Sri Aurobindo : corresp.
THEME/S
GENERAL ATMOSPHERE
To take interest, as some sadhaks do, in the general nature movements in the hope of getting some help for my own sadhana, does not seem to be my present stage. Not only that, I should even avoid such contacts till a strong and unshakable peace is established in me.
What do you mean exactly by the "general nature" movements — or help from them for the sadhana? The movements of the general nature are not usually helpful to sadhana, not at least until one has established such a basis in oneself that all is taken in the right way, the spiritual way, and then all can help in the growth of the consciousness — but that is not so at an earlier stage.
What I meant by "help from the general nature movements" was that perhaps by knowing what is going on in the general nature or atmosphere I can remain more vigilant towards the attacks from them and react before they enter.
That might be when one has developed sufficiently in peace and knowledge to react with sureness. But at this stage it is much better to keep yourself separate and look with a certain indifference at the doings of the others. If you have the peace and this equal and indifferent attitude, it is usually a sufficient defence.
Every part of the being is ignorant and opposes with some obscure element in it from time to time. One has to go on quietly and steadily till all the obscurities disappear.
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Everything comes by a quiet development. It is no use being in a hurry and agitated because this or that has not yet come.
If people's affections touch us even when we do not want it, how to remain free?
When one cannot keep oneself free, one must remain quiet and push the intruding element out.
I come to hear many things which are better avoided, because they disturb me. Should I resolutely avoid them? And why am I disturbed by them?
Because you pay attention to them and let them take hold of you. Unless you wear cotton wool in your ears or shut yourself in a closed room, you can't help hearing all sorts of things. You have not to be affected by them or think about them, that is all.
For the last few days I have not been able to get enough sleep. Once I remained awake until 3 a.m.! Is this not due to some inner cause?
It is rather an outside influence. Do not open so much to those you mix with.
I wonder how an outside influence could have an effect on my sleep?
Why should it not? What is there to prevent it doing that? An outside influence can bring depression, disturbance, doubts, everything else. It can affect the health, the sleep, everything.
Among the people I mix with I do not know whose influence
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is adverse for me. Would you kindly point it out?
You have to find that out for yourself. There are people you mix with who have doubts, suggestions, depressions, jealousies, dissatisfactions with the Mother's action. They can easily throw that on you without intending it. These influences are all around in the atmosphere. It is not sufficient to avoid this or that person. You have to learn to be on your guard and self-contained.
This morning a strong wave of depression and despair vehemently knocked at my environmental consciousness. I felt as if it came from the atmosphere.
Evidently these things come from the atmosphere — especially when somebody is being upset it can try to come.
I did not say you were upset. I meant when somebody in the Ashram is much upset, then the forces become strong and go about trying to upset others.
The famous dancer X came here and I went to D's place to see him and also to see him dance. Such great artists usually do not visit the Ashram. The reaction of that event on my sadhana was the lowering of my consciousness. Was there any disturbance in the air?
Probably it was not altogether individual — it was in the air.
You wrote, "If you felt like that why did you want to go?" I admit it was a mistake, probably it was my vital which made me go. My inquiry was about the general rather than the individual effect.
The general effect was a quite absurd vital excitement
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rather than dullness — the Mother attached no more importance to X's being here than to any other being here. Also he refused to dance. So what was all the excitement and pother about? Certainly not D's singing, for there is nothing vital in that. Then?
Were not those who avoided the function also affected?
Not all. Some felt nothing but astonishment at the general excitement over nothing.
As I look back at the dancer's visit here, it becomes clear that I unnecessarily opened myself to the general atmosphere and its turmoil. The lower vital enjoys such excitements and novelties which are harmful to the sadhana.
Yes. Whatever the state of the general atmosphere, there was no reason to open yourself to it. If one keeps on the peace and calm of the consciousness, no turmoil in the atmosphere can disturb it. You have only to keep yourself separate.
My immediate need is to strengthen my vital so that nothing from outside can get admittance. I feel that this strength is not so difficult to acquire.
Most of the sadhaks don't seem to find it easy. They go on admitting all the time.
My request to the Mother is to build a protective wall around my environmental consciousness, so that nothing of the general atmosphere intrudes on me. Whatever arises from my own lower or subconscient nature I will manage by her help.
Very good.
