... It may be necessary at a certain stage, but it stops the mental control. Could you kindly enlighten me a little more about the mental control? Was it really necessary to lose it? It is perfectly clear. You were using a mental control. When the silence came, the mind stopped its action, so the mental control ceased. It has to be Page 31 replaced by... things at a time. Page 30 LOSS OF MENTAL CONTROL For the last three days I have been noticing this difference. A lack of strength or power in my consciousness to react against the movements of the ordinary nature. What is the matter with me? It is, I suppose, because the mental control has fallen silent and the new control has not come as yet... yet. In the absence of the mental control which, as you say, has fallen silent, how am I to carry out my actions? It is the will of the Purusha that ought to meet the action —will is a silent force put upon the thing to be changed. Why did my consciousness relax the mental control? Because you thought you must leave everything to the Mother and not ...
... common defects of the human vital and by an increased psychic opening they will lose their hold and finally disappear. As for the diminution of mental control over the vital movements, that often happens temporarily in the course of the Yoga. Mental control has to be replaced by a greater control from above and by the calm, purity and strong peace of the vital itself opened to the Divine Force and its... discouraged by any Page 124 difficulties, but quietly and simply open yourself to the Mother's force and allow it to change you. It is not at all true that the Mother takes away the mental control—that is one of the many foolish misinterpretations that certain sadhaks make about the sadhana. What is true—and that is the cause of what you feel—is that when you try to control fully your habitual... difficulties. Courage, faith, sincerity towards the Light, rejection of opposite suggestions and adverse voices are there the true help. Then only can knowledge itself be at all effective. Not mental control but some descent of a control from above the mind is the power demanded in the realisation. This control derived eventually from the supermind is a control by the Divine Power. Your difficulty ...
... those who obey their impulses without any mental control. There isn't a single person among you who gives way without control to all the impulses that get hold of him. You have only to observe yourselves living, you spend your time saying, "No, this I can't do", or "This I can", or in restraining one movement or encouraging another. This is mental control. I think it is only the savage who doesn't... haven't we? We made some sort of drawings, didn't we? No, I am not speaking of the globe, I am speaking of... those in which we marked the region, you know. Sweet Mother, how can one obtain a mental control of these impulses by a struggle? All educated people do it. Only the barbarian doesn't do it. This is the very substance of education, you know, for it is understood that if one lives in s... a great deal on the surroundings in which you live and the character of the parents or people who educate you. But whether it be good or bad, mediocre or excellent, it is always the result of a mental control over the impulses. When your parents tell you, "You should not do this", or when they say, "You have to do that", this is a beginning of education for the mind's control over the impulses. ...
... before. NIRODBARAN: He is against birth-control, calls it artificial. He advocates mental control. SATYENDRA: He also says that married life can be a great step forward in spirituality. NIRODBARAN: And that we should consider the children as the gifts of God. SRI AUROBINDO: In advocating mental control, he means that people should not have children but that if they do they must be accepted... in spite of yourself you must call it God's gift. NIRODBARAN: I don't understand how birth-control can prevent incentive to mental control. SRI AUROBINDO: He means that without birth-control there will be a fear of consequences and so one has to exercise mental control. NIRODBARAN: Is that necessarily true? SRI AUROBINDO: I don't think so. When one has an erotic impulse, one will satisfy ...
... it. It is said that the mental control has to be replaced by a divine control. Between these two there is a period of transition when there is no control at all. How is one then to deal with the activities of life? Page 97 You have to call down the higher control in such a case. But the withdrawal of mental control need not be sudden and complete — it can... that that can be done. Left to himself the Purusha is either inactive in Prakriti, controlled by her or separate and a witness. You were using a mental control. When the silence came the mind stopped its action, so the mental control ceased. It has to be replaced by a spiritual control, the silent Purusha will. Page 101 ...
