... Chapter 4 The Silent Mind Mental Constructions The first stage in Sri Aurobindo's yoga, and the major task that opens the door to many realizations, is mental silence. Why mental silence, one may ask? Clearly, if we wish to discover a new country within us, we must first leave the old one behind; everything depends upon our determination in taking this first step. Sometimes... Persian. However, if we want to understand and discover what consciousness truly is, and utilize it, we must indeed go beyond this narrow perspective. After having attained a certain degree of mental silence, Sri Aurobindo was able to make the following observations: Mental consciousness is only the human range which no more exhausts all the possible ranges of consciousness than human sight exhausts... modes of being – sleep, waking and "death" – and enables us to come into contact with other forms of consciousness. The Centers of Consciousness Pursuing our experimental method based on mental silence, we are led to several discoveries that will gradually put us on the track. First, we see the general confusion in which we live slowly settle; more and more clearly, strata will appear in our ...
... must abdicate. Only one will has value: the Supreme Lord's. 5.10.1970 Without mental silence I am no longer joyful on the way. If you have mental silence at will, it is already c great accomplishment and it should give patience for the day when the whole life will pass in mental silence. 7.10.1970 Your Victory, O Mother Divine, Your own victory... the right attitude. Blessings. 2.4.1970 Without mental silence it is really difficult to know the Divine Will. It is almost impossible because always there is the risk of taking one's .own mental formation for the expression of the divine will. . A great intensity of aspiration can help towards this mental silence (an aspiration not formulated in words). Blessings.... mentally, it is better to go to Rigos who will treat you. Blessings. 18.4.1970 I find very interesting the method indicated by You to stop tooth-ache and I hope to learn it with mental silence and progress in the body. It is very good. You can count upon my help. Blessings. 20.4.1970 Page 136 Before You, Mother, one can climb so high that physical pain ...
... intensive yoga and spend five or six hours a day in yogic practices. Japa such as you describe it cannot have much effect except to create a tamasic dullness, which should not be mistaken for mental silence. 23 September 1964 Sweet Mother, I heard that an astrologer has predicted that in six months' time Lal Bahadur Shastri will no longer be Prime Minister and that he will be replaced... tired and want to rest. Why is this and how can I feel differently? So long as you are making an effort, it is not meditation and there is not much use in prolonging this state. To obtain mental silence, one must learn to relax, to let oneself float on the waves of the universal force as a plank floats on water, motionless but relaxed . Effort is never silent. 23 December 1964 ... wanting to do so, with persistence and obstinacy. By doing every day a mental exercise of reading, organisation and development. This should alternate in the course of the day with exercises of mental silence in concentration. 1 June 1966 Sweet Mother, Are the presence and intervention of the Americans in Vietnam justifiable? From what point of view are you asking this question? ...
... not before. There's a small humorous detail: in "The Adventure of Consciousness" (which he read), regarding mental silence, I wrote somewhere (I even put it in a footnote): "Obviously, we wouldn't recommend mental silence to a peasant of Brittany, for instance"! Because mental silence is quite fine once one has come to the end of the curve. Yes, that's right! ( long silence ) A rather ...
... be quiet every day. Take one of Sri Aurobindo's books. Read a sentence or two. Then remain silent and concentrated to understand the deeper meaning. Try to concentrate deeply enough to obtain mental silence and begin again daily until you obtain a result. Naturally you should not fall asleep. 3 February 1972 Page 205 If one reads Sri Aurobindo carefully one finds the answers... then, Page 213 if the work that I have to do demands it, how can I help it? You seem to forget that Sri Aurobindo wrote for so many years the whole of the Arya 5 in perfect mental silence leaving the inspiration from above to go through and manifest through his hands on the typewriter. 7 March 1969 It is indeed a very good idea to study the Arya . The little you can ...
... Mother’s Agenda 1962 July 25, 1962 ( Mother listens to Satprem read a passage on mental silence from his manuscript on Sri Aurobindo. ) It's very good. It's dull. Page 277 Is this the end of the chapter? What about the next one? That's just it, I don't know. You don't know yet? First I... non-conscious yoga, life, experiences lived, classified and organized (oh, what a monument!)... crash! It all came tumbling down. Magnificent. I hadn't even asked him. I had tried to get complete mental silence—you know, what you just described, 3 this kind of mental stillness he speaks of (when you have it, anything can pass through your head without causing the least ripple), but I had never succeeded ...
... hard without tiring oneself! ( Mother laughs. ) I would like very much to have just a seed. Take it! ( Mother, laughing, gives her hands. ) Because, even in mental silence—I am always in the habit of writing in mental silence—but in spite of everything, even in this silence I am on guard lest the old formations or reactions come in and express themselves in the silence. Page 213 ...
