763 Integral Yoga
33 Poetry
30 Christianity
25 Occultism
24 Philosophy
16 Yoga
14 Education
13 Science
7 Fiction
3 Psychology
3 Integral Theory
2 Theosophy
2 Baha i Faith
1 Thelema
1 Mysticism
1 Hinduism
1 Buddhism
1 Alchemy
518 The Mother
302 Sri Aurobindo
256 Satprem
140 Nolini Kanta Gupta
21 Aleister Crowley
17 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
14 A B Purani
12 Plotinus
10 Walt Whitman
10 Swami Krishnananda
8 William Wordsworth
8 Plato
6 H P Lovecraft
5 Thubten Chodron
5 Swami Vivekananda
4 Nirodbaran
4 George Van Vrekhem
3 Paul Richard
3 Carl Jung
2 Sri Ramakrishna
2 Saint Teresa of Avila
2 Robert Browning
2 Peter J Carroll
2 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
2 Jalaluddin Rumi
2 Baha u llah
2 Alice Bailey
2 Aldous Huxley
56 The Synthesis Of Yoga
49 Prayers And Meditations
36 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
35 Letters On Yoga II
34 Letters On Yoga IV
34 Agenda Vol 08
31 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
31 Questions And Answers 1950-1951
31 Letters On Yoga III
30 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03
29 Questions And Answers 1956
26 Questions And Answers 1954
24 Questions And Answers 1953
23 The Life Divine
23 Agenda Vol 07
22 Questions And Answers 1955
22 Agenda Vol 04
20 On Thoughts And Aphorisms
20 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
20 Agenda Vol 10
20 Agenda Vol 06
20 Agenda Vol 05
20 Agenda Vol 01
17 Agenda Vol 12
16 On Education
16 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
16 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
16 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
16 Agenda Vol 13
15 Words Of The Mother II
15 Agenda Vol 02
14 Liber ABA
14 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
14 Agenda Vol 09
13 Essays On The Gita
13 Agenda Vol 03
12 Agenda Vol 11
11 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
11 The Human Cycle
11 The Future of Man
10 Whitman - Poems
10 The Study and Practice of Yoga
10 Some Answers From The Mother
10 Questions And Answers 1929-1931
8 Wordsworth - Poems
8 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
7 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
7 Magick Without Tears
7 Letters On Yoga I
7 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
7 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
6 Words Of Long Ago
6 The Secret Doctrine
6 Lovecraft - Poems
6 Letters On Poetry And Art
5 The Integral Yoga
5 Savitri
5 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
5 How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator
5 Essays Divine And Human
5 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06
4 Words Of The Mother III
4 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
4 The Secret Of The Veda
4 Record of Yoga
4 Preparing for the Miraculous
3 Vedic and Philological Studies
3 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04
3 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01
3 On the Way to Supermanhood
3 Isha Upanishad
3 Bhakti-Yoga
2 The Practice of Psycho therapy
2 The Phenomenon of Man
2 The Perennial Philosophy
2 The Interior Castle or The Mansions
2 Talks
2 Liber Null
2 Let Me Explain
2 Hymn of the Universe
2 Faust
2 Browning - Poems
2 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
2 A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah
00.01 - The Mother on Savitri, #Sweet Mother - Harmonies of Light, #unset, #Zen
It may then be said that Savitri is a revelation, it is a meditation, it is a quest of the Infinite, the Eternal. If it is read with this Aspiration for Immortality, the reading itself will serve as a guide to Immortality. To read Savitri is indeed to practice Yoga, spiritual concentration; one can find there all that is needed to realise the Divine. Each step of Yoga is noted here, including the secret of all other Yogas. Surely, if one sincerely follows what is revealed here in each line one will reach finally the transformation of the Supramental Yoga. It is truly the infallible guide who never abandons you; its support is always there for him who wants to follow the path. Each verse of Savitri is like a revealed Mantra which surpasses all that man possessed by way of knowledge, and I repeat this, the words are expressed and arranged in such a way that the sonority of the rhythm leads you to the origin of sound, which is OM.
My child, yes, everything is there: mysticism, occultism, philosophy, the history of evolution, the history of man, of the gods, of creation, of Nature. How the universe was created, why, for what purpose, what destiny - all is there. You can find all the answers to all your questions there. Everything is explained, even the future of man and of the evolution, all that nobody yet knows. He has described it all in beautiful and clear words so that spiritual adventurers who wish to solve the mysteries of the world may understand it more easily. But this mystery is well hidden behind the words and lines and one must rise to the required level of true consciousness to discover it. All prophesies, all that is going to come is presented with the precise and wonderful clarity. Sri Aurobindo gives you here the key to find the Truth, to discover the Consciousness, to solve the problem of what the universe is. He has also indicated how to open the door of the Inconscience so that the light may penetrate there and transform it. He has shown the path, the way to liberate oneself from the ignorance and climb up to the superconscience; each stage, each plane of consciousness, how they can be scaled, how one can cross even the barrier of death and attain immortality. You will find the whole journey in detail, and as you go forward you can discover things altogether unknown to man. That is Savitri and much more yet. It is a real experience - reading Savitri. All the secrets that man possessed, He has revealed, - as well as all that awaits him in the future; all this is found in the depth of Savitri. But one must have the knowledge to discover it all, the experience of the planes of consciousness, the experience of the Supermind, even the experience of the conquest of Death. He has noted all the stages, marked each step in order to advance integrally in the integral Yoga.
--
My child, every day you are going to read Savitri; read properly, with the right attitude, concentrating a little before opening the pages and trying to keep the mind as empty as possible, absolutely without a thought. The direct road is through the heart. I tell you, if you try to really concentrate with this Aspiration you can light the flame, the psychic flame, the flame of purification in a very short time, perhaps in a few days. What you cannot do normally, you can do with the help of Savitri. Try and you will see how very different it is, how new, if you read with this attitude, with this something at the back of your consciousness; as though it were an offering to Sri Aurobindo. You know it is charged, fully charged with consciousness; as if Savitri were a being, a real guide. I tell you, whoever, wanting to practice Yoga, tries sincerely and feels the necessity for it, will be able to climb with the help of Savitri to the highest rung of the ladder of Yoga, will be able to find the secret that Savitri represents. And this without the help of a Guru. And he will be able to practice it anywhere. For him Savitri alone will be the guide, for all that he needs he will find Savitri. If he remains very quiet when before a difficulty, or when he does not know where to turn to go forward and how to overcome obstacles, for all these hesitations and incertitudes which overwhelm us at every moment, he will have the necessary indications, and the necessary concrete help. If he remains very calm, open, if he aspires sincerely, always he will be as if lead by the hand. If he has faith, the will to give himself and essential sincerity he will reach the final goal.
