being − for it comes from the
\nspirit of darkness which attacks the sadhak whenever it can and that spirit
\nresents fiercely all progress made and hates the very idea of progress and its
\nwhole policy is to convince him by its attacks and suggestions that he has made
\nnone or that what progress he has made is after all null and inconclusive….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nThe laws of this world as it is are the laws of the Ignorance and the Divine in
\nthe world maintains them so long as there is the Ignorance; if he did not, the
\nuniverse would crumble to pieces −
\nutsīdeyur ime lokāh<\/i>, as the Gita puts it. There are also, very naturally,
\nconditions for getting out of the Ignorance into the Light. One of them is that
\nthe mind of the sadhaks should co-operate with the Truth and that his will
\nshould co-operate with the Divine Power which, however slow its action may seem
\nto the vital or to the physical mind, is uplifting the nature towards the Light;
\nwhen that co-operation is complete, the progress can be rapid enough. But the
\nsadhak should not grudge the time and labour needed to make the co-operation
\nfully possible to the blindness and weakness of human nature and effective.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAll this call of yours for faith, sincerity, surrender is only an invitation to
\nmake that co-operation more easily possible. If the physical mind ceases to
\njudge all things including those that it does not know or are beyond it, like
\nthe deeper things of the spirit, then it becomes easier for it to receive the
\nLight and know by illumination and experience the things that it does not yet
\nknow. If the mental and vital will place themselves in the Divine Hand without
\nreservation, then it is easier for the Power to work and produce tangible
\neffects. If there is resistance, then it is <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1355<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nnatural that it should take more time and the work should be done from within
\nor, as it might appear, underground so as to prepare the nature and undermine
\nthe resistance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nthing in you which enjoys the suffering and wants it is part of the human vital
\n− it is these things that we describe as the insincerity and perverse twist of
\nthe vital; it cries out against sorrow and trouble and accuses the Divine and
\nlife and everybody else of torturing it, but for the most part the sorrow and
\nthe trouble come and remain because the perverse something in the vital wants
\nthem! That element in the vital has to be got rid of altogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nit is so. Even there is something in the vital consciousness that would not feel
\nat home if there were no suffering in life. It is the physical that fears and
\nabhors suffering, but the vital takes it as part of the play of life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nnot the soul but the vital or rather something in it that takes pleasure in
\ngroaning and weeping and in fact in sorrow and suffering of all kinds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nsurface nature does not enjoy − but something within enjoys the
\nlilā<\/i>
\nof \u201claughter and tears\u201d, joy and grief, pleasure and pain, in a word the play of
\nthe ignorance. In some people this comes up to a certain extent on the surface.
\nMany, if you propose to them the removal of suffering from life, look askance at
\nyou and feel that it would be terribly wrong to have nothing but joy and Ananda
\nand peace − many even have said it. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1356<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nDisappointed vital desire must bring about suffering. Pain and suffering are
\nnecessary results of the Ignorance in which we live; men grow by all kinds of
\nexperience, pain and suffering as well as their opposites, joy and happiness and
\necstasy. One can get strength from them if one meets them in the right way. Many
\ntake a joy in pain and suffering when associated with struggle or endeavour or
\nadventure, but that is more because of the exhilaration and excitement of the
\nstruggle than because of suffering for its own sake. There is, however,
\nsomething in the vital which takes joy in the whole of life, its dark as well as
\nits bright sides. There is also something perverse in the vital which takes a
\nkind of dramatic pleasure in its own misery and tragedy, even in degradation or
\nin illness. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nI don’t think mere doubts can bring any gain; mental questioning can bring gains
\nif it is in pursuit of truth, but questioning just for the sake of sceptical
\nquestioning or in a pure spirit of contradiction can only bring, when it is
\ndirected against the truths of the spirit, either error or a lasting
\nincertitude. If I am always questioning the Light when it comes and refusing its
\noffer of truth, the Light cannot stay in me, cannot settle; eventually, finding
\nno welcome and no foundation in the mind, it will retire. One has to push
\nforward into the Light, not always falling back into the darkness and hugging
\nthe darkness in the delusion that it is the real light. Whatever fulfilment one
\nmay feel in pain or in doubt belongs to the Ignorance; the real fulfilment is in
\nthe divine joy and the divine Truth and its certitude and it is that for which
\nthe yogin strives. In the struggle he may have to pass through doubt, not by his
\nown choice or will but because there is still imperfection in his knowledge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou have noticed about the disturbance is true. There are now two
\nconsciousnesses in you, the new one that is growing and what is left of the old.
\nThe old has something in it which is a habit of the human vital, − the tendency
\nto keep any touch of grief, anger, vexation etc. or any kind of emotional, vital
\nor mental disturbance, to make much of it, to prolong it, not to <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1357<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

wish
\nto let it go, to return to it even when the cause of disturbance is past and
\ncould be forgotten, always to remember and bring it up when it can. This is a
\ncommon trait of human nature and a quite customary movement. The new
\nconsciousness on the contrary does not want these things and when they happen
\nthrows them off as quickly as possible. When the new consciousness is fully
\ngrown and established, then the disturbances will be altogether rejected. Even
\nif the causes of them happen, there will be no response of grief, anger,
\nvexation etc. in the nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ngloom and other difficulties come from a resistance of inertia in the lower
\nvital and physical consciousness. What you have to do is to prepare the
\nconsciousness by getting rid of the inertia. A sattwic gladness and calm and
\nconfidence is the proper temperament for this yoga; gloom, depression and
\nweeping should not be indulged in, as they stand in the way of the opening,
\nunless the tears are the psychic weeping of release or adoration or a moved love
\nand bhakti. The progress made in controlling the sex and other rajasic movements
\nof the lower vital is a good preparation, but not enough; by itself it is only
\nthe negative side, though indispensable. Aspire for a positive sattwic opening
\nfor strength, for light, for peace and do not worry or repine if the progress is
\nslow at first, nor grudge the time and labour of preparation necessary before
\nthere can be a rapid advance in the yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nchange noted by X evidently indicates a great progress in the vital and physical
\nbeing. There is nothing spiritually wrong in being glad and cheerful, on the
\ncontrary it is the right thing. As for struggles and aspiration, struggles are
\nreally not indispensable to progress and there are many people who get so
\nhabituated to the struggling attitude that they have all the time struggles and
\nvery little else. That is not desirable. There is a sunlit path as well as a
\ngloomy one and it is the better of the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1358<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

two −
\na path in which one goes forward in absolute reliance on the Mother, fearing
\nnothing, sorrowing over nothing. Aspiration is needed but there can be a sunlit
\naspiration full of light and faith and confidence and joy. If difficulty comes,
\neven that can be faced with a smile.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This
\nmovement is one that always tries to come when you have a birthday or a darshan
\nand is obviously a suggestion of forces that want to disturb you and give you a
\nbad birthday or bad darshan. You must get rid of the idea that it is in any way
\nhelpful for sadhana, e.g. makes you remember the Divine etc. − if it does, it
\nmakes you remember the Divine in the wrong way and in addition brings up the
\nweakness, also depression, self-distrust etc. etc. \u00c0 quoi bon<\/span><\/i> cheerfulness? <\/span>It puts you in the
\nright condition for the psychic to work and without knowing it you grow in just
\nthe right perceptions and right feelings for the spiritual attitude. This growth
\nI have been observing in you for a fairly long time now and it is in the
\ncheerful states that it is the most active. Japa, thinking of the Divine is all
\nright, but it must be on this basis and in company with work and mental
\nactivity, for then the instrument is in a healthy condition. But if you become
\nrestlessly eager to do nothing but japa and think of nothing but the Divine and
\nof the \u201cprogress\u201d you have or have not made (X says you should never think of
\n\u201cprogress\u201d, it is according to him a movement of the ego), then all the fat is
\nin the fire − because the system is not yet ready for a Herculean effort and it
\nbegins to get upset and think it is unfit and will never be fit. So be a good
\ncheerful worker and offer your bhakti to the Divine in all ways you can but rely
\non him to work out things in you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nis needed is to profit by the discovery and get rid of the impediment. The
\nMother did not merely point out the impediment; she showed you very expressly
\nhow to get rid of it and at that time you understood her, though now (at the
\ntime of writing <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1359<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

your
\nletter to me) the light which you saw seems to have been clouded by your
\nindulging your vital more and more in the bitter pastime of sadness. That was
\nquite natural, for that is the result sadness always does bring. It is the
\nreason why I object to the gospel of sorrow and to any sadhana which makes
\nsorrow one of its main planks (abhimāna, revolt, viraha<\/i>). For sorrow is
\nnot, as Spinoza pointed out, a passage to a greater perfection, a way to siddhi;
\nit cannot be, for it confuses and weakens and distracts the mind, depresses the
\nvital force, darkens the spirit. A relapse from joy and vital elasticity and
\nAnanda to sorrow, self-distrust, despondency and weakness is a recoil from a
\ngreater to a lesser consciousness, − the habit of these moods shows a clinging
\nof something in the vital to the smaller, obscurer, dark and distressed movement
\nout of which it is the very aim of yoga to rise. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nIt is, therefore, quite incorrect to say that the Mother took away the wrong key
\nwith which you were trying to open the faery palace and left you with none at
\nall. For she not only showed you the true key but gave it to you. It was not a
\nmere vague exhortation to cheerfulness she gave you, but she described exactly
\nthe condition felt in the right kind of meditation − a state of inner rest, not
\nof straining, of quiet opening, not of eager or desperate pulling, a harmonious
\ngiving of oneself to the Divine Force for its working, and in that quietude a
\nsense of the Force working and a restful confidence allowing it to act without
\nany unquiet interference. And she asked you if you had not experienced that
\ncondition and you said you had and you knew it very well. Now that condition is
\nthe beginning of the psychic opening and, if you have had it, you know what the
\npsychic opening is; there is of course much more that afterwards comes to
\ncomplete it but this is the fundamental condition into which all the rest can
\nmost easily come. What you should have done was to keep the key the Mother gave
\nyou present in your consciousness and apply it − not to go back and allow
\nsadness and the repining view of the past to grow upon you. In this condition,
\nwhich we term the right or the psychic attitude, there may and will be call,
\nprayer, aspiration. Intensity, concentration will come of themselves, not by a
\nhard effort or tense strain on the nature. Rejection of wrong movements, frank
\nconfession of defects are not only not<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1360<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nincompatible, but helpful to it; but this attitude makes the rejection, the
\nconfession easy, spontaneous, entirely complete and sincere and effective. That
\nis the experience of all who have consented to take this attitude. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nI may say in passing that consciousness and receptivity are not the same thing;
\none may be receptive, yet externally unaware of how things are being done and of
\nwhat is being done. The Force works, as I have repeatedly written, behind the
\nveil; the results remain packed behind and come out afterwards, often slowly,
\nlittle by little, until there is so much pressure that it breaks through somehow
\nand forces itself upon the external nature. There lies the difference between a
\nmental and a vital straining and pulling and a spontaneous psychic openness, and
\nit is not at all the first time that we have spoken of the difference. The
\nMother and myself have written and spoken of it times without number and we have
\ndeprecated pullingı\u00b9<\/span>
\nand straining and advocated the attitude of psychic openness. It is not really a
\nquestion of the right or the wrong key, but of putting the key in the lock in
\nthe right or the wrong way; either, because of some difficulty, you try to force
\nthe lock turning the key this way and that with violence or confidently and
\nquietly give it the right turn and the door opens. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nIt is not that the pulling and straining and tension can do nothing; in the end
\nthey prevail for some result or another, but with difficulty, delay, struggle,
\nstrong upheavals of the Force breaking through in spite of all. Ramakrishna
\nhimself began by pulling and straining and got his result, but at the cost of a
\ntremendous and perilous upsetting; afterwards he took the quiet psychic way
\nwhenever he wanted a result and got it with ease and in a minimum time. You say
\nthat this way is too difficult for you or the likes of you and it is only
\n\u201cAvatars\u201d like myself or the Mother that can do it. That is a strange
\nmisconception; for it is, on the contrary, the easiest and simplest and most
\ndirect way and anyone can do it, if he makes his mind and vital quiet, even
\nthose who have a tenth of your capacity can do it. It is the other way of
\ntension and strain and hard endeavour that is<\/p>\n


