Questions and Answers (1954)

31 December 1954

New Year's Eve. After a meditation, Mother distributes her New Year's Message to everyone.

I am going to read the prayer to you in French—it is a message not a prayer—in French and in English. And then I have brought two of Sri Aurobindo's replies to questions which have not been published anywhere, and you will be the first to hear them. And then two... not poems, some lines; a very short little poem and just a stanza from another poem, which are a magnificent illustration of our message for the next year.

This message was written because it is foreseen that next year will be a difficult year and there will be many inner struggles and even outer ones perhaps. So I tell all of you what attitude you should take in these circumstances. These difficulties may perhaps last not only twelve months, that is, one full year, but perhaps fourteen months; and during these fourteen months you must make an effort never to lose the attitude about which I am going to speak to you just now.

In fact, I insist that the more difficult things are, the more you must remain quiet, and the more should you have an unshakable faith. Of all things this is the most important.

Usually, as soon as things become difficult, human beings get agitated, become irritated, get terribly excited and they make the difficulties ten times more difficult. So I am warning you right away that this is not to be done, that you must do the opposite; and what I am going to read to you is precisely what you must repeat to yourself as soon as you feel some anxiety or disquietude within you; you must remember what I am telling you today and remember it throughout the year. You can repeat it morning and evening profitably. Here, then.

Now, first in French:

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"Aucune volonté humaine ne peut prévaloir contre la Volonté Divine. Rangeons-nous délibérément et exclusivement du côté du Divin et la victoire finale est certaine."

Now here is the English:

"No human will can finally prevail against the Divine's Will. Let us put ourselves deliberately and exclusively on the side of the Divine, and the Victory is ultimately certain."

Now I shall read to you two questions which were asked and Sri Aurobindo's answers. It's not that the questions express a very high state of mind, but I am afraid many people let themselves fall into this kind of mental state. And so I think the answers will be very useful to many people also.

Here's the first question:

"It seems to me that the number of people in the world accepting the truth of our Yoga of Transformation would not be as large as those who accepted Buddhism, Vedanta or Christianity."

Here is Sri Aurobindo's answer. Notice his humour. I draw your attention to his humour.

"Nothing depends on the number. The numbers of Buddhism or Christianity were so great because the majority professed it as a creed without its making the least difference to their external life.

"If the new consciousness were satisfied with that, it could also and much more easily command homage and acceptance by the whole earth. It is because it is a

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greater consciousness, the Truth Consciousness, that it will insist on a real change."¹

The second one:

"You have said that the aim of our Yoga is to rise beyond the Nirvana, but in the Ashram there are extremely few who have reached or have tried to reach even the Nirvana. To reach even the Nirvana one has to give up ego and desire. Could it be said that even a few sadhaks in the Ashram have succeeded in doing so? Surely everybody must be making some effort to do this. Why then are they not successful? Is it that after some effort they forget the aim and live here as in ordinary life?"

The answer:

"I suppose if the Nirvana aim had been put before them, more would have been fit for it, for the Nirvana aim is easier than the one we have put before us—and they would not have found it so difficult to reach the standard. The sadhaks here are of all kinds and in all stages. But the real difficulty even for those who have progressed is with the external man. Even among those who follow the old ideal, the external man of the sadhak remains almost the same even after they have attained to something. The inner being gets free, the outer follows still its fixed nature. Our Yoga can succeed only if the external man too changes, but that is the most difficult of all things. It is only by a change of the physical nature that it can be done, by a descent of the highest light into this lowest part of Nature. It is here that the struggle is going on. The internal being of most of the sadhaks

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here, however imperfect still, is still different from that of the ordinary man, but the external still clings to its old ways, manners, habits. Many do not seem even to have awakened to the necessity of a change. It is when this is realised and done, that the Yoga will produce its full results in the Ashram itself, and not before."²

This indeed is a programme for next year, my children. I hope that next year I shall be able to say that many have tried to make their external life the expression of their deeper aspiration. For the moment there are not very many.

Now, as we have spoken about difficulties, I am going to read to you two things which will give you just a little glimpse of what true consciousness is, that which is free from all difficulties, that which is above all conflicts.

The first one goes like this—you have read it perhaps but I don't think you could have quite understood it. It is called

ONE DAY

The Little More

One day, and all the half-dead is done,
One day, and all the unborn begun;
A little path and the great goal,
A touch that brings the divine whole.

Hill after hill was climbed and now,
Behold, the last tremendous brow
And the great rock that none has trod:
A step, and all is sky and God.³

Sri Aurobindo

And then this:

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Even in rags I am a god;
    Fallen, I am divine;
High I triumph when down-trod,
    Long I live when slain.⁴

Sri Aurobindo

There we are.