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HIGHER AND LOWER ACTION
During meditation, at times I experience as if my lower consciousness (the vital, physical and sexual) were taken above the head and there connected with the higher consciousness.
Yes, that is a normal movement of the sadhana.
Today the above movement was repeated. In addition I became aware, for the first time, of the actual action of the higher consciousness on the ascended human consciousness.
Usually when these things happen it is something that rises up and has to be worked on for its change. After it has risen up the working for its change comes.
Some tamasic feelings rise up at times; when I reject them they surge up again.
Each thing rises in its time and has to be rejected and thrown out thoroughly.
During the movement of transformation, I find the lower nature has a freer play in the emptiness than in the fullness.
In all, the lower nature plays easily. It can bring its mixture into the fullness — it is not only in emptiness that it arises.
The inertia has begun to occupy more and more space in me. Is it due to any mistakes I have made unconsciously?
I don't suppose there is any mistake. There are often such uprisings of tamas in the action and reaction of the forces without anything having been done to bring them.
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I would very much like to know why the working in the vital takes place in the morning only and disappears in the evening.
There is no "why" for these things that can be specifically stated. It comes out of the total condition of things in the play of forces.
Would you please explain to me this important process of sadhana — the play of forces between the higher and the lower?
There are higher forces and lower — the lower have to be worked out by contact with the higher and in the working out sometimes they rise, sometimes they disappear till they are done with. It is not necessarily due to some mistake or fault that they rise.
Does your reply indicate that whatever is happening in me is as it should be?
Yes, what is happening is simply due to the working out of the forces in the nature.
You wrote about the lower forces: "In the working out sometimes they rise, sometimes they disappear." Cannot the lower forces be worked out easily in their own field without their rising up and disturbing the whole being? I suppose, H's sadhana could be cited as an example.
I am not aware of any case in which the lower forces did not rise up. If such a case occurred I fancy it would be the first in human history.
Could it be made possible if we left the sadhana wholly to the Mother's Force?
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It is possible — when one has learned how to do it. But till then they rise.
In fact I have tried it myself. So long as the remembrance of the Mother was maintained nothing undivine could touch me from within or without. The only difficulty is my carelessness or forgetfulness to do thai continuously.
And what does the carelessness come from? It is because the habit of the lower nature makes you forget. That is an action of the lower force. It is only by the higher force meeting the lower forces and there is pressure on it (this is the contact) that the habit of forgetfulness disappears.
Why am I not able to fix my consciousness on anything? Is it due to inertia?
I don't suppose it is the strength of inertia, but simply the habitual movement of the consciousness oscillating between a higher and lower condition.
The inertia decreased when the Mother came down for Blessings. Then I gathered Force merely from her physical presence and detached myself from the inertia. Not only the inner but the outer consciousness as well was taken up into the higher realms. The whole of myself tasted the sweetness of the spiritual peace and silence. When I was up above, often the inertia tried to stir things below and then slowly and cleverly to pull me down. But this state itself had a control over the inertia by dynamising my will! The experience continued nearly for two hours. Then the body felt fatigue and I came down.
Exactly. 'The body felt fatigue' — that is what I mean by the habit of tamas. The body cannot bear the continuous
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experience, it feels it as a strain. That is the case with most sadhaks. But in your case the obstacle seems to develop in great intensity when it comes. I have already told you the means of getting rid of it, but it cannot be done in a day because it is a fixed habit of the nature and a fixed habit takes time to remove. But it can be done in not too long a time, provided you don't get disturbed when it comes and deal with it firmly and steadily.
Can nothing be done about this fatigue?1 One does not get such an elevated state so easily and so often. If it had been prolonged sufficiently something fundamental could have been worked out below.
If you can remove this fatigue by the will force, then that can be done.
What sort of will force?
The quiet but strong will that calls down the higher consciousness and force.
One can bring down the strength, but it is also necessary to see that the body has sufficient food, sleep and rest — absence of these things strains the nerves and if the nerves are strained the body feels fatigue — becomes tired.
You wrote about unhappiness: "it may have come in from outside". How did it return once I had thrown it out of me?
1 This fatigue is of a different type from what is normally known as tiredness due to excessive physical or mental strain. It is psychological in its character and affects the vital-physical sheath. To give an example: when we are forced to listen to a long, boring lecture we feel lethargic. It is this kind of fatigue that is experienced here.
