classes ::: Agenda Vol 03, The Mother, Satprem, Integral Yoga, chapter,
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object:1962-02-03
book class:Agenda Vol 03
author class:The Mother
author class:Satprem
subject class:Integral Yoga
class:chapter


1962 Sat 3 February
February 3, 1962

(A visitor has written to Mother about her difficulties, saying she is the victim of a "collective karma.")

Those karma stories.

I often wonder, very often, whether it helps people to know their karma. I dont think it does.

I mean, if they themselves discover the experiences they had in their past life, then its part of a whole inner, psychic awakening, and very useful. But if some guru or other comes along and tells you, Here, this was your karma. I dont think its useful, to put it mildly!

If you discover the line of a former life on your own, thats different; its part of an inner, psychic awakening, and its very good. But I dont think its helpful when someone sees something and comes and tells you, You know, you have been this, you have done that. I feel it makes things worse instead of betterit puts you back in touch with things you were in the process of eliminating.

(silence)

This woman a collective karma! What rubbishabsolute humbug.

It may be true for some people, but not for her. If I hadnt seen her I might have been intrigued and tried to find out, but. A collective karma. Of course, there are all the links you have with people youve known in past lives; in that sense, yes, there is a collective karma! But really, people use such big words and big ideas for things that are actually quite natural.

Yet I found it helpful to have some understanding of what happened in my other lives.

Because you were here.

Because before you were told about your karma, I had already seen certain things about you and was trying to set you freenot from the thing itself, but from the tendency that remained in your nature. That, yes.

But Sujata, for example, was completely, COMPLETELY free of the whole (what shall I say?) what could be called the unhappy aspect of her karmacompletely free. For I know the people around me and what they carry with them very well, and there was nothingjust one thing remained, the one part that was rather constructive, so I had left that totally intact. And when the events of her past life were revealed to her, I took the greatest care to destroy the revelation as it was being given. And I did it ruthlessly. You see, it was like dumping a load of mud on someone completely unsullied, and I didnt let it happen (I couldnt stop what entered through her physical brain, but inwardly I utterly annihilated it). The only thing I left untouched was the constructive part of the bond that had existed between you two, and so when she met you, she. Thats all I left, because it was good, pure, lovelyit was good. But all the rest. And you saw how strongly I protested when I was told she had committed suicide. No, no, no! I said; even if somebody with perfect knowledge were to tell me so, Id still say NO.

She is untainted by all thatpure and I wont stand for someone pure to be soiled. She was so much my child that after her death everything was carefully cleansed, arranged, put back in place, organized, purified. So she returned unblemished and pure, and I dont want her soiled.

You see, a grace is actually working to drive those karmas away sometimes far, far away and its no good to call them back.

I have had dozens of similar examples.

In some instances, my work has been thoroughly mucked up, and I dont like that.

It happened again recently: K.s sister came because she had lost her sonit had just occurred and he was still here (he hadnt left yet). So I arranged everything, saw to the mothers condition and so forth; I arranged it all nicely, very carefully keeping the son here and telling his mother he would shortly return in some family member. Everything was well organized.

But naturally that was against the rules I make a habit of doing everything against the rules, otherwise there would be no point in my being here; the rules could just go on and on! So they went to see X. They shouldnt have said anything, but they did. And that was thatall sorts of things were said and my work was completely mucked up.

So now its all going according to rule, because thats the way it has to be. I am not bothering with it any more.

Myself, I have learned a lot of rules I didnt know before (thank God!)the divine Grace saved me from that whole hodgepodge of rules about how this happens and how that cant happen and how that must happen and how. Oh, good Lord! I saw things very simply, without a single rule in my brain, and so I did them just as simply, with no rules in my headit worked very, very well, I didnt run into any trouble. Things worked out quite naturally and simply. And if I was told, That cant beWell, sorry, I would say, but its already done.

That cant be. Sometimes it can!

(silence)

Besides, if you remember the beginning of Savitri (I read it only recently, I hadnt known it), in the second canto, speaking of Savitri, he says she has come (he puts it poetically, of course!) to (laughing) kick out all the rulesall the taboos, the rules, the fixed laws, all the closed doors, all the impossibilitiesto undo it all.

I went one better; I didnt even know the rules so I didnt need to fight them! All I had to do was ignore them, so they didnt exist that was even better.

But now I have first to undo and then redoa sheer waste of time.

In the lower mind there was a whole world of difficulties I was unaware of. In the vital I knew, because Id had to do battle therewhich was fine with me! Just imagine, this time I have been given a warrior as my vital being. A magnificent warrior, neither male nor female, and as tall as this room1he is splendid. I was so happy when I first saw him. Well, I thought, thats worth my while!

Yes, there are battles galore there!

Oh, by the way, how are your nights, mon petit? Because I have put you in my warriors hands, you see.

Better. More conscious, anyway.

Good!

Inwardly, I havent felt too great, so I dont get the full benefit, but my nights are more conscious.