... were there all the time. What is meant by the mental control being removed, is that the mental simply kept them in check but could not remove them. So in Yoga the mental has to be replaced by the psychic or spiritual self-control which could do what the mental cannot. Only many sadhaks do not make this exchange in time and withdraw the mental control merely. 12 May 1933 "The strength of such... "two paths of Yoga". But Agni as the fire of tapasya can burn in either case. 4 January 1937 The Mother, in her Conversations, says that "the first effect of Yoga ... is to take away the mental control" [ p. 5 ] so that the ideas and desires which were so long checked become surprisingly prominent and create difficulties. Would you not call these forces the consequence of yogic pressure? ...
... to establish the beginning of mental calm and some kind of psychic opening but neither of these has yet been able to go very far. The reason probably is that he has done everything by a strong mental control and forcible stilling of the mind and emotional and vital movements, but has not yet established the true spiritual calm which can only come by experience of or surrender to the higher being above... a known psychological law that whatever is suppressed in the conscious mind remains in the subconscient being and recurs either in the waking state when the control is removed or else in sleep. Mental control by itself cannot eradicate anything entirely out of the being. The subconscient in the ordinary man includes the larger part of the vital being and the physical mind and also the secret body-c... merely an explanation of these experiences but it seems to me that he has advanced far enough to make a foundation for the beginning of the higher Yoga. If he wishes to do that he must replace his mental control by a belief in and a surrender to the Supreme Presence and Force above the mind, an aspiration in the heart and a will in the higher mind to the supreme truth and the transformation of the whole ...
... something in the being that can even say "I don't desire" and refuse to recognise the vital desire as part of the true being. 121 Page 130 No, it is not necessary to lose the mental control; it is best to replace it gradually by the psychic or spirirual. 122 Your theory is a mistaken one. The free expression of a passion may relieve the vital for a time, but at the same... a known psychological law that whatever is suppressed in the conscious mind remains in the subconscient being and recurs either in the waking state when the control is removed or else in sleep. Mental control by itself cannot eradicate anything entirely out of the being. ... In order to make a true and complete change, one has to make all these conscious, to see clearly what is still there and to... into action but only raised up before the consciousness so as to be cleared out of the being. ... In sadhana the mental or moral control has to be replaced by the spiritual mastery—for that mental control is only partial and it controls but does not liberate; it is only the psychic and spiritual that can do that. That is the main difference in this respect between the ordinary and the spiritual ...
... of the mind whirlpool. It is comparatively easy for him to put a control on his body, at least a certain part of its movements: it is less easy but still very possible after a struggle to put a mental control on his vital impulsions and desires; but to sit, like the Tantrik Yogi on the river, above the whirlpool of his thoughts is less facile. Nevertheless it can be done; all developed Page 43 ... over his mind, otherwise he would be as much in a state of restless mental confusion or of mechanical incoherence as one who had no control over his impulses and desires. To do anything by mental control is always difficult, when what Page 45 is attempted runs contrary to the trend of human nature or of the personal nature. A strong will patiently and perseveringly turned towards its... the mind? Control of the thoughts or control of the passions and the sense impulses? The latter can be controlled by the mind (not abolished), if the will in the mind is strong enough. But this mental control is not Yoga. Yogic control can come in one of two ways or by their combination. (1) To separate the witness Soul in you from the movements of the mental, vital and physical Prakriti to which ...
... were there all the time. What is meant by the mental control being removed is that the mental simply kept them in check but could not remove them. So in Yoga the mental has to be replaced by the psychic or spiritual self-control which could do what the vital cannot, only many Sadhaks do not make this exchange in time and withdraw the mental control merely. "The strength of such impulses as those... effort—it is the latter that is meant in the "two paths of Yoga". But Agni as the fire of tapasyā can burn in either case. The Mother says that the first effect of Yoga is to take away the mental control so that the ideas and desires which were so long checked become surprisingly prominent and create difficulties. 7 They were not prominent because they were getting some satisfaction or ...