... indefinitely. If, on the other hand, you manage to shift your consciousness into a higher domain, above the ordinary mind, this opening to the Light calms the mind, it does not stir any longer, and the mental silence so obtained can become constant. Once you enter into this domain, you may very well never come out of it—the external mind always remains calm.' 18 Eckhart teaches a remedy that is more... gives to mental noise has enabled me to understand better the distinction the Mother makes between a mental phenomenon (involving thought) and a phenomenon of consciousness (characterized by mental silence or absence of thoughts). As she says: ... you must learn to distinguish between a phenomenon of consciousness and a mental phenomenon. One can be conscious of an experience in such a way ...
... , and from above, from the higher planes, all that had to be written came down, all ready, and he had only to move his fingers on the typewriter and it was transcribed. It was in this state of mental silence which allows the knowledge—and even the expression—from above to pass through that he wrote the whole Arya , with its sixty-four printed pages a month. This is why, besides, he could do it, for... plan beforehand what one ought to say or write. One should simply be able to silence one's mind, to turn it like a receptacle towards the higher Consciousness and express as it receives it, in mental silence, what comes from above. That would be true spontaneity. Naturally, this is not very easy, it asks for preparation. And if one comes down to the sphere of action, it is still more difficult; ...
... had some effect, but no one has spoken to me about it. Good. So now, do you want a meditation? Not a meditation: Page 342 silence. If possible, mental silence. In order to have true knowledge one must achieve mental silence. You are still... who among you can be silent mentally? Does everybody understand French? A: No, not everybody. ( In English ) I was asking, who knows ...
... cure for insomnia is to get rid of the need for sleep by knowing how to obtain mental silence at will. When you can obtain silence at will, you must put your body into a position Page 348 of absolute repose, stretched out comfortably on the bed; then you go within yourself until there is perfect mental silence and enter a state that is something like a very deep sleep. Only if you know how ...
... only in mental silence that you can hear the voice without distorting it—be very peaceful. 29 May 1971 Don't torment yourself, and keep your mind very quiet. True knowledge comes from beyond. Blessings. 13 September 1972 ( A sadhak asked how to get rid of the invasion of wrong suggestions. ) The only radical way is to concentrate and go beyond your mental. Silence and ...
... way, one can do a lot of work without getting tired! I'd like to take a leaf out of your book! Here! ( Mother gives her hands, laughing ) Because, even in a mental silence (I am used to always writing in mental silence), but still, even in that silence, I am wary of old formations or reactions coming and expressing themselves in the silence. Ah, yes. I am afraid of that. Yes ...
... a central idea or ideal; Page 512 4. the power of thought-control, involving rejection of the false and selection and fostering of the true; and 5. the power of inner calm and mental silence, facilitating "receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being". This is a consummate analysis of the whole science of mental education. In the life of the growing... expansion and central organisation, the next mental discipline would be self-control and resolved self-limitation - and so on to the casting away of all thoughts and perceptions, and the invocation of mental silence, the meditative calm in which the higher lights may be seen reflected, resulting in an accession of peace: ...all mental vibration can be stilled and an almost total silence secured. In this ...
... Truly, peace is indispensable; for without peace, even the smallest thing becomes an enormous tangle. *** The mental silence one obtains during meditation is truly of short duration; for as soon as one comes out of meditation, one comes out of the mental silence. *** A real and lasting peace in the vital and the physical as well as the mind comes from a complete consecration ...
... progress. 1) He is right in thinking that an inner calm and silence must be the foundation, not only of external work but of all inner and outer activities. But the quieting of the mind in a mental silence or inactivity although often useful as a first step is not sufficient. The mental calm must be changed first into the deeper spiritual peace, Shanti, and then into the supramental calm and silence ...
... me through poetry. Where is the "through poetry" phrase? Poetry can be done as a part of sadhana and help the sadhana—but sadhana "through" poetry is a quite different matter. 23 May 1938 Mental Silence To get rid of the random thoughts of the surface physical mind is not easy. It is sometimes done by a sudden miracle as in my own case, but that is rare. Some get it done by a slow process of ...
... serve as a guide in life. (4) Thought control, rejection of undesirable thoughts, so that one may, in the end, think only what one wants and when one wants it. (5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being. It is not possible to give here all the details concerning the methods ...
... your music at the Playground? This music aims at awakening certain profound feelings. In listening to it, one should make oneself as silent and passive as possible. And if, in the mental silence, a part of the being can take the attitude of the witness who observes without reacting or participating, then one can notice the effect that the music produces on the feelings and emotions; and ...
... Prayers and Meditations March 7, 1915 It is past, the time of sweet mental silence, so peaceful, so pure, through which could be felt the profound will expressing itself in its all-powerful truth. Now the will is no longer perceived; and the mind once more necessarily active, analyses, classifies, judges, chooses, constantly reacts as a transforming agent ...
... Meditation is a purely mental activity, it interests only the mental being. One can concentrate while meditating but this is a mental concentration; one can get a silence but it is a purely mental silence, and the other parts of the being are kept immobile and inactive so as not to disturb the meditation. You may pass twenty Page 7 hours of the day in meditation and for the remaining ...