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You threw it out of your environmental consciousness and it comes back from there if you allow it.
If a thrown-out thing comes back like that what is the use of throwing out the thing that gives one so much trouble? After all, rejecting is a tiresome process!
The throwing out into the environmental is a necessary stage — but obviously it cannot be final, as it can come back from there.
Would you kindly give me some indication as to what I should report to you in my correspondence at present?
State what happens. It is not necessary to say that this is finished and will never happen again. You can say that I feel liberated from this or that, but you need not declare that it is final.
Is it not surprising that today an ascent became easily possible in spite of so much restlessness below? What was the meaning of this occurrence?
No, it simply meant that there was nothing surprising about it. It is not inevitable that the consciousness should be either all on the heights or all in the depths. It is often mixed.
Every conquest makes future conquests easier.
Why have I to keep fighting out all that is lower? The old things constantly return. What is all this?
If you allow the lower to come back again, you have to fight it out again.
It is the habit of responding to the old things and giving
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it when it insists the same consent as you give to the Mother's force when you are clear. Passivity to the contrary force — that is the only answer to your "what is all this".
PRESSURE AND RESISTANCE
What was there on the head that pressed so powerfully?
The
Why was it doing so?
It must have been to make a fresh opening.
It is something in the higher consciousness evidently that is pressing.
What has created such a strong resistance?
When there
Which part of my being is interfering with the action of the Mother's Force?
It is always the same — the lower nature admitting the contrary pressure from below.
There was some restlessness in the physical mind, so I started studying. Then the pressure came from above. It pulled my concentration away from studying and put it on the physical. I don't understand why it did so. Afterwards there was so much restlessness that I had to read a drama to quiet it!
The restlessness was not created by the pressure but by some resistance to it in the physical. The only pressure that
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could bring restlessness is the pressure of the Tamas.
What did it want me to do by shifting my attention in that way?
I don't know that it wanted you to do anything except allow it to come in.
Is it not strange that it should bring me out of the mind (study) and put me into a state in which I could read only stories?
That was due to the restlessness, I suppose, not to any bad intention in the pressure.
If the pressure really wanted me to meditate at that particular time instead of studying why did it disappear as soon as I prepared myself to submit to its will?
What is the will of a pressure? I presume it was some state of your mind when studying that brought the pressure. We cannot assume that the pressure 'wanted' you to stop studying and did this and did that; it may have been only your mind that reacted in that way.
How does a pressure on the vital create confusion or restlessness?
The pressure is of the higher consciousness. To the "how" there could be no mental answer. It depends on many factors which vary constantly and cannot be put into a mental formula.
But restlessness, confusion etc. are signs of some resistance somewhere.
You spoke of this vital pressure producing restlessness,
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confusion etc. A pressure from the Mother cannot by itself produce that. There must be a struggle going on for such effects to come about.
The more one yields to the resistance, the more it is likely to grow.
Resistance to pressure creates a struggle.
SUGGESTIONS AND ATTACKS
All sorts of hostile suggestions are thrown on me from outside to create a wall between the Mother and myself!
The one thing to be avoided is all identification with these lower forces or acceptance of their suggestions — for it is only that that can really interfere with the sadhana.
As S cannot write to you on Sundays, he requests me to insert his question in my letter. Was there any general violent attack (in the Ashram atmosphere) on some sadhaks? Are we not rather in a difficult period of sadhana?
I am unaware of a special new condition of things. The difficult period began long ago and even that is only an intensification of old difficulties, nothing new.
But attacks have long been there. The atmosphere is sometimes thick with them, sometimes clear to some extent.
I feel as if some furious forces have either entered or come up in the general nature. Is it so?
Yes, it is true — the general attack has deepened.
There is an intimation that at present you arc working directly with the supramental Power. That is why the resistance
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here is so stormy and the attacks violent. Is it true?
I suppose so. Only that must not be accepted as a reason for passive acquiescence.
Every first of the month at a particular hour my general consciousness is pulled down from the heights. What is the cause of such a regular habit?
There are always these formed habits of the subconscient — originally there may have been some vital or other reason, afterwards it is only the habit of lending part of the consciousness to the old movement.