... were there all the time. What is meant by the mental control being removed, is that the mental simply kept them in check but could not remove them. So in Yoga the mental has to be replaced by the psychic or spiritual self-control which could do what the mental cannot. Only many sadhaks do not make this exchange in time and withdraw the mental control merely. I find already that at certain moments... produces these results. It is on the contrary the resistance to Yoga that does it. May 11, 1933 The Mother, in "Conversations", says that the first effect of yoga is to take away the mental control so that the ideas and desires which were so long checked become surprisingly prominent and create difficulties. They were not prominent because they were getting some satisfaction or at least ...
... passions are stronger or more on the surface. Some do not think control necessary and let themselves go. In sadhana the mental or moral control has to be replaced by the spiritual mastery—for the mental control is only partial and it controls but does not liberate; it is only the psychic and spiritual that can do that. That is the main difference in this respect between the ordinary and the spiritual... highest and completest truth when one enters into the Light. It [ the reason people remain calm and self-controlled in ordinary life ] is social pressure accompanied by a certain habit of mental control born of the social pressure. It is not from peace at all. Remove the social pressure even partly and as in England and America recently people let themselves go and do according to the vital impulses ...
... the complex substance, of morality; in all of them there is the constant mixture of truth and half-truth and error which pursues all the activities of our limiting mental Knowledge-Ignorance. A mental control over our vital and physical desires and instincts, over our personal and social action, over our dealings with others is indispensable to us as human beings, and morality creates a standard by... there could be no wrong will in our members; without wrong will there could be no wrong-doing or evil: while these causes endure, the effects also will persist in our action and in our nature. A mental control can only be a control, not a cure; a mental teaching, rule, standard can only impose an artificial groove in which our action revolves mechanically or with difficulty and Page 650 which ...
... establish the beginning of mental calm and some kind of psychic opening but neither of these has as yet been able to go very far. The reason probably is that he has done everything by a strong mental control and forcible stilling of the mind and emotional and vital movements, but he has not yet established the true spiritual calm which can only come by experience of or surrender to the higher being... merely an explanation of these experiences but it seems to me that he has advanced far enough to make a foundation for the beginning of the higher Yoga. If he wishes to do that he must replace his mental control by a belief in and a surrender to the Supreme Presence and force above the mind, an aspiration in the heart and a will in the higher mind to the Supreme. Truth and the transformation of the whole ...
... impulses and doing things suggested by the ordinary forces. It is probably due to the mental control being removed — what is acting in the things you mention is not the mind but the vital and physical consciousness. What should take the place of the removed mental control? The psychic or spiritual control. What is meant by the spiritual control? ...
... important is the inner state. Spiritual and ethical principles are quite different, for everything depends on whether it is done for the sake of the Spirit or for ethical reasons. One may observe mental control in his dealings, but his inner state may be quite different. For example, he may not show anger, but within he may be ruffled. In the true inner control the inner peace is not disturbed and goodwill... is there the right attitude follows in one's external behaviour. Conduct must flow from. within outwards and the more one opens to the psychic influence, the more it gains over the outer nature. Mental control may or may not lead to the psychic control. In people of a sattwic type it may be the first step towards it. NIRODBARAN: How is the psychic control to be got? SRI AUROBINDO: By constant ...
... means. One has to reject these things before they enter into one, as I did with the thoughts when I was at Baroda. This method is more powerful and the results too are quicker. There is also a mental control, but there it is the mind trying to control the vital being. The control is only partial and temporary. The thing is rather suppressed within and can come out on any opportunity. I have heard... Benares who was bathing in one of the ghats. In the next ghat a beautiful Kashmiri woman came to bathe. As soon as he saw her, he fell upon her and tried to outrage her. His was evidently a case of mental control. But sometimes, by Yoga, things which were not felt before come up. I have heard about it from many persons. In my own case, I saw anger coming up and possessing me. It was absolutely uncontrollable ...
... went further and said that, if one had already reached "a certain state of development and mental control", any further reading of the Dhammapada or meditating upon it becomes unnecessary. 4 The Mother begins with the opening lines in the first canto of "Conjugate Verses" whose aim is "mental control" -. in other words, to observe, watch, control and master one's thoughts. Consciousness is ...
