At the feet of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo

27 August 1933

MYSELF: Mother, this evening I sang and felt much better, as if some light was there. Otherwise the whole day was in a neutral state. The vital and the psychic alternating with each other and thereby bringing endless joy and endless suffering. What an upheaval!

SRI AUROBINDO: It is because this has been a constant and long-indulged habit. These habits of the physical vital are almost automatic in their action and it takes either a very strong will or a persistent effort of self-discipline to get out of this automatic, almost reflex action. You should not therefore be discouraged by the difficulty, but go on with the necessary perseverance of the will to press it out of existence.

(27.8.33)