In the morning I wrote to you that I had got out of the dark field of suggestions and attacks. But in the evening the whole thing came back. Why so?
It is nothing more than what I told you — the suggestion of the adverse Force and a mechanical habit of response in the outer consciousness during the periods when it is not lifted up and exalted. Even in such intensity it must be able to reject these things.
The suggestions say that because of my present bad condition the Mother is really displeased with me and has changed her attitude towards me. How to deal with such strong and insistent suggestions?
All that is quite irrational and groundless. There is no displeasure and no change in the Mother. You must yourself reject these things. To parley and discuss with an irrational outer vital is useless — a flat and downright rejection of its suggestions is the only course.
The whole thing is a suggestion of the vital forces and
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has no reality — so long as you listen to these suggestions they will naturally go on and obstruct your sadhana with vital desires and vital dissatisfaction.
Don't admit them. Turn your attention upward for the Force to descend.
Some time back I informed you that every first day of the month I get an attack of adverse suggestions. Why does the difficulty linger so long?
The attack on the first is only a bad habit of the physical consciousness due to a long standing association in the mind which you ought to get rid of.
Why am I singled out by the difficulties? Any error on my part?
Everybody has his full share of difficulties, except those who do not mind what difficulties they have.
Difficulties come from the old nature trying to rise up — they need not be the result of any error.
What is this struggle really about?
It is between the old lower nature supported by the hostile forces and the new consciousness that began to descend — the struggle is always that.
You say the struggle is between the old and the new consciousness. But then what is special in it now? Does it not begin from the beginning of the sadhana and continue till the sadhana is completed? Whether it is active or passive, strong or weak is a different matter.
That makes all the difference. Besides everybody does not have the struggle, though most pass through it.
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You used the word 'most' and not 'all', which would mean that there are some who do not even need to pass through the difficulties. What is special in those few lucky ones?
It is something in their nature that is poised, calm, open, refusing to let the Nature forces disturb their settled inner attitude, clear mind and will and strong balance. Also a prominent psychic with a quiet vital and a clear physical mind will ensure a calm progress.
How to be free from these difficulties?
If the peace of the higher self and the force from these higher levels or the Knowledge that is there descends sufficiently.
The suggestions seem to be frequently with you and the acceptance of the inertia and the unwillingness or inability to supply a steady will also. Under these conditions the oscillation of the consciousness between experience and a depressed state is inevitable. Even when the condition is good, it is not possible to keep the consciousness always at the same height, but then the depression does not come.
How to explain the simultaneous occurrence of the experiences and depression?
They take place in part of the being — the depression and struggle belong to another part.
Inertia, dissatisfaction, depression! What should be done against them except to refuse to harbour them and use the will steadily against them?
It is a part of your being that responds to the suggestions — otherwise they would have no power over you. You
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would feel them separate and unable to stop your progress.
What is the solution and how to get out of this mess?
There is only one solution and that is to refuse to accept all these suggestions and to use your will against them with an absolute determination to get rid of them.
Keep your faith, call in the Mother's Power.
The thing you can do is not to remain passive, to refuse to identify any part of your being with these things and to reject it all with decision and force and to allow constantly the Mother's Power.
What is the present stage which has deprived me of all my peace and joy? I feel no interest for the sadhana or even for the outer work. Whatever help and protection the Mother sends me stops before it can enter into me. What is the reason for all that?
The reason is quite clear from what you write. There is something in the consciousness that wanted the letters and answers not simply for the help in sadhana but as a personal satisfaction with egoistic elements in it. Also it wanted nice, pleasing and elaborate answers. All that is the usual wrong attitude of the vital which is the stumbling-block for so many sadhaks and prevents true psychic love from developing, replacing it by the vital kind full of demand, ego, jealousy, revolt etc. and it has been the ruin of some. All that you had thrown out of the higher parts and quieted it elsewhere, but it remained sticking somewhere and when correspondence was suspended, the hostile forces took advantage of the fact that you were not allowed to write every day as before to raise up these feelings and you did not repel them
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with sufficient force to put an end to the attack. Hence they continue.
I could bear anything with equality except this stopping of the sadhana. I feel it like a deep wound in my heart. Without it how can I get back my peace and silence and a relief from the heavy fatigue which the lower forces and the hostile attacks impose on me?