... establish the beginning of mental calm and some kind of psychic opening but neither of these has as yet been able to go very far. The reason probably is that he has done everything by a strong mental control and forcible stilling of the mind and emotional and vital movements, but he has not yet established the true spiritual calm which can only come by experience of or surrender to the higher being... merely an explanation of these experiences but it seems to me that he has advanced far enough to make a foundation for the beginning of the higher Yoga. If he wishes to do that he must replace his mental control by a belief in and a surrender to the Supreme Presence and force above the mind, an aspiration in the heart and a will in the higher mind to the Supreme Truth and the transformation of the whole ...
... automatically what is wrong. That is why the practice of yoga involves a progressive replacement of the mental control by psychic and spiritual self-mastery. As Sri Aurobindo states: "In sadhana* the mental or moral control has to be replaced by the spiritual mastery - for that mental control is only partial and it controls but does not liberate; it is only the psychic and spiritual that can do ...
... things nor leave them aside, you have to face them and conquer and remould them. The first effect of Yoga, however, is to take away the mental control, and the hungers that lie dormant are suddenly set free, they rush up and invade the being. So long as this mental control has not been replaced by the Divine control, there is a period of transition when your sincerity and surrender will be put to the test ...
... to it. Rejection, of course, is the stronger way. One has to reject these things before they enter, as I did the thoughts. It is more powerful and the result also is quick. There is also a mental control; but there too it is the nature of Mind trying to control the nature of the Vital. It has only a temporary and partial control. The thing is rather suppressed within and can come out at any opportunity... Yogi in Benares bathing in one of the Ghats. In the neighbouring ghat a Kashmiri woman came to bathe. As soon as he saw her he fell upon her and tried to outrage her. That is evidently a case of mental control. But by Sadhana – yogic effort – sometimes things which have not been there come up. I have heard about it from many persons. In my case, I saw anger coming up and possessing me. It was absolutely ...
... important is the inner attitude. Spiritual and ethical principles are quite different, for every thing depends on whether it is done for the sake of the Spirit or ethical reasons. One may observe mental control in dealings etc. but the inner state may be quite different e.g. he may not show anger, may be humble externally, but internally he may be proud and full of anger, for example A. Page 40 ... that is there right attitude follows in one's external behaviour. Conduct must flow from within outwards and the more one opens to the psychic influence the more it gains over the outer nature. Mental control may or may not lead to the spiritual. In people of a certain type it may be the first step towards psychic control. Disciple : How to get psychic control? Sri Aurobindo : By constant ...
... things nor leave them aside, you have to face them and conquer and remould them. The first effect of Yoga, however, is to take away the mental control, and the hungers that lie dormant are suddenly set free, they rush up and invade the being. So long as this mental control has not been replaced by the divine control, there is a period of transition when your sincerity and surrender will be put to test."² ...
... [The Aurovilian:] Lots! (laughing) Can you give me another? ("music") (Mother laughs, very amused) It makes me think of a bunch of children released from all mental control. It's very amusing! It's all right. [The Aurovilian:] I would like you to listen to something else, a different form. But from the same generation. Something softer. Fine... but ...
... it is finished. "This is what my body needs." Well, that can be done. There's a time when one knows it very well. But it asks for years of labour, and above all years of work almost without any mental control, just with a consciousness that's subtle enough to establish a connection with the elements of transformation and progress. And to know also how to determine for one's body, exactly, the amount ...
... a great deal on the surroundings in which you live and the character of the parents or people who educate you. But whether it be good or bad, mediocre or excellent, it is always the result of a mental control over the impulses. When your parents tell you, "You should not do this", or when they say, "You have to do that", this is a beginning of education for the mind's control over the impulses. ...
... of the mind whirlpool. It is comparatively easy for him to put a control on his body, at least a certain part of its movements: it is less easy but still very possible after a struggle to put a mental control on his vital impulsions and desires; but to sit, like the Tantrik Yogi on the river, above the whirlpool of his thoughts is less facile. Nevertheless it can be done; all developed mental men, those ...
