He has become more sober, he doesnt speak so much anymore. You know he had made a prediction about M.s wife? What was her name? (Names its something rather odd: when people have left their body, their name goes away, I can no longer remember itits cut off, there is a break; I have to stop and let a sort of material memory come back, but in my consciousness its cut off, there isnt any name anymore: the name has gone away along with the bodywhich is quite as it should be, of course.) He had told her, Oh, you will live another ten years.The next month, she left. So I think it threw some cold water on him, because obviously people attach a great importance to those things. At any rate, he shouldnt have told her, because it interrupted all my workall my work was to make her unite with her soul before she went, so that all that could be taken along in the spiritual life would be taken along. And I was working at it, but then when the other one told her she was going to live ten years, naturally she wasnt in a hurry anymore! I lost at least ten days because of that. And she left the day after the contact was madeshe found her soul, she became quiet, very quiet and the next day she was gone.
I havent lost hope that X might be progressive. If he is progressive, all will be well. Maybe in two or three years he will be a new man with a new consciousness? The stuff is good.
I saw the other dayit was very interesting, the very day he was on his way here (I wasnt thinking of him I never think of people), suddenly I saw all that the knowledge of the pundits and those who profess to follow a spiritual life (the whole class of sannyasins, pundits, purohits,1 etc.), all that that represents. (I am not referring to religions in other countries: its specific to India.) And they are people who have a knowledge, a mental knowledge, of course, but very precise and very exact, of the movements in relation to the Overmind: all the gods and godheads and their ways of being and the relationships between men and gods; and they have tried to organize and formulate the relationships men have with gods so that, as was said in the past, men would not be the cattle of the godsthey have tried to change the human position with regard to deities. Its interesting, its a whole interesting field which to me does not represent the true thing. They on their part think that is spiritual lifeits not spiritual life, but it is a higher mental region which borders on the Overmind, which even enters into the Overmind, and which is completely organized; its a sort of legislation of the relationships between men and gods. From that point of view, its interesting.
I saw that very clearly: the place it has in the universal organization. And if its in its place, then its quite all rightwhen a thing is in its place it becomes very good.
And when X came, they took him to Auroville,2 and there is there a small Ganesh temple that was bought along with the land, on condition that the small temple be respected and people be allowed to come and offer prayers if they want to. They showed him the temple, he was very glad, then they asked him what should be done for the ritesOh, Ganesh will look after that, dont worry! (Mother laughs) He said that very nicely.
***
(Soon afterwards. The context in which Mother made the following remark has been forgotten.)
It seems Ramakrishna told Vivekananda, You can see the Lord just as you see me and hear His voice just as you hear my voice. Some people took this as a declaration that the Lord was on earth in the flesh (!) I said, No, thats not it! What he meant is that if you enter the true consciousness, you can hear Him I say, much more clearly than you hear physically and see Him much more clearly than you see physically.Oh, that Immediately their eyes open wide, it becomes something unreal!
***
Then Mother prepares the next aphorism:
110To see the composition of the sun or the lines of Mars is doubtless a great achievement; but when thou hast the instrument that can show thee a mans soul as thou seest a picture, then thou wilt smile at the wonders of physical Science as the playthings of babies.
Its the continuation of what we were saying about those who want to see.
Do the wonders of physical science make you smile?
The wonders are all very well, its their business (!) But its their overweening self-assurance that makes me smile. They think they know. They think they have the key, thats what makes one smile. It makes one smile. They think that with all that they have learned they are the masters of Natureits childish. There will always be something that eludes them as long as they arent in contact with the creative Force and the creative Will.
Its an experiment that can be done very easily: a scientist may explain all the phenomena before our eyes, he may even use physical forces and make them do whatever he likes (they have obtained amazing results from the material point of view), but if you just ask them this question, this simple question, What is death?, in reality, they have no idea. They will describe the phenomenon as it occurs materially, but if they are sincere, they are compelled to say that it doesnt explain anything.
There always comes a point when it no longer explains anything. Because to know to know is to have power.