... indefinitely. If, on the other hand, you manage to shift your consciousness into a higher domain, above the ordinary mind, this opening to the Light calms the mind, it does not stir any longer, and the mental silence so obtained can become constant. Once you enter into this domain, you may very well never come out of it—the external mind always remains calm. The only true solution is aspiration for the higher ...
... in yoga. The simple fact of observing the victory one has gained—observing it mentally, you see, thinking about it—is enough to destroy the effect of the yoga which may have existed for years. A mental silence strong enough to prevent all outer vibrations from coming in, is indispensable. Well, that is something so difficult to achieve that one must really have passed from what Sri Aurobindo Page ...
... that is why all that is said and thought about it is a travesty and an approximation and is necessarily full of irreconcilable contradictions. That is also why it has always been taught that mental silence is indispensable in order to have true knowledge. 31 August 1965 * Page 24 How does one teach a student to think correctly? Mental capacity is developed in ...
... the experience would be better -- of the true intuitive intellectual attitude, and --naturally the capacity would be still more preferable at least the knowledge that the true way of knowing is mental silence, an attentive silence turned towards the truer Consciousness, and the capacity to receive What comes from there. The best would be to have this capacity; at least, it should be explained that it ...
... will serve as a guide in life. Page 24 (4) Thought-control, rejection of undesirable thoughts, to become able to think only what one wants and when one wants. (5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being. It is not possible to give here all the details concerning the methods to be ...
... Supreme—that is why all that is said and thought about it is a travesty and an approximation and is necessarily full of irreconcilable contradictions. That is also why it has always been taught that mental silence is indispensable in order to have true knowledge. 31 August 1965 Page 139 A very, very quiet head is indispensable for a clear understanding and vision and a right action. ...
... experience—the experience would be better—of the true intuitive intellectual attitude, and—naturally the capacity would be still more preferable—at least the knowledge that the true way of knowing is mental silence, an attentive silence turned towards the truer Consciousness, and the capacity to receive what comes from there. The best would be to have this capacity; at least, it should be explained that it ...
... in the immediate past. A greater readiness of essential doubt and sceptical reserve; a habit of mental activity as a necessity of the nature which makes it more difficult to achieve a complete mental silence; a stronger turn towards outside things born of the plenitude of active life (while the Indian commonly suffers from defects born rather of a depressed or suppressed vital force); a habit of mental ...
... It needs a quiet mind [ to know the Divine Will ]. In the quiet mind turned towards the Divine the intuition (higher mind) comes of the Divine's Will and the right way to do it. Once the mental silence is attained, then in that the mental thoughts can be replaced by some vision and intuition regarding the work. The transcendental Will for us is the supramental Will. For that to act in ...
... mixtures. There is very often a complaint of this kind [ weakening of memory ] made during the course of the sadhana. I suppose that the usual action of memory is for a time suspended by the mental silence or else by the physical tamas. By the change of consciousness there can be a more conscious and perfect functioning of the memory replacing the old mechanism. The Subconscient and the ...
... into silence. Or else this silence may be imposed on the mental energy by rejection of its action and a constant command to quietude. The soul may through the confirmation of this quietude and mental silence pass into some ineffable tranquillity of the spirit and vast cessation of the activities of Nature. But it is also possible to make this silence of the mind and ability to suspend the habits of ...
... silence ) But the difficulty comes from the fact that many do not understand the simplicity of the thing. Yes. Many of them are still seeking experiences up above, and visions, and mental silence, and all that, while that's not it at all. No, that's not it. I see lots of people and I'm forced to.... I always come back to the simple thing, which is the NEED. But I am counting ...
... people reach the limits of the mind, when they start going round in circles and find nothing; then I will tell them of zones beyond the mind, and of what can be discovered when one goes within: mental silence. I'll talk about a practical discipline. That was my idea. My idea isn't to give an abstract explanation but to take up yoga from a practical angle: try to do this, and here's what you may exp ...
... sort of annihilation? No. It's a total tranquilization, but not an annihilation. ( long silence Mother tunes in to Satprem ) You probably enter into the state of pure Existence. First mental silence, then pure Existence, Existence outside of the Manifestation: the state of Sat . It is pure Existence, outside of the Manifestation. Whenever we've meditated together, I've always had the ...
... you have to say? Nothing, Mother. Nothing happened to you?... I was hoping it would have helped you at least a little! Nothing happened? No. Well, never mind. Still too mental. ( silence ) So if you like, we can remain quiet. Don't you have anything to ask? No news? You said "still too mental," do you mean...? It means that instead of receiving directly, you see, ...
... any thoughts at all, and it was in that condition of Nirvanic Silence that I went first to Poona and then to Bombay. Everything seemed to me unreal, I was absorbed in the One Reality.’ 2 This mental silence would never leave him anymore. In three days he had a realization attempted and not always obtained by advanced yogis in a lifetime. A certain predisposition must have lain dormant in him. From ...