\n <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00b9<\/span>There is a steady drawing of the Force possible which
\nis not what I mean by pulling − drawing of the Force is quite common and
\nhelpful.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1361<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\ndifficult and needs a great force of Tapasya. As for the Mother and myself, we
\nhave had to try all ways, follow all methods, to surmount mountains of
\ndifficulties, a far heavier burden to bear than you or anybody else in the
\nAshram or outside, far more difficult conditions, battles to fight, wounds to
\nendure, ways to cleave through impenetrable morass and desert and forest,
\nhostile masses to conquer − a work such as, I am certain, none else had to do
\nbefore us. For the Leader of the Way in a work like ours has not only to bring
\ndown and represent or embody the Divine, but to represent too the ascending
\nelement in humanity and to bear the burden of humanity to the full and
\nexperience, not in a mere play or Lila but in grim earnest, all the obstruction,
\ndifficulty, opposition, baffled and hampered and only slowly victorious labour
\nwhich are possible on the Path. But it is not necessary nor tolerable that all
\nthat should be repeated over again to the full in the experience of others. It
\nis because we have the complete experience that we can show a straighter and
\neasier road to others − if they will only consent to take it. It is because of
\nour experience won at a tremendous price that we can urge upon you and others,
\n\u201cTake the psychic attitude; follow the straight sunlit path, with the Divine
\nopenly or secretly up-bearing you − if secretly, he will yet show himself in
\ngood time, − do not insist on the hard, hampered, roundabout and difficult
\njourney.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nYou say that you were never pointed out all this before. But it is what we have
\nbeen saying in season and out of season to everybody for a long time past! But
\nyou were not inclined to regard it as feasible or at least not ready to apply it
\nin the field of meditation, because your consciousness by tradition, owing to
\npast lives and for other reasons, was clinging to former contrary conceptions.
\nSomething in you was harking back to one kind of Vaishnava sadhana, and that
\ntended to bring in it its pain-giving feeling − elements of abhimāna<\/i>, revolt, suffering, the Divine hiding himself (\u201calways I
\nseek but never does he show himself\u201d), the rarity of the unfolding and the
\nmilana<\/i>. Something else in you was inclined to see as the only alternative
\nsome harsh, grim, ascetic ideal, the blank featureless Brahman and imagined that
\nthe supramental was that; something in the vital looked on the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1362<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nconquest of wrong movements as a hard, desperate Tapasya, not as a passage into
\nthe purity and joy of the Divine − even now some element in you seems to insist
\non regarding the psychic attitude as something extraordinary, difficult, unhuman
\nand impossible! There were these and other lingerings\u00b9 <\/span>
\nof the mind and the vital; you have to clear them out and look at the simplicity
\nof the Truth with a straight and simple gaze. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nIt is not that there is anything peculiar to you in these difficulties; every
\nsadhak entering the Way has to get over similar impediments. It took me four
\nyears of inner striving to find a real Way, even though the divine help was with
\nme all the time, and even then, it seemed to come by an accident; and it took me
\nten more years of intense yoga under a supreme inner guidance to trace it out
\nand that was because I had my past and the world’s past to assimilate and
\noverpass before I could find and found the future. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nBut for you the remedy we propose, the key we offer to you, ought not to be so
\ndifficult to apply as you imagine. After all, it is only applying in
\n\u201cmeditation\u201d the way that has been so successful with you in your creative work.
\nThere is a way of creation by strain and tension, by breaking of the brain, by
\nhard and painful labour − often the passage clogged and nothing coming or else
\ncoming only in return for a sort of intellectual Tapasya. There is the other way
\nin which one remains quiet and opens oneself to a power that is there behind and
\nwaits for inspiration; the force pours in and with it the inspiration, the
\nillumination, the Ananda, − all is done by an inner Power. The flood passes, but
\none remains quiet for the next flood and at its time surely it comes. Here too
\nall is not perfect at once, but progress comes by ever-new waves of the same
\nPower. It is the same method that the Mother proposed to you for your meditation
\n− if meditation it must be called − not a strain of mental activity, but a
\nrestful opening to the Force that is there all the time<\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00b9<\/span>E.g. the Russellian fear of emptiness which is the form
\nthe active mind gives to Silence. Yet it was on what you call emptiness, on the
\nSilence, that my whole yoga was founded and it was through it that there came
\nafterwards all the inexhaustible riches of a greater Knowledge, Will and Joy −
\nall the experiences of greater mental, psychic and vital realms, all the ranges
\nup to overmind and beyond. The cup has often to be emptied before it can be
\nnew-filled; the yogin, the sadhak ought not to be afraid of emptiness or
\nsilence. <\/span>
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1363<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

above
\nand around you, so that it may flow freely and do its work in peace and
\nillumination and Ananda. The way has been shown to you, you yourself have had
\nfrom time to time the true condition; only you must learn how to continue in it
\nor recover it and you must allow the Force to do its work in its own way. It may
\ntake some time to take entire hold of it, get the other habit out and make this
\nnormal; but you must not start by deciding that it is impossible! It is
\neminently possible and it is that which everyone will have to do sooner or
\nlater; for this is the door of the definitive entrance. The difficulty, the
\nstruggle were only for the period of preparation necessary to get rid of or to
\nexhaust the obstruction in the consciousness which was a thorn-hedge round the
\nfaery palace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What
\nyou write about X is quite correct. It is not necessary to be always serious of
\nface or silent in doing the yoga, but it is necessary to take the yoga seriously
\nand silence and inward concentration have a large place. One can’t be all the
\ntime throwing oneself outward if to go inside and meet the Divine there is one’s
\naim. But that does not mean that one has to be grave and gloomy all the time, or
\ngloomy at most times, and I don’t suppose the sadhaks here are like that. It is
\nX’s rhetorical way of putting his difficulty − the difficulty of a vital that
\nwants to throw itself always outward in action and creation, while another part
\nis dissatisfied with the result and feels that its own movement is frustrated.
\nThere are two people in him, one wanting a life of vital expansion, the other an
\ninner life. The first gets restless because the inner life is not a life of
\noutward expansion; the other becomes miserable because its aim is not realised.
\nNeither personality has to be thrown away in this yoga; but the outer vital one
\nmust allow the inner to establish itself, give it the first place and consent to
\nbe only an instrument of the soul and to obey the law of the inner life. This is
\nwhat X’s mind still refuses to understand; he thinks one must be either all
\ngloomy and cold and grave or else bring the vital bubble and effervescence into
\nthe inner life. A quiet, happy and glad control of the vital by <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1364<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the
\ninner being is a thing he is not able as yet to conceive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nWhatever seriousness is necessary must come of itself from within. To be serious
\noutwardly by rule is not needed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why on
\nearth should people not be serious if they want? Life may be a joke − though all
\ndo not find it so − but one can’t be laughing at it all the time. The idea seems
\nto be that one can’t be serious unless one is either (1) in a rage, (2)
\ndiscontented, or (3) sad and miserable. But surely one can be serious when one
\nis thinking or when one is looking at serious things or simply and purely when
\none is not laughing. And one can’t be laughing 24 hours without stopping − the
\nmuscles of the stomach would not stand it and the American record makers might
\nshy at such a test.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nCheerfulness is the salt of the sadhana. It is a thousand times better than
\ngloominess.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nan inner joy and cheerfulness that helps, but this is merely a vital bubbling on
\nthe surface. It is all right in ordinary life, but in yoga it merely expends the
\nvital force for nothing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ncheerfulness is vital. I do not say that it should not be there, but there is a
\ndeeper cheerfulness, an inner sukhahāsya<\/i>
\nwhich is the spiritual condition of cheerfulness. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1365<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

In the
\nway of meditating of which we spoke, aspiration, prayer, concentration,
\nintensity are a natural part of it. Those who take it go quicker and develop
\ntheir sadhana, once they get fixed in it, much more easily as well as smoothly
\nthan by a distressed, doubtful and anxious straining with revulsions of
\ndespondency and turning away from hope and endeavour. We spoke of a steady
\nopening to the Divine with a flow of the force doing its work in the Adhar, a
\npoised opening with a quiet mind and heart full of trust and the sunlight of
\nconfidence; where do you find that we said a helpless waiting must be your
\nprogramme?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAs for light-heartedness and insouciance − a light don’t-care attitude is the
\nlast thing we would recommend to anybody. The Mother spoke of cheerfulness, and
\nif she used the word light-hearted, it was not in the sense of anything lightly
\nor frivolously gay and careless − although a deeper and finer gaiety can have
\nits place as an element of the yogic character. What she meant was a glad
\nequanimity even in the face of difficulties and there is nothing in that
\ncontrary to yogic teaching or to her own practice. The vital nature on the
\nsurface (the depths of the true vital are different) is attached on the one side
\nto a superficial mirth and enjoyment, on the other to sorrow and despair and
\ngloom and tragedy, − for these are for it the cherished lights and shades of
\nlife; but a bright or wide and free peace or an ānandamaya<\/i> intensity or, best, a fusing of both in one is the true
\npoise of both the soul and the mind − and of the true vital also − in yoga. It
\nis perfectly possible for a quite human sadhak to get to such a poise, it is not
\nnecessary to be divine before one can attain it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nIt is quite true that rising into a higher consciousness than the ordinary human
\nconsciousness is the right way towards transformation. Merely to remain in the
\nordinary lower consciousness and try to reject from there the wrong movements
\ncan produce no permanent or complete result. But there are several points here
\nwhich you must note or this perception may be accompanied by an error.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\n1. As you have yourself subsequently seen, all the parts and personalities that
\nconstitute the being must share in the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1366<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

higher
\nconsciousness, otherwise the old movements under various pretexts will continue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\n2. You speak of rejecting the lower vital, but it is only the unregenerated
\nlower vital movements that can be got rid of; you cannot get rid of the lower
\nvital itself, for it is a necessary part of the manifested nature, like the
\nhigher vital or the mind. It has to be changed in the power of the higher
\nconsciousness, not left to itself or dropped from you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\n3. If you do not so change it, if you simply remain content by living in the
\npsychic or other higher consciousness internally, then you run the risk of doing
\nlike those who are satisfied to have experiences and some inner quietude or
\nAnanda, but leave the external nature and surface active movements unchanged,
\neither thinking them of no importance or justifying them under the plea that
\nthere is the psychic or spiritual consciousness behind them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nHappiness in the ordinary sense is a sunlit state of the vital with or without
\ncause. Contentment is less than happiness − joy of peace or being free from
\ndifficulty is rather a state of joyful
\nśānti<\/i>. Happiness ought not to be a status of self-satisfaction or inertia,
\nand need not be, for one can combine happiness and aspiration. Of course there
\ncan be a state of happy inertia, but most people don’t remain satisfied with
\nthat long, they begin to want something else. There are yogins who are satisfied
\nwith a happy calm immobility, but that is because the happiness is a form of
\nAnanda and in the immobility they feel the Self and its eternal calm and want
\nnothing more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis no real reason why delight should necessarily be followed by sorrow − except
\nthat it is the habit of the vital. But that habit can be overcome. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1367<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

IX<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are three obstacles that
\none has to overcome in the vital and they are very difficult to overcome, lust
\n(sexual desire), wrath and rajasic ego. Rajasic ego is the supporting ground of
\nthe other two.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obviously, unless the object is
\nNirvana, the small ego has to be attended to − not indulged but
\ntransformed out of existence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The form of ego has to be
\ndissolved, it has not to be replaced by a bigger ego or another kind of ego. It
\nhas to be replaced by the true being which feels itself, even though
\nindividual, yet one with all and one with the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is individuality in the
\npsychic being, but not egoism. Egoism goes when the individual unites himself
\nwith the Divine or is entirely surrendered to the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the higher spiritual planes
\nthere is no ego, because the oneness of the Divine is felt, but there may be
\nthe sense of one’s true person or individuality − not ego, but a portion
\nof the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Although there is no ego in the
\nspiritual planes, yet by the spiritual experience the ego on the lower planes
\nmay get aggrandised through the pride and wrong reception of the experience.
\nAlso one may by entering into the larger mental and vital planes aggrandise the
\nego. These things are always possible so long as the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1368<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

higher consciousness and the
\nlower are not harmonised in the being and the lower transformed into the nature
\nof the higher.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even if there is no consciousness
\nof ego in the higher parts where oneness of all things has been realised, it
\ndoes not follow that in the lower parts ego has been abolished. It can on the
\ncontrary become very strong and the action can be very egoistic even while the
\nmind is thinking \u201cI have no ego\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ego is not so easy to get rid of.
\nIt remains not only in spite of work but in spite of knowledge or bhakti. The
\ndisappearance of ego means complete Mukti. Even the yogi who feels his separate
\nbeing swallowed up in cosmic consciousness or some kind of Transcendent
\nconsciousness, yet when he comes to outward action and reaction finds the
\nsuperficial ego still there. That is why the ascetic has a horror of action and
\nsays that without ego it can’t be done. It can, but it is fully done only when
\nthese outermost things are fully taken up by the higher consciousness in their
\nentirety.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Samatā<\/i> does not mean the absence of ego, but the absence of
\ndesire and attachment. The ego-sense may disappear or it may remain in a
\nsubtilised or dense form − it depends on the person.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pride is only one form of ego
\n− there are ten thousand others. Every action of man is full of ego
\n− the good ones as well as the bad, his humility as much as his pride,
\nhis virtues as much as his vices. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    To get the ego
\nout of the human nature is not so simple as that. If one is free from ego, does
\nnothing with reference to <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1369<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

