object:0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher
book class:Some Answers From The Mother
author class:The Mother
subject class:Integral Yoga
class:chapter
Series Nine
Series Nine
Letters to a Young Teacher
To a young teacher in the Sri Aurobindo International Centre
of Education.
Sweet Mother,
With what attitude should I read Sri Aurobindo’s
books when they are difficult and when I don’t understand? Savitri, The Life Divine, for example.
Read a little at a time, read again and again until you have
understood.
*
Sri Aurobindo says: “Yoga is nothing but practical psychology.”1 What does this sentence mean? The whole
paragraph is not clear to me.
Because you know nothing about psychology. Study psychology
and you will understand what he means.
*
Sri Aurobindo says: “In whatever form and with whatever spirit we approach him, in that form and with that
spirit he receives the sacrifice.”2 What does this mean?
It means that all we offer, we necessarily offer to the Supreme,
because He is the sole Reality behind everything.
*
The Synthesis of Yoga, SABCL, Vol. 20, p. 39.
Ibid., p. 102.
Sri Aurobindo has written: “He who chooses the Infinite
has been chosen by the Infinite.”3 And what about the
others, Mother? What good is life if the Divine does not
want us? I believe that in truth the Divine has chosen us
all; but what does this sentence mean, then?
In truth the Divine has chosen everyone and everything, and
everyone and everything will return to Him. But for some it will
take thousands of lives, while for others it will happen in this
very lifetime. This is what makes the difference.
23 May 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
You have said that I do not think well. How can one
develop one’s thought?
You must read with much attention and concentration, not
novels or dramas, but books that make you think. You must
meditate on what you have read, reflect on a thought until you
have understood it. Talk little, remain quiet and concentrated,
and speak only when it is indispensable.
1 June 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
You have asked the teachers “to think with ideas
instead of with words”.4 You have also said that later on
you will ask them to think with experiences. Will you
throw some light on these three ways of thinking?
Our house has a very high tower; at the very top of this tower
there is a bright and bare room, the last before we emerge into
the open air, into the full light.
The Synthesis of Yoga, SABCL, Vol. 20, p. 47.
On Education, CWM, Vol. 12, p. 185.
Series Nine – To a Young Teacher
Sometimes, when we are free to do so, we climb up to this
bright room, and there, if we remain very quiet, one or more
visitors come to call on us; some are tall, others small, some
single, others in groups; all are bright and graceful.
Usually, in our joy at their arrival and our haste to welcome
them, we lose our tranquillity and come galloping down to rush
into the great hall that forms the base of the tower and is the
storeroom of words. Here, more or less excited, we select, reject,
assemble, combine, disarrange, rearrange all the words in our
reach, in an attempt to portray this or that visitor who has come
to us. But most often, the picture we succeed in making of our
visitor is more like a caricature than a portrait.
And yet if we were wiser, we would remain up above, at
the summit of the tower, quite calm, in joyful contemplation.
Then, after a certain length of time, we would see the visitors
themselves slowly, gracefully, calmly descend, without losing
anything of their elegance or beauty and, as they cross the
storeroom of words, clothe themselves effortlessly, automatically, with the words needed to make themselves perceptible
even in the material house.
This is what I call thinking with ideas.
When this process is no longer mysterious to you, I shall
explain what is meant by thinking with experiences.
1 June 1960
*
My dear child, I have just read your good letter. Fear nothing:
those who are sincere in their aspiration will remain here and
receive all the help needed to be able to change in themselves
what needs to be changed. You can be sure that my force will
always be with you so that you can make all the progress you
want to make.
Have confidence, my child; everything will be all right.
5 June 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Sri Aurobindo speaks of a “central knot of desires”
which must be cut. How can one do it, where should
one start?
The central knot of desires is the sense of separate personality;
it is the ego. With the disappearance of the ego, the desires
disappear.
13 June 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
One day in class you said, with your hands wide
open, that we should give you everything, even our defects and vices and all the dirt in us. Is this the only way
to get rid of them, and how can one do it?
