At the feet of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo

21 March 1931

The rejection of desire is essentially its rejection from the consciousness itself as a foreign element not belonging to the true self and the inner nature. But refusal to indulge the suggestions of desire can also be part of the rejection and it must be part of the yogic discipline. It is only when it is done in the wrong way, by an ascetic principle as a hard moral rule, that it can be called suppression.

When one lives in the true consciousness one feels the desires outside oneself, entering from outside, from the universal lower Prakriti, into the mind and vital parts. In the ordinary human condition this is not felt; men become aware of the desire only when it is there, when it has come inside and so they think it as their own and a part of themselves. The first condition for getting rid of desire is, therefore, to become conscious with the true consciousness, for then it becomes much easier to dismiss, than when one has to struggle with it as if it were part of oneself to be thrown out from the being.

When the psychic being is in the front, then also to get rid of desire becomes easy; for the psychic being has in itself no desires, it has only aspiration and love for the Divine. The constant prominence of the psychic being tends of itself to bring out the true consciousness. This is what is happening in you; so you need not be over-anxious about the desires, only careful that they do not get in and bring a vital mixture.

(21.3.31)