... intellectual passivity, the power of dismissing all thought, the power of the mind not to think at all, is demanded of all those who would like to possess the truths of the self. But this luminous mental silence should not be confounded with the subject's incapacity for thought. To quote Sri Aurobindo: "This power of silence is a capacity and not an incapacity, a power and not a weakness. It is ...
... the lotus urn. I sent 200 Francs to Nata—as I did not know how to forward it to you. Nata should give them to you "for the Lotus". I asked many questions to Pourna about the Mother, the Yoga, mental silence, etc... I hope she did not mind too much. This is to learn, in the end, that questions are not to carry any more—not even what Mother will want me to do. You know my heart is at the Matrimandir—I ...
... meditates with your music at the Playground? This music aims at awakening certain profound feelings. In listening to it, one should make oneself as silent and passive as possible. And if, in the mental silence, a part of the being can take the attitude of the witness who observes without reacting or participating, then one can notice the effect that the music produces on the feelings and emotions; and ...
... clear. There is another phenomenon which is considered spiritual, but which is spiritual only indirectly: it is when you find yourself near someone who has controlled his thought and achieved mental silence. You suddenly feel this silence coming down into yourself and something which was impossible for you half an hour earlier suddenly becomes a reality. This is a rather unusual phenomenon. "There ...
... Signed : Satprem Page 319 × Lele : the tantric guru whom Sri Aurobindo met in 1908 and who gave him mental silence and Nirvana. ...
... have nothing happening! It is so difficult to have nothing happening. Yes, but if I may say so, that's exactly what I've been working towards all these years. I had read in Sri Aurobindo: mental silence, tranquillity, peace... and so that's what I've been striving for. I mean, I think I've got it now—when I meditate, it's tranquil. Page 212 Oh, yes! Certainly. It doesn't stir—but ...
... achieved by several spiritual aspirants. Though my comparison was mistaken it was in the same universe of dis- Page 253 course: your lumping together an almost initial thing like mental silence with a supreme and ultimate, hitherto-unaccomplished thing like bodily supramentalisation was like comparing "a Hyperion to a satyr", as your favourite store of quotations would say. However, I ...
... ( Mother touches her body ) I can't say. If He wants, certainly He will find a way for it to hold out. But the thing is rather new.... ( silence ) My only method is a kind of shield of mental silence (in the ordinary mind), so that all the people's thoughts do not come and pester me all the time, without letup. But they creep underneath! With some people, the moment they enter the room, I feel ...
... that you should keep in that stability. It's difficult to put it into words. But if you are able to do that, it could do you good, it could be restful. My experience, you see, is that his mental silence is rigid—rigid, closed—but the mental substance, the brain's physical substance really rests, his silence can rid you of a headache, for instance. It's a very, very material vibration, he has ...
... progress. (1) He is right in thinking that an inner calm and silence must be the foundation, not only of external work but of all inner and outer activities. But the quieting of the mind in a mental silence or inactivity although often useful as the first step, is not sufficient. The mental must be changed first into deeper spiritual peace Shanti, and then into the supramental calm and silence full ...
... luminous idea that will serve as a guide in life; Thought control, rejection of undesirable thoughts so that one may, in the end, think only what one wants and when one wants; Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being. Multiplicity of ideas, richness of ideas, totality of points of view -- these ...
... iv.Caterpillar and its mutation into butterfly; v.Magic of words; vi.Process of understanding; vii.Mystery of the human body; viii.Mystery of consciousness; ix.Wonder of mental silence; x.Wonder of rhythm; xi.Wonder of Nature's beauty; xii.Architectural wonders of the world; xiii.Wonder and power of smile; xiv.Wonder of flowers; xv.Wonder of twinkling ...
... serve as a guide in life; Thought control, rejection of undesirable thoughts so that one may, in the end, think only what one wants and when one wants; and Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being. Multiplicity of ideas, richness of ideas, totality of points of view - ...
... subordinate characteristics, the teacher will guide students to arrive ultimately at developing the fourfold personality of knowledge, power, harmony and skill. 8. Emphasis on the power of mental silence The secret of all learning is concentration, and concentration is best developed by cultivating quietude, tranquillity, silence and peace of the mind. Yogic experience affirms that knowledge ...
... forget all about them! There is very often a complaint of this kind made during the course of the sadhana. I suppose that the usual action of memory is for a time suspended by the mental silence or else by the physical tamas. How then is life to be carried on? The Mother's Force reminds me of what is to be done at the right time. That happens. The memory ...
... is near. Thursday, February 11, 1926 I must indeed have confused two movements: quieting my dynamic mind and going out of my body. Consequently, I had to work all over again to get mental silence. I can get it, though not always, for the dynamic mind is very active and I am always obliged to supervise it. I attain also a kind of relative peace: I am motionless, attentive, in a sort of ...