One keeps one’s defects because one hangs on to them as if
they were something precious; one clings to one’s vices as one
clings to a part of one’s body, and pulling out a bad habit
hurts as much as pulling out a tooth. That is why one does
not progress.
Whereas if one generously makes an offering of one’s defect,
vice or bad habit, then one has the joy of making an offering
and one receives in exchange the force to replace what has been
given, by a better and truer vibration.
13 June 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
It happens that when we love You deeply and are
intimately in contact with You, we have the impression
that the Divine belongs to us exclusively (and not that
we belong to Him). Why?
Series Nine – To a Young Teacher
The two are equally true and they ought to be felt simultaneously. But human egoism always has the tendency to take rather
than to give. This is where that impression comes from.
3 July 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
It is much easier for me to approach You than to
approach Sri Aurobindo. Why? You are all that Sri Aurobindo is for us, as well as a divine and loving Mother. So
is it necessary to try to establish the same relation with
him?
You yourself have answered your own question. I am for you
a mother who is very close to you, who loves and understands
you; that is why it is easy for you to approach me with a loving
confidence, without fear and without hesitation. Sri Aurobindo
is always there to help you and guide you; but it is natural that
you should approach Him with the reverence due to the Master
of Yoga.
3 July 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
What exactly is the soul or psychic being? And what
is meant by the evolution of the psychic being? What is
its relation to the Supreme?
The soul and the psychic being are not exactly the same thing,
although their essence is the same.
The soul is the divine spark that dwells at the centre of each
being; it is identical with its Divine Origin; it is the divine in
man.
The psychic being is formed progressively around this divine
centre, the soul, in the course of its innumerable lives in the
terrestrial evolution, until the time comes when the psychic being, fully formed and wholly awakened, becomes the conscious
sheath of the soul around which it is formed.
And thus identified with the Divine, it becomes His perfect
instrument in the world.
16 July 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
You have said that once we have found our psychic
being, we can never lose it. Isn’t that so? But can we
come into contact with it from time to time when we are
receptive?
When you have established contact with your psychic being, it
is, in effect, definitive.
But before this contact is established, you can, in certain
circumstances, consciously receive the psychic influence which
always produces an illumination in the being and has more or
less lasting effects.
16 July 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
The soul individualises itself and progressively transforms itself into a psychic being. What are the best
conditions for its rapid growth?
It would be more correct to say that the soul puts on a progressive individual form which becomes the psychic being. For since
the soul is itself a portion of the Supreme, it is immutable and
eternal. The psychic being is progressive and immortal.
All the methods of self-knowledge, self-control and selfmastery are good. You have to choose the one that comes to you
spontaneously and best corresponds to your nature. And once
Series Nine – To a Young Teacher
having chosen the method, you must use your intelligent will
to apply it with an unfailing perseverance that does not shrink
from any obstacle, any difficulty. It is a long and minute work
which must be undertaken with sincerity and continued with an
increasing sincerity ever more scrupulous and integral.
The easy paths generally lead nowhere.
28 July 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Does an outer life of evil deeds and a base consciousness have an effect on the psychic being? Is there
a possibility of its degradation?
A base and evil life can only have the effect of separating the
outer being more and more completely from the psychic being,
which retires into the depths of the higher consciousness and
sometimes even cuts off all relation with the body, which is then
usually possessed by an asuric or rakshasic being.
The psychic being itself is above all possibility of degradation.
28 July 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
How does the soul influence a being who is normally
unconscious?
The soul’s influence is a kind of radiance that penetrates through
the most opaque substances and acts even in the unconsciousness.
But then its action is slow and takes a very long time to
obtain a perceptible result.
31 July 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Sri Aurobindo says that the voice of the ordinary
conscience is not the voice of the soul. What is it then?