Indeed, Savitri is something concrete, living, it is all replete, packed with consciousness, it is the supreme knowledge above all human philosophies and religions. It is the spiritual path, it is Yoga, Tapasya, Sadhana, everything, in its single body. Savitri has an extraordinary power, it gives out vibrations for him who can receive them, the true vibrations of each stage of consciousness. It is incomparable, it is truth in its plenitude, the Truth Sri Aurobindo brought down on the earth. My child, one must try to find the secret that Savitri represents, the prophetic message Sri Aurobindo reveals there for us. This is the work before you, it is hard but it is worth the trouble. - 5 November 1967
|
00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Svh is the offering and invocation. One must dedicate everything to the Divine, cast all one has or does into the Fire of Aspiration that blazes up towards the Most High, and through the tongue of that one-pointed flame call on the Divinity.
In doing so, in invoking the Truth and consecrating oneself to it, one begins to ascend to it step by step; and each step means a tearing of another veil and a further opening of the I passage. This graded mounting is vaakra.
--
The Gods feed upon Svdh and Vaa, as these represent the ascending movement of human consciousness: it is man's self-giving and Aspiration and the upward urge of his heart and soul that reach to the Gods, and it is that which the immortals take into themselves and are, as it were, nourished by, since it is something that appertains to their own nature.
And in response they descend and approach and enter into the aspiring human soulthis descent and revelation and near and concrete presence of Divinity, this Hanta is man's food, for by it his consciousness is nourished.
--
The three fires are named elsewhere Garhapatya, Dakshina, and Ahavaniya.9 They are the three tongues of the one central Agni, that dwells secreted in the hearth of the soul. They manifest as Aspirations that flame up from the three fundamental levels of our being, the body, the life and the mind. For although the spiritual consciousness is the natural element of the soul and is gained in and through the soul, yet, in order that man may take possession of it and dwell in it consciously, in order that the soul's empire may be established, the external being too must respond to the soul's impact and yearn for its truth in the Spirit. The mind, the life and the body which are usually obstructions in the path, must discover the secret flame that is in them tooeach has his own portion of the Soul's Fireand mount on its ardent tongue towards the heights of the Spirit.
Garhapatya is the Fire in the body-consciousness, the fire of Earth, as it is sometimes called; Dakshina is the Fire of the moon or mind, and Ahavaniya that of life.10 The earthly fire is also the fire of the sun; the sun is the source of all earth's heat and symbolises at the same time the spiritual light manifested in the physical consciousness. The lunar fire is also the fire of the stars, the stars, mythologically, being the consorts or powers of the moon and they symbolise, in Yogic experience, the intuitive thoughts. The fire of the life-force has its symbol in lightning, electric energy being its vehicle.
--
Fire represents the Heart. It is that which gives the inner motive to the forces of life, it is the secret inspiration and Aspiration that drive the movements of life. It is the heat of consciousness, the ardour of our central being that lives in the Truth and accepts nothing, nothing but the Truth. It is the pure and primal energy of our divine essence, driving ever upward and onward life's course of evolution.
Air is Mind, the world of thought, of conscious formation; it is where life-movements are taken up and given a shape or articulate formula for an organised expression. The forms here have not, however, the concrete rigidity of Matter, but are pliant and variable and fluidin fact, they are more in the nature of possibilities, rather than actualities. The Vedic Maruts are thought-gods, and lndra (the Luminous Mind), their king, is called the Fashioner of perfect forms.
--
The third in the line of ascension is the region of Varuna and the Adityas, that is to say, of the large Mind and its lightsperhaps it can be connected with Tantric Ajnachakra. The fourth is the domain of Soma and the Marutsthis seems to be the inner heart, the fount of delight and keen and sweeping Aspirations the Anahata of the Tantras. The fifth is the region of the crown of the head, the domain of Brahma and the Sadhyas: it is the Overmind status from where comes the descending inflatus, the creative Maya of Brahma. And when you go beyond, you pass into the ultimate status of the Sun, the reality absolute, the Transcendent which is indescribable, unseizable, indeterminate, indeterminable, incommensurable; and once there, one never returns, neverna ca punarvartate na ca punarvartate.
VIII. How Many Gods?
|
0.00 - The Book of Lies Text, #The Book of Lies, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
offering.) The blue triangle represents the Aspiration,
since blue is the colour of devotion, and the triangle,
--
Ay! all thine Aspiration is to death: death is the
crown of all thine Aspiration. Triple is the cord of
silver moonlight; it shall hang thee, O Holy One,
--
and the moon, are all correspondences of Gimel, the letter of the Aspiration,
since gimel is the Path that leads from the Microcosm in tiphareth to the
|
0.00 - THE GOSPEL PREFACE, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
In the spiritual firmament Sri Ramakrishna is a waxing crescent. Within one hundred years of his birth and fifty years of his death his message has spread across land and sea. Romain Rolland has described him as the fulfilment of the spiritual Aspirations of the three hundred millions of Hindus for the last two thousand years. Mahatma Gandhi has written: "His life enables us to see God face to face. . . . Ramakrishna was a living embodiment of godliness." He is being recognized as a compeer of Krishna, Buddha, and Christ.
The life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna have redirected the thoughts of the denationalized Hindus to the spiritual ideals of their forefa thers. During the latter part of the nineteenth century his was the time-honoured role of the Saviour of the Eternal Religion of the Hindus. His teachings played an important part in liberalizing the minds of orthodox pundits and hermits. Even now he is the silent force that is moulding the spiritual destiny of India. His great disciple, Swami Vivekananda, was the first Hindu missionary to preach the message of Indian culture to the enlightened minds of Europe and America. The full consequence of Swami Vivekn and work is still in the womb of the future.
|
0.02 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sadhak: Each one on his own Aspiration, and
Mother guides us. She gives us experiences and revelations.
--
your Aspiration. But I did not have that particular point in mind
- I was speaking in a much more general way. All of you, in
|
0.03 - Letters to My little smile, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You must keep your Aspiration intact and your will to conquer all obstacles; you must have an unshakable faith in the
divine grace and the sure victory.
--
It is very good to remain silent and concentrated in your Aspiration; and I am sure that if you keep a deep affection for X in your
heart, she will feel it and will no longer be sad. But, of course,
--
With my love and blessings that her Aspiration may be
realised this year.
|
0.05 - Letters to a Child, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
becoming a true Yogi if that be his Aspiration. And the more this
man realises his true being, the more he will become my very
--
it is through a quiet and confident Aspiration that you will receive
it. All my love is with you.
--
progress. The sincerity of the Aspiration is the assurance of the
victory.
--
I am always with you in this effort and Aspiration.
Mother,
|
0.06 - Letters to a Young Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Keep this Aspiration and you are sure of victory; you will love
me one day with a love which fills you with strength and with
--
I am in every thought, every Aspiration which you turn towards
me; for if you were not always present in my consciousness you
--
Fear nothing: the Divine always answers every sincere Aspiration
and never refuses what is offered to Him whole-heartedly; thus
--
is better to keep in one's heart a high Aspiration rather than an
obscure somnolence.