How can you have peace and quiet when you are always thinking of "lower forces" and "attacks" and "possessions" etc. If you can look at things naturally and quietly, then only you can have quiet and peace.
The worst thing for sadhana is to get into a morbid condition, always thinking of lower forces, attacks etc. If the sadhana has stopped for a time, then let it stop, remain quiet, do ordinary things, rest when rest is needed — wait till the physical consciousness is ready. My own sadhana when it was far more advanced than yours used to stop for half a year together. I did not make a fuss about it, but remained quiet till the empty or dull period was over.
From your recent answers I now deduce that I have been misusing the terms "lower forces" and "hostile forces". What exactly is the difference between the two?
There are natural movements of the ordinary human nature in the material consciousness which take time to get rid of. Of course we call them forces of the lower nature but one must not regard them as hostile, but only ordinary. They have to be changed but it usually takes time and it can be done quietly. One must be more occupied with the positive side of the sadhana than with them. If one is always
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thinking of them as hostile things, getting disturbed when they come, considering them as hostile possessions, then it is not good.
The things that are really hostile are few and must be distinguished from the ordinary movements of the nature. The first must be repelled, the second dealt with quietly and without getting troubled or discouraged by their appearances.
I have decided to give full rest to the body. May I now resume the sadhana without taxing the physical?
There is no objection to doing the sadhana, but it must be done quietly without this constant struggle and disquietude — not minding if it takes time, not getting into a constant rhythm of struggling against difficulties. That is my point.
You have to recover the energy and power of the will.
In pulling down the sadhana what are the forces at work — the hostile or only the lower?
It is the lower forces at work; but the Hostiles are there behind pushing and ready to take advantage if they find the sadhak accepting or identifying himself with the suggestions. That is why one must be immediately on guard if there is the least movement towards any such thing.
After recovering from the critical period of darkness (attacks, depression, helplessness etc.) this fact comes out: I have exaggerated rather too much my difficulties. The adverse forces seem to have used a double method to regain their lost territory. First they got in by the back-door and when they
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were thrown out they used the second: throwing in suggestions, suggestions of depression for having allowed them to get in in the first place!
That is the real truth of the matter. They are small things in a small part of the nature, which become big in appearance only because they are given an undue importance.
The adverse beings pointing out partiality in the Guru will gradually lead the sadhak to revolt and that will bring a fall and a full stop to his sadhana.
Yes, that is their aim — for it is their one short cut to success, to separate the sadhak from his soul.
Today for the first time inertia invaded the body. That means the whole being is now affected by it. There seems to be some possibility of the passive resistance becoming active. Is the subconscient also involved in this trouble?
I have explained to you already that the being (outer mind, vital etc.) is still capable of responding to the suggestions that rise from the subconscient. If it were not so the suggestions would be felt as perfectly foreign to you and there would be no question of any possibility of the passive resistance becoming active.
Mere passivity does not seem likely to succeed, it could only do so if it brought the Force down, but the passivity is too tamasic to do that.
The difficulty is due to old habits of the physical mind and vital which still have the power to repeat themselves by rising from the subconscient and as your physical mind and vital still respond you are not able to stop the disquietude.
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When they respond no longer then there will be no disquietude.
Now I see that one has to accept a period of no-effort in spite of having the knowledge. Can one still make the effort?
The period of no-effort is usually when the physical consciousness is uppermost, for the nature of that is inertia, to be moved by the higher forces or to be moved by the lower forces or by any forces but not to move itself. One must still use one's effort if one can, but the great thing is to be able to call down the force from above into the physical — otherwise to remain perfectly quiet and undisturbed, expect its coming.
We should know that often the adverse forces magnify our difficulty by their mere power of suggestion. They now tell me it is impossible to come out dynamically.
Yes, it is that. The suggestion is put in order to discourage the dynamic effort and keep one in the passive.
How to come out of such a powerful suggestion?
It is difficult to get rid of a suggestion when the consciousness itself accepts it. The idea of helplessness, of not being able to reject has to go.
How long will this dark period last?
All depends on how you take it. If you get discouraged simply thinking "things are getting worse and worse," it will remain a long time.
Sometimes it happens that certain general functions of the Ashram, instead of becoming an occasion for joy and
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happiness, make us rather unhappy. This must be due to something wrong in us of which we are not aware as yet.