... moment you ought to enter into something else and see that historically it was useful but now is so no longer. Certainly, to those who have reached, for instance, a certain state of development and mental control, I won't say, "Read the Dhammapada and meditate on it"; it would be a waste of time. I give it to those who have not gone beyond the stage where it is necessary. But always man takes upon his shoulders ...
... and why should the latter obey the mind and not follow its own nature? The disobedience is perfectly normal instead of being, as Augustine suggests, unintelligible. Of course man can establish a mental control over his vital and in so far as he does it he is a man,—because the thinking mind is a nobler and more enlightened entity and consciousness than the vital and ought therefore to rule and, if the ...
... deal with them without friction which can make work and action much more easy. Once this consciousness has come, it is bound to return and increase. Through an equality gained by strong mental control [ the worldly man is able to bear all kinds of difficulty ]—but that is not samatā , it is titikṣā , the power to bear which is only a first step or a first element of samatā . It is ...
... also you had made the resolution to give it up, it would have disappeared long ago. There is one way by which it is possible for you to get rid of the perverse habit: to establish a strong mental control and so get rid of the wrong movement. It is not true that it is unconquerable; on the contrary, the fact that you were able to interrupt it for some time shows that you can conquer it. It returned ...
... confusion of values which obliterates the distinction between spiritual and moral and even claims that the moral is the only true spiritual element in our nature be of any use to us; for ethics is a mental control, and the limited erring mind is not and cannot be the free and ever-luminous spirit. It is equally impossible to accept the gospel that makes life the one aim, takes its elements fundamentally ...
... resistance or quickly with a rapid accommodation of her means and tendencies she modifies herself and her workings in the direction indicated by his inner sight or volition. Thus he learns in place of mental control or egoistic will an inner spiritual control which makes him master of the Nature-forces that work in him and not their unconscious instrument or mechanic slave. Above and around him is the Shakti ...
... the highest existence held up by the Divine Being to the seeker. In the seeking for this freedom, in the liberation from constructed law into law of self and spirit, in the casting away of the mental control in order to substitute for it the control of the spiritual Reality, an abandonment of the lower constructed truth of mind for the higher essential truth of being, it is possible to pass through ...
... when its feelings and tendencies have been purified by the psychic touch and taken up and governed by the spiritual light and power. Letters on Yoga, p. 345 ...man can establish a mental control over his vital and in so far as he does it he is a man, — because the thinking mind is a nobler and more enlightened entity and consciousness than the vital and ought, therefore, to rule and ...
... the mind whirlpool. It is comparatively easy for him to put a control on his body, at least on a certain part of its movements; it is less easy but still very possible after a struggle to put a mental control on his impulsions and desires; but to sit like the Tantric yogi on the river, above the whirlpool of his thoughts, is less facile. Nevertheless, it can be done; all developed mental men, those ...
... Page 138 Nutrition Introduction There is a story told in the East of two fakirs who had spent years in seclusion studying yoga, having learned extraordinary feats of physical and mental control and mastery of their minds and bodies. Standing on the banks of the Ganges they fell into one another's company, and in the course of their conversation one of them happened to imply that he had ...
... recording mind has fallen completely silent. It cannot do any thinking or even recording of the experiences! Perhaps it is waiting for a higher mind to act from above. My mental control seems to have been removed completely. So I miss the service of my mind proper (the intellect). I think, act, write only with the physical mind. This mind, since it is still undeveloped, is moved ...
... was bathing in one of the ghats. In the next ghat, a beautiful Kashmiri woman came to bathe. As soon as he saw her, he fell upon her and tried to outrage her. This was evidently a case of loss of mental control. The true control is not mental. But sometimes, by yoga, things which were not felt before come up. I have heard about it from many persons. In my own case, I saw anger coming up and possessing ...
... speech, thought, food, so sincerely, having such a bout. There is nothing astonishing in that. First of all, even if it had been in waking, it is to be expected. G's method is ethical, a stern mental control, নিগ্রহ. 76 That keeps down the sex fellow, but does not eliminate him He can start up at any moment. Secondly, it was in sleep when the mind is not in control, unless you have specially practised ...