--
all desires and all attractions vanish; only the ardent Aspiration
for the Divine remains.
--
will, all the Aspiration must be turned only towards the Divine
and His integral realisation in our consciousness.
--
Keep always burning in you the fire of Aspiration and purification which I have kindled there.
Without perseverance one never attains anything.
|
0.08 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
scrupulously and sincerely. To live in a great Aspiration, to take
care to become inwardly calm and remain so always as far as
--
at the same time have an Aspiration, an intensity or a
widening? Because as soon as one aspires, isn't it the
--
No; Aspiration, as well as widening and intensity, comes from
the heart, the emotional centre, the door of the psychic or rather
--
the more can Aspiration rise up from the depths of the heart in
the fullness of its ardour.
--
by Aspiration and by calm and persistent effort.
(1) Concentrate your thought on the will to come and find
--
balcony with trust and Aspiration and to keep oneself as calm
and quiet as one can in a silent and passive state of expectation. If one has something precise to ask, it is better to ask it
|
0.09 - Letters to a Young Teacher, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
those who are sincere in their Aspiration will remain here and
receive all the help needed to be able to change in themselves
--
effort and Aspiration.
Sri Aurobindo speaks of a "period of assimilation".
--
An absolute sincerity in the Aspiration.
26 April 1961
|
01.01 - The New Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Another humanity is rising out of the present human species. The beings of the new order are everywhere and it is they who will soon hold sway over earth, be the head and front of the terrestrial evolution in the cycle that is approaching as it was with man in the cycle that is passing away. What will this new order of being be like? It will be what man is not, also what man is. It will not be man, because it will overstep the limitations and incapacities inherent in man; and it will be man by the realisation of those fundamental Aspirations and yearnings that have troubled and consoled the deeper strata the soulin him throughout the varied experiences of his terrestrial life.
The New Man will be Master and not slave. He will be master, first, of himself and then of the world. Man as he actually is, is but a slave. He has no personal voice or choice; the determining soul, the Ishwara, in him is sleep-bound and hushed. He is a mere plaything in the hands of nature and circumstances. Therefore it is that Science has become his supreme Dharmashastra; for science seeks to teach us the moods of Nature and the methods of propitiating her. Our actual ideal of man is that of the cleverest slave. But the New Man will have found himself and by and according to his inner will, mould and create his world. He will not be in awe of Nature and in an attitude of perpetual apprehension and hesitation, but will ground himself on a secret harmony and union that will declare him as the lord. We will recognise the New Man by his very gait and manner, by a certain kingly ease and dominion in every shade of his expression.
|
01.02 - Natures Own Yoga, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
This has been the highest consummation, the supreme goal which the purest spiritual experience and the deepest Aspiration of the human consciousness generally sought to attain. But in this view, the world or creation or Nature came in the end to be looked upon as fundamentally a product of Ignorance: ignorance and suffering and incapacity and death were declared to be the very hallmark of things terrestrial. The Light that dwells above and beyond can be made to shed for a while some kind of lustre upon the mortal darkness but never altogether to remove or change itto live in the full light, to be in and of the Light means to pass beyond. Not that there have not been other strands and types of spiritual experiences and Aspirations, but the one we are considering has always struck the major chord and dominated and drowned all the rest.
But the initial illusory consciousness of the Overmind need not at all lead to the static Brahmic consciousness or Sunyam alone. As a matter of fact, there is in this particular processes of consciousness a hiatus between the two, between Maya and Brahman, as though one has to leap from the one into the other somehow. This hiatus is filled up in Sri Aurobindo's Yoga by the principle of Supermind, not synthetic-analytic2 in knowledge like Overmind and the highest mental intelligence, but inescapably unitarian even in the utmost diversity. Supermind is the Truth-consciousness at once static and dynamic, self-existent and creative: in Supermind the Brahmic consciousness Sachchidanandais ever self-aware and ever manifested and embodied in fundamental truth-powers and truth-forms for the play of creation; it is the plane where the One breaks out into the Many and the Many still remain one, being and knowing themselves to be but various self-expressions of the One; it develops the spiritual archetypes, the divine names and forms of all individualisations of an evolving existence.
|
01.02 - Sri Aurobindo - Ahana and Other Poems, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
And the whole Aspiration of striving mortality finds its echo in:
A song not master of its note, a cry
|
01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
And watched by the Aspiration of the peaks
Appeared through an aureate opening in Time,
|
01.02 - The Object of the Integral Yoga, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This Yoga demands a total dedication of the life to the Aspiration for the discovery and embodiment of the Divine Truth and to nothing else whatever. To divide your life between the Divine and some outward aim and activity that has nothing to do with the search for the Truth is inadmissible. The least thing of that kind would make success in the Yoga impossible.
You must go inside yourself and enter into a complete dedication to the spiritual life. All clinging to mental preferences must fall away from you, all insistence on vital aims and interests and attachments must be put away, all egoistic clinging to family, friends, country must disappear if you want to succeed in Yoga. Whatever has to come as outgoing energy or action, must proceed from the Truth once discovered and not from the lower mental or vital motives, from the Divine Will and not from personal choice or the preferences of the ego.
|
01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The earliest preoccupation of man was religious; even when he concerned himself with the world and worldly things, he referred all that to the other world, thought of gods and goddesses, of after-death and other where. That also will be his last and ultimate preoccupation though in a somewhat different way, when he has passed through a process of purification and growth, a "sea-change". For although religion is an Aspiration towards the truth and reality beyond or behind the world, it is married too much to man's actual worldly nature and carries always with it the shadow of profanity.