himself or for his own sake but
\nonly for the Divine and all his thoughts and feelings are for the Divine, then
\nhe is Jivanmukta and a Siddha yogi.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But that is the case with all
\nhuman beings. All the action is shot through with ego, acts, feelings,
\nthoughts, everything, big or small, good or bad. Even humility and what is
\ncalled altruism is with most people only a form of ego. It does not depend on having
\nsomething to be proud of.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is so with everybody. Human
\nnature is shot through in all its stuff with the thread of the ego; even when
\none tries to get away from it, it is in front or could be behind all the
\nthoughts and actions like a shadow. To see that is the first step, to discern
\nthe falsity and absurdity of the ego-movements is the second, to discourage and
\nrefuse it at each step is the third, − but it goes entirely only when one
\nsees, experiences and lives the One in everything and equally everywhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is so with everybody, because
\nthe human consciousness is permeated in all its past ideas with this substance
\nof egoism. It is only by a constant quiet vigilance and increasing
\nconsciousness that it can be got out − for if it is not allowed to play,
\nit conceals itself and takes subtle and disguised forms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The mind and the vital are much
\nmore full of ego than the body.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The fight with the ego is part of
\nthe fight with the physical nature, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1370<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

for it is the superficial ego in
\nthe physical consciousness irrational and instinctive, that refuses to go.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The human being is naturally
\negoistic and ego-centred − all he does, thinks, feels has the stamp of
\nthe ego on it and it cannot be otherwise until he learns to make not the ego
\nbut the Divine the centre of his existence and thinks, acts, feels only for the
\nDivine − or until he enters into the higher or divine consciousness or
\nthe divine consciousness into him − for in the divine consciousness there
\nis no ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ego-centric man feels and
\ntakes things as they affect him. Does this please me or displease, give me
\ngladness or pain, flatter my pride, vanity, ambition or hurt it, satisfy my
\ndesires or thwart them, etc. The unegoistic man does not look at things like
\nthat. He looks to see what things are in themselves and would be if he were not
\nthere, what is their meaning, how they fit into the scheme of things − or
\nelse he feels calm and equal, refers everything to the Divine, or if he is a
\nman of action, how they will serve the work that has to be done or the life of
\nthe world or the cause he serves, etc. etc. There can be many points of view
\nwhich are not ego-centric.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obviously all that must go
\n− it is the old vital egoism of the human being always preoccupied with
\nitself, so that the being cannot give itself simply and unquestioningly to the
\nadoration of the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There is nothing to be troubled
\nabout. You ought rather to congratulate yourself that you have become conscious
\nof your <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1371<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

ego-centricity. Very few people
\nin the Ashram are. They are all ego-centric and they do not realise their
\nego-centricity. Even in their sadhana the I is always there, − my<\/i> sadhana, my<\/i> progress, my<\/i>
\neverything. The remedy is to think constantly of the Divine, not of oneself, to
\nwork, to act, do sadhana for the Divine; not to consider how this or that
\naffects me personally, not to claim anything, but to refer all to the Divine.
\nIt will take time to do that sincerely and thoroughly, but it is the proper way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is the ego that is showing
\nitself in its true character. Formerly, it was associating with the sadhana
\nbecause it either got something of what it desired or had great expectations.
\nNow that these things are held back and the demand for the true attitude is
\nmade on it, it resists or non-co-operates, saying, \u201cNo value in such a
\nsadhana\u201d. In all the sadhaks here, the ego (in its physical or vital physical
\nroots) is proving to be the stumbling-block. No transformation is possible
\nunless it changes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your nature like that of almost
\neverybody has been largely ego-centric and the first stages of the sadhana are
\nwith almost everybody ego-centric. The main idea in it is always one’s own
\nsadhana, one’s own endeavour, one’s own development, perfection, siddhi. It is
\ninevitable for most, for without that personal endeavour there would not be
\nsufficient will or push to bring about the first necessary changes. But none of
\nthese things − development, perfection or siddhi − can really come
\nin any degree of completeness or unmixed finality until this ego-centric
\nattitude changes into the God-centric, until it becomes the development,
\nperfection, siddhi of the Divine Consciousness, its will and its
\ninstrumentation in this body − and that can only be when these things
\nbecome secondary, and bhakti for the Divine, love for the Divine, oneness with
\nthe Divine in consciousness, will, heart and body, become the sole aim − the
\nrest is then only the fulfilment of the Divine Will by the Divine Power. This
\nattitude<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1372<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

is never difficult for the
\npsychic, it is its natural position and feeling, and whenever your psychic was
\nin front, you had it in your central consciousness. But there were the outer
\nmind, vital and physical that brought in their mixture of desire and ego and
\nthere could be no effective liberation in life and action till these were
\nliberated. The thinking mind and higher vital can accept without too much
\ndifficulty, but the difficulty is with the lower vital and physical and
\nespecially with the most external parts of them; for these are entirely
\ncreatures of habit, recurring movement, an obstinate repetition of the same
\nmovement always. This habit is so blind and obstinate and persistent as to seem
\nalmost invincible, especially when it is used at a juncture like this by the
\nForces of Ignorance as their last refuge or point of attack. But the apparent
\ninvincibility is not true. The most ego-centric can change and do change by the
\npsychic principle becoming established in the external nature. That it can be
\ndone only by the Divine Grace and Power is true (that is true of all spiritual
\nchange) − but with the full consent of the being. As it was done in the
\ninner being, so it can be done in the outer; give the adhesion of your full
\nwill and faith and, whatever the difficulty, it will be done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is true about living and doing
\nall for oneself, but that is the nature of man, he is centred in his ego,
\nego-centric, and does all for his ego; even his love and liking is mostly based
\non ego. All that has to be changed and all has to be centred in the Divine,
\ndone for the Divine Mother. It is the work of the sadhana to get that done. The
\nsilence, the growth of the psychic and all else is meant to bring about that −
\nbut it cannot be done all at once. When the consciousness is ready, then the psychic
\nlove, the impulse for self-giving begins to open out in the heart and the
\nchange is made − more and more till there is the complete self-giving.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you think there is no ego or
\ndesire in you, only pure devotion, that shows a great unconsciousness. To be
\nfree from ego and <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1373<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

desire is a condition which needs
\na high siddhi in yoga − even many yogis of a great spiritual attainment
\nare not free from it. For a sadhak at your stage of development to think he is
\nfree from ego and desire is to blind himself and prevent the clear perception
\nof one’s own nature-movements which is necessary for progress towards spiritual
\nperfection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    The Mother does
\nnot need to have your writings before her in order to see what is in you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    If your
\nwritings show ego and desire, and they certainly do, it is because they are
\nthere without your perceiving it and express themselves without your intending
\nit. What the surface mind thinks and intends is one thing and what is behind
\nthe thoughts and actions is another thing. A man’s surface mind shapes its own
\nidea of oneself and one’s nature in an entire self-ignorance. The first thing
\none has to do to get rid of this ignorance is to draw back from the surface
\nmind and get into contact with the psychic which does not allow such delusions
\nand shows one clearly the truth about one’s movements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But in what way do they [all
\nthings] belong to the Divine, so long as the ego appropriates and uses them for
\nits own purposes? Self-giving in fact means a change from ego-centricity to
\nGod-centricity; also such a giving as would lead to a change of the whole base
\nof the consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes − it is looking at
\nthings from the ego point of view that there comes all the confusion and
\ntrouble and ignorance. One has to think of the Divine, be still and let the
\ndivine consciousness come in and replace the egoistic human − then all
\nthat disappears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, ego is the reason of the
\ndifficulty in everybody. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1374<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Without the play of ego clashes
\nwould not come and if there were no tendency to drama in the vital there would
\nbe no dramatic happenings in life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, that is right − to
\nremember constantly and live in the peace and calmness so that the Force may
\nwork and the Light may come. The small things of daily life must go on in the
\nsurface consciousness, not filling too large a place in it, until the Force and
\nLight have taken possession and can lay direct hold of these also. It is the
\nego that gives them too big a place − the ego must be discouraged −
\n\u201cNot for myself, but for the Divine\u201d should grow to be the law of the whole consciousness
\nand thought and action. It cannot be done thoroughly all at once, but that must
\nbecome the insistent note in the mind as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why is it [to be concentrated on
\nthe Divine] selfishness? Selfishness is to live for oneself and not for
\nsomething greater than the self. To be concentrated on the Divine at all times
\nis to get out of the personal self and its aims into something greater and
\nserve the aims of that greater Existence. It is no more selfishness than to
\nlive for others always would be selfishness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Obviously one must not get
\negoistic about it, but withdrawal from the outer or lower consciousness into
\nthe inner is not in itself an egoistic movement. If it were so, all sadhana
\nwould be egoism and to be always social and on the surface would be the only
\nthing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The selfishness of the ego is not
\na reason for not calling down the higher (divine) consciousness of which the
\npeace and the force are as it were the front or the basis. How can you get rid
\nof the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1375<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

selfish ego unless you call down
\nthat higher consciousness to which the ego is not a necessity? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    In the
\nevolution of the lower consciousness here ego and selfishness were a necessity.
\nSo long as the higher consciousness above ordinary mind does not descend, ego
\nremains a necessity even in aspiring towards the Divine or towards Mukti, even
\nif it becomes a sattwic ego. It is only in the higher consciousness that ego
\ncan dissolve, either by ascending there or by its descent into the
\nconsciousness below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I suppose the ego came there
\nfirst as a means of the outer consciousness individualising itself in the flux
\nof Nature and, secondly, as an incentive for tamasic animal man to act and get
\nsomething done. Otherwise he might merely have contented himself with food and
\nsleep and done nothing else. With that incentive of ego (possession, vanity,
\nambition, eagerness for power etc. etc.) he began doing all sorts of things he
\nmight never otherwise have done. But now that he has to go higher, this ego comes
\nbadly in the way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what is this ego of which you
\nspeak? Everybody has the ego and it is impossible to get rid of it altogether
\nexcept by two things − the opening of the psychic within and the descent
\nof a wider ego-free consciousness from above. The psychic being opening does
\nnot get rid of the ego at once but purifies it and offers it and all the
\nmovements to the Divine, so that one becomes unegoistic through self-giving and
\nsurrender. At the same time the nature opens above and the wider ego-free consciousness
\ncomes down and ego disappears and by the power of the psychic you know your own
\ntrue being which is a portion of the Mother. This is what has to happen, but it
\ncannot happen in so short a time. Do not be always thinking of the vital
\nmovement and the ego − you have seen them and know that they are, it is
\nenough. Concentrate rather in the heart on the opening there; <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1376<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

concentrate persistently and
\naspire persistently and do not mind if it takes time. Call in any way even if
\nyou cannot call yet deeply − then the deeper call will come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think you still give an
\nexaggerated importance and attention to the ego and other elements that are
\ninterwoven in the nature of humanity and cannot be entirely got rid of except
\nby the coming of a new consciousness which replaces them by higher movements.
\nIf one rejects centrally and with all sincerity the ego and rajas, their roots
\nget loosened and sattwa can prevail in the nature, but the expulsion of all ego
\nand rajas cannot be done by the will and its effort. After a certain stage of preparation,
\ntherefore, one must stress more on the positive side of the sadhana than on the
\nnegative side of rejection, − though this of course must remain to help
\nthe other. Still what is important is to develop the psychic within and bring
\ndown the higher consciousness from above. The psychic, as it grows and
\nmanifests, detects immediately all wrong movements or elements and at the same
\ntime supplies almost automatically the true element or movement which will replace
\nthem − this process is much easier and more effective than that of a
\nsevere tapasya of purification. The higher consciousness in descending brings
\npeace and purity into all the inner parts; the inner being separates itself
\nfrom the imperfect outer consciousness and at the same time the peace that
\ncomes carries in it a power which can throw out what contradicts the peace and
\npurity. Ego can then slowly or swiftly but surely disappear − rajas and
\ntamas change into their divine substitutes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is possible [to get rid of the
\nego by the action of the Force] if your consciousness associates itself with
\nthe action; then at least one can get rid of its major action and leave only
\nminor traces. To get rid of the ego altogether however comes usually only by
\nthe descent of Consciousness from above and its <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1377<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