The voice of the ordinary conscience is an ethical voice, a moral
voice which distinguishes between good and evil, encourages us
to do good and forbids us to do evil. This voice is very useful
in ordinary life, until one is able to become conscious of one’s
psychic being and allow oneself to be entirely guided by it — in
other words, to rise above ordinary humanity, free oneself from
all egoism and become a conscious instrument of the Divine
Will. The soul itself, being a portion of the Divine, is above
all moral and ethical notions; it bathes in the Divine Light and
manifests it, but it can truly govern the whole being only when
the ego has been dissolved.
12 August 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
You have said that to be allowed to sit in Sri
Aurobindo’s room and meditate there, “one must have
done much for Him”.5 What do You mean by that,
Mother? What can one do for the Lord which will be
this “much”?
To do something for the Lord is to give Him something of what
one has or of what one does or of what one is. In other words,
to offer Him a part of our belongings or all our possessions, to
consecrate to Him a part of our work or all our activities, or to
give ourselves to Him totally and unreservedly so that He can
take possession of our nature in order to transform and divinise
it. But there are many persons who, without giving anything,
Words of the Mother – I, CWM, Vol. 13, p. 29.
Series Nine – To a Young Teacher
always want to take and to receive. These people are selfish and
they are not worthy of meditating in Sri Aurobindo’s room.
26 September 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
How are the messages that You give us on Blessings
days chosen? How should we read them and what new
things in particular should we look for in them?
The messages are usually chosen according to the occasion or
the need of the moment, so that each person may be able to find
in them either the force or the knowledge that will help him to
make progress.
In each one the will to progress is the needed thing — that
is what opens us to the divine influence and makes us capable
of receiving what it brings us.
26 September 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Sri Aurobindo tells us: “First be sure of the call and
of thy soul’s answer”6 before following the path of Yoga,
or else the end will be a disaster. But how can we know if
the call is really there or not? And as for our soul, would
it not always choose Yoga?
Sri Aurobindo means that one should not mistake a mental
ambition or a vital caprice for the spiritual call — for that alone
is a sure sign that one should take up Yoga. The spiritual call is
heard only when the time has come, and then the soul responds
and sets out on the path; it does not allow itself to be deceived by
any ambition, pride or desire, and so long as it does not receive
the Divine command to take up the path, it waits patiently,
The Hour of God and Other Writings, SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 39.
knowing that to start out too soon is useless, to say the least,
and may be harmful.
17 October 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Sri Aurobindo tells us: “God’s grace is more difficult
to have or to keep than the nectar of the Immortals.”7
What does this mean? Doesn’t the Divine Grace always
pour down on us, depending only on our receptivity?
The Grace is always there, eternally present and active, but Sri
Aurobindo says that it is extremely difficult for us to be in a
condition to receive it, keep it and make use of what it gives us.
Sri Aurobindo even says that it is more difficult than to
drink from the cup of the gods who are immortal.
To receive the divine grace, not only must one have a great
aspiration, but also a sincere humility and an absolute trust.
17 October 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Why isn’t it possible to live always on the same
height of consciousness? Sometimes I fall despite every
effort and aspiration.
Sri Aurobindo speaks of a “period of assimilation”.
What is it, Mother?
It is because an individual is not made up all of one piece, but
of many different entities which are sometimes even contrary to
one another: some want the spiritual life, others are attached to
the things of this world. To make all these parts agree and to
unify them is a long and difficult task.
The Hour of God and Other Writings, SABCL, Vol. 17, p. 40.
Series Nine – To a Young Teacher
The force and the light received by the more developed
parts spread gradually into the rest of the being by a process of
assimilation, and during this period of assimilation the progress
of the more developed parts seems to be interrupted. This is
what Sri Aurobindo has spoken of.
29 October 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Often it is possible to live moments of supreme
ecstasy because one is in contact with one’s Personal
Divine. How to approach the Transcendent Divine?
It is utterly certain that if you were truly in contact with “your
personal divine”, you would know perfectly well “how to approach the Transcendent Divine”. For the two are identical; it is
only the mode of approach that differs: one is through the heart,
the other through the mind.