The religious poet seeks to tone down or cover up the mundane taint, since he does not know how to transcend it totally, in two ways: (1) by a strong thought-element, the metaphysical way, as it may be called and (2) by a strong symbolism, the occult way. Donne takes to the first course, Blake the second. And it is the alchemy brought to bear in either of these processes that transforms the merely religious into the mystic poet. The truly spiritual, as I have said, is still a higher grade of consciousness: what I call Spirit's own poetry has its own matter and mannerswabhava and swadharma. A nearest approach to it is echoed in those famous lines of Blake:
--
This is what I was trying to make out as the distinguishing trait of the real spiritual consciousness that seems to be developing in the poetic creation of tomorrow, e.g., it has the same rationality, clarity, concreteness of perception as the scientific spirit has in its own domain and still it is rounded off with a halo of magic and miracle. That is the nature of the logic of the infinite proper to the spiritual consciousness. We can have a Science of the Spirit as well as a Science of Matter. This is the Thought element or what corresponds to it, of which I was speaking, the philosophical factor, that which gives form to the formless or definition to that which is vague, a nearness and familiarity to that which is far and alien. The fullness of the spiritual consciousness means such a thing, the presentation of a divine name and form. And this distinguishes it from the mystic consciousness which is not the supreme solar consciousness but the nearest approach to it. Or, perhaps, the mystic dwells in the domain of the Divine, he may even be suffused with a sense of unity but would not like to acquire the Divine's nature and function. Normally and generally he embodies all the Aspiration and yearning moved by intimations and suggestions belonging to the human mentality, the divine urge retaining still the human flavour. We can say also, using a Vedantic terminology, that the mystic consciousness gives us the tatastha lakshana, the nearest approximative attribute of the attri buteless; or otherwise, it is the hiranyagarbha consciousness which englobes the multiple play, the coruscated possibilities of the Reality: while the spiritual proper may be considered as prajghana, the solid mass, the essential lineaments of revelatory knowledge, the typal "wave-particles" of the Reality. In the former there is a play of imagination, even of fancy, a decorative aesthesis, while in the latter it is vision pure and simple. If the spiritual poetry is solar in its nature, we can say, by extending the analogy, that mystic poetry is characteristically lunarMoon representing the delight and the magic that Mind and mental imagination, suffused, no doubt, with a light or a reflection of some light from beyond, is capable of (the Upanishad speaks of the Moon being born of the Mind).
To sum up and recapitulate. The evolution of the poetic expression in man has ever been an attempt at a return and a progressive approach to the spiritual source of poetic inspiration, which was also the original, though somewhat veiled, source from the very beginning. The movement has followed devious waysstrongly negative at timeseven like man's life and consciousness in general of which it is an organic member; but the ultimate end and drift seems to have been always that ideal and principle even when fallen on evil days and evil tongues. The poet's ideal in the dawn of the world was, as the Vedic Rishi sang, to raise things of beauty in heaven by his poetic power,kavi kavitv divi rpam sajat. Even a Satanic poet, the inaugurator, in a way, of modernism and modernistic consciousness, Charles Baudelaire, thus admonishes his spirit:
|
01.03 - Yoga and the Ordinary Life, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
There are many ways of opening to this Divine consciousness or entering into it. My way which I show to others is by a constant practice to go inward into oneself, to open by Aspiration to the Divine and once one is conscious of it and its action to give oneself to It entirely. This self-giving means not to ask for anything but the constant contact or union with the Divine Consciousness, to aspire for its peace, power, light and felicity, but to ask nothing else and in life and action to be its instrument only for whatever work it gives one to do in the world. If one can once open and feel the Divine Force, the
Power of the Spirit working in the mind and heart and body, the rest is a matter of remaining faithful to It, calling for it always, allowing it to do its work when it comes and rejecting every other and inferior Force that belongs to the lower consciousness and the lower nature.
|
01.04 - Motives for Seeking the Divine, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
What your reasoning ignores is that which is absolute or tends towards the absolute in man and his seeking as well as in the Divine - something not to be explained by mental reasoning or vital motive. A motive, but a motive of the soul, not of vital desire; a reason not of the mind, but of the self and spirit. An asking too, but the asking that is the soul's inherent Aspiration, not a vital longing. That is what comes up when there is the sheer self-giving, when "I seek you for this, I seek you for that" changes to a sheer "I seek you for you." It is that marvellous and ineffable absolute in the Divine that Krishnaprem means when he says, "Not knowledge nor this nor that, but Krishna."
The pull of that is indeed a categorical imperative, the self in us drawn to the Divine because of the imperative call of its greater Self, the soul ineffably drawn towards the object of its adoration, because it cannot be otherwise, because it is it and
|
01.04 - The Poetry in the Making, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
That is what is wanted at present in the artistic world the true inspiration, the breath from higher altitudes. And here comes the role of the mystic, the Yogi. The sense of evolution, the march of human consciousness demands and prophesies that the future poet has to be a mysticin him will be fulfilled the travail of man's conscious working. The self-conscious craftsman, the tireless experimenter with his adventurous analytic mind has sharpened his instrument, made it supple and elastic, tempered, refined and enriched it; that is comparable to what we call the Aspiration or call from below. Now the Grace must descend and fulfil. And when one rises into this higher consciousness beyond the brain and mind, when one lives there habitually, one knows the why and the how of things, one becomes a perfectly conscious operator and still retains all spontaneity and freshness and wonder and magic that are usually associated with inconscience and irreflection. As there is a spontaneity of instinct, there is likewise also a spontaneity of vision: a child is spontaneous in its movements, even so a seer. Not only so, the higher spontaneity is more spontaneous, for the higher consciousness means not only awareness but the free and untrammelled activity and expression of the truth and reality it is.
Genius had to be generally more or less unconscious in the past, because the instrument was not ready, was clogged as it were with its own lower grade movements; the higher inspiration had very often to bypass it, or rob it of its serviceable materials without its knowledge, in an almost clandestine way. Wherever it was awake and vigilant, we have seen it causing a diminution in the poetic potential. And yet even so, it was being prepared for a greater role, a higher destiny it is to fulfil in the future. A conscious and full participation of a refined and transparent and enriched instrument in the delivery of superconscious truth and beauty will surely mean not only a new but the very acme of aesthetic creation. We thus foresee the age of spiritual art in which the sense of creative beauty in man will find its culmination. Such an art was only an exception, something secondary or even tertiary, kept in the background, suggested here and there as a novel strain, called "mystic" to express its unfamiliar nature-unless, of course, it was openly and obviously scriptural and religious.
--
Well, it is sheer incantation. It is word-weaving, rhythm plaiting, thought-wringing in order to pass beyond these frail materials, to get into contact with, to give some sense of the mystery of existence that passeth understanding. We are very far indeed from the "natural" poets, Homer or Shakespeare, Milton, or Virgil. And this is from a profane, a mundane poet, not an ostensibly religious or spiritual poet. The level of the poetic inspiration, at least of the poetic view and Aspiration has evidently shifted to a higher, a deeper degree. We may be speaking of tins and tinsel, bones and dust, filth and misery, of the underworld of ignorance and ugliness,
All things uncomely and broken, all things worn out and old,
--
and declares the ardent Aspiration of his heart and soul:
I hunger to build them anew, and sit on a green knoll apart,
--
Ifso long the poet was more or less a passive, a half-conscious or unconscious intermediary between the higher and the lower lights and delights, his role in the future will be better fulfilled when he becomes fully aware of it and consciously moulds and directs his creative energies. The poet is and has to be the harbinger and minstrel of unheard-of melodies: he is the fashioner of the creative word that brings down and embodies the deepest Aspirations and experiences of the human consciousness. The poet is a missionary: he is missioned by Divine Beauty to radiate upon earth something of her charm and wizardry. The fullness of his role he can only play up when he is fully conscious for it is under that condition that all obstructing and obscuring elements lying across the path of inspiration can be completely and wholly eradicated: the instrument purified and tempered and transmuted can hold and express golden truths and beauties and puissances that otherwise escape the too human mould.