... inspiration and by inspiration we mean that which comes down or is sent down. The ideal condition for the descent of this power is a perfectly silent mind. In our Yoga too, we lay great stress on mental silence and quietude. One of the ways of obtaining such a silence is Pranayama. It is a subtle science and, if it is rightly followed, it can help us enormously in our progress. But, on the other hand ...
... Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol. 3 Mental Silence NORMALLY the mind is in 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 ...
... receive that allows to hold, is to abandon oneself passively. If you can make that movement when you are before me, things will go faster. 2.10.1969 I see more and more the necessity of mental silence, but it is a difficult thing for me. You are not the only one to find it difficult. For more than four years I tried to get it without total result, and it is Sri Aurobindo who gave it ...
... movement of ascent and descent, and it will surely come in time. These things often take a long time to begin visibly, especially when the mind is accustomed to be very active and has not the habit of mental silence. When that is the case, much work has to be carried on behind the veil of the mind and the sadhak thinks nothing is happening when really much preparation is being done. If you want a more swift ...
... about her music in Mother India , May 1960, p. 42: This music aims at awakening certain profound feelings. To hear it one should make oneself as silent and passive as possible. And if, in the mental silence, a part of the being can take the attitude of the witness who observes without reacting or participating, then one can take account of the effect which the music produces on the feelings and emotions; ...
... first, the falling to rest of the habitual thought movements, thought formations, thought currents which agitate this mind-substance. That repose, vacancy of movement, is for many a sufficient mental silence. But, even in this repose of all thought movements and all movements of feeling, one sees, when one looks more closely at it, that the mind-substance is still in a constant state of very subtle ...
... with or imitated by the lower, and that is a bother and a hindrance. So the silence is necessary. The automatic mind is a part of the lower action, it can only stop by the acquirement of mental silence or the descent of a higher consciousness. The Mental World of the Individual As he [ the human being ] lives in a separative consciousness, he makes a mental world of his own out of his ...
... the ascetic Yoga which refuses life, is evidently not our aim. By the alternative choice we can have an activity perfect enough in outward appearance along with an entire inner passivity, peace, mental silence, indifference and cessation of the emotions, absence of choice in the will. To the ordinary mind this does not seem possible. As, emotionally, it cannot conceive of activity without desire ...
... movement of ascent and descent; it will surely come in time. These things can take a long time to begin visibly, especially when the mind is accustomed to be very active and has not the habit of mental silence. When that veiling activity is there, much work has to be carried on behind the mobile screen of the mind and the sadhak thinks nothing is happening when really much preparation is being done. ...
... descent of a wide peace from above and in that wide tranquillity the realisation of the silent Self above the mind spread out in its vastnesses everywhere. Only, when there is the peace and the mental silence, the vital mind tries to rush in and occupy the place or else the mechanical mind tries to raise up for the same purpose its round of trivial habitual thoughts. What the sadhaka has to do is to ...
... disturbed. All the values of the mind are constructions of ignorance—it is only when your psychic being comes forward that you have the true knowledge—for your psychic being knows. Knowledge and Mental Silence That [ incessant activity ] is always the difficulty with the mind. It must learn to be silent and let the knowledge come without trying to catch hold of it for its own play. The turmoil ...
... doing my own sadhana and not putting out any spiritual influence on others—only if anybody asked me, I told him what to do, the result of his effort was his own affair. 17 August 1936 Giving Mental Silence I wrote something on the subject of peace, which I showed to X. He said there were many errors in it, particularly where I wrote about philosophers and the silence. There was no error. ...
... associating the words that constantly move about like passers-by in a public square, and to contemplate an idea in silence. I emphasise this fact because there are quite a few people who, when mental silence has been transmitted to them by occult means, are immediately alarmed and afraid of losing their intelligence. Because they can no longer think, they fear they may become stupid! But to cease thinking ...
... experience would be better - of the true intuitive intellectual attitude, and - naturally the capacity would be still more preferable at least the knowledge that the true way of knowing is mental silence, an attentive silence turned towards the truer Consciousness, and the capacity to receive what comes from there. The best would be to have this capacity; at least, it should be explained that it ...
... quite silent and immobile but that, all the same, here, in the heart something vibrates and throbs. This usually proves that one is pretty divided. But many people are divided. One can indeed have mental silence and not have peace in the heart. It can very well happen that the mind is quite silent and immobile, but that, despite this, there are still tremblings in the nerves which continue vibrating and ...
... power a certain difficulty had been removed), but after a few days he brought it back with enthusiasm. He said, "But without that I do not exist any longer!" I have known people who had been given mental silence almost spontaneously and who, after a day or two, came back frightened: "Have I Page 332 become an idiot?"—for the mental machine was not working all the time.... You cannot imagine ...