It is the old vital with its ego which comes up again and again. It refuses to follow the higher being and be as the true bhaktas who ask nothing and are content with all that the Mother does or does not do, because whatever she does must be good, since she is the Mother.
I am aware that there is a small part somewhere in me which keeps itself aloof from the present working of the transformation. It harps on its egoistic attitude — "unless the Divine loves me I cannot love Him."
Is it a part of your nature that clings to these things or is it a movement of the general nature which forces itself in and the truer tendency in this part is overpowered for the time by the invasion? If it is an invasion the will and the psychic must attack it and fling it out. If it is a part of your nature that is unchanged, the light of the psychic and of the higher consciousness must press on it to change its attitude.
What should be our proper attitude when confronted with obstructions, attacks and revolts on the way?
Keep yourself separate always from all attack and revolt, regarding it steadily as the not-I — for these things do not belong to the true self, the true being.
This afternoon I met H. A short talk with him had a profound effect on me as he is always full of the Mother's love and joy which he spontaneously communicates to others. But after sometime I was annoyed and depressed with myself because I could not receive the Mother's love and joy in the same way at this stage of my sadhana.
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There is no need for sadness. Everyone has his difficulties and it is a mistake to desire the state of another.1 One must follow the movement of one's own heart and self and psychic without looking elsewhere.
If nothing in your mind identified with the vital (it need not be the whole mind) the suggestions would not interfere so seriously nor would you feel them as your own at all. They would present themselves as things passing through or rising and falling away. There must certainly be something in the physical mind that accepts and probably affects the vital mind also.
From my personal experience I make a general statement on how to face a period of adverse suggestions and attacks. (1) Carry on with faith and surrender. This guards us from any danger or serious fall. (2) Whatever the Gurudeva does is for the best. (3) Give all and ask for nothing. (4) Do not waver regarding the goal we have accepted.
All the methods are quite the right ones. If one has these things fixed in the attitude or even some of them, then one cannot fall — on the contrary each attack will leave one more forward and stronger than before.
I am told that when the struggle is strong there intervene some forces of light against the ego and the vital being. May I be told what forces of light are concerned with my present condition?
Forces that try to bring the true consciousness and to replace these stupidities of the ordinary vital nature (ego,
1 I soon found out that H's difficulties were much more serious than those of many of us. Finally he left the Ashram for good.
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sex, jealousy, envy etc.).
The intervention of these forces is from above (and therefore conditional). But do not our individual souls or jivatmans do something when such powerful struggles are going on in their instrumental being?
They usually do if the personal will makes itself their instrument.
Can we not turn the attacks into a help in our progress?
It is true that if one has the true basis, then after every attack one finds oneself further advanced in progress.
PROGRESS
I am not clear about the present sadhana. My consciousness seems to be coining more and more downwards. What is the matter?
There is nothing new, it is always the same thing. It is clear that the contrary forces are using the remnants of the old Nagin to prevent the progress of the sadhana. So you have to change that.
I see that the progress of the outer being is practically at a standstill. But what about the inner being? In my unaware-ness is it still rising up or has it fallen like the external being?
I suppose it is neither — but is being prepared for a fresh advance.
Each part of my being seems to be going its own old way. Is the long and laborious sadhana the Mother did in me dispersed?
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No, it is waiting for the solution of the physical difficulty. Nothing has been lost.
Instead of my waiting for that solution cannot the past progress be of any help to me?
It is a future progress that is needed, not the past.
But what can I do under the present clouded circumstances?
Get rid of the "what can I do" mentality. That is the one thing to do under any circumstances.
If you shake off your sense of helplessness and call down the force or let it pass, then something can be done.
Are you sure I am still on the right path of the sadhana?
You are on the path, but stopped for the time being.
I fail to understand this. Since my sadhana is stopped, how could I still rise to the higher consciousness for some periods of the day?
'Stopped' is a relative term. It is not able to go farther or even to complete the descent that was taking place, because the vital has not yet consented to the necessary change.
I think the sadhana by itself does not refuse to go farther. It is some part of our being that determines the action of the sadhana.
If so then there is no need of any other force than the sadhaka's own. My own experience is different, that the sadhana very often does refuse to go on except under certain conditions or until those conditions are realised. But yours may be different.