"The Last Voyage" by Charles Williams-A Little Book of Modern Verse, (Faber and Faber).
|
01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
An Aspiration in the Night's profound,
Seed of a perishing body and half-lit mind,
|
01.05 - Rabindranath Tagore: A Great Poet, a Great Man, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The spirit of the age demands this new gospel. Mankind needs and awaits a fresh revelation. The world and life are not an illusion or a lesser reality: they are, if taken rightly, as real as the pure Spirit itself. Indeed, Spirit and Flesh, Consciousness and Matter are not antinomies; to consider them as such is itself an illusion. In fact, they are only two poles or modes or aspects of the same reality. To separate or divide them is a one-sided concentration or abstraction on the part of the human mind. The fulfilment of the Spirit is in its expression through Matter; human life too reaches its highest term, its summum bonum, in embodying the spiritual consciousness here on earth and not dissolving itself in the Transcendence. That is the new Dispensation which answers to the deepest Aspiration in man and towards which he has been travelling through the ages in the course of the evolution of his consciousness. Many, however, are the prophets and sages who have set this ideal before humanity and more and more insistently and clearly as we come nearer to the age we live in. But none or very few have expressed it with such beauty and charm and compelling persuasion. It would be carping criticism to point out-as some, purists one may call them, have done-that in poetising and aesthetising the spiritual truth and reality, in trying to make it human and terrestrial, he has diminished and diluted the original substance, in endeavouring to render the diamond iridescent, he has turned it into a baser alloy. Tagore's is a poetic soul, it must be admitted; and it is not necessary that one should find in his ideas and experiences and utterances the cent per cent accuracy and inevitability of a Yogic consciousness. Still his major perceptions, those that count, stand and are borne out by the highest spiritual realisation.
Tagore is no inventor or innovator when he posits Spirit as Beauty, the spiritual consciousness as the ardent rhythm of ecstasy. This experience is the very core of Vaishnavism and for which Tagore is sometimes called a Neo-Vaishnava. The Vaishnava sees the world pulsating in glamorous beauty as the Lila (Play) of the Lord, and the Lord, God himself, is nothing but Love and Beauty. Still Tagore is not all Vaishnava or merely a Vaishnava; he is in addition a modern (the carping voice will say, there comes the dilution and adulteration)in the sense that problems exist for himsocial, political, economic, national, humanitarianwhich have to be faced and solved: these are not merely mundane, but woven into the texture of the fundamental problem of human destiny, of Soul and Spirit and God. A Vaishnava was, in spite of his acceptance of the world, an introvert, to use a modern psychological phrase, not necessarily in the pejorative sense, but in the neutral scientific sense. He looks upon the universe' and human life as the play of the Lord, as an actuality and not mere illusion indeed; but he does not participate or even take interest in the dynamic working out of the world process, he does not care to know, has no need of knowing that there is a terrestrial purpose and a diviner fulfilment of the mortal life upon earth. The Vaishnava dwells more or less absorbed in the Vaikuntha of his inner consciousness; the outer world, although real, is only a symbolic shadowplay to which he can but be a witness-real, is only a nothing more.
--
This also is Tagore's soul-prayer, his deepest Aspiration.
"Deliverance is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight."Gitanjali,73.
|
01.05 - The Nietzschean Antichrist, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Nietzsche as the apostle of force is a name now familiar to all the world. The hero, the warrior who never tamely accepts suffering and submission and defeat under any condition but fights always and fights to conquersuch is the ideal man, according to Nietzsche,the champion of strength, of greatness, of mightiness. The dominating personality infused with the supreme "will to power"he is Ubermensch, the Superman. Sentiment does not move the mountains, emotion diffuses itself only in vague Aspiration. The motive power, the creative fiat does not dwell in the heart but somewhere higher. The way of the Cross, the path of love and charity and pity does not lead to the kingdom of Heaven. The world has tried it for the last twenty centuries of its Christian civilisation and the result is that we are still living in a luxuriant abundance of misery and sordidness and littleness. This is how Nietzsche thinks and feels. He finds no virtue in the old rgimes and he revolts from them. He wants a speedy and radical remedy and teaches that by violence only the Kingdom of Heaven can be seized. For, to Nietzsche the world is only a clash of forces and the Superman therefore is one who is the embodiment of the greatest force. Nietzsche does not care for the good, it is the great that moves him. The good, the moral is of man, conventional and has only a fictitious value. The great, the non-moral is, on the other hand, divine. That only has a value of its own. The good is nothing but a sort of makeshift arrangement which man makes for himself in order to live commodiously and which changes according to his temperament. But the great is one with the Supreme Wisdom and is absolute and imperative. The good cannot create the great; it is the great that makes for the good. This is what he really means when he says, "They say that a good cause sanctifies war but I tell thee it is a good war that sanctifies all cause." For the goodness of your cause you judge by your personal predilections, by your false conventionalities, by a standard that you set up in your ignoranceBut a good war, the output of strength in any cause is in itself a cause of salvation. For thereby you are the champion of that ultimate verity which conduces to the ultimate good. Do not shrink, he would say, to be even like the cyclone and the avalanche, destructive, indeed, but grand and puissant and therefore truer emblems of the BeyondJenseitsthan the weak, the little, the pitiful that do not dare to destroy and by that very fact cannot hope to create.
This is the Nietzsche we all know. But there is another aspect of his which the world has yet been slow to recognise. For, at bottom, Nietzsche is not all storm and fury. If his Superman is a Destroying Angel, he is none the less an angel. If he is endowed with a supreme sense of strength and power, there is also secreted in the core of his heart a sense of the beautiful that illumines his somewhat sombre aspect. For although Nietzsche is by birth a Slavo-Teuton, by culture and education he is pre-eminently Hellenic. His earliest works are on the subject of Greek tragedy and form what he describes as an "Apollonian dream." And to this dream, to this Greek aesthetic sense more than to any thing else he sacrifices justice and pity and charity. To him the weak and the miserable, the sick and the maimed are a sort of blot, a kind of ulcer on the beautiful face of humanity. The herd that wallow in suffering and relish suffering disfigure the aspect of the world and should therefore be relentlessly mowed out of existence. By being pitiful to them we give our tacit assent to their persistence. And it is precisely because of this that Nietzsche has a horror of Christianity. For compassion gives indulgence to all the ugliness of the world and thus renders that ugliness a necessary and indispensable element of existence. To protect the weak, to sympathise with the lowly brings about more of weakness and more of lowliness. Nietzsche has an aristocratic taste par excellencewhat he aims at is health and vigour and beauty. But above all it is an aristocracy of the spirit, an aristocracy endowed with all the richness and beauty of the soul that Nietzsche wants to establish. The beggar of the street is the symbol of ugliness, of the poverty of the spirit. And the so-called aristocrat, die millionaire of today is as poor and ugly as any helpless leper. The soul of either of them is made of the same dirty, sickly stuff. The tattered rags, the crouching heart, the effeminate nerve, the unenlightened soul are the standing ugliness of the world and they have no place in the ideal, the perfect humanity. Humanity, according to Nietzsche, is made in order to be beautiful, to conceive the beautiful, to create the beautiful. Nietzsche's Superman has its perfect image in a Grecian statue of Zeus cut out in white marble-Olympian grandeur shedding in every lineament Apollonian beauty and Dionysian vigour.
|
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Come with the Aspiration to give yourself, to offer your whole
being, without reserve, to the Divine Grace, and you will feel
--
Persist in your Aspiration and the dream will be realised.