... do so, with persistence and obstinacy. By doing every day a mental exercise of reading, organisation and development. This should alternate in the course of the day with exercises of mental silence and concentration. 1 June 1966 * Sweet Mother, What are knowledge and intelligence? Do they play important roles in our life? Knowledge and intelligence are ...
... quiet every day. Take one of Sri Aurobindo's books. Read a sentence or two. Then remain silent and concentrated to understand the deeper meaning. Try to concentrate deeply enough to obtain mental silence and begin again daily until you obtain a result. Naturally you should not fall asleep. 3 February 1972 * If one reads Sri Aurobindo carefully one finds the answers to all ...
... meditates with your music at the Playground? This music aims at awakening certain profound feelings. To hear it one should make oneself as silent and passive as possible. And if, in the mental silence, a part of the being can take the attitude of the witness who observes without reacting or participating, then one can take account of the effect which the music produces on the feelings and emotions; ...
... closest to the reality. The teachers should do that. It would be very useful instead of ( gesture of going round and round in the head ). ( Silence ) I don't know whether you have tried to get mental silence. You can spend your whole life on that and achieve almost nothing, whereas this is extremely interesting. At first nothing happens. You must stay like that: not actively—be in an aspiration ...
... By wanting to, with persistence and obstinacy. By doing daily a mental exercise of reading, organisation and development. This must alternate in the course of the day with exercises of mental silence in concentration. 1 June 1966 Page 398 × The annual demonstration of physical culture. ...
... Sejda , 6 Sri Aurobindo × Lele, a tantric guru Sri Aurobindo met in 1908, who gave him the realization of mental silence and Nirvana. × Rama, the divine Avatar who killed the demon Ravana with the help of Hanuman and ...
... force as well—essentially, of course, they are differences in quality. I've been observing all this in a neuro-physical realm, subtle-physical, that is—but it's still physical—and in a complete mental silence where all judgments (you know, "judgments") have disappeared, along with a certain way of observing things. That's why I can't talk about it. These vibrations have various qualities; if they ...
... Ed., Vol. V, p. 151 . × The tantric guru Sri Aurobindo met in 1907 and from whom he received mental silence. ...
... say, everything the other's going to feel—then how could I do it! There are still many hundreds of years to go before it becomes entirely what Sri Aurobindo describes—there's no hurry! The mental silence Sri Aurobindo gave you in 1914, about which you were speaking the other day ... It has never left. I have always kept it. Like a smooth white surface turned upwards. And at any moment at all ...
... saying it is final, far from it, but it's much more under control. The cessation lasted perhaps an hour or two, I don't remember, but its activity isn't so mechanical anymore. You know that sort of mental silence in which everything falls flat ( immobile, horizontal gesture ); well, it can now be done with this material mind—it falls flat, turned upward. But it is a beginning, just the beginning. ...
... generally it doesn't last with people, even the best disposed in the world: after a while, they can't hold on—they can't bear it any more. And the remarkable thing with him was the silence. The mental silence. The other times, I told you, I more or less followed him to see what happened. The first time I saw him here [in the upper room], his aspiration rose in a cone, but a cone that was a little ...
... (the experience would be better) of the true intuitive intellectual attitude, and ... (naturally, the capacity would be still preferable) but in any case the knowledge that the true way to know is mental silence: an attentive silence turned towards the truer Consciousness, and the capacity to receive what comes from there. The best would be to have that capacity; in any case, it should be explained that ...
... the School 2 —there's a very clear personal reaction. And then, those photos... I think that's quite exceptional. I felt something in the brain. You know that since Sri Aurobindo gave me mental silence, it has been absolutely still; it never started up again as before, and the consciousness has been there ( gesture above Mother ), working from there. But then after Pavitra came here, something ...
... the immediate past. A greater readiness of essential doubt and sceptical reserve; a habit of mental activity as a necessity of the nature which makes it more difficult to achieve a complete mental silence; a stronger turn towards outside things born of the plenitude of active life; a habit of mental and vital self-assertion and sometimes an aggressively vigilant independence which renders difficult ...
... is not true. If the Force works from behind and one is conscious of it, then too one gains by the work. How can the mind be stopped from interfering with the work? Once the mental silence is attained, then in that the mental Page 140 thoughts can be replaced by some vision and intuition regarding the work. For the last three days my mind has ...
... greater light which belongs to a higher plane of spiritual cognizance." (p. 679) Here ends our essay on the sadhana of the Mind. There are, of course, two other stages: (i) Establishment of mental silence; and (ii) Ascent of consciousness beyond normal mind into the 'spiritual mind planes'; and, then, further on to Supramental Gnosis and beyond. But these sadhana s are not meant for us who are ...
... supremely luminous idea that will serve as a guide in life. 4) Thought control, rejection of undesirable thoughts, to become able to think only what one wants and when one wants. 5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the being."** ___________________ *Sri Aurobindo: A System of National Education ...