(silence)
Ultimately, what materialistic thought finds easiest to admit is the fact that they cannot foresee. They foresee many things, but the course of world events is beyond their predictions. I think this is the only thing they can admit: there is a gray area, an area of the unpredictable that eludes all their calculations.
I have never spoken to the typical scientist having the most modern science, so I am not entirely sure, I dont know to what extent they admit the unpredictable or the incalculable.
What Sri Aurobindo means, I think, is that when you are in communion with the soul and have the souls knowledge, that knowledge is so much more wonderful than material knowledge that you almost smile with disdain. I dont think he means that the knowledge of the soul makes you know things of material life that science cant teach you.
The only point (I dont know if science has solved it) is the unpredictability of the future. But maybe they say thats because they havent yet reached the perfection of their instruments and methods! For instance, maybe they think that just when man appeared on the earth, if there had been the instruments they now have, they would have been able to foresee the transformation from animal to man, or the appearance of man as a result of something in the animal I am not aware (Mother smiles) of their most modern pretensions. In that case, they should be able to measure or perceive the difference in the atmosphere now, with the intrusion of something that wasnt therebecause that still belongs to the material field.3 But I dont think thats what Sri Aurobindo meant; I think he meant that the world of the soul and the inner realities are so much more wonderful than the physical realities that all the physical wonders make you smileits rather that.
But the key you speak of, that key they dont have, is it not precisely the soul? A power of the soul over Matter, a power to change Matterto work physical wonders, too. Does the soul have that power?
It has that power and it uses it CONSTANTLY, but the human consciousness is unaware of it! And the great difference is that the human consciousness becomes aware, but it becomes aware of something thats ALWAYS there! And which the others deny because they arent aware of it.
For instance, Ive had the opportunity of studying this: For me, circumstances, characters, all events and all beings move about according to certain laws, if I may say so, which arent rigid, but which I perceive and because of which I can see: This will lead to that, and that will lead there, and this person being like that, such-and-such a thing is going to happen to him, and Its growing increasingly precise. I could, if it were necessary, make predictions based on that. But the relation of cause and effect in that domain is, for me, absolutely obvious and corroborated by facts. While for them, who do not have that vision and that consciousness of the soul, as Sri Aurobindo says, circumstances unfold according to other, superficial laws, which they consider to be the natural consequences of things; quite superficial laws that do not stand up to a deeper analysis, but they dont have the inner capacity, so that doesnt bother them, they find it obvious.
I mean that this inner knowledge doesnt have the power to convince them, thats an experience I have almost every day. So that when, concerning some event or other, I see, Oh, but its perfectly, perfectly obvious (for me): I saw the Lords Force act there, I saw such-and-such a thing happen, and so, quite naturally, this is what must take place, for me, its as obvious as could be, but I dont tell what I know, because it doesnt correspond to anything in their experience, so to them its raving or pretension. Which means that when you havent had the experience yourself, anothers experience isnt convincing, it cannot convince you.
The power isnt so much of acting on Matter thats something happening CONSTANTLYbut unless hypnotic means are used (and they are worthless, they dont lead anywhere), the difficulty is to open the understanding (gesture of breaking free at the top of the head), thats what is so difficult. The thing which you havent experienced is nonexistent.
Even if in front of them a kind of miracle takes place, they will find a material explanation for it; to them, it wont be a miracle in the sense of the intervention of a force and power different from material forces and powers. They will find their own material explanation for it, it wont be convincing.
You can understand only if you have yourself touched that domain in your experience.
And you see very clearlyvery clearly: its insofar as something is awakened that there is the possibility of an understanding. This is the solid ground, its the base.
All in all, the question may not be so much a transformation of Matter as of becoming conscious of the true unfolding.
Thats precisely what I mean. The transformation can take place up to a point without your even being conscious of it!
You see, it is said that there is now a great difference, that when man came, the animal didnt have the means of taking notice; well, I say its exactly the same thing: in spite of all that man has realized, man doesnt have the means; certain things may happen, but he will know they did only much later, when something in him is sufficiently developed to enable him to take notice.