23 October 1961
--
Divine Force in a sincere Aspiration and implore It to deliver
you from your limitations. If you are sincere in your will to
--
adopts the sincere fervour and ardent Aspiration which give life
to any ceremony, whatever it may be, and yet do not depend
--
of your Aspiration.
12 June 1963
--
difficulties of ordinary life. Only a very ardent Aspiration can
remedy this deadly condition. But the Aspiration is absent and
your soul is asleep!
--
common and combined Aspiration to attain the Divine, and in
perfect sincerity to let each bring to the other, as far as possible,
--
alive the flame of one's Aspiration.
16 September 1964
--
Aspiration is the only remedy - an Aspiration that rises
constantly like a clear flame burning up all the impurities of
--
union is the only thing worth living, the sole object of Aspiration.
Everything else has lost all value and is not worth seeking, so
--
Is this dynamis that of Aspiration? If so, could one
say that Aspiration is a purified desire?
One can say whatever one likes, provided one knows what one
--
possible to achieve it by Aspiration alone, or is there a
method or discipline to be followed?
--
the Aspiration must be ardent, the will unshakable, the patience
unfailing.
--
one has an Aspiration that mankind should become better, or
less unhappy, less miserable; all sorts of things like that. One
--
our Aspirations are not tainted by vital desire, though
they may seem right to our common sense?
--
of Yoga or Aspiration for the Divine Life.
7 December 1966
--
we must realise our highest Aspirations, as if this were
the last chance given to us. For me, allusions to other
--
of the answer they receive, and there are those whose Aspiration is sufficiently strong and sincere for them to be constantly
conscious of the help they are given.
|
01.11 - The Basis of Unity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A modern society or people cannot have religion, that is to say, credal religion, as the basis of its organized collective life. It was mediaeval society and people that were organized on that line. Indeed mediaevalism means nothing more and nothing lessthan that. But whatever the need and justification in the past, the principle is an anachronism under modern conditions. It was needed, perhaps, to keep alive a truth which goes into the very roots of human life and its deepest Aspiration; and it was needed also for a dynamic application of that truth on a larger scale and in smaller details, on the mass of mankind and in its day to day life. That was the aim of the Church Militant and the Khilafat; that was the spirit, although in a more Sattwic way, behind the Buddhistic evangelism or even Hindu colonization.
The truth behind a credal religion is the Aspiration towards the realization of the Divine, some ultimate reality that gives a permanent meaning and value to the human life, to the existence lodged in this 'sphere of sorrow' here below. Credal paraphernalia were necessary to express or buttress this core of spiritual truth when mankind, in the mass, had not attained a certain level of enlightenment in the mind and a certain degree of development in its life-relations. The modern age is modern precisely because it had attained to a necessary extent this mental enlightenment and this life development. So the scheme or scaffolding that was required in the past is no longer unavoidable and can have either no reality at all or only a modified utility.
A modern people is a composite entity, especially with regard to its religious affiliation. Not religion, but culture is the basis of modern collective life, national or social. Culture includes in its grain that fineness of temperament which appreciates all truths behind all forms, even when there is a personal allegiance to one particular form.
--
In Europe such a contingency did not arise, because the religious spirit, rampant in the days of Inquisitions and St. Bartholomews, died away: it died, and (or, because) it was replaced by a spirit that was felt as being equally, if not more, au thentic and, which for the moment, suffused the whole consciousness with a large and high afflatus, commensurate with the amplitude of man's Aspiration. I refer, of course, to the spirit of the Renaissance. It was a spirit profane and secular, no doubt, but on that level it brought a catholicity of temper and a richness in varied interesta humanistic culture, as it is calledwhich constituted a living and unifying ideal for Europe. That spirit culminated in the great French Revolution which was the final coup de grace to all that still remained of mediaevalism, even in its outer structure, political and economical.
In India the spirit of renascence came very late, late almost by three centuries; and even then it could not flood the whole of the continent in all its nooks and corners, psychological and physical. There were any number of pockets (to use a current military phrase) left behind which guarded the spirit of the past and offered persistent and obdurate resistance. Perhaps, such a dispensation was needed in India and inevitable also; inevitable, because the religious spirit is closest to India's soul and is its most direct expression and cannot be uprooted so easily; needed, because India's and the world's future demands it and depends upon it.
|
0.11 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
an Aspiration to remember the activities of the night
when you wake up.
--
your Aspirations. Naturally, this does not mean that he
gives way to the fancies of your outer nature - I am
--
sometimes moulds himself according to your outer Aspirations, and if you live like the devotees who alternate
between periods of estrangement and embrace, of ecstasy
--
What is the meaning of "outer Aspiration" and
"outer attitude"? What is the best outer attitude?
--
remains ignorant - even its Aspiration is ignorant and so is its
goodwill; all its movements are ignorant and so they distort and
--
around the central Aspiration. If this unification is not done, we
carry this division within us.
--
consciousness to the central being or its Aspiration. What is in
accord is accepted; what is not in accord is refused, rejected or
--
Sincere and constant Aspiration.
6 July 1967
--
to awaken my body's Aspiration towards You.
The cells of the body thirst for the Divine Consciousness and
when they are brought into contact with It their Aspiration
becomes very intense.
--
I have heard about the Aspiration to be simply what You
want.
--
Transformation demands a very high degree of Aspiration, surrender and receptivity, doesn't it?
Transformation demands a total and integral consecration. But
isn't that the Aspiration of every sincere sadhak?
Total means vertically in all the states of being, from the
--
to establish contact with the Divine, but sincerity of Aspiration.
19 December 1967
Can one's Aspiration for the Divine have the required
intensity and sincerity without the tears and anguish that
--
"In the spiritual order of things, the higher we project our view and our Aspiration,
the greater the Truth that seeks to descend upon us, because it is already there within us
--
(2) Never allow any part of the being or any of its movements to contradict one's Aspiration.