... It is not sufficiently recognised as to what a great help can be obtained in developing faculties and powers by habituating the mind to mental quietude, mental calm, mental tranquillity, mental silence and mental peace. Our ancient seers had discovered the potency of the intellect when through meditative processes of silence, the intellect can be united with the higher faculties of knowledge ...
... that takes the lead, even though that lead may not be really recognized or acknowledged in every yogic endeavour, particularly when the path of ascension from Mind is directed upwards towards the mental silence and quietistic realization of the Self or when the emphasis in the yogic endeavour is sought to be developed mainly by the aid of cosmic powers and cosmic Beings or Gods of the higher planes. It ...
... , and from above, from the higher planes, all that had to be written came down, all ready, and he had only to move his fingers on the typewriter and it was transcribed. It was in this state of mental silence which allows the knowledge — and even the expression —from above to pass through that he wrote the whole Arya, with its sixty-four printed pages a month. This is why, besides, he could do it ...
... writings in the Bande Mataram but his later writings in the Karmayogin, and the Arya, his correspondence etc. as well as Savitri and the poems he wrote in Pondicherry all arose out of this mental silence. He told us once: 'You just become an instrument, you have no responsibility of your own. It is a state of great ease and peace.' Shortly after his return, Sri Aurobindo wrote another letter ...
... Sweet Mother Mental Silence Mother, how to silence the mind? How to quieten the mind completely? Ah! this is very easy. It is the first step in yoga. There are some means which are very effective. First of all, you must sit quietly, without moving, absolutely quiet, and try not to think about anything at all. Absolutely nothing, and try to concentrate ...
... 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 ...
... that will serve as a guide in life. (4) Thought control, rejection of undesirable thoughts so that one may, in the end, think only what one wants and when one wants. (5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more total receptivity of inspirations coming from higher regions of the being. It is not possible to give here all the details concerning the methods ...
... only to sting Him promptly into the right response. For two or three more days the sovereign self-luminous will is seemingly in abeyance. The mind seems restless, and instead of the old "sweet mental silence", there is the active mind indulging in its pastimes of analysis, classification, appraisal, choice and constant reaction. "I am exiled from every spiritual happiness," but Mirra will not wholly ...
... the mechanism, to use her favorite word. Continuously, through everything, She was learning that limpidity is the supreme mastery of everything, including poetry. Sri Aurobindo would call it "mental silence." When all is silent, the vibrations pass clearly, undistorted, through the limpidity of consciousness, in accordance with their right rhythm, which is also the right power and right action at ...
... the great play of the world. We even realize that to cease thinking is a far superior accomplishment io being able to unreel thoughts endlessly—and it requires a much greater development. 32 Mental silence (or mental transparency, according to her favorite expression) is the first crack in the carapace that blocks the future from us—it is the human counterpart of the ape’s absent-minded minute between ...
... say so, have a very direct perception of Matter’s oneness. Like Sri Aurobindo, She was beginning to expand everywhere: I feel I have no more limits, She noted, only a few days after receiving mental silence from Sri Aurobindo. There is no longer the perception of the body, no sensations, no feelings, no thoughts A clear, pure, tranquil immensity, permeated with love and light, filled with an unutterable ...
... First arrest of Sri Aurobindo. 1908 Divorce from Henri Morisset. Mother moves to 49 rue de Levis. January: Sri Aurobindo meets the tantric yogi Vishnubhaskar Lele. Realization of mental silence and Nirvana. May 2, the “Alipore Bomb Case”: imprisonment of Sri Aurobindo for one year. 1910 February, Sri Aurobindo escapes to Chandernagor, in French India. April 4, Sri Aurobindo ...
... meditates with Your music at the Playground? This music aims at awakening certain profound feelings. In listening to it, one should make oneself as silent and passive as possible. And if, in the mental silence, a part of the being can take the attitude of the witness who observes without reacting or participating, then one can notice the effect that the music produces on the feelings and emotions; and ...
... come from outside and cross the mind as a flight of birds crosses the sky in a windless air. It passes, disturbs nothing, leaving no trace." Mother said candidly that she had tried complete mental silence but had not succeeded. "I had tried, but couldn't do it. I could be silent when I wanted to, but as soon as I stopped thinking solely of that, stopped wanting only that, the invasion resumed, and ...
... what one wants to say, one can choose these twelve aspects or twelve others, or give them different names. The same aspect can be named in different ways. This does not have the fixity of a mental theory. ( Silence ) According to the angle from which one sees the creation, one day I may describe twelve aspects to you; and then another day, because I have shifted my centre of observation, I may describe... influence of the psychic poise. The psychic is always balanced. But the being is not always under the influence of the psychic which brings the balance. The influence of the psychic gives the balance. ( Silence ) How can one know that the psychic being is in front? My child, when it happens, one understands. It is exactly so long as one doesn't understand that it means that it hasn't come. This is... silent, must observe yourself very clearly. And you must be very humble; that is, be willing not to play a great part in all this story. The misfortune is that usually either the vital being or the mental being or even the physical being is very anxious to play a part, very anxious. So it swells up, takes up a lot of place, covers the rest; and it covers it so well that one can't even become aware of ...