Now, I said that if someone asks "reasonable" questions, I shall perhaps answer.

What human will is at present particularly against the divine Will?

You mean from what point of view?

All human will which is against the divine Will is an anti-divine will. That's all. No matter where it manifests, even in you!

There are no party politics in the divine life, you know. (Laughter) There are only states of consciousness.

(To a child) You have a question to ask, you?

No, Mother, will you explain the two poems?

Explain? There is no explanation. They speak for themselves, very clearly. It cannot be explained—poetry. You must feel it and not reason about it. Poetic inspiration is beyond the reason. You must not bring it down into the domain of reason, because then it is spoilt. It is felt much more than... it can be understood by an inner contact much more than by words.

Mother, why not twelve months instead of fourteen?

Ah that, my child, you may ask... Well, there are people who believe in the stars, they will tell you, "Ask of the stars." It is like

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that! Why do you take a certain number of years to grow up? Because the nature of things is like that. Well, the nature of this conflict is like that. That is to say, a certain development of forces is necessary to obtain the result; and this development of forces extends over a given number of months approximately.

Sweet Mother, here it is written: The final victory is certain.⁵ If it is the divine Will, why is not each victory certain?

(Mother not having heard the question well, the child repeats it.) If it is the divine Will, why is it not each victory, why only the final Victory?

No, this is not what it means. It means that finally the Victory is certain. Whatever may be the course of events and the ups and downs and the difficulties and the different issues of the different conflicts, at the end of the curve one is sure of the Victory, for the Divine is sure to be victorious. It may take a longer or shorter time. I have said—in English I used "finally": that finally no human will can prevail against the divine Will. Finally means in spite of everything... what we may call divine patience. In spite of all divine patience, there is a given moment when human will exhausts its strength and the divine Will prevails.

We always measure time by our small human duration; but naturally the divine forces do not have the same measure as ours, and what may seem to us long or uncertain is for them the most direct way, in spite of everything, to reach there. In the given set of circumstances it is the most direct way to reach the goal: this goal is the expression of the divine Will, whatever it may be. So what seems to us, for instance, a long, tortuous, uncertain road seems so because we do not see the whole picture because we see only a very tiny part which is in our proportion. Our vision

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is very very short, very short behind, very short in front. I mean the ordinary human vision. For example, there isn't one man in a million who can say what is going to happen to him ten years hence, though he may make many plans and projects and try to organise his life; but he can't say with certitude what will happen, because his vision is very short. The divine vision is not like that.

It [human vision] is very short, very limited in space, very linear; this means that things follow one after another; while the vision of the Divine is a global vision which sees the problem in all its totality, not only on the surface but in the depths also, and contains all the elements of the problem and resolves it without neglecting any points. But man follows a straight line and all that escapes his straight line and which he does not care for would not be done if it were he who decided things; whereas the march of the Divine is a global march which takes in the whole universe in its entirety and goes forward on the most direct road in relation to this universe and this set of circumstances. And the most direct road may be circular, it is not necessarily a straight line.

Mother, you said that next year will be a difficult year. Is it that...

Ah, yes! Next year... in a few hours! (Laughter) So?

Will it be a difficult year for the Ashram or also for India and the whole world?

Generally. The world, India, the Ashram and individuals. Everyone according to his mode, naturally not in the same way for all. Some things will seem easier than others. But generally speaking it is—if you like I can tell you—it is the last hope of the adverse forces to triumph against the present Realisation. If one holds on fast during these months, after that they will

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not be able to do anything very much, it will be a crumbling resistance. That's it: it is essentially the conflict of the adverse forces, the anti-divine forces which are trying to push back the divine Realisation as much as they can... they hope, for thousands of years, you see. And it is this conflict which has come to its crisis. It is their last chance; and as those who are behind their external action are altogether conscious beings, they know very well that it is their last chance, and they will put all they can into it, and what they can is much. These are not ordinary little human consciousnesses. They are not human consciousnesses at all. They are consciousnesses which, compared with human possibilities, seem to be divine in their power, their strength, even their knowledge. Therefore it is a terrific conflict and one wholly concentrated on the earth, because they know that it is upon earth that the first victory has to be won—the decisive victory, a victory which will determine the course of the earth's future.

Those who are noble-hearted and hold up their heads when things become dangerous, can be happy. It is an opportunity to rise above oneself. There we are.

How can one change into the divine Will?

How can one change one's will into the divine Will? I don't understand your question.

(Another child, repeating) How can one change into the divine Will?

Well, it's because it is not well expressed that I don't understand. Change, that is transform one's will into the divine Will? Is that what you want to say?

Yes.