Even with scientific development taken to its utmost, to the point where one really feels there is almost no difference left, when, for instance, they reach the oneness of substance and there seems to remain just an almost insensible or imperceptible passage from one condition to the other [the material to the spiritual], well, no, its not like that! In order to perceive that sort of identity, you must carry already in yourself the experience of the OTHER THING; otherwise you cannot.
And precisely because they have acquired the capacity to explain, they explain for themselves the inner phenomena, so that they remain in their negation of inner phenomena: they say they are like extensions of what they have studied.
Only, owing to mans very constitution (because there is so to speak no human being who doesnt have at least a reflection or a hint or a beginning of relationship with his subtle, inner being, his soul), owing to that, there is always a flaw in their negation; but they consider it a weaknessand its their only strength!
(silence)
It is really when you have the experience the experience and knowledge and identity with the higher forces that you see the relativity of external knowledge; but before that, no, you cannot see, you deny the other realities.
I think this is what Sri Aurobindo meant; its only once the other consciousness is developed that the scientist will smile; he will say, Yes, this is all very nice, but
Basically, one cannot lead to the other. Except through a phenomenon of grace; if there is inwardly an absolute sincerity enabling the scientist to see, to have the foreknowledge, the perception of the point at which things elude him, then that may lead him to the other state of consciousness, but NOT THROUGH HIS METHODS. There must be something must give in something must give in and accept the new methods, the new perceptions, the new vibrations, the new state of soul.
Then its an individual question. It isnt a question of class or category: its the scientist who becomes ready to be something else.
(silence)
We can only state an assertion: all that you know, however beautiful it may be, is nothing in comparison to what you can know if you are able to use the other methods.
There.
(silence)
That has been the object of my work all these last few days: how to get at that refusal to know? It has been there for a long time. And its the sequel to what Sri Aurobindo said in one of his letters: he says that India, with its methods, has done much more for spiritual life than Europe with all her doubts and questions.4 Thats exactly the point. Its a kind of refusala refusal to accept a certain method of knowing that isnt the purely material method, and a negation of the experience, of the reality of the experiencehow can they be convinced of it? And then, there is Kalis method, which is to give a sound thrashing. But its a lot of damage for little result, if you ask me.
No, it is still a big problem.
It seems that the only method capable of overcoming all resistances is the method of Love; but in fact, the adverse forces have perverted it in such a way that a large quantity of sincere people, of sincere seekers, seem to be armor-plated against this method, because of its distortion. Thats the difficulty. Thats why it takes time. Anyway
Purohit: priest.
A first nucleus near the Great Lake.
When Satprem asked Mother whether this "something" was indeed the supramental Force, Mother answered this: "I'd rather not name it, because they will make a dogma out of it. It [this "something"] is what happened when what we called 'the first supramental manifestation' took place in 1956. I tried my best to prevent it from being turned into a dogma. But if I say, 'On such-and-such date, such-and-such a thing took place,' it will be printed in big characters, and if someone says something else, he will be told, 'You are a heretic.' So I don't want that. But it's undeniable that the atmosphere has changed, there is something new in the atmospherewe can call it 'the descent of the supramental Truth' because for us these words have a meaning, but I don't want to make a declaration about it, because I don't want it to be THE classic or 'true' way to describe the event. That's why I keep it vague, deliberately."
"After all India with her mentality and method has done a hundred times more in the spiritual field than Europe with her intellectual doubts and questionings. Even when a European overcomes the doubt and questioning, he does not find it as easy to go as fast and far as an Indian with the same force of personality because the stir of mind is still greater. It is only when he can get beyond that that he arrives, but for him it is not so easy.
"On the other hand however your statement is correct. It is 'natural considering the times' and the occidental mentality prevalent everywhere. It is also probably necessary that this should be faced and overcome before any supramental realisation is possible in the earth-consciousness for it is the attitude of the physical mind to spiritual things and as it is in the physical that the resistance has to be overcome before the mind can be overpassed in the way required for this yoga, the strongest possible representation of its difficulties was indispensable."
Bulletin, August 1965
***
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