occupation of the whole being
\naided of course by the rule of the psychic in the nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For the ego, however insistent it
\nmay be, one has to keep one’s eye on it and say no to all its suggestions so
\nthat each position it takes up proves to be a fruitless move. Treated in that
\nway, it becomes ready for the moment when the psychic has only to give a slight
\npush for it to fall away in each field of its activity from its loosened roots.
\nPersevere steadily in the present movement and it cannot fail to be effective.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sense of ego can disappear
\ninto that of the Self or the Purusha but that of itself does not bring about
\nthe disappearance of the old ego-reactions in the Prakriti. The Purusha has to
\nget rid of these by a process of constant rejection and remoulding. The
\nremoulding consists in throwing everything into a consecration to the Mother
\nand doing all for her without regard to oneself, one’s desires, opinions, vital
\nreactions as if they were the things to be fulfilled. This is most easily done
\nif the psychic being becomes quite awake.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Without persistent rejection it
\n[liberation from the ego] cannot be done. Going up into the Self liberates the
\nhigher parts, but the ego remains in the lower parts. The most effective force
\nfor this liberation is the psychic control along with steady rejection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is not possible to get rid of
\nthe ego-movements all at once. They have to be worked out of the nature by a
\nconstant consciousness and rejection. Even when the central ego has gone, the
\nhabitual movements stick for a long time. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1378<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Without the liberation of the
\npsychic and the realisation of the true Self the ego cannot go, both are
\nnecessary. If there is no consciousness of the Self, how can the ego disappear?
\nThe psychic can be liberated by love and devotion, but I was speaking of a case
\nin which it is not so liberated, and the realisation of the Self seems more
\neasy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes. If you had gone inside, the
\npsychic development would have been easier, and the conquest of ego − likewise,
\nthe widening of the consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is rather a wider than a
\nhigher consciousness that is necessary for the liberation from the ego − going
\nhigh is necessary of course, but by itself it is not sufficient.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the ego is gone and the full
\nsurrender is there, then there should be no obstacles. If however the rajas of
\nthe vital is only quiescent, then its quiescence may bring up the tamas in its
\nplace, and that would be the obstacle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once the universality is
\nestablished, there is no longer a secure fortress in the nature for the vital
\negoism − the walls of it having been broken down. They [the egoistic
\nvital movements] may still attack from outside, but it now lies in the power of
\nthe sadhak to prevent their making a settled formation in him any longer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only calm in the vital is hardly
\nsufficient. There must be something throwing out the ego from the vital. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1379<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It [the ego] rises because it is
\nits nature to do so; it wants to take hold of the being which it considers its
\nproperty and field of experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, they [the ego and the
\nvital being] always resist a pressure to get rid of them − and if one
\nfixes a given time, they are all the more resistent in the hope of creating
\ndisappointment and discouragement by the failure to do it in the given time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These things [small egoisms in
\nthe lower vital] either fade slowly out by constant rejection or else they drop
\noff when the higher consciousness gets steadily down into the lower vital and,
\nas it were, swallows it up. A sudden extinction is perhaps possible \u2013 at least
\nthere are reported cases of it − but usually they linger and go slowly,
\nlosing gradually force as if worn out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your ego does come up from time
\nto time without your seeing that it is the ego. It comes up not in your higher
\nparts but in your physical mind and consciousness and you think that because
\nyour higher parts are clear this also is clear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of course, such suggestions are
\nmeant to wake the ego. I suppose they persist because they still have a hope of
\nwaking the ego. Even when one is quite free, all kinds of suggestions can come.
\nOne either takes no notice of them or else gives a glance to see whether there
\nis any fragment of ego still lurking somewhere.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These are the feelings of the
\ntamasic ego − the reaction to a disappointment in the rajasic ego.
\nMingled with the true attitude
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1380<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

and experience or running
\nconcurrently along with it was a demand of the vital, \u201cWhat I am having now, I
\nmust always have, otherwise I can’t do sadhana; if I ever lose that, I shall
\ndie\u201d − whereas the proper attitude is, \u201cEven if I lose it for a time it
\nwill be because something in me has to be changed in order that the Mother’s
\nconsciousness may be fulfilled in me not only in the self but in every part.\u201d The
\nlower forces attacked at the weak point, made demands through the vital and brought
\nabout a state of inertia in which what you had clung to seemed to be lost, went
\nback behind the veil. So came the tamasic reaction of the ego, \u201cWhat is the use
\nof living, I prefer to die.\u201d Obviously it is not the whole of you that says it,
\nit is a part in the disappointed vital or tamasic physical. It is not enough
\nthat the active demands should be broken and removed; for this also is a
\npassive way of demand, \u201cI can’t have my demands; very well, I abdicate, don’t
\nwant to exist.\u201d That must disappear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The tamasic ego is that which
\naccepts and supports despondency, weakness, inertia, self-depreciation,
\nunwillingness to act, unwillingness to know or be open, fatigue, indolence,
\ndo-nothingness. Contrary to the rajasic it says, \u201cI am so weak, so obscure, so
\nmiserable, so oppressed and ill-used − there is no hope for me, no
\nsuccess, I am denied everything, am unsupported, how can I do this, how can I
\ndo that, I have no power for it, no capacity, I am helpless; let me die; let me
\nlie still and moan\u201d, etc. etc. Of course not all that at once or in every case;
\nbut I am giving the general character of the thing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tamas and tamasic ego are implied
\nin each other. When one yields to tamas one indulges the tamasic ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So long as you had fully the
\nattitude of surrender, the rajasic ego <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1381<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

could only take the form of
\nsuggestions from outside, uprisings from the subconscient. It was suppressed in
\nthe vital. When the inertia rose and the energy of will receded, it began to
\ntry to come in again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Do you mean to say that you never
\nhad any rajasic element in you? There is not a human being who has not got it
\nin him so long as he is not divinised in his vital. What were all the vital
\nsuggestions coming to you so insistently always except appeals to the rajasic
\nego? When you threw out sex, jealousy, vanity etc. what were you throwing out
\nbut the rajasic ego? What was the demand at the pranam or the disturbance
\ncaused there but a movement of the rajasic ego? Some of these things you threw
\nout successfully − others still kept a response.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But how is it that any part of
\nyou gives any value to the suggestions? If no part gives any value then surely
\nthey must seem to you too laughable and contemptible to have any effect or
\npower to make you revolt. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    If
\nyou attach no value to the suggestions then there may be the inertia but not
\nthis.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

X’s ego is small and not gigantic
\n− not tall and vehement and aggressive like Y’s but squat and inertly
\nobstinate − not fat completely, nor thin but short and roundish and grey
\nin colour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Squat = short in stature but
\nbroad and substantial, so difficult to get rid of. Not tall and pre-eminent or
\nflourishingly settled in self-fullness − <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    roundish =
\nplenty of it all the same. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    Grey = tamasic
\nin tendency, therefore not aggressive, but <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1382<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

obstinate in persistence. <\/span>But these are not symbols, they are the
\ntemperamental figure of the ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A true spiritual experience must
\nbe free from the claim of the ego. What the ego can do, however, is to get proud
\nof having the experience and think: \u201cWhat a great one am I?\u201d Or it may think,
\n\u201cI am the Self, the Divine. So let me go and do what I will, for it is the
\nDivine who wills in me.\u201d It is only if the experience of Self imposes silence
\non the other parts and frees the psychic that the ego disappears. Even if not
\nego itself, numerous fragments and survivals of ego-habit can remain and have to
\nbe eliminated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The dream was a meeting with the
\nMother on the vital plane. In these dreams many of the details are symbolic,
\nbut it is not always easy to say what a particular symbol signifies, as here
\nthe condition of the hand. But the latter part of the dream is clear enough.
\nThe man there symbolises that ego-tendency in the human nature which makes a
\nman, when some realization comes, to think how great a realisation is this and
\nhow great a sadhak am I and to call others to see and admire − perhaps he
\nthinks, like the man in the dream, \u201cI have seen the Divine, indeed feel I am
\none with the Divine, − I will call everybody to see that\u201d. This is a
\ntendency which has injured the sadhana of many and sometimes ruined the sadhana
\naltogether. In the thoughts you describe you came to see something in yourself
\nwhich is there more or less in all human beings, the desire to be thought well
\nof by others, to occupy a high place in their esteem or their affection, to
\nhave honour, position, admiration. When anybody joins this feeling to the idea
\nof sadhana, then the disposition to do the sadhana for that and not purely and simply
\nfor the sake of the Divine comes in and there must be disturbance or else an
\nobstruction in the sadhana itself or if in spite of it spiritual experience
\ncomes, then there is the danger of his misusing the experience to magnify his
\nego like the man in the dream. All these dreams are coming to <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1383<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

you to give you a vivid and
\nconcrete knowledge and experience of what these human defects are so that you
\nmay find it easier to throw them out, to recognise them when they come in the
\nwaking state and refuse them entrance. These things are not in yourself only
\nbut in all human nature; they are the things one has to get rid of or else to
\nguard against so that one’s consecration to the Divine may be complete,
\nselfless, true and pure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A certain exaltation of the being
\ncomes naturally with the stronger experiences and the sense of marvel or
\nmiracle may go with it, but there should be no egoistic feeling in the
\nexaltation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, it is a thing which comes to
\nmany; exaggerated and made a principal part of the vital attitude, it has been
\nthe cause of failure and departure of several who consider themselves great
\nsadhaks − they made it an excuse for indulging and magnifying the vital
\nego. Since you see that it is ridiculous, you should have no difficulty in
\ngetting rid of it. The only truth in it is that each one who opens himself in
\nsuch a way that the Force can get through to his material so as to change it,
\nwill by that be contributing to the victory of the Force − but it applies
\nto everybody, not to any one individual.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The egoism in yourself of which
\nyou speak belongs to the relation of one human being with another and is common
\nto almost all men and women, − it is extremely difficult to get rid of,
\nbut if one sees it clearly and determines not to have it, then it can first be
\nbrought under control and then dismissed from the nature. But the egoism which
\nmade people go away from here through pride in their sadhana and attachment to
\nthe supposed greatness of their experiences is another kind and far more
\ndangerous spiritually. You do not have it and I do not think you are in danger
\nof ever having it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1384<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

The experience of being with the
\nMother and speaking to her is one that one can easily have when one is writing
\nto her and is true because some part of the being does actually meet with her
\nand open itself to her when one writes one’s experiences.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, if there is the solid
\nexperience, the ego-habit is much diminished, but it does not go altogether. It
\ntakes refuge in the sense of being an instrument and − if there is not
\nthe psychic turn − it may easily prefer to be the instrument of some
\nforce that feeds the satisfaction of the ego. In such cases the ego may still
\nremain strong although it feels itself instrumental and not the primary actor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The egoism of the instrument can
\nbe as dangerous or more dangerous to spiritual progress than the egoism of the
\ndoer. The ego-sense is contrary to spiritual realisation, so how can any kind
\nof ego be a thing to be encouraged? As for the magnified ego, it is one of the
\nmost perilous obstacles to release and perfection. There should be no big I,
\nnot even a small one. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    What is meant
\nby the magnified ego is that when the limits of the ordinary mind and vital are
\nbroken, one feels a far vaster and more powerful consciousness and unlimited
\npossibilities, but if one ties all that to the tail of one’s own ego, then one
\nbecomes a thousand times more egoistic than the ordinary man. The greatness of
\nthe Divine becomes an excuse and a support for one’s own greatness and the big
\nI swells itself to fill not only the earth but the heavens. That magnification of
\nthe ego is a thing to be guarded against with a watchful care.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes − these are small signs
\nor little forms of the ego of the instrument − not very serious, but
\noften rather sticky. There is a bigger kind of egoism which is not so common
\nwhich can rise into a kind of megalomania, \u201cI, I am the instrument − how great <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1385<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

an instrument I am − through
\nme all will be done,\u201d − there are three or four who have had that in a
\ndistressingly acute form, secretly or openly − often it ends by their
\ngoing away to do great things outside great things which somehow do not get done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Impersonality in itself is not
\nthe Divine. All these mistakes can be and are made by many who claim to be in
\nan impersonalised consciousness. A force may be universal but may be also a
\nwrong force: many think they are impersonal and free from ego because they are
\nobeying a force or something bigger than their own personality − but that
\nforce or that something may be quite other than the Divine and it may hold them
\nby something in their personality and ego. an instrument I am − through
\nme all will be done,\u201d − there are three or four who have had that in a
\ndistressingly acute form, secretly or openly −often it ends by their
\ngoing away to do great things outside − great things which somehow do not
\nget<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is Prakriti or Nature that
\nacts; the Divine does not compel people to do anything. Nothing can happen
\nwithout the presence and support of the Divine, for Nature or Prakriti is the
\nDivine Force and it is this that works out things, but it works them out
\naccording to the nature and through or with the will of each man which is full
\nof ignorance − that goes on until men turn to the Divine and become
\nconscious of Him and united with Him. Then only can it be said that all begins
\nto be done in him by the direct Will of the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ambition and vanity are things so
\nnatural to the human consciousness − they have even their use in ordinary
\nlife − that it is quite natural that at first they should enter into the
\nsadhana also and linger even when they are rejected. But they have to be pushed
\nout, before one is far on the path − otherwise they are very dangerous
\nattendants and can pervert both aspiration and siddhi.  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1386<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Ambition is always a force of the
\nvital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Suggestions of ambition, etc. are
\nalways born in the vital mind or, as it might be called, the mind of the vital
\nand from there they rush up to the thinking mind and claim its assent and the
\nsanction of the mental will. When the thinking mind gets clouded by the uprush,
\nit is carried away and gives its assent. The thinking mind (reason) has always
\nto remain unmoved above and judge what is right without being caught and
\ncarried away by the vital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A spiritual humility within is
\nvery necessary, but I do not think an outward one is very advisable (absence of
\npride or arrogance or vanity is indispensable of course in one’s outer dealings
\nwith others) − it often creates pride, becomes formal or becomes
\nineffective after a time. I have seen people doing it to cure their pride, but
\nI have not found it producing a lasting result.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [to do Namaskara to everyone]
\nis a feeling which some have who either want to cultivate humility (X used to
\ndo it, but I never saw that it got rid of his innate self-esteem) or who have
\nor are trying to have the realisation of Narayan in all with a Vaishnava turn
\nin it. To feel the One in all is right, but to bow down to the individual who
\nlives still in his ego is good neither for him nor for the one who does it.
\nEspecially in this yoga it tends to diffuse what should be concentrated and
\nturned towards a higher realisation than that of the cosmic feeling which is
\nonly a step on the way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perhaps one could say that it
\n[spiritual humility] is to be aware of the relativity of what has been done
\ncompared with what is still <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1387<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