... causes of agitation by retiring from the world. It is this feeling which, undoubtedly, has given rise to the sannyasin's aversion for the world. But I understand that there is another way, that of mental control. Yes — besides, the shrunken world in which the sannyasin moves becomes very often a theatre of the same difficulties and the same struggles — and it is the smallest things which take on ...
... SATYENDRA: There are many Yogis with this consciousness, who live in the world and have contact with the world and yet are in that consciousness. SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, one may exercise a sufficient mental control over the vital. NIRODBARAN: Then the question is: are they controlling the vital with the mind or has the Brahmic consciousness actually descended into the vital so that all their activities ...
... sincerity nothing can be done - nothing can even be begun in Yoga. Besides sincerity, the sadhak's needs are patience, perseverance and a sleepless vigilance. In the path of surrender, the normal mental control is withdrawn; but unless it is replaced by Divine control, all the irrational may erupt, the lusts may want to have a free hand, and one may be purblindly lured towards the undivine. But if ...
... Eckhart calls Presence is not a mere mental witnessing and awareness but the witnessing and awareness of the inner being, the Purusha as it is called in Sankhya. Mental awareness can lead only to mental control. What Eckhart teaches is allowing rather than controlling, but allowing, he says, always implies awareness —a state that is the opposite of the normal state in which one is either totally identified ...
... a known psychological law that whatever is suppressed in the conscious mind remains in the subconscient being and recurs either in the waking state when the control is removed or else in sleep. Mental control by itself cannot eradicate anything entirely out of the being. The subconscient in the ordinary man includes the larger part of the vital being and the physical mind and also the secret body-c ...
... with their titanic adversaries. This is what the greatest part of all mythologies in the world is about. Having explained this, Sri Aurobindo warns against another possible misunderstanding. “A mental control can only be a control, not a cure; a mental teaching, rule, standard, can only impose an artificial groove in which our action revolves mechanically or with difficulty and which imposes a curbed ...
... why should the latter obey the mind and not follow its own nature? The disobedience is perfectly normal instead of being, as Augustine suggests, unintelligible. Of course, man can establish a mental control over his vital and in so far as he does it he is a man—because the thinking mind is a nobler and more enlightened entity and consciousness than the vital and ought, therefore, to rule and, if ...
... "sometimes I am a cloud looking from above and happy that soon I will come down and join earth, come down in drops, showers, even possibly torrents" - "the tussle between the old habit of mental Page 65 control and control by the soul, mental discipline versus withholding of sanction by the Purusha is now near the surface, no more hidden" - "No more do I want to look from a mountain peak, ...
... acceptance lies the responsibility. The Purusha is that which sanctions or refuses. The vital being responds to the ordinary life waves in the animal; man responds to them but has the power of mental control. He has also as the mental Purusha is awake in him the power to choose whether he shall have desire or train his being to surmount it. Finally, there is the possibility of bringing down a higher ...
... mind and mental will are well developed, one can establish a control over one's thoughts as well as over one's acts and prevent the bad ones from having Page 334 their play. But this mental control is not enough for the sadhak. He must attain to a quiet mind and in the silence of the mind receive only the Divine thought-forces or other divine Forces and be their field and instrument. To ...
... livelihood, family etc. The Physical and the Mind The physical consciousness has its own reactions—separate from those of the mind. Page 383 No, it is not necessary to lose the mental control; it is best to replace it gradually by the psychic or spiritual. But it happens to many that they lose it before the other is ready or while it is still imperfect and then the Nature-forces act ...
... returns is an important part of the purification and it is not complete till this power of returning is no longer there. But also it may be that some part is not so much rejected as suppressed by mental control, then it sinks into the subconscient and when the subconscient is active (as in dream or in a passive state of the mind) or else when the subconscient itself is brought up for purification, then ...