... Last year, too. Because I've noticed that in this Consciousness there is something like that: suddenly it comes, oh! and it feels like striking. Especially when I contact mental pettiness. ( silence ) The people who play this music, are they the same who take drugs? Yes. Then it must be in the vital. Oh, it's quite vital, no doubt. But they have the perception that the... so as to know... but I don't need to hear a lot. That's what I told him. I need a few minutes of it. Exactly. He wanted to have you hear it for an hour! ( Mother laughs heartily, silence ) Page 111 I've often wondered what's the true attitude towards all those people who come and see me.... You could be in meditation. ( Ironically ) You'll make a reputation for yourself... free only if one is united with the Supreme; and to be united with the Supreme, one must have no more desires! Oh, all that [i.e., desires] was necessary, but... one can't remain stuck there. ( silence ) No news of P.L.? No. We have gone a little beyond the times when someone could be locked up.... They can tell him he has "fallen from Christianity," but I think he doesn't care. Or does ...
... rather than one you make an effort to have; well, effort, that kind of tension of the will in the being, must also be something spontaneous, and not the result of a more or less inopportune mental decision. ( Silence ) Any other question? No? No one has anything to say? Mother, when one wants to go beyond the mind, if one lets go the mind acting (incorrect text) 1 and the influence from above... the desires are abolished. So long as one is a being of desire, one cannot feel the Ananda; even were a force of Ananda to descend, it would immediately be falsified by the presence of desires. ( Silence ) ( Mother unfolds a sheet of paper. ) Here I have a question Page 369 referring to what we said last time about effort, personal effort. The question is this: "In the inner life... elementary life of man, all the qualities belonging to the animal nature, especially those of the body, were indispensable, otherwise man would not have existed. But when man has become a conscious, mental being, everything that binds him to his animal origin necessarily becomes a hindrance to progress and to the liberation of the being. So, for everyone—except for those who are born free, and this ...
... the burning lamps, the burning light ... superior to reality: "Isn't this superior?" And the symbol of it was so clear to me that I was astounded. It is, so to speak, the acme of mental evolution. ( silence ) The Lord makes use of everything, and He has no fear. He makes use of everything. It's interesting, very interesting. How He has used the gods, how He uses everything, how He... manifests here or there or there ... ( silence ) Some people are completely taken by Y. But there are others who are conscious and went to her group once never to set foot there again. From the start I've had a sense of recoil from her.... The ego's hardness, that's it. Yes, with a wholly benevolent mask. Very interesting. ( long silence ) But the gods have a divine ego. That's... beautiful than material reality?..." And that was the artistic construction—mental, artistic—which was "more beautiful than reality." That's it, the guiding idea of the person in question. That's it you see; "Isn't this more beautiful than real nature?" There. It was very beautiful, a beautiful thing, but ... it's the mental fossilization of the Thing. It was very interesting—unexpected, I didn't expect ...
... the appearance of an automaton; yet, on the contrary, the consciousness is so acute, it's the exact opposite of absence! The consciousness is so awake, so awake—awake—but not mentalized, without mental interference. ( silence ) But all this is the psychological plane, it's very comfortable; as soon as you come down to Matter... you feel the work is endless! You feel Page 180 you're... will be done in a flash—maybe it's waiting for the moment. ( long silence ) Well. We'll see. Would it be in the direction of a materializing power?... But those materializations aren't permanent, they have no permanence. Yet Sri Aurobindo doesn't speak of "materialization," he speaks of transformation. ( silence ) Well. We will see. Anyway, everything depends on you. Thank... Thank you! ( laughing ) Thank you for the responsibility. ( silence ) Page 177 But the cells are an already very developed thing, in the sense that they are a form of LIFE in Matter; they are a form of life, they're not purely material, inert Matter.... You see, as long as all those things are on the psychological plane, it's very comfortable; very comfortable in the sense that you ...
... Because I have noticed that there's something like that in this Consciousness: all of a sudden it comes like that, oh, it wants to strike! Especially when I come in contact with mental pettiness. (silence) Are the people who make that music the same ones who take drugs? Yes. Then it must be in the vital. Oh, it's very vital, without doubt! But they sense... wants to teach in Auroville, and she's fine, at least her mental position is good. So together they are going to begin (laughing): there are five children! Some interesting people have come to Auroville, really people who are looking for something.... So I'm letting them simmer up there to see what comes out of it! (silence) You know the former prince of Kashmir? [Name]? He... before complaining about the faults of others, and to correct oneself first before insisting that others correct themselves (I put it in a more... literary way), I sent it to him. Since then, silence, total silence: Page 128 I don't exist any more - I am not giving my support to all their little quarrels, so I don't exist any more. But that's a way of kneading dough.... They will either ...
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