This also makes it necessary to become conscious of one's
--
This possibility is open to all whose Aspiration is fervent.
1 November 1968
--
to think that Aspiration and human effort can hasten the advent
of the divine transformation, because effort and Aspiration are
needed for the transformation to take place.
|
0.13 - Letters to a Student, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What is the difference between desire and Aspiration,
and between selfishness and self-realisation?
Desire is a vital movement, Aspiration is a psychic movement.
When one has had a true Aspiration, unselfish and sincere,
one cannot even ask the question anymore; for the vibration
of Aspiration, luminous and calm, has nothing to do with the
vibration of desire, which is passionate, dark and often violent.
|
0.14 - Letters to a Sadhak, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(1) ardent Aspiration;
(2) progressive abolition of the ego.
--
ardent Aspiration and an unshakable sincerity, it is well worth
undertaking.
--
The Aspiration to concentrate solely on this realisation.
To know how to transform all circumstances into a means
--
The Divine help always responds to a sincere Aspiration.
25 December 1971
--
It is through steadfast Aspiration that one learns.
13 January 1972
|
0 1954-08-25 - what is this personality? and when will she come?, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But actually, to tell you the truth, I think your lives are so easy that you dont exert yourselves very much! How many among you have truly an INTENSE need to find their psychic beings? To find out truly who they are? To find out what their roles are, why they are here? You just let yourselves drift. You even complain when things arent easy enough! You just take things as they come. And sometimes, should an Aspiration arise in you and you encounter some difficulty in yourself, you say, Oh, Mother is there! Shell take care of it for me! And you think about something else.
Mother, previously things were very strict in the Ashram, but not now. Why?
|
0 1955-06-09, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
If only I could see a distinct error blocking my path which I could clearly attack But I feel that I am not responsible, that it is not my personal fault if I remain without Aspiration, stagnating. I feel like a battlefield of contending forces that are beyond me and against which I can do NOTHING. Oh Mother, it is not an excuse for a lack of will, or at least I dont think so I profoundly feel like a helpless toy, totally helpless.
If the divine force, if your grace, does not intervene to shatter this obscure resistance that is drawing me downwards in spite of myself, I dont know what will become of me Mother, I am not blackmailing you, I am only expressing my helplessness, my anguish.
--
Mother, it is an impossible, absurd, unlivable life. I feel as though I have no hand in this cruel little game. Oh Mother, why doesnt your grace trust that deep part in me which knows so well that you are the Truth? Deliver me from these evil forces since, profoundly, it is you and you alone I want. Give me the Aspiration and strength I do not have. If you do not do this Yoga for me, I feel I shall never have the strength to go on.
There is something that must be SHATTERED: can it not be done once and for all without lingering on indefinitely? Mother, I am your child.
|
0 1956-05-02, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Onlyyes, there is an only, I dont want to be so cruel: NOW MAN CAN COLLABORATE. That is, he can lend himself to the process, with good will, with Aspiration, and help to his utmost. Which is why I said it will go faster. I hope it will go MUCH faster.
But even if it does go much faster, it will still take some time!
--
I am not speaking of people from outside who have never thought about it, who have never felt concerned and who do not even know that there may be something like the Supermind to receive, in fact. I am speaking of people who have built their lives upon this Aspiration (and I dont doubt their sincerity for a minute), who have workedsome of them for thirty years, some for thirty-five, others somewhat lessall the while saying, When the supermind comes When the supermind comes That was their refrain: When the supermind comes Consequently, they were really in the best possible frame of mind, one could not have dreamt of a better predisposition. How is it, then, that their inner preparation was so lets just say incomplete, that they did not feel the Vibration immediately, as soon as it came, through a shock of identity?
Individually, each ones goal was to make himself ready, to enter into a more or less intimate individual relationship with this Force, so as to help the process; or else, if he could not help, at least be ready to recognize and be open to the Force when it would manifest. Then instead of being an alien element in a world in which your OWN inner capacity remains unmanifest, you suddenly become THAT, you enter directly, fully, into the very atmosphere: the Force is there, all around you, permeating you.
--
There was indeed a possibility to enter into contact with the Thing individuallythis was even what Sri Aurobindo had described as being the necessary procedure: a certain number of people would enter into contact with this Force through their inner effort and their Aspiration. We had called it the ascent towards the Supermind. And IF and when they had touched the Supermind through an inner ascent (that is, by freeing themselves from the material consciousness), they should have recognized it SPONTANEOUSLY as soon as it came. But a preliminary contact was indispensableif you have never touched it, how can you recognize it?
Thats how the universal movement works (I read this to you a few days ago): through their inner effort and inner progress, certain individuals, who are the pioneers, the forerunners, enter into communication with the new Force which is to manifest, and they receive it in themselves. And because a number of calls like this surge forth, the thing becomes possible, and the era, the time, the moment for the manifestation comes. This is how it happened and the Manifestation took place.
|
0 1956-10-28, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
P.S. If you see that I should remain here, put in me the necessary strength and Aspiration. I shall obey you. I want to obey you.
***
|
0 1957-11-12, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
For the spiritual tests: Aspiration, confidence, idealism, enthusiasm and generosity in self-giving.
For the tests stemming from the hostile forces: vigilance, sincerity and humility.
But do not imagine that those who are tested are on one side and those who test on the other; depending upon the times and circumstances, we are both examiners and examined, and it may even happen that simultaneously, at the very same moment, we are the examined and the examiner. And whatever benefits we derive depend, in both quality and quantity, upon the intensity of our Aspiration and the alertness of our consciousness.
To conclude, a final recommendation: never pose as an examiner. For while it is good to remember constantly that perhaps one is passing a very important test, it is, on the other hand, extremely dangerous to imagine oneself entrusted with applying tests to others, for that is an open door to the most absurd and harmful vanities. It is not an ignorant human will that decides these things but the Supreme Wisdom.
|
0 1958-04-03, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I was waiting for things to be well established in me before writing you again. An important change has occurred: it seems that something in me has clickedwhat Sri Aurobindo calls the central will, perhapsand I am living literally in the obsession of divine realization. This is what I want, nothing else, it is the only goal in life, and at last I have understood (not with the head) that the outer realization in the world will be the consequence of the inner realization. So thousands of times a day, I repeat, Mother, I want to be your instrument, ever more conscious, I want to express your truth, your light. I want to be what you want, as you want, when you want. There is in me now a kind of need for perfection, a will to abolish this ego, a real understanding that to become your instrument means at the same time to find the perfect plenitude of ones personality. So I am living in an almost constant state of Aspiration, I feel your force constantly, or nearly so, and if I am distracted a few minutes, I experience a void, an uneasiness that calls me back to you.