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The other day you wrote, "It was simply that what was not done before during the first descent of peace and knowledge has to be done now." You have not mentioned what exactly was not done which is to be done in the future progress of my sadhana.
peace and silence full and lasting in the whole consciousness including the physical, — permanent separateness of the inner being so that the suggestions of the lower nature cannot cover up or invade or get a response, — establishment of the psychic basis so that ego, sex etc. may be eliminated.
What is the place of competition in the yoga?
All that has to be dropped off if any real progress is to be made. The spirit of competition is contrary to progress in yoga.
In the beginning of yoga, often we continue to use the same method of progress as in the worldly life. That is, from the outer to the inner. But by that method we shall never reach the truth. It is only through the light of the inner or higher consciousness that we can know and realise the truth of the exterior movements.
Yes, that is the truth. It is because people live in the vital and physical mainly that they cannot progress.
For the last two days, the Mother seems to be introducing me to a new dimension of consciousness. Most of the old experiences appear to be of less importance and they are not so much in front as before but seem to have been shifted into the background. In addition to the pure-existence and pure-consciousness something new seems to have entered.
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Am I not correct?
It is quite natural that new things should come. The sadhana once begun is a constant state of progression.
SADHAKS
"Is it really possible to bring Narbheram back to a right attitude in his sadhana — your Force using me as an instrument?"
Are not the above suggestions stupid? You have often warned me that such ideas are formulated by the outer being and that they are usually inspired by a subtle delusion of the human ego. Why then do they still insist after my denials?
Of course such suggestions are meant to wake the ego. I suppose they persist because they still have a hope of waking the ego. Even when one is quite free all kinds of suggestions can come. One either takes no notice of them or else gives a glance to see whether there is any fragment of ego still lurking somewhere.
Those who could really help others, in the matter of sadhana, will not do it until they become a conscious channel for the Mother to work through them. Otherwise it is rather our vital ego that is prominent.
Quite right. One can be a channel for the Mother's help but the idea of oneself helping others comes in the way and so long as it is there one cannot be a truly effective channel.
The idea of helping others is a delusion of the ego. It is only when the Mother commissions and gives the force
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that one can help and even then only within limits.
Is it good for the mind and vital to perceive the movements of others?
Not unless there is a quiet and dispassionate perception, correct in its seeings.
Before one gets this perception, one may let the attempt go on and afterwards try to correct the result and finally ask you to give the right view.
No. That is no use, it merely encourages the passing of mental judgements usually of a personal kind.
If a sadhak commits a mistake in his sadhana why do others bother about it? They are not here to enlighten him.
It is certainly superfluous to intervene in another person's sadhana — but you should receive all remarks and criticisms about yourself with a quiet mind and without any reaction against the critic.
What is this prevalent talk about the 'advanced sadhaks'? Is it not nonsense, since we are all quite incapable of knowing who is more or less advanced in yoga?
Yes. The talk about advanced sadhaks is a thing I have always discouraged — but people go on because that appeals to the vital ego.
But who are these advanced sadhaks? How is an advanced sadhak known from an unadvanced one?
You said, "If you can keep the station above so much the better, but as almost everybody is down in the physical, it is a little difficult perhaps." A sadhak brings me the news that
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some sadhaks like Pavitra and Anilbaran live constantly on the intuitive plane.
I am not aware that they or anybody lives constantly on the intuitive plane. All are at grips with the difficulties of the physical consciousness at present — though of course to one like Anilbaran the suggestion of revolt cannot come — at least it has never done so up to now.
It is a bit of a surprise to learn that there is only one sadhak to whom a suggestion of revolt cannot come. I thought there were some more, like Khirod. Dyuman, Pavitra.
Khirod was not mentioned so I did not speak of him. As for the others they may get suggestions but do not yield to them.
You referred to M. as having strong desires. Is it not rather unusual to have them especially after coming here?
No, most people have strong desires of one kind or another.
Even in the absence of justifiable reasons why do people become angry?
People do not get angry for reasons, but because of their ego.
I am told that the exterior life of V. is very ordinary. Is this true?
The exterior life of many here is very ordinary.
What about the dejects of others? Should we watch and judge them or simply close our eyes to them?
One has to see, but not judge (i.e. not condemn, simply
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observe). Each is driven by his nature, so long as he does not consent to change masters and be driven by the Divine.