Well, first you must want it. Afterwards you must have a great

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aspiration. And then you must continue to want it, and continue to aspire and not give way when difficulties come, and continue until you succeed. That's all. And then, a certain number of things are necessary, as for example not to be selfish, not to have a small narrow-mindedness, not to live with preferences, not to have desires, not to have mental opinions—many things. It is a fairly long process because you must change your ordinary nature. This is the first condition.

To break all the limits of one's mind, break all the desires of one's vital, break all the preferences of one's physical nature. After that one may hope to be in contact with the divine Will; and then, later, one must not only be in contact with it, but live integrally this Will, that is, be unified in all one's being: not have a single bit which goes on this side and another bit which goes on that. You must be entirely in one single will.

Sweet Mother, when we are faced with a difficulty, does this mean that the Divine is trying to make us conscious of the defects of our nature?

If you face it, yes. That is, as soon as you are in front of a difficulty, if instead of giving way like a coward you begin trying to conquer it, then you may be sure that the Divine is behind you. But if you are cowardly, the Divine will not be there. That is, your cowardice cuts you off from the Divine. But if you resist and want to conquer, you may be sure that the Divine will be there to help you. There's not the shadow of a doubt about it.

But I want to know—if the difficulty comes—whether the Divine is trying to make us conscious that we have defects?

Whether he deliberately puts difficulties in your path? No. That's not his way.

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No, I don't mean that. If a difficulty comes, does this mean that the Divine is trying to make us conscious of the defects of our nature, to show us that we have defects?

No, but think of what you are saying. If by having a difficulty you become conscious, you see, it does not mean that the Divine created the difficulty to make you conscious; and your question seems to say that.

Yes.

But it isn't true. One can say from an altogether impersonal point of view that the adverse forces—which of course are responsible for all difficulties—that the adverse forces are tolerated in the world in so far as they serve to make the world completely conscious. This indeed is true. But it seems to me a very human way of putting it because it could be said that as long as the world is not perfectly conscious, this allows the existence of these adverse forces. That is, it conditions them. The world's unconsciousness conditions the existence of these forces. So, one can as well say this as say that the forces are tolerated so long as the world is unconscious. I don't know if you are following. These are two opposite ways of saying the same thing and neither is perfectly true. But both contain something correct, yet something which is quite different. And in fact, if one wants to say the thing exactly, one can only say, "Things are like that because they are like that."

This is the only way of not making a mistake. If you say, "The world is like that because it is like that", then here you are sure you are saying something approximately correct—approximately. But if you try to explain, you will see an atom in a world and will take this atom for an explanation. You would have to give all the explanations and even many others in order to approach the reality.

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That's what I just said, you know: that the human mind is linear in its action. It sees ideas one after another. Naturally when one speaks it is even ten times worse. One is obliged to say one word after another and this becomes frightful. But most people, almost all human beings think linearly. They think one thing after another. They can't think of many things at once. Only very few individuals are capable of thinking of, say, about twenty things at the same time. You can try, you will see. You think things one after another, one after another... The succession may be very fast, but it is a succession. It is a very different kind of vision and a very different functioning, not of the mind but of intellectual powers, which can see things in their totality and all at the same time. But even when you see them like that, if you want to try to describe them, either by writing or speaking, you can't put down everything at the same time nor say everything at the same time; you are obliged to use one word after another, and so it necessarily becomes... it destroys the truth of the thing, it becomes linear, which means that the truest things cannot be said. Everything one says is always a diminution of the truth.

Sweet Mother, if this year is difficult for us, what should we do?

What should you do? Be very good (laughter), very good, very quiet, work well, be very obedient, do what you are told, and be regular at school. (Laughter) All this—it is very important.

If we succeed in these fourteen months, Mother, then after that will it be easy or will it be as at present? Will it be easier to conquer the difficulties?

That, my child, depends on you. If during these fourteen months you make much progress, you become very good and very reasonable, very conscious and very regular, after this it will be

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much easier. But if you spend your time in letting time pass without making any progress, you will find yourself in the same position where you now are, not better.

It is precisely a chance given to everyone to make progress. If he doesn't use it, so much the worse for him, he will remain where he is. And instead of being a conscious element in the world, he will be a cork upon the waters, tossed by circumstances. And with anything that happens, he will be carried away without having the least control over what is happening. Because the first thing necessary to have a control over events is to be absolutely conscious and master of oneself; and I think you are pretty far from this realisation—which means that you must make a great effort throughout this time and manage to become a little more conscious and a little more self-controlled. You must not think that suddenly it will be a beatific paradise where all your defects will disappear as by magic. It is not like that.

Your defects will disappear if you do what is necessary for them to disappear, not otherwise.

Else you may continue in the easier years with the same defects, and you will be the same little Madhusudan who will not have changed.

Here we are, my children. I think that's enough.

Nobody has anything to say?

Adjugé!⁶

Au revoir.

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