to be done − and also to be
\nconscious of one’s being nothing without the Divine Grace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for the sense of superiority,
\nthat is a little difficult to avoid when greater horizons open before the
\nconsciousness, unless one is already of a saintly and humble disposition. There
\nare men like Nag Mahashaya (among Sri Ramakrishna’s disciples) in whom
\nspiritual experience creates more and more humility; there are others like
\nVivekananda in whom it creates a great sense of strength and superiority
\n− European critics have taxed him with it rather severely; there are
\nothers in whom it fixes a sense of superiority to men and humility to the
\nDivine. Each position has its value. Take Vivekananda’s famous answer to the
\nMadras Pundit who objected to one of his assertions saying: \u201cBut Shankara does
\nnot say so\u201d, to whom Vivekananda replied: \u201cNo, but I, Vivekananda, say so\u201d, and
\nthe Pundit was speechless. That \u201cI, Vivekananda,\u201d stands up to the ordinary eye
\nlike a Himalaya of self-confident egoism. But there was
\nnothing false or unsound in Vivekananda’s spiritual experience. For this was
\nnot mere egoism, but the sense of what he stood for and the attitude of the
\nfighter who, as the representative of something very great, could not allow
\nhimself to be put down or belittled. This is not to deny the necessity of
\nnon-egoism and of spiritual humility, but to show that the question is not so
\neasy as it appears at first sight. For if I have to express my spiritual
\nexperiences I must do that with truth − I must record them, their bhāva<\/i>, their thoughts, feelings,
\nextensions of consciousness which accompany them. What am I to do with the
\nexperience in which one feels the whole world in oneself or the force of the
\nDivine flowing in one’s being and nature or the certitude of one’s faith
\nagainst all doubts and doubters or one’s oneness with the Divine or the
\nsmallness of human thought and life compared with this greater knowledge and existence?
\nAnd I have to use the word I − I cannot take refuge in saying \u201cThis body\u201d
\nor \u201cThis appearance\u201d, especially as I am not a Mayavadin. Shall I not,
\ntherefore, fall into expressions which will make X shake his head at my <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1388<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

assertions as full of pride and
\nego? I imagine it would be difficult to avert it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

           Another thing: it seems to me
\nthat you identify faith very much with the mental belief, but real faith is
\nsomething spiritual, a knowledge of the soul. The assertions you quote in your
\nletter are the hard assertions of mental belief leading to a great vehement
\nassertion of one’s mental creed and goal because they are one’s own and must
\ntherefore be greater than those of others − an attitude which is
\nuniversal in human nature. Even the atheist is not tolerant, but declares his
\ncredo of Nature and Matter as the only truth and on all who disbelieve it or
\nbelieve in other things he pours scorn as unenlightened morons and superstitious
\nhalf-wits. I bear him no grudge for thinking me that, but I note that this
\nattitude is not confined to religious faith but is equally natural to those who
\nare free from religious faith and do not believe in Gods or Gurus. You will not,
\nI hope, mind my putting the other side of the question; I want to point out
\nthat there is the other side, that there is much more to be said than at first
\nsight appears.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The right attitude is to see that
\nas a separate being, as an ego, one has no importance whatever and the
\ninsistence on one’s own desires, pride, position etc. is an ignorance, but one
\nmatters only as a spirit, as a portion of the Divine, not more than others but
\nas all souls matter to the Soul of all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes, the talk about advanced
\nsadhaks is a thing I have always discouraged − but people go on because
\nthat appeals to the vital ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ideas of superiority and
\ninferiority are not of much use or validity. Each one is himself with his own
\npossibilities to which there need be no limit except that of will and
\ndevelopment and time. Each nature has its own lines and in things that are more <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1389<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

developed or less developed, but
\nthe standard should be set by what he in himself aims to be. Comparison with
\nothers brings in a wrong standard of values.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is a very common disease
\nwith the sadhaks − making comparisons with feelings of jealousy and envy
\n− in some it leads to revolt and self-assertion, in others to
\nself-depreciation and depression. Naturally, these feelings are quite out of
\nplace and the judgments created are out of focus. Each sadhak has his own
\nmovement, his own relation with the Divine, his own place in the work or the
\ngeneral sadhana and to compare with others immediately brings in a wrong
\nstandard. It is on the truth of his own inner movement that he has to take his
\nbase − svadharma<\/i>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Self-respect and a sense of
\nsuperiority are two very different things. Self-respect is not necessarily a
\nsign of egoism any more than its absence is a sign of liberation from egoism.
\nSelf-respect means observing a certain standard of conduct which is proper to
\nthe level of manhood to which I belong − e.g. I cannot make a false
\nstatement out of self-respect though it would be advantageous to do it and most
\npeople under the circumstances would make it. Amour-propre<\/i> is different and belongs to the sattwic type of ego.
\nWhen one is not free from ego, then amour<\/i>–propre<\/i> (as well as self-respect − for
\nthat can be with ego or without ego) are necessary supports for the maintenance
\nof the personality at its proper level. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

         Hatred being very unspiritual is not an
\naid to be called in for the purpose.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For many sadhaks there is a first
\nstage governed by the mind or higher vital in which they go on very well,
\nbecause in the mind and higher vital there are elements that are strong enough
\nto control the rest while the first experiences or first progress is <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1390<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

made. But a time comes when the
\nsadhak has to deal with the lower parts of the being, then<\/i> all the vital difficulties arise. If the early progress or
\nexperiences have engendered pride or ego or if there is a serious flaw
\nsomewhere, then they are unable to deal with these so long as the ego is not
\nremoved or broken or the flaw mended. X developed a pride of self-righteousness
\nthat stood in his way altogether; he has also the flaw of a narrow obstinate
\nmind that sticks to its own ideas as if they alone were right − the
\ninstances you give of his conduct are illustrations of this defect. That is why
\nhere he quarrels with everyone thinking that he is right and they are very bad
\nand mischievous, cannot see his own faults and mistakes and when he is not
\nheard by the Mother or myself feels hurt and offended because we do not support
\nhis saintliness and righteousness against the wicked who oppress him. He is a
\ngood and clever worker but he cannot progress in sadhana so long as he keeps
\nthis stiffness and ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You have capacities and yogic
\nstuff, but along with them goes a very strong self-esteem and a self-righteous
\nspirit which stand in the way of perfection and constitute a very serious
\nobstacle. So long as a sadhak has that, the attempt of the Truth to manifest in
\nhim will always be baffled by his changing it into mental and vital
\nconstructions which distort it, turn it into ineffective half-truth or even
\nmake truth itself a source of error.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes − self-justification
\nkeeps the wrong movement going because it gives a mental support.
\nSelf-justification is always a sign of ego and ignorance. When one has a wider
\nconsciousness, one knows that each one has his own way of looking at things and
\nfinds in that way his own justification, so that both parties in a quarrel
\nbelieve themselves to be on the right. It is only when one looks from above in
\na consciousness clear of ego that one sees all sides of a thing and also their
\nreal truth. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1391<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

But that [not recognising one’s
\ndefects] is a very common human weakness, although it ought not to exist in a
\nsadhak whose progress depends largely on his recognising what has to be changed
\nin him. Not that the recognition by itself is sufficient, but it is a necessary
\nelement. It is of course a kind of pride or vanity which considers this
\nnecessary for strength and standing. Not only will they not recognise it before
\nothers but they hide their defects from themselves or even if obliged to look
\nat it with one eye look away from it with the other. Or they weave a veil of
\nwords and excuses and justifications trying to make it something other than it
\nreally is. X’s saying\u00b9<\/span> is
\nvery characteristic of him − that has been his main stumbling-block in
\nthe path of yoga.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is only this habit of the
\nnature − <\/b>self-worrying and
\nharping on the sense of deficiency that prevents you from being quiet. If you
\nthrew that out, it would be easy to be quiet. Humility is needful, but constant
\nself-depreciation does not help; excessive self-esteem and self-depreciation
\nare both wrong attitudes. To recognise any defects without exaggerating them is
\nuseful but, once recognised, it is no good dwelling on them always; you must
\nhave the confidence that the Divine Force can change everything and you must
\nlet the Force work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It [vital sensitiveness] is
\nneither good nor bad. It comes like that in the course of the development. Some
\nare incapable of consciously or visibly opening to others because they are
\ninsensitive. On the other hand to be too open is troublesome.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It depends on the nature of the
\nego. Some egoists are hard-skinned and not sensitive at all, others are
\nhyper-sensitive.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00b9<\/span>\u201cI
\nwould die if I had to admit my faults.\u201d<\/span> <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1392<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

Most sensitiveness is the result
\nor sign of ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sensitiveness is one of the most
\npersistent obstacles of many sadhaks. There are two remedies for it − the
\npsychic’s confidence in the Mother and the surrender that goes with it, that
\nis, \u201cwhatever she wills is best for me\u201d, and the vastness which you feel now;
\n− it is the wideness of the true self, of the true mental, vital,
\nphysical being also, from which such things fall off like dust, for they are of
\nno importance to it whatever. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    It is the one
\nthing to do, to get permanently into the wideness, peace and silence and let
\nthe ego dissolve into it and the attachments fall away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There can be no transformation of
\nthe being in an insensitive consciousness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One has not to cure oneself of
\none’s sensitiveness, but only acquire the power to rise to a higher
\nconsciousness taking such disenchantments as a sort of jumping-board. One way
\nis not to expect even square dealings from others, no matter who the others
\nare. And besides, it is good to have such experiences of the real nature of
\nsome people to which a generous nature is often blind; for that helps the
\ngrowth of one’s consciousness. The blow you wince at seems to you so hard
\nbecause it is a blow the world of your mental formation has sustained. Such a
\nworld often becomes a part of our being. The result is that a blow dealt to it
\ngives almost physical pain. The great compensation is that it makes you live
\nmore and more in the real world in contradistinction to the world of your imagination
\nwhich is what you would like the real world to be. But the real world is not
\nall that could be desired, you know, and that is why it has to be acted upon
\nand transformed by the Divine Consciousness. But for that, knowledge of the
\nreality, however unpalatable, is almost <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1393<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

the first requisite. This
\nknowledge often enough is best brought home to us through blows and bleedings.
\nTrue, idealistic people, sensitive people, refined natures smart under such
\ndisillusionments more than do others who are somewhat thick-skinned, but that
\nis no reason why fine feelings should be deprecated and the keen edge of fine
\nsusceptibilities be blunted. The thing is to learn to detach oneself from any
\nsuch experience and learn to look at such perversions of others from a higher
\naltitude from where one can regard these manifestations in the proper
\nperspective − the impersonal one. Then our difficulties really and
\nliterally become opportunities. For knowledge, when it goes to the root of our
\ntroubles, has in itself a marvellous healing-power as it were. As soon as you
\ntouch the quick of the trouble, as soon as you, diving down and down, get at
\nwhat really ails you, the pain disappears as though by a miracle. Unflinching
\ncourage to reach true Knowledge is therefore of the very essence of yoga. No
\nlasting superstructure can be erected except on a solid basis of true Knowledge.
\nThe feet must be sure of their ground before the head can hope to kiss the
\nskies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your surprise at X’s behaviour
\nshows that you do not yet know what kind of thing is the average human nature.
\nDid you never hear of the answer of Vidyasagar when he was told that a certain
\nman was abusing him, − \u201cWhy does he abuse me? I never did him a good turn
\n(upakāra<\/i>).\u201d The unregenerate
\nvital is not grateful for a benefit, it resents being under an obligation. So
\nlong as the benefit continues, it is effusive and says sweet things, as soon as
\nit expects nothing more it turns round and bites the hand that fed it.
\nSometimes it does that even before, when it thinks it can do it without the
\nbenefactor knowing the origin of the slander, fault-finding or abuse. In all
\nthese dealings of yours there is nothing unusual, nothing, as you think,
\npeculiar to you. Most have this kind of experience, few escape it altogether.
\nOf course, people with a developed psychic element are by nature grateful and
\ndo not behave in this way. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1394<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