Its he who made me remember; I have put you in his care.

Im glad. I can see that my consciousness is steadier. I feel clearly that something is helping me to be conscious.2 Where I go isnt so interesting, but that will change, I expect.

The point is to become conscious of ones activities and master of ones actions.

Thats the thing.

So, mon petit, have you brought anything? I am so lazy! Did you bring a question?

I havent really found a question.

(Satprem reads the following aphorism.)

71A thought is an arrow shot at the truth; it can hit a point, but not cover the whole target. But the archer is too well satisfied with his success to ask anything farther.

But thats obvious! So obvious (to us).

Yes, but how do you cover the whole target?

Stop being an archer!

The image is lovely. Its perfect for people who imagine they have found Truth. Its a good thing to tell those who think they have found the truth simply because theyve managed to touch one point.

Yet how many times have we said that thats not enough!

One might ask this: the day one is able to take in the whole target, in other words to know all viewpoints and the usefulness of each thing, then, seeing that everything is useful and has its place, how can one act? Doesnt action require one to be somehow exclusive or combative?

Well, so long as there are conflicting thoughts.

Did you ever hear the story of the philosopher who lived in the South of France? I dont recall his name, a very well-known man.

He was a professor at Montpellier University and lived nearby. And there were several roads leading to his house. This man would leave the university and come to the crossing where all those roads branched out, all eventually leading to his house, one this way, one that way, one from this side. So he himself used to explain how every day he would stop there at the crossroads and deliberate, Which one shall I take? Each had its advantages and disadvantages. So all this would go through his head, the advantages and disadvantages and this and that, and he would waste half an hour choosing which road to take home!

He gave this as an example of thoughts inadequacy for action: if you begin to think, you cant act.

This analogy is very apt down here on this plane, but for the higher realms it doesnt applyup there its just the opposite! As long as you remain the archer, touching one point, thats how it is; all intelligence below is like that, seeing all sorts of possibilities, so it cant make a choice and act. To see the whole target, the all-inclusive Truth, you must cross to the other side. And when you do, what you see is not the sum of countless truths, an innumerable quantity of truths added together and viewed one after another, making it impossible to grasp the whole at a glance; when you go above, its the whole you see first, AT A GLANCE, in its entirety, without division. So there is no longer any choice to be made; its a vision: THAT is to be done. The choice is no longer between this and that, it doesnt work that way any more. Things are no longer seen in succession, one after another; there is rather a simultaneous vision of a whole that exists as a unit. The choice is simply a vision.

As long as youre not in that state, you cant see the whole. The whole cant be seen successively, by adding one truth to another; this is precisely what the mind does, and why it is incapable of seeing the whole. It cant do it. The mind will always see things in succession, by addition, but thats not IT, something will always elude you the very sense of truth will elude you.

Only when you have a simultaneous, global perception of the whole as a unit can you see truth in its entirety.

Then, action is no longer a choice subject to error, correction, discussion, but the clear vision of what must be done. And this vision is infallible.

(silence)

But your question leads us elsewhere.

Wont this do for you! (Mother laughs.)

Yes, yes!
***

I would like to ask you something about my japa3. Do you feel its getting me anywhere? Is there any sense to it?

Thats what I have been studying these past two daysnot for you in particular, but the general effect of japa, the reason for it in the organization of ones life. I cant say I have made any discoveries (maybe for myself, I dont know); but my study is not on higher levels, its right here.

It would take too long to give the details; I can summarize, but I dont want to make a doctrine, and for it to be living its bound to be long.

For some time now I have been running into difficulties with my morning japa. Its complex. I wont go into details, but certain things seemed to be trying to interfere, either preventing me from going on to the end, or plunging me into a kind of trance that brought everything to a halt. So I began wondering what it was and why. A very, very long curve was involved, but the result of my observations is the following. (All this is purely from the bodys standpoint; I mean it doesnt concern the conscious, living, independent being that would remain the same even without the bodyto be exact, the being whose life, consciousness, freedom and action do not depend on the body. I am speaking here of that which needs the body for its manifestation; that alone was in question.)

There has been a kind of perception of a variety of bodily activities, a whole series of them, having to do exclusively (or so it seems) with the maintenance of the body. Some are on the borderlinesleep, for instance: one portion of it is necessary for good maintenance of the body, and another portion puts it in contact with other parts and activities of the being; but one portion of sleep is exclusively for maintaining the bodys balance. Then there is food, keeping clean, a whole range of things. And according to Sri Aurobindo, spiritual life shouldnt suppress those things; whatever is indispensable for the bodys well-being must be kept up. For ordinary people, all other bodily activities are used for personal pleasure and benefit. The spiritual man, on the other hand, has given his body to serve the Divine, so that the Divine may use it for His work and perhaps, as Sri Aurobindo said, for His joyalthough given the present state of Matter and the body, that seems to me unlikely or at best very intermittent and partial, because this body is much more a field of misery than a field of joy. (None of this is based on speculation, but on personal experience I am relating my personal experience.) But with work, its different: when the body is at work, its in full swing. Thats its joy, its needto exist only to serve Him. To exist only to serve. And of course, to reduce maintenance to a bare minimum while trying to find a way for the Divine to participate in the very restricted, limited and meager possibilities of joy this maintenance may give. To associate the Divine with all those movements and things, like keeping clean, sleeping (although sleep is different, its already a lot more interesting); but especially with personal hygiene, eating and other absolutely indispensable things, the attempt is to associate them with the Divine Presence so that they may be as much an expression of divine joy as possible. (This is realized to a certain extent.)

