The Yoga of Sri Aurobindo - Part 6

MENTAL SILENCE

Normally the mind is in a turmoil; it is eagerly active. First of all it is preoccupied with its problems and wants their solution. It knows only to think, to see pros and cons, weigh, reason, deduce; it arrives at some kind of conclusion which brings success or failure almost at random. Apart from this conscious or voluntary activity there is in the mind a whole region of involuntary activity; that is to say, it is assailed on all sides by a hundred thoughts, ideas and notions that come from outside and fill your brain cavity and over which you have no control. Each one tries to push forward, secure a place for itself, claim satisfaction and fulfilment. They are all moving at cross purposes and the mind knows no peace or issue.

It is possible to put a violent pressure upon oneself and forcibly push out all this confused movement and make the mind vacant. But the effect of mental will upon mind cannot be perfect or enduring. Besides it is not that, the absolute vacancy, that is our goal. Some other way and manner has to be found for stilling the mind's activities.

It is to call in the peace that is beyond, that is

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already there somewhere. It happens, with a sincere demand or aspiration in the consciousness, a certain readiness in the being. When that happens (something in the manner of the Upanishadic vivṛnute tanum svam —he unveils himself his own body), you feel as if a sheer blank, even a black void has entered into you and captured you. In the very midst of whirlwind activity comes a dead stop. Nothing is there now, no idea, no thought, no notion, no motion even— an immense emptiness has eaten up, engulfed everything. Keep steady and await. In that stillness something rises up—up and up—and goes out beyond, a tranquil beam of consciousness. And then something descends, from afar—a peace, a luminousness, authentic and absolute in its reality. It comes down, enters into you, possesses your brain and body. It has, you find, resolved all problems, harmonised all contraries and conflicts; for it comes from the home of mother truth. Now you do not strive, but you know, you do not grope, for you are led. You await and at each moment you receive the direction as to what is to be done; you have no thought or preoccupation, the inspired movement happens automatically and infallibly.

Sometimes it happens too that the sudden silence or inner immobility causes a bewilderment and you are caught by a fear that you are losing all bearings, that

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you are turning an absolute idiot or something worse. Some in a panic have let go the grace that came. In such a condition one has to be firm and steady and continue.

I have said normally you are assailed by all kinds of thought. They come into your brain from all quarters and demand audience and satisfaction. Thoughts need come into the brain, because actions become possible through them, they give the form and frame to your action. But the difficulty is that the thoughts are not only various but almost always contrary to each other; we see man so often moving in contrary directions and contradicting himself at each step. It is bound to be so if the doors of the mind are left wide open. Sometimes, however, or in some persons, one dominant thought takes possession of the mind and drives out all others. In such a case, when a single idea rules, one is likely to cut oneself down, narrow oneself and force the being into a strait-jacket, to move in a closed groove. The being in its entirety does not find self-expression or self-fulfilment. Thus you may have the idea, the fixed idea, that the world is irrevocably miserable and incorrigible and therefore you will naturally plan your whole life to that end, all your occupation and preoccupation will be how to get away from this world, you will seek a far solitude, inner and outer, seek

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release from existence and merge into the Transcendent or the Void. On the other hand, if you have the idea that in spite of all appearances to the contrary the world is remediable and reclaimable, then your life takes on a different pattern. It will seek to find out ways and means of the remedy and to what degree the possibility goes.

Now, the value of an idea cannot be determined by the idea itself. Usually one chooses because of some external reason or other: one's education, environment, one's personal temperament, likes and dislikes go a long way in determining one's choice. So the first thing you have to do is not to allow the thoughts to Come in pell-mell, as and when they like. Thoughts must come only when you choose them and only those that you choose. There must be a conscious selection. How to proceed in this work? As your own thoughts cannot choose themselves, what you have to do at the outset is to call for a higher guidance and let yourself be absolutely impartial and passive in its hands.

A blankness is needed, a white emptiness somewhere behind—even if it does not come and occupy the front too. Give up personal choosing and wait for the Higher Direction—the Divine—to do with you whatever it wills. Given the requisite silence and reliance, the decision comes inevitably and you are moved to

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do automatically what is required to be done from moment to moment. At first you may not get the knowledge of the why and the wherefore of your action, you act merely as an automaton but with the luminous silence within and a tranquil aspiration attending. When once you have been trained in this unquestioning docility, then knowledge will be given to you gradually, at first only of a few steps ahead, later on for a fuller and completer perspective.

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