X<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most
\nmen are, like animals, driven by the forces of Nature: whatever desires come,
\nthey fulfil them, whatever emotions come they allow them to play, whatever
\nphysical wants they have, they try to satisfy. We say then that the activities
\nand feelings of men are controlled by their Prakriti, and mostly by the vital
\nand physical nature. The body is the instrument of the Prakriti or Nature − it
\nobeys its own nature or it obeys the vital forces of desire, passion, etc. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nBut man has also a mind and, as he develops, he learns to control his vital and
\nphysical nature by his reason and by his will. This control is very partial: for
\nthe reason is often deluded by vital desires and the ignorance of the physical
\nand it puts itself on their side and tries to justify by its ideas, reasonings
\nor arguments their mistakes and wrong movements. Even if the reason keeps free
\nand tells the vital or the body, \u201cDo not do this\u201d, yet the vital and the body
\noften follow their own movement in spite of the prohibition − man’s mental will
\nis not strong enough to compel them. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nWhen people do sadhana, there is a higher Nature that works within, the psychic
\nand spiritual, and they have to put their nature under the influence of the
\npsychic being and the higher spiritual self or of the Divine. Not only the vital
\nand the body but the mind also has to learn the Divine Truth and obey the divine
\nrule. But because of the lower nature and its continued hold on them, they are
\nunable at first and for a long time to prevent their nature from following the
\nold ways − even when they know or are told from within what to do or what not to
\ndo. It is only by persistent sadhana, by getting into the higher spiritual
\nconsciousness and spiritual nature that this difficulty can be overcome; but
\neven for the strongest and best sadhaks it takes a long time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\ndesire for the Divine or for bhakti for the Divine is the one desire which can
\nfree one from all the others − at the core it is not a desire but an aspiration;
\na soul need, the breath of <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1395<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nexistence of the inmost being, and as such it cannot be counted among desires.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is
\nthere any time in the \u201cstraight path\u201d for satisfying desires? If desire is not
\nmastered, how can there be any straight walking on the straight path?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nnot yoga to give free play to the natural instincts and desires. Yoga demands
\nmastery over the nature, not subjection to the nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kāmanā<\/i> bāsanā<\/i>
\nhave no part in yoga, they cannot be its help (sahāya<\/i>), they can only be hindrances. So long as desire and ego
\nremain, there can be no surrender to the Divine, no fulfilment in the yoga. They
\nare movements of the vital and cannot be anything else.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nEgoless strength is strength which does not act for selfish motives or for the
\ndesires of the vital or to carry out the ideas of one’s own mind, but exists
\nonly for the service of the Divine and as an instrument of the Divine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Demand
\nand desire are only two different aspects of the same thing − nor is it
\nnecessary that a feeling should be agitated or restless to be a desire; it can
\nbe, on the contrary, quietly fixed and persistent or persistently recurrent.
\nDemand or desire comes from the mental or the vital, but a psychic or spiritual
\nneed is a different thing. The psychic does not demand or desire − it aspires;
\nit does not make conditions for its surrender or withdraw if its aspiration is
\nnot immediately satisfied − for the psychic has complete trust in the Divine or
\nin the Guru and can wait for the right time or the hour of the Divine Grace. The
\npsychic has an insistence of its own, but it puts its pressure not <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1396<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

on the
\nDivine, but on the nature, placing a finger of light on all the defects there
\nthat stand in the way of the realisation, sifting out all that is mixed,
\nignorant or imperfect in the experience or in the movements of the yoga and
\nnever satisfied with itself or with the nature till it has got it perfectly open
\nto the Divine, free from all forms of ego, surrendered, simple and right in the
\nattitude and all the movements. This is what has to be established entirely in
\nthe mind and vital and in the physical consciousness before supramentalisation
\nof the whole nature is possible. Otherwise what one gets is more or less
\nbrilliant, half-luminous, half-cloudy illuminations and experiences on the
\nmental and vital and physical planes inspired either from some larger mind or
\nlarger vital or at the best from the mental reaches above the human that
\nintervene between the intellect and the overmind. These can be very stimulating
\nand satisfying up to a certain point and are good for those who want some
\nspiritual realisation on these planes; but the supramental realisation is
\nsomething much more difficult and exacting in its conditions and the most
\ndifficult of all is to bring it down to the physical level.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nare always two methods of living in the Supreme. One is to draw away the
\nparticipation of the consciousness from things altogether and go so much inwards
\nas to be separated from existence and live in contact with that which is beyond
\nit. The other is to get to that which is the true Essence of all things, not
\nallowing oneself to be absorbed and entangled by the external forms. Desire,
\nattachment, slavery to the attractions of the external sense are the chief
\nobstacle to this movement − so in either way they have to be got rid of. But it
\nis quite possible to see the Supreme before the attraction of external sense is
\ngone − only one cannot live securely in It if there is desire and external
\nattachment because that is always taking one away from the inner poise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nthe ordinary vital movements are foreign to the true being <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1397<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\tand come from outside; they do not belong to the soul nor do they
\n\t\toriginate in it but are waves from the general Nature, Prakriti. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

   
\nThe desires come from outside, enter the subconscious vital and rise to the
\nsurface. It is only when they rise to the surface and the mind becomes aware of
\nthem, that we become conscious of the desire. It seems to us to be our own
\nbecause we feel it thus rising from the vital into the mind and do not know that
\nit came from outside. What belongs to the vital, to the being, what makes it
\nresponsible is not the desire itself, but the habit of responding to the waves
\nor the currents of suggestion that come into it from the universal Prakriti.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nrejection of desire is essentially the rejection of the element of craving,
\nputting that out from the consciousness itself as a foreign element not
\nbelonging to the true self and the inner nature. But refusal to indulge the
\nsuggestions of desire is also a part of the rejection; to abstain from the
\naction suggested, if it is not the right action, must be included in the yogic
\ndiscipline. It is only when this is done in the wrong way, by a mental ascetic
\nprinciple or a hard moral rule, that it can be called suppression. The
\ndifference between suppression and an inward essential rejection is the
\ndifference between mental or moral control and a spiritual purification. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nWhen one lives in the true consciousness one feels the desires outside oneself,
\nentering from outside, from the universal lower Prakriti, into the mind and the
\nvital parts. In the ordinary human condition this is not felt; men become aware
\nof the desire only when it is there, when it has come inside and found a lodging
\nor a habitual harbourage and so they think it is their own and a part of
\nthemselves. The first condition for getting rid of desire is, therefore, to
\nbecome conscious with the true consciousness; for then it becomes much easier to
\ndismiss it than when one has to struggle with it as if it were a constituent
\npart of oneself to be thrown out from the being. It is easier to cast off an
\naccretion than to excise what is felt as a parcel of our substance. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1398<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

        
\nWhen the psychic being is in front, then also to get rid of desire becomes easy;
\nfor the psychic being has in itself no desires, it has only aspirations and a
\nseeking and love for the Divine and all things that are or tend towards the
\nDivine. The constant prominence of the psychic being tends of itself to bring
\nout the true consciousness and set right almost automatically the movements of
\nthe nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Desire
\ntakes a long time to get rid of entirely. But, if you can once get it out of the
\nnature and realise it as a force coming from outside and putting its claws into
\nthe vital and physical, it will be easier to get rid of the invader. You are too
\naccustomed to feel it as part of yourself or planted in you − that makes it more
\ndifficult for you to deal with its movements and dismiss its ancient control
\nover you. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nYou should not rely on anything else alone, however helpful it may seem, but
\nchiefly, primarily, fundamentally on the Mother’s Force. The Sun and the Light
\nmay be a help, and will be if it is the true Light and the true Sun, but cannot
\ntake the place of the Mother’s Force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\ngood. No one can easily get rid of desires. What has first to be done is to
\nexteriorize them, to push them out, on the surface and get the inner parts quiet
\nand clear. Afterwards they can be thrown out and replaced by the true thing, a
\nhappy and luminous will one with the Divine’s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The necessities<\/i> of a sadhak should be as few as possible; for there are
\nonly a very few things that are real necessities in life. The rest are either
\nutilities or things decorative to life or luxuries. These a yogin has a right to
\npossess or enjoy only on one of two conditions − <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1399<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

          
\n(1) If he uses them during his sadhana solely to train himself in possessing
\nthings without attachment or desire and learn to use them rightly, in harmony
\nwith the Divine Will, with a proper handling, a just organisation, arrangement
\nand measure − or, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\n(2) if he has already attained a true freedom from desire and attachment and is
\nnot in the least moved or affected in any way by loss or withholding or
\ndeprival. If he has any greed, desire, demand, claim for possession or
\nenjoyment, any anxiety, grief, anger or vexation when denied or deprived, he is
\nnot free in spirit and his use of the things he possesses is contrary to the
\nspirit of sadhana. Even if he is free in spirit, he will not be fit for
\npossession if he has not learned to use things not for himself, but for the
\nDivine Will, as an instrument, with the right knowledge and action in the use,
\nfor the proper equipment of a life lived not for oneself but for and in the
\nDivine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nwould certainly be very easy if all that one had to do were to follow one’s
\ndesires; but to be governed by one’s desires is not yoga. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nNeed and want are not the same thing. The fact that they could go on without it
\nfor so long shows that it was not a need.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Desire
\nis a psychological movement, and it can attach itself to a \u201ctrue need\u201d as well
\nas to things that are not true needs. One must approach even true needs without
\ndesire. If one does not get them, one must feel nothing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As for
\nthe inconveniences, you should take them as a training in
\nsamatā<\/i>. To be able to bear inconveniences is one of the most elementary
\nnecessities if one wants to enter into the true spirit of yoga. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1400<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nWhether ascetic or non-ascetic, the yogi, the sadhak must become free from vital
\ndesire and spiritually master of the movements of his nature − and for that he
\nmust be free from ego and desire and duality. I have always made that quite
\nclear − that indulgence of desire is no more part of this yoga than it is of
\nSannyasa. One must be able to use and handle physical things and physical life,
\nbut from the spiritual consciousness, not from the level of the vital ego.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nbelongs to the Divine − there must be no ego or desire − only the Divine and its
\nLight, Knowledge, Power, Ananda, action. But all this must come from above, not
\nfrom the mixed lower cosmic forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All
\nthings are the Divine because the Divine is there, but hidden not manifest; when
\nthe mind goes out to things, it is not with the sense of the Divine in them, but
\nfor the appearances only which conceal the Divine. It is necessary therefore for
\nyou as a sadhak to turn entirely to the Mother in whom the Divine is manifest
\nand not run after the appearances, the desire of which or the interest in which
\nprevents you from meeting the Divine. Once the being is consecrated, then it can
\nsee the Divine everywhere − and then it can include all things in the one
\nconsciousness without a separate interest or desire.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After
\nrealisation whatever the higher Will demands is the best − but first, detachment
\nis the rule. To reach the freedom without the discipline and development is
\ngiven to few.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt is true that the mere suppression or holding down of desire <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1401<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

is not
\nenough, not by itself truly effective, but that does not mean that desires are
\nto be indulged; it means that desires have not merely to be suppressed, but to
\nbe rejected from the nature. In place of desire there must be a single-minded
\naspiration towards the Divine. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

         As for love, the love must be turned singly
\ntowards the Divine. What men call by that name is a vital interchange for mutual
\nsatisfaction of desire, vital impulse or physical pleasure. There must be
\nnothing of this interchange between sadhaks; for to seek for it or indulge this
\nkind of impulse only leads away from the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Your
\ntheory is a mistaken one. The free expression of a passion may relieve the vital
\nfor a time, but at the same time it gives it a right to return always. It is not
\nreduced at all. Suppression with inner indulgence in subtle forms is not a cure,
\nbut expression in outer indulgence is still less a cure. It is perfectly
\npossible to go on without manifestation if one is resolute to arrive at a
\ncomplete control, the control being not a mere suppression but an inner and
\nouter rejection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You do
\nnot seem to have a correct idea of the nature of vital desire. Vital desire
\ngrows by being indulged, it does not become satisfied. If your desire were
\nindulged, it would begin to grow more and more and ask for more and more. That
\nhas been our constant experience with the sadhaks and it confirms what has
\nalways been known about desire. Desire and envy have to be thrown out of the
\nconsciousness − there is no other way to deal with them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not
\nnecessarily suppression, if the refusal of food [to a desire] is accompanied by
\ndetachment in the major part of the being. The difference between suppression (nigraha<\/i>) and self-control (samyama<\/i>)
\nis that one says \u201cI cannot help desiring but I will
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1402<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