... acceptance lies the responsibility. The Purusha is that which sanctions or refuses. The vital being responds to the ordinary life waves in the animal; man responds to them but has the power of mental control. He has also, as the mental Purusha is awake in him, the power to choose whether he shall have desire Page 134 or train his being to surmount it. Finally, there is the possibility of ...
... are others who want to go quicker and be more sure of reaching the goal; well, these give over the whole responsibility to the Divine. "The first effect of Yoga, however, is to take away the mental control, and the hungers that lie dormant are suddenly set free; they rush up and invade the being.... What you should do is to keep the thing [the sex impulse] to disassociate from it, take as little ...
... Conjugate Verses (10 January 1958) Every Friday I shall read out to you a few verses of the Dhammapada, then we shall meditate on that text. This is to teach you mental control. If I think it necessary I shall give you an explanation. The Dhammapada begins with conjugate verses; here is the first one: In all things the primordial element is mind. Mind predominates ...
... dream which I would not do in the waking consciousness? The movement comes from a subconscient layer which is not allowed to express itself in the daytime. Is it because there is no mental control in the dream state and hence the vital being is free to act as it likes? Page 23 No true and constant control is established in that part as yet. An experiment: This morning ...
... not kindly snakes! But I knew very well what it meant; during the dream itself I knew it: it depended on certain mental conditions around me and ill will—mental ill will. 2 But if you have mental control and power, you can go through, they cannot touch you. And other people, when they see a snake, think it is the universal consciousness. So we can't say. Théon used to say that the serpent is the ...
... Yes - it is hardly possible except by separation of the inner Purusha or the pressure of the psychic. In the absence of the working of the Force, my condition is uncertain. The mental control is completely withdrawn and there is no other control to replace it. So anything is able to take hold of my mind and use it as if it came from the truth! A control is necessary - if nothing ...
... why should the latter obey the mind and not follow its own nature ? The disobedience is perfectly normal instead of being, as Augustine suggests, unintelligible. Of course, man can establish a mental control over his vital and in so far as he does it he is a man, because the thinking mind is a nobler and more enlightened entity and consciousness than the vital and ought, therefore, to rule and, if ...
... You have to become indifferent to it and go on doing your work. Amritlal : What is the way to remove these weaknesses ? Sri Aurobindo : One way is to keep them down by a sort of mental control or by making your will strong. Of course, you can't get rid of them in that way. But you can keep them down so that they may not trouble you. My way of dealing with them is quite different. ...
... contrary, if you have the impulse to cease from sexual life you should by all means do it. What he meant to say was that by Brahmacharya is generally understood a mental & moral control, a cessation because of a mental rule. Such a control especially if undertaken from an ascetic or puritan attitude, only keeps chained or even suppresses the vital power behind the sexual impulse and does not really... is very interesting, because it shows that you have accurate intuitions which unfortunately your mind does not allow you to follow out. Your mind also interferes by giving your intuitions a mental form and mental consequences or conditions which are not correct. You are quite right when you say that your sadhana will not open through the mind but through your psychic being. It is from there indeed... Both influences are necessary for the complete development of the sadhana. The work of the two together can alone bring down the supramental Truth into the physical plane. A.G acts directly on the mental and on the vital being through the illumined mind; he represents the Purusha element whose strength is predominantly in illumined (intuitive, supramental or spiritual) knowledge and the power that ...
... was a bypath and I left it. To get rid of or mastery over kāma-krodha is not the transformation, it is at best a preliminary step towards it provided it is done not in the moral way by mental self-control but in the spiritual way. Sainthood is not my object. I do not know how far Ramakrishna had gone towards the transformation as I conceive it; the metaphors you quote contain nothing precise with... ess. I do not know that any except a very few great Yogis have really changed their outer nature. In all the Asrams I have seen people were just as others except for certain specific moral controls put on certain kinds of outer action (food, sex etc.), but the general nature was the human nature (as in the story of Narad and Janaka). It is even a theory of the old Yogas that the prārabdha karma... realisation and separates oneself from it so that it drops off at death like a soiled robe and leaves the spirit free to enter into Nirvana. Our object is a spiritual change and not merely an ethical control, but this can only come first by a spiritual rejection from within and then by a supramental descent from above. Page 405 Sri Aurobindo 2 has no remarks to make on Huxley's comments ...