May I have your permission to resume my classes with P?
P's contact is not always very helpful. If it is only for learning language etc. it may be done, provided you do not allow anything from him to impress you.
Is it possible that his personality may influence me without my knowing it?
An influence like that can always act if one is not on one's guard.
An impulse of jealousy came into my consciousness, the jealousy of another sadhak's progress. But my vital itself rejected it, realising that if he advances faster my own perfection will be accelerated, for one sadhak's progress automatically helps others.
Exactly so. A sadhak ought always to rejoice in the progress of another, as if it were his own.
I wonder how Z could get such high experiences and realisations with a nature so full of insincerity and ego-centredness.
One can realise certain things in the inner being (especially the inner mind) without transformation of the outer nature. Z's inner mind once it opened proved to be extremely receptive — but his inner vital and physical only opened for a while then closed, the outer man prevailed and the outer man in Z is of a very disagreeable kind.
In that case was there no attaining of higher perfection,
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as he was always boasting of doing?
No. There was no attaining of higher perfection after he definitely yielded to his lower nature. There was only a repetition of former things whenever he happened to be able to withdraw from his lower nature.
I suppose you would admit that he advanced so quickly because his vital and ego were helping his sadhana, as he wanted to be a great yogi, a superman. With us, the vital and the ego are the two greatest stumbling-blocks all along the path.
I admit nothing of the kind. He went quickly because the inner mental being had a great receptivity and the vital a great ardour. But the ego was a stumbling-block from the first and the ambition a great hindrance.
He wanted to indulge his lower nature in many ways and disliked the Ashram discipline.
Before he actually left the Ashram did he have many ups and downs like most of us?
During the last year he was having ups and downs but finally his ego and lower nature got the upper hand.
You said, "Z was sincere and open to the Mother for about a year, making strong attempts to keep down the evil in his lower nature. Afterwards he deteriorated." I am at a loss to understand how such a fall could come about when he was so open to the Mother. Had he then not accepted her as the Divine?
On the contrary he began more and more to make a distinction between the Mother and the Divine and to say he had no need of help or any outer mediary; he claimed to
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be identified with the Divine, not with the Mother. That is his present attitude.
It is said that the disappearance of the ego is so necessary for the psychic manifestation. I wonder then how Z could keep his psychic being so much in front during his first year's stay here, though he had plenty of ego which he never thought of giving up.
Z's realisation was not psychic, it was a realisation of calm and peace and of regions above his head. He developed a certain amount of love for the Mother in one part of his being — the other was always menacing it and whenever it rose up reviling and mocking at her and at the whole affair. In the first year, he kept this part down, so was able to receive from her many experiences.
Z has claimed to have seen, experienced and even realised so many deep and high things. All that appears to be doubtful, for a realised thing becomes a fact of life that will bring a permanent change in at least some part of the human nature, which we never noticed in him.
He had genuine experiences received directly from the Mother; but they were always in the higher mind and affected his mind and vital mainly by influence and reflection. At one moment there was a chance of establishing them up to the heart level, but his insincerity (unwillingness to change) prevented them from enduring. Naturally, he made much more of them in his poetry than what they really were.
What is exactly meant by "genuine experiences received directly from the Mother?" Could a sadhak here receive
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experiences indirectly or independently of the Mother?
Directly means in meditation with her, not only in his separate meditation. About the genuineness of these directly received experiences there can be no doubt, for what the Mother gave was genuine and could not be his own mental creation or poetic pretence.
When I spoke about Z's experiences I did not actually mean that all of them were not genuine. Many of them were genuine but he had also some which were not true but rather imaginary and inspired by the ego! He often wrote about his experiences and visions of the Supermind, he smelt its descent! He was even sure that he would be among the first batch of the Supermen!
Others beside Z have assumed that they had the Super-mind because something opened in them which was "super" to the ordinary human mind. It is a common mistake ... I see no reason to doubt that Z saw things in vision (hundreds of people do) or had experiences.
By the way, have I the same insincerity, unwillingness to change, as Z?
There is certainly a great unwillingness in the vital to change and no sufficient will of the inner being to compel it to do so. Z's, however, was a conscious insincerity, a will to cling to the lower parts of his nature and give them satisfaction whenever he felt like doing so.
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