not
\nsatisfy my desire\u201d, while the other says \u201cI refuse the desire as well as the
\nsatisfaction of the desire\u201d.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nigraha<\/i> means holding down the movement, but a movement merely held
\ndown is only suspended − it is better to reject and dismiss, detaching yourself
\nfrom it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nEverything which it hankers after is desirable to the vital − but the desire has
\nto be rejected. \u201cI won’t desire\u201d is quite the right thing to say, even if \u201cI
\ndon’t desire\u201d cannot yet be said by the vital. Still there is something in the
\nbeing that can even say \u201cI don’t desire\u201d and refuse to recognise the vital
\ndesire as part of the true being. It is that consciousness which the peace and
\npower bring that has to be recognised as the true \u201cI\u201d and made permanent in
\nfront.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nalways the habit of the vital being to find out things by which it persuades the
\nmind and justifies its desires; and circumstances usually shape themselves to
\njustify it still further. For what we have within us creates the circumstances
\noutside us. What matters is that you should take inwardly a different position
\nin the future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of
\ncourse − the vital is insatiable. There are only two things that interfere with
\nit − the limitations of the body and the disapprobation of the mind − but the
\nlatter is not always there. There is also of course the possibility of the
\npsychic interfering, but to that the vital becomes pervious only at a certain
\nstage. It is therefore the body that is the only check for most people. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1403<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It is
\ndifficult to get rid of desires altogether<\/i>
\nall at once − if the right ones have the upper hand, that already makes the
\nultimate victory sure. Therefore don’t allow that to trouble you. A progressive
\nchange is the way these things work out − and if the progress has begun, then
\nthere can be a fundamental sense of certitude about the outcome of the sadhana
\nand a quiet view upon what has to be done because it is sure to be done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nvision simply means that when you clutch at anything and try to make it your own
\nwith an egoistic sense of possession, then however beautiful and wonderful it
\nmay be, it loses its value and becomes ordinary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\noften the experience that when one gives up the insistence of desire for a
\nthing, then the thing itself comes. The right attitude is to wait on the Divine
\nWill and seek that only − desire always creates perturbation and even its
\nfulfilment does not satisfy. Aspiration is a different thing. The oscillation
\nbetween the two conditions you speak of, is the sign of a struggle in the
\nphysical consciousness − it must end by the Peace and Power fixing itself there,
\nthen the other will disappear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It
\nshould be quite clear to you what the two opposite things are, the two things
\nwith which every sadhak is faced. One is the vehemence of earthly egoistic
\ndesire which brings only confusion and suffering and the other is the peace,
\nforce, joy, light of understanding which is the divine in you and which we are
\nstriving to establish in you. When you put yourself on the right side, things
\nbecome easy; when you hesitate, and are divided, there is a double state; when
\nsomething in you receives and clings to the desires then all goes wrong. You
\nmust learn to put always the weight of your choice on the right side. Certainly
\nI shall do all to get the wrong will changed and the right one put in its <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1404<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

place
\n− whatever is the resistance or difficulty, that I shall do always.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nfear is again that of the physical consciousness or of the vital element in it −
\nit is afraid if it gives up desire that it will lose everything − or everything
\nit wants − and gain nothing in exchange or at least nothing it wants. It does
\nnot realise that it will get something far greater and more powerful and happy
\nin place of this troubled desire and its doubtful and precarious fruits − for it
\nhas been accustomed to think of desire as the only possible motive of life. It
\ndoes not know that the divine Force is there waiting to descend with its light
\nand peace and joy bringing much greater things and a happier life. When this
\npart can be enlightened and persuaded to want whole-heartedly the change, then a
\ngreat difficulty, indeed the central difficulty will have gone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nthe old vital nature that feels its human worldly desires will not be satisfied
\nand feels like this. All that has not to be indulged but rejected and swept
\naside. In its place must come the wideness in which there is a self-existent
\npeace and satisfaction and into that peace and wideness must come the Mother’s
\ngreater peace, force, light, knowledge, Ananda.<\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nwas and is the opening before you of a new stage in your spiritual development.
\nFor it to realise itself you must progress first in two directions. The first we
\nhave already pressed on you − the surmounting of those vital desires which
\nlinked you to the lower movements and invited the pressure of a hostile Force on
\nyour lower vital and your body, and the complete surrender of life and body to
\nthe One alone. The other is the descent of a full calm and strength and
\nequanimity into these parts so that you may conquer life and its difficulties
\nand do your work for the Divine. This calm and strength had often descended into
\nyour <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1405<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

mind
\nand higher vital, but these other parts were still open to much weakness and
\nattachment and a self-indulgent movement. That must go if one wants to become a
\nhero and master of spiritual action. In your life at your previous place these
\nthings were too much sheltered and allowed to remain; at your present place you
\nhave a chance to be by yourself with the Divine Force and look life in the face
\nfrom the soul’s inner strength and become master of circumstances. Outer
\ndifficulties or inconveniences you should not allow to alarm or depress you.
\nInner difficulties should also be met with detachment, calm, equality, the
\nunshakable will to conquer. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAs for the rest you have rightly said, \u201cI must preserve my equanimity and a
\nfaith in Divine Guidance when falsehood or any trouble or difficulty confronts
\nme.\u201d The defect that opened the way to the bodily and other troubles was the
\nfaltering in your resolution to conquer the vital and follow the straight and
\nhigh path and the consequent violent despair and depression it brought in its
\nwake. Let these disappear altogether and do not allow them to rise in that way
\nagain. The path of spiritual calm and strength and the consecration of all your
\nforces to the Divine is the one safe way for you and that you must now
\nconsistently follow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nagain the old vain imagination prompted by an uprising of the dissatisfied
\ndesires of the vital nature. Evidently, the wrong attitude of desire must have
\nbeen waiting for its opportunity and it gave the opportunity also for the old
\nvital to rise and indulge in its accustomed movements. It is also evident that
\nit was the pressure of the desire coming up from below that removed the Ananda.
\nThe psychic Ananda and the desire of the complaining and clamouring vital cannot
\ngo together; if desire comes up, the Ananda is obliged to draw back − unless you
\nreject the desire in time and refuse to make any compromise with it. Especially
\nwhen the Mother was giving you wideness and peace and intense Ananda, it was
\nirrational in the extreme to give room to an external desire and sacrifice all
\nthat for its sake. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1406<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\n\t\t To yield to depression when things go wrong is the worst way
\n\t\tof meeting the difficulty. There must be some desire or demand within
\n\t\tyou, conscious or subconscious, that gets excited and revolts against
\n\t\tits not being satisfied. The best way is to be conscious of it, face it
\n\t\tcalmly and steadily throw it out. <\/p>\n

\n\t\t <\/p>\n

   
\nIf the lower vital (not the mind only) could permanently make up its mind that
\nall desire and demand are contrary to the Truth and no longer call for them,
\nthese things would lose very soon their force of return.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nSaturate your mind and vital with the Truth and remain calm and still. It is
\nfrom unsatisfied desire that all suffering arises; take your stand on a calm
\nfree from desire. When that has come, all else of the Divine Truth, Love and
\nAnanda can come and stand securely upon it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nhave done rightly about the things. These small desires obstruct greatly the
\nchange in the outer consciousness and the being must be free from them if the
\ntransformation is not to be hampered there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nthe vital-physical that receives these suggestions and obeys these desires. What
\nyou have to do is to get the consciousness down into the whole of the vital
\nproper so that not only the mind but the vital itself will reject these desires.
\nIn that case, the vital-physical desires will lose half their force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the
\npeace and power that were acting on the head and in the chest, have come down
\ninto the stomach and below, that would indicate that they are no longer acting
\non the mind and emotional being only, but fully on the vital also − that is a
\ngreat progress. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1407<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

    
\nThe desires you refer to are those of the vital-physical in the subtle physical
\nconsciousness − impulse to talk, essential hunger, thirst, etc. Peace and
\nquietude full in the vital-physical and subtle physical and down even in the
\nlowest levels, are necessary for the whole change to be made. The heat of which
\nyou speak is that of this subtle principle of vital-physical desire which exists
\nfor its own sake, not for the real needs of the body − that is why physical
\nsatisfaction does not diminish it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nthe small habits of the lower vital being which gather all their strength to
\nresist correction and try to occupy the consciousness. When they come you must
\nlearn to detach your inner consciousness from them entirely so that even when
\nthey strongly come they will not be able to occupy the consciousness or get any
\nassent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nvital in the physical easily slips back to its old small habits if it gets a
\nchance. It is there that they stick. They go entirely only when that part gets
\nequanimity and a simple natural freedom from all desires.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These
\nhabits of the physical-vital are almost automatic in their action and it takes
\neither a very strong will or a persistent effort of self-discipline to get out
\nthis automatic, almost reflex action. You should not therefore be discouraged by
\nthe difficulty, but go on with the necessary perseverance of the will to press
\nit out of existence. <\/p>\n

\nXI<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The
\nfact that the anger comes with such force is itself enough to show that it is
\nnot in you that it is but that it comes from outside. It is a rush of force from
\nthe universal Nature that tries to take <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1408<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\npossession of the individual being and make that being act according to the will
\nof this outside force and not according to the will of the soul within. These
\nthings come in the course of the sadhana because the sadhak is liberating
\nhimself from the lower nature and trying to turn towards the Mother and live in
\nher divine consciousness and the higher nature. The forces of the lower nature
\ndo not want that and so they make these rushes in order to recover their rule.
\nIt is necessary when that comes, to remain quiet within remembering the Mother
\nor calling her and reject the anger or whatever else comes, whenever it comes or
\nhowever often it comes. If that is done, then these forces begin to lose their
\npower to invade. It is easier if one clearly feels them to be outside forces and
\nforeign to oneself; but even if you cannot feel that yet when they enter, still
\nthe mind must keep that idea and refuse to accept them as any longer a part of
\nthe nature. The idea of the Mother being severe was of course a suggestion that
\ncame with the invading force so as to help it to enter. Such suggestions come to
\nmany sadhaks (though not so many as before) at Pranam and is the cause to them
\nof much disturbance. Such suggestions must be firmly rejected at once.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In
\nfact all these ignorant vital movements originate from outside in the ignorant
\nuniversal Nature; the human being forms in his superficial parts of being,
\nmental, vital, physical, a habit of certain responses to these waves from
\noutside. It is these responses that he takes as his own character (anger,
\ndesire, sex etc.) and thinks he cannot be otherwise. But that is not so; he can
\nchange. There is another consciousness deeper within him, his true inner being,
\nwhich is his real self, but is covered over by the superficial nature. This the
\nordinary man does not know, but the yogi becomes aware of it as he progresses in
\nhis sadhana. As the consciousness of this inner being increases by sadhana, the
\nsurface nature and its responses are pushed out and can be got rid of
\naltogether. But the ignorant universal Nature does not want to let go and throws
\nthe old movements on the sadhak and tries to get them inside again; owing to a
\nhabit the superficial nature
\n <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1409<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

gives
\nthe old responses. If one can get the firm knowledge that these things are from
\noutside and not a real part of oneself, then it is easier for the sadhak to
\nrepel such returns, or if they lay hold, he can get rid of them sooner. That is
\nwhy I say repeatedly that these things rise not in yourself, but from outside. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I
\nthink you have always had an idea that to give expression to an impulse or a
\nmovement is the best way or even the only way to get rid of it. But that is a
\nmistaken idea. If you give expression to anger, you prolong or confirm the habit
\nof the recurrence of anger; you do not diminish or get rid of the habit. The
\nvery first step towards weakening the power of anger in the nature and
\nafterwards getting rid of it altogether is to refuse all expression to it in act
\nor speech. Afterwards one can go on with more likelihood of success to throw it
\nout from the thought and feeling also. And so with all other wrong movements. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAll these movements come from outside, from the universal lower Nature, or are
\nsuggested or thrown upon you by adverse forces − adverse to your spiritual
\nprogress. Your method of taking them as your own is again a wrong method; for by
\ndoing that you increase their power to recur and take hold of you. If you take
\nthem as your own, that gives them a kind of right to be there. If you feel them
\nas not your own, then they have no right, and the will can develop more power to
\nsend them away. What you must always have and feel as yours is this will, the
\npower to refuse assent, to refuse admission to a wrong movement. Or if it comes
\nin, the power to send it away, without expressing it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nOf course the best way will be if you can keep the contact more with the Mother
\nand her Light and Force and receive and accept and follow only what comes from
\nthat higher force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nreally simply the recurrence of an old habit of the nature. Look at it and see
\nhow trifling is the occasion of the rising of this anger and its outburst − it
\nbecomes more and more <\/span><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1410<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\ncauseless − and the absurdity of such movements itself. It would not really be
\ndifficult to get rid of it if, when it comes, you looked at it calmly − for it
\nis perfectly possible to stand back in one part of the being, observing in a
\ndetached equanimity even while the anger rises on the surface − as if it were
\nsomeone else in your being who had the anger. The difficulty is that you get
\nalarmed and upset and that makes it easier for the thing to get hold of your
\nmind which it should not do. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

   
\nHelp we are giving you − stand back so as to be able to feel it and not this
\nobsession of these surface movements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That
\nis the right thing that must happen always when anger or anything else rises.
\nThe psychic reply must become habitual pointing out that anger is neither right
\nnor helpful and then the being must draw back from these outward things and take
\nits stand in its inner self, detach from all these things and people. It is this
\ndetachment that is the first thing that must be gained by the sadhak − he must
\ncease to live in these outward things and live in his inner being. The more that
\nis done the more there is a release and peacefulness. Afterwards when one is
\nsecure in this inner being, the right thing to do, the right way to deal with
\nmen and things will begin to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When
\nit is the psychic that rules all the movements of the being, then it [anger]
\ncompletely disappears and when the equanimity of the higher consciousness takes
\ncomplete possession of the lower vital. Till then one can establish control,
\ndiminish and reduce it to a touch that has no outward effect or a wave that
\npasses without life-expression.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\ncertainly. Infinite peace, universal love can remove anger − if they are
\ncomplete and stable. <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1411<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