... that can enlighten it by changing it in its own substance of consciousness. Page 156 It is the lower vital energy that rushes to the brain and either confuses it and prevents mental self-control or else makes the mind its slave and uses reason to justify the passions. It is the lower (physical) vital that acts like that [ expresses wrong thoughts and feelings ]. This part of Nature... at all. In the mind or the higher vital it is much easier to establish some kind of control over the forces. That is the very reason why one should never put oneself into the control of these forces or make oneself a free crossways for their passage. It is only by opening to the Mother's force alone that a control can be established over these lower workings. Ananda and the Lower Vital It is... This is accompanied by an excessive amour-propre which creates the necessity of making a figure, maintaining by any means position and prestige, even of posturing before others, influencing, controlling or "helping" them, claiming the part of a superior sadhaka, one with greater knowledge and with occult powers. The larger vital being itself has to give up its powers and capacities to the Divine ...
... Aurobindo. He stayed for a few days. 3 January. Amritlal Seth, the editor of Saurashtra , met Sri Aurobindo. He asked Sri Aurobindo about his personal difficulties. The remedy suggested was mental self-control and the strengthening of the will-power. 5 January. Apropos of Raghunath Thaker's idea that siddhi can be attained by trātaka (gazing fixedly at a point without winking), Sri Aurobindo said... of harmony; to restate the ancient and eternal spiritual truth of the Self so that it shall reembrace, permeate and dominate the mental and physical life; to develop the most profound and vital methods of psychological self-discipline and self-development so that the mental and psychical life of man may express the spiritual life through the utmost possible expansion ¹ Sri Aurobindo, Supplement... the outer atmosphere and that of the group living with him. It brought to him the much-needed direct contact of the mental and vital make-up of the disciples, enabling him to act on the atmosphere in general and on the individual in particular. He could thus help to remould their mental makeup by removing the limitations of their minds and opinions, and correct temperamental tendencies and formations ...
... till I have reached the end, I have no intention of listening to you." At every step a man of any mental calibre has to exercise some power over his mind, otherwise he would be as Page 338 much in a state of restless mental confusion or of mechanical incoherence as one who had no control over his impulses and desires ... [incomplete] November 1935 ? The question put to me... left it. To get rid of or mastery over kama-krodha [desire and anger] is not the transformation, it is at best a preliminary step towards it provided it is done not in the moral way by mental self control but in the spiritual way. Sainthood is not my object. I do not know how far Ramakrishna had gone towards the transformation as I conceive it; the metaphors you quote contain nothing precise... looks at the passions of an unreasonable child; that once fixed, he can proceed afterwards to control the outer man also. Whether he can easily control the actions depends on the temperament of his outer man, whether it is vehement, emotional and passionate or comparatively sedate and quiet. Such a complete control of the outer man needs a long and arduous tapasya. It cannot be expected and even the [assured ...
... bypath and I left it. To get rid of or mastery over Kama-krodha † is not the transformation, it is at best a preliminary step towards it provided it is done not in the moral way by mental self-control but in the spiritual way. Sainthood is not my object. I do not know how far Ramakrishna had gone towards the transformation as I conceive it; the metaphors you quote contain nothing precise with... it, as both western science and eastern mysticism agree, is an appearance based on our present mode of perception through the senses and the categories of the mental consciousness. When the Supermind descends and we pass into super-mental consciousness, then our perception of reality will change and we shall no longer be conditioned by space and time. This is how I understand the Resurrection... universal consequences. By the way, Father Raymond Brown is a believer in both the Virgin Birth and the bodily resurrection but he has a remarkably open mind as to what he calls "scientifically controllable evidence" and full cognisance of genuine Bible criticism. Thanks for your permission to publish our correspondence at some suitable time. With kind thoughts, Yours sincerely, ...
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