29 October 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
In the last question, I expressed myself very poorly
and Your reply made me feel very insincere. What I
wanted to say is that in our best moments of receptivity,
we are in contact with a Presence to whom we feel an
imperative need to give ourselves and who is the object
of all our love and adoration. This Presence I have called
the “Personal Divine”, who is in fact none other than
You. I know that it is not possible to have a complete
conception of the Divine at this stage.
So now tell me, Mother, if it is possible to have an
idea of the “Transcendent Divine”.
My reply contained the answer to your question, for I understood very well that you were not claiming anything, but had
expressed yourself poorly.
To discover the Transcendent Divine one has to follow the
intellectual discipline, the way of knowledge, and by successive
eliminations arrive at the one sole Truth, the Absolute beyond
form and time and space. It is a long and difficult path, a very
arduous path.
Whereas with one’s heart, one can set out to discover the
Immanent Divine. And if one knows truly how to love, without
desire or egoism, one finds Him very soon, for always He comes
to meet you in order to help you.
12 November 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Sri Aurobindo tells us: “God in his perfection embraces everything; we also must become all-embracing.”
There is a lot of misunderstanding among the young
people about this sentence. What does it mean exactly?
It should be understood clearly that there is no question here
of any physical embracing, as practical jokers with the tastes
and habits of street-urchins might like to suggest and who seek
in what Sri Aurobindo has written an excuse for their excesses.
The divine embraces are embraces of soul and of consciousness,
and they can be reproduced among human beings only by a
widening of the consciousness, understanding and feelings — a
widening that enables you to understand everything and love
everything, without preference or exclusiveness.
26 November 1960
*
Series Nine – To a Young Teacher
Sweet Mother,
We are told that before the children came to the
Ashram, the conditions were a lot stricter and the discipline more rigorous. How and why have these conditions
changed now?
Before the children came, only those who wanted to do sadhana
were admitted to the Ashram, and the only habits and activities
tolerated were those that were useful for the practice of sadhana.
But as it would be unreasonable to demand that children
should do sadhana, this rigidity had to disappear the moment
the children were introduced into the Ashram.
26 November 1960
*
Sweet Mother,
Is it possible to love You perfectly, absolutely, before
finding the psychic being within us?
In terrestrial man, it is only the psychic being that knows true
love. As for perfect love, it exists only in the Divine.
26 April 1961
*
Sweet Mother,
In the New Year Message of 1961 You say: “This
wonderful world of delight waiting at our gates for our
call to come down upon earth... ” Will you please explain
this? Hasn’t it already come down?
It is not the world of delight that has come down, but only the
supramental Light, Consciousness and Force.
26 April 1961
*
Sweet Mother,
How can one most effectively call this wonderful
world of delight?
An absolute sincerity in the aspiration.
26 April 1961
*
Sweet Mother,
When this delight comes down, what will the visible
results be in the world?
A generalised goodwill and harmony.
26 April 1961
*
Sweet Mother,
These days they print your symbol and Sri Aurobindo’s name on all sorts of things, on all the thousand
and one little trifles of daily life which have to be thrown
away once they have served their purpose, as for example matchboxes, pencils, toothbrushes, combs, even the
borders of a sari, which are much trampled on. Is it good
to use these precious things in such a free and common
way?
And then what can we do with these things, Mother,
when we no longer need them? We can’t throw them
away. The old calendars, for example; we have a thick
pile of them.
The Lord is everywhere, in everything, in what we throw away
as in what we keep preciously, in what we trample on as in what
we adore. We must learn to live with respect and never forget
His constant and immutable Presence.
2 June 1961
*
Series Nine – To a Young Teacher
If you are speaking of calendars with photographs, it is preferable to cut out the photos, and if you do not want to keep them,
give them to X who makes good use of them.
And if you are telling me that the photos are damaged, this
will make you understand how necessary it is to take care of the
things we use. That is what I mean when I speak of living with
respect.
June 1961
*
Sweet Mother,
Is there a dynamic and rapid way to find one’s
psychic being and to raise one’s consciousness?
The only way that can be rapid is to think only of that and to
want only that.
It is effective, but not very practical for the work!
27 May 1963
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