It is
\ntrue that anger and strife are in the nature of the human vital and do not go
\neasily; but what is important is to have the will to change, and the clear
\nperception that these things must go. If that will and perception are there,
\nthen in the end they will go. The most important help to it is, here also, for
\nthe psychic being to grow within − for that brings a certain kindliness,
\npatience, charity towards all and one no longer regards everything from the
\npoint of view of one’s own ego and its pain or pleasure, likings and dislikings.
\nThe second help is the growth of the inner peace which outward things cannot
\ntrouble. With the peace comes a calm wideness in which one perceives all as one
\nself, all beings as the children of the Mother and the Mother dwelling in
\noneself and in all. It is that towards which your sadhana will move, for these
\nare the things which come with the growth of the psychic and spiritual
\nconsciousness. Then these troubled reactions to outward things will no longer
\ncome.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nindeed when the quietude comes down from above or comes out from the psychic
\nthat the vital becomes full of peace or of kindliness and goodwill. It is
\ntherefore that the inner psychic quietude first and afterwards the peace from
\nabove must occupy the whole being. Otherwise such things as anger in the vital
\ncan be controlled but it is difficult to get rid of them altogether without this
\noccupation by the inner quietude and higher peace. That you should depend on the
\nMother for the sadhana is the best attitude, for it is indeed her Force that
\ndoes the sadhana in you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These
\nthings, hard forms of speech, anger etc. are habits formed by the vital-physical
\nconsciousness and, as they are supported by the subconscient, very difficult to
\nchange. If one can conquer or change them by force of will or mental or
\nspiritual control, so much the better. But if one cannot do this at once, one
\nmust not be upset or think oneself unfit. It is easier for most to realise the
\nDivine or enter into the psychic consciousness than to change <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1412<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

this
\npart of the nature; but once the psychic consciousness governs or the higher
\nconsciousness descends then it is much easier for these to go. You must not
\ntherefore be discouraged by these recurrences or persistences, but try always to
\nstand back in an inner quietude and if they come let them pass away like a cloud
\nacross the light. In time these things will be finally dealt with by the Force.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nindeed a very good sign that the anger when it comes is brief and subdued and no
\nlonger expressed in the outward − for that is one very marked stage always of
\nthe rejection of something not wanted by the nature. It comes still but it has
\nno longer the old force, duration, intensity, completeness. The externalised
\ncondition is often used to show or test the progress made in the outer nature
\nitself, for when one is entirely within these outward movements remain
\nquiescent, so the extent to which they are changed cannot be so easily measured.
\nBut of course it is the going inward that most helps to deliver the nature.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the
\nanger did not come, it must be because the vital force of the attack is
\ndiminishing and it must be more in the physical mind and the external (physical)
\nvital that it acts. You have a great strength for action; as for the inner
\ngrowth and action of the sadhana you have a strength there too of the psychic
\nand the vital, −  <\/span>it is only the external being that finds
\nthese difficulties in its way and is momentarily overcome or affected by them.
\nThings always come in the way when one wants to progress in the sadhana, but in
\nthe end if one is sincere in one’s aspiration these troubles help to prepare the
\nvictory of the soul over all that opposes. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nThe inner will prevails sometimes, sometimes it does not prevail for the time
\nbeing. That is quite normal. It depends on certain conditions which the physical
\nmind does not see. As one grows in knowledge, one becomes aware of these unseen
\nconditions and understands better what happens. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1413<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

    
\nThe fire is always the fire of purification − it is very red when it is acting
\non the vital; when the vital no longer covers the psychic, then the rose colour
\nof the psychic comes out more and more. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nThe house you saw is the new building of the nature, especially in the vital,
\nwhich is being prepared by the sadhana.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   \n<\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The reason why quietness is not yet fixed and anger returns is that you allow
\nyour physical mind to become active. In regard to the sadhana it begins to think
\nthere is this defect in you and that defect and therefore the sadhana does not
\nbecome immediately effective and perfect. This makes the vital nervous or
\ndespondent and in the despondency a state of irritation arises. At the same time
\nthis mind becomes active as it has now with regard to X or begins to judge and
\ncriticize and this too leads to nervousness and irritation. These things belong
\nto the old mind you are trying to leave and therefore stand in the way of
\nconcentration and quietude. They should be stopped at their root by rejecting
\nthe suggestions of the physical mind as soon as they begin. A new consciousness
\nis coming based upon inner silence and quietude. You must wait quietly for that
\nto develop. True knowledge, true perceptions of people and things will come in
\nthat new silent consciousness. The mind’s view of people and things must
\nnecessarily be either limited and defective or erroneous − to go on judging by
\nit is now a waste of time. Wait for the new consciousness to develop and show
\nyou all in a new and true light. Then the tendency to anger which arises from
\nthis mind and is a violent impatience directed against things the mind and vital
\ndo not like, would have no ground to rise at all −  <\/span>or if it rose without cause could be more
\neasily rejected. Rely for the sadhana on the Mother’s grace and her Force,
\nyourself remembering always to keep only two things, quietude and confidence.
\nFor things and people, leave them to the Mother also; as you have difficulties
\nin your nature, so they have too; but to deal with them needs insight, sympathy,
\npatience. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAbout the attachment to things, the physical rejection of <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1414<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

them
\nis not the best way to get rid of it. Accept what is given you, ask for what is
\nneeded and think no more of it − attaching no importance, using them when you
\nhave, not troubled if you have not. That is the best way of getting rid of the
\nattachment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you
\nlook closely, you will see that all these things − the rudeness of one, the
\nanger of another −  <\/span>are exceedingly
\nslight things which should be received with indifference. Do not allow them to
\ntrouble you so much. The one thing of supreme importance is your sadhana and
\nyour spiritual growth. Let nothing touch or disturb that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Essays on the Gita<\/i> explain the ordinary Karmayoga as developed in
\nthe Gita, in which the work done is the ordinary work of human life with only an
\ninward change. There too the violence to be used is not a personal violence done
\nfrom egoistic motives, but part of the ordered system of social life. Nothing
\ncan spiritually justify individual violence done in anger or passion or from any
\nvital motive. In our yoga our object is to rise higher than the ordinary life of
\nmen and in it violence has to be left aside altogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An
\ninner psychic or spiritual change is not brought about by violence. It is not a
\nchange of conduct that has to be done in the sadhaks, but a change of soul and
\nspirit governing the mind and vital and body instead of the mind and vital
\ngoverning. Violence is the drastic contradiction of that; it makes mental egoism
\nand vital passion and fury or else cruelty the rulers. Violence in ordinary
\nNature does not justify violence in spiritual work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In all
\nthings there must be a control over thought and speech also. But while rajasic
\nviolence is excluded, a calmly forceful <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1415<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nseverity of thought and speech where severity is needed is sometimes
\nindispensable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nXII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 If
\nyou want to do yoga, you must get rid of fear. Yoga and fear do not go together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\ntrue that what one fears has the tendency to come until one is able to look it
\nin the face and overcome one’s shrinking. One must learn to take one’s
\nfoundation on the Divine and overcome the fear, relying on the help to carry one
\nthrough all things even unpleasant and adverse. There is a Force that works even
\nthrough them for the seeker and carries him towards his goal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yes,
\nfear creates imaginary terrors − even if there is real danger, fear does not
\nhelp; it clouds the intelligence, takes away presence of mind and prevents one
\nseeing the right thing to do. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nLet the Force at work increase, till it clears out the mixed consciousness
\naltogether.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\na mistake to think that by fearing or being unhappy you can progress. Fear is
\nalways a feeling to be rejected, because what you fear is just the thing that is
\nlikely to come to you: fear attracts the object of fear. Unhappiness weakens the
\nstrength and lays one more open to the causes of unhappiness. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nOne can be quiet, happy, cheerful without being all that in a light or shallow
\nway − and the happiness need not bring any vital reaction. All that you need to
\ndo is to be observant and vigilant, − watchful so that you may not give assent
\nto wrong movements or the return of the old feelings, darkness, confusion, etc.
\nIf you remain vigilant, then with the increase of the Force <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1416<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

\nupholding you, a power of self-control will come, a power to see and reject the
\nwrong turn or the wrong reaction when it comes. Fear and unhappiness will not
\ngive you that. It is only by this vigilance accompanied by an opening to the
\nsupporting  <\/span>and guiding Force that it will come. What
\nyou describe as a capacity to choose the right and the feeling of strength or
\npower that can stop the wrong movement and take the right one as soon as it
\nrecognises them is just this control and vigilance. It is by this control and
\nvigilance supported by the Force that you can prevent the love and devotion too
\nfrom being mixed with or replaced by selfish desires and impurities. The more
\nyou open, the more this power will increase in you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You
\nshould throw away fear as well as anger and go quietly on your way putting your
\nconfidence in the Mother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Ways
\nto remove fear:] By bringing down strength and calm into the lower vital (region
\nbelow the navel). Also by will and imposing calm on the system when the fear
\narises. It can be done in either way or both together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There
\nis no fear in the higher Nature. Fear is a creation of the vital plane, an
\ninstinct of the ignorance, a sense of danger with a violent vital reaction that
\nreplaces and usually prevents or distorts the intelligence of things. It might
\nalmost be considered as an invention of the hostile forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nXIII<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nJealousy should not be there if there is no ground for it, for then it is absurd
\nand meaningless − but also when there is reason <\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1417<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

for it
\naccording to common standards, it should not be there, for it is a sentiment
\nlacking in nobility and quite un-yogic. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nAs for getting rid of lobha<\/i>, certainly
\nthe Mother’s full help will be with you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is
\nof course the old reaction − jealousy is certainly there, or you would not feel
\nthis violent sorrow. That it subsists still in the recesses and rises with such
\nvehemence shows how deeply rooted this movement was in your physical
\nconsciousness. You have not been able to root it out because when it comes you
\nassociate yourself entirely with it and abandon yourself to its outcries and
\nviolence. You must have the strength to stand back from it in that part of your
\nnature which is free − only then will you be able to push it away from you; and
\nit is only if it is pushed away from you each time it rises that it will consent
\nto disappear and return no more. As for our support and help it is there, but
\nyou must remain conscious of it − and you must not allow any wrong ideas like
\nthose of this morning to diminish the sense of unity and contact with the
\nMother.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n⁂<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I do
\nnot see why you make such a big difference between the quarrels and jealousy
\nover other women and quarrels and jealousy over other attractions not of a
\nsexual character. They both spring from the same primary impulse, the possessive
\ninstinct which is at the base of ordinary vital love. In the latter case, as
\noften sexual jealousy is not possible, the mind supports itself on other motives
\nwhich seem to it quite reasonable and justifiable − it may not be conscious that
\nit is being pushed by the vital, but the quarrels and the vivacity of the
\ndisagreement are there all the same. Whether you had or had not both forms of
\nit, is not very material and does not make things better or worse. It is the
\ngetting rid of the instinct itself that matters, whether from the psychological
\npoint of view or from that of a spiritual change. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nThe one thing that is of any importance is the fact that the <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1418<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

old
\npersonality which you were throwing out has reasserted itself for the moment, as
\nyou yourself see. It has confused your mind, otherwise you would not ask the
\nquestion whether it is there still and how that agrees with my description of
\nyour aspiration and glimpse of turning entirely to the Mother as true and real.
\nOf course, they were true and real and sincere and they are still there even if
\nfor a moment clouded over. You know well enough by this time that the whole
\nbeing is not one block so that if one part changes, all changes miraculously at
\nthe same time. Something of the old things may be there submerged and rise up
\nagain if the pressure and fixed resolution to get rid of them slackens. I do not
\nknow to what you refer when you speak of the statement that −  <\/span>\u201cLight and Darkness, Truth and Falsehood
\ncannot dwell together\u201d; but certainly it can only mean that in the spiritual
\nendeavour one cannot allow them to dwell together, − the Light, the Truth must
\nbe kept, the Darkness, the falsehood or error pushed out altogether. It
\ncertainly did not mean that in human beings there can be either only all light
\nor only all darkness and whoever has any weakness in him has no light and no
\nsincere aspiration and no truth in his nature. If that were so, yoga would be
\nimpossible. All the sadhaks in this Ashram would be convicted of insincerity and
\nof having no true sadhana − for who is there in whom there is no obscurity and
\nno movement of ignorance? <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

   
\nIf you have fallen down from the consciousness you had, it is because instead of
\ndismissing the dispute with X as a moment’s movement, you begin to brood on it
\nand prolong the wrong turn it gave. It is no use persisting in the feelings that
\nit creates in you. You have only to do what I have been trying to tell you. Draw
\nback from them and, having seen what is there in the nature, dismiss them
\nquietly and turn back again to the true consciousness, opening yourself to
\nreceive once more the Truth that is creating you anew and let it come down into
\nall your nature. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nPage ─ 1419<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SECTION THREE Transformation of the Vital   THE two movements whose apparent contradiction confuses your mind, are the two ends of a single consciousness whose…<\/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-937","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\/937","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=937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}