Now where does japa fit into all this?

Japa, like meditation, is a procedureapparently the most active and effective procedure for joining, as much as possible, the Divine Presence to the bodily substance. It is the magic of sound, you see.

Naturally, if theres also an awareness of the idea behind it, if one does japa as a very active CONSCIOUS invocation, then its effects are greatly multiplied. But the basis is the magic of sound. This is a fact of experience, and its absolutely true. The sound OM, for instance, awakens very special vibrations (there are other such sounds as well, but of course that one is the most powerful of all).

It is an attempt to divinize material substance.

From another, almost identical point of view, it fills the physical atmosphere with the Divine Presence. So time spent in japa is time consecrated to helping the material substance enter into more intimate rapport with the Divine.

And if one adds to this, as I do, a mantric program, that is, a sort of prayer or invocation, a program for both personal development and helping the collective, then it becomes a truly active work. Then theres also what I call external work: contact with others, reading and answering letters, seeing and speaking to people, and finally all the activities having to do with the organization and running of the Ashram (in meditation this work becomes worldwide, but physically, materially, it is limited for the moment to the Ashram).

In the course of my observation, I also saw the position of X and people like him, who practically spend their lives doing japa, plus meditation, puja,4 ceremonies (I am talking only about sincere people, not fakers). Well, thats their way of working for the world, of serving the Divine, and it seems the best way to themperhaps even the only way but its a question of mental belief. In any case, its obvious that even a bit of not exactly puja, but some sort of ceremony that you set yourself to dohabitual gestures symbolizing and expressing a particular inner statecan also be a help and a way of offering yourself and relating to the Divine and thus serving the Divine. I feel its important looked at in this waynot from the traditional viewpoint, I cant stand that traditional viewpoint; I understand it, but it seems to me like putting a brake on true self-giving to the Divine. I am speaking of SELF-IMPOSED japa and rules (or, if someone gives you the japa, rules you accept with all your heart and adhere to). These self-imposed rules should be followed as a gesture of love, as a way of saying to the Divine, I love You. Do you see what I mean? Like arranging flowers in a certain way, burning incense, dozens of little things like that, made beautiful because of what is put into themit is a form of self-giving.

Now, I think that doing japa with the will and the idea of getting something out of it spoils it a little. You spoil it. I dont much like it when somebody says, Do this and you will get that. Its trueits true, but its a bit like baiting a fish. I dont much like it.

Let it be your own manner of serving the Divine, of relating to Him, loving Him, of joining Him to your physical life, being close to Him and drawing Him close to you that way its beautiful. Each time you say the Word, let it be an invocation, let it be like the recitation of a word of love; then its beautiful.

Thats how I see it.

And so according to your mission in the world, you have to find for yourself the right proportion between this work and external, intellectual or organizational work; and then there are the bodys needs, which can be met in the same way, trying to make it possible for the Lord to take delight in them. I have seen this for trivial things: for example, making your bath a pleasant experience, or caring for your hair, or whatever (of course, its been a long time since there have been any of those stupid, petty ideas of personal pleasure), so that these things arent done indifferently, out of habit and necessity, but with a touch of beauty, a touch of charm and delight for the Lord.

There, thats all.

Mon petit (Mother gazes a long time at Satprem).

For me, you know, japa means a moment when all physical life is EXCLUSIVELY for the Divine. A moment when nothing but the Divine existsevery single cell of the body, each second, is EXCLUSIVELY for the Divine, there is nothing but the Divine.

When you succeed in doing that, its good.

Japa shouldnt become so exclusive that its done twenty-four hours out of twenty-four, because then its equivalent to asceticism but there should be a good dose of it.

Its almost the one luxury of life thats how it feels to me. The luxury of That alone, nothing but that divine vibration around you, within you, everywhere. Nothing but the divine vibration.

Now, thats luxury.

Voil, mon petit.

About 15 feet high.

In fact, without knowing anything, Satprem had sensed a kind of warrior, very luminous and white, reminding him of the god Kartik, son of the Universal Mother, armed with a spear. Later, Mother said that her vital being was a "diamond-warrior."

Japa: the continuous repetition of a mantra.

Puja: a ritual or ceremony to invoke or evoke a deity.

***
January 27, 1962


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