And at the same time, I saw that it is you who is doing everything, you who aspires in me, you who wants the progress, and that all I myself am in this affair is a screen, a resisting obstacle. O Mother, break this screen that I may be wholly transparent before you, that your transforming force may purify all the secret recesses in my being, that nothing may remain but you and you alone. O Mother, may all my being be a living expression of your light, your truth.
|
0 1958-05-10, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Consequently, if you do not remember having had the experience, you are left in the same condition as before, but with the difference that now you know, you can know, that these material laws do not correspond to the truth thats all. They do not at all correspond to the truth, so consequently, if you want to be faithful to your Aspiration, you must in no way legitimize all that. Rather, you must say that it is an infirmity from which we are suffering for the moment, for an intermediate periodit is an infirmity and an ignorance for it really is an ignorance (this is not just a word): it is ignorance, it is not the thing as it is, even in regard to our present material bodies. Therefore, we will not legitimize anything. What we say is thisit is an infirmity which has to be endured for the time being, until we get out of it, but we do NOT ACKNOWLEDGE all this as a concrete reality. It does NOT have a concrete reality, it has a false realitywhat we call concrete reality is a false reality.
And the proof I have the proof because I experienced it myselfis that from the minute you are in the other consciousness, the true consciousness, all these things which appear so real, so concrete, change INSTANTLY. There are a number of things, certain material conditions of my bodymaterial that changed instantly. It did not last long enough for everything to change, but some things changed and never returned, they remained changed. In other words, if that consciousness were kept constantly, it would be a perpetual miracle (what we would call a miracle from our ordinary point of view), a fantastic and perpetual miracle! But from the supramental point of view, it would not be a miracle at all, it would be the most normal of things.
|
0 1958-07-19, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
It is mans mental consciousness that has filled all Nature with the idea of sin and all the misery it brings. Animals are not at all unhappy in the way we are. Not at all, not at all, exceptas Sri Aurobindo saysthose that are corrupted. Those that are corrupted are those that live with men. Dogs have the sense of sin and guilt, for their whole Aspiration is to resemble man. Man is the god. Hence there is dissimulation, hypocrisy: dogs lie. But men admire that. They say, Oh! How intelligent they are!
They have lost their divinity.
|
0 1958-07-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
But instead of using the energy in this way, they immediately throw it out. They start stirring about, reacting, working, speaking They feel full of energy and they throw it all out! They cant keep anything. So naturally, since the energy was not sent to be wasted like that but for an inner use, they feel absolutely flat, run down. And it is universal. They dont know, they do not know how to make this movementto turn within, to use the energy (not to keep it, it doesnt keep), to use it to repair the damage done to the body and to go deeply within to find the reason for this accident or illness, and there to change it by an Aspiration, an inner transformation. Instead of that, right away they start speaking, stirring about, reacting, doing this or that!
In fact, the immense majority of human beings feel they are living only when they waste their energy. Otherwise, it does not seem to them to be life.
|
0 1958-09-16 - OM NAMO BHAGAVATEH, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
My experience is that, individually, we are in relationship with that aspect of the Divine which is not necessarily the most in conformity with our natures, but which is the most essential for our development or the most necessary for our action. For me, it was always a question of action because, personally, individually, each Aspiration for personal development had its own form, its own spontaneous expression, so I did not use any formula. But as soon as there was the least little difficulty in action, it sprang forth. Only long afterwards did I notice that it was formulated in a certain way I would utter it without even knowing what the words were. But it came like this: Dieu de bont et de misricorde. It was as if I wanted to eliminate from action all aspects that were not this one. And it lasted for I dont know, more than twenty or twenty-five years of my life. It came spontaneously.
Just recently one day, the contact became entirely physical, the whole body was in great exaltation, and I noticed that other lines were spontaneously being added to this Dieu de bont et de misricorde, and I noted them down. It was a springing forth of states of consciousness not words.
--
The other day (I was in my bathroom upstairs), it came; it took hold of the entire body. It rose up in the same way, and all the cells were trembling. And with such a power! So I stopped everything, all movement, and I let the thing grow. The vibration went on expanding, ever widening, as the sound itself was expanding, expanding, and all the cells of the body were seized with an intensity of Aspiration as if the entire body were swellingit became overwhelming. I felt that it would all burst.
I understood those who withdraw from everything to live that totally.
--
So each one must find something that acts on himself, individually. I am only speaking of the action on the physical plane, because mentally, vitally, in all the inner parts of the being, the Aspiration is always, always spontaneous. I am referring only to the physical plane.
The physical seems to be more open to something that is repetitious for example, the music we play on Sundays, which has three series of combined mantras. The first is that of Chandi, addressed to the universal Mother:
--
To sustain the Aspirationto remember. We so easily lapse into forgetfulness. To create a kind of automatism.
You have no mantras that have come to you, that give you a more living feeling? Are their mantras long?
|
0 1958-10-25 - to go out of your body, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Each one is in touch with the universal expression of an aspect or a will or a mode of the Supreme, and if one aspires for this, it is this that comes, with an extraordinary plasticity. And when that happens, I even become the Witness (not the witness in the way of the Purusha1: a witness far more infinite and eternal than the Purusha). I see what responds, why it responds, how it responds. This is how I know what people want (not here below, nor even in their highest Aspiration). I see it even when the people themselves are no longer consciousor rather, not yet conscious (for me, its no longer, but anyway ), when they are not yet conscious of this identification somewhere. Even then I see it.
Its interesting.
|
0 1958-11-22, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
As soon as you had left, and since I was following you, I saw that nothing of the kind was going to happen, but rather something very superficial which would not be of much use. And when I received your letters and saw that you were in difficulty, I did something. There are places that are favorable for occult experiences. Benares is one of these places, the atmosphere there is filled with vibrations of occult forces, and if one has the slightest capacity, it spontaneously develops there, in the same way that a spiritual Aspiration develops very strongly and spontaneously as soon as one lands in India. These are Graces. Graces, because it is the destiny of the country, it has been so throughout its history, and because India has always been turned much more towards the heights and the inner depths than towards the outer world. Now, it is in the process of losing all that and wallowing in the mud, but thats another story it was like that and it is still like that. And in fact, when you returned from Rameswaram with your robes, I saw with much satisfaction that there was still a GREAT dignity and a GREAT sincerity in this endeavor of the Sannyasis towards the higher life and in the self-giving of a certain number of people to realize this higher life. When you returned, it had become a very concrete and a very real thing that immediately commanded respect. Before, I had seen only a copy, an imitation, an hypocrisy, a pretentionnothing that was really lived. But then, I saw that it was true, that it was lived, that it was real and that it was still Indias great heritage. I dont believe it is very prevalent now, but in any case, it is still there, and as I told you, it commands respect. And then, as I felt you in difficulty and as the outer conditions were not only veiling but spoiling the inner, well, on that day I wrote you a short note I no longer recall when it was exactly, but I wrote you just a word or two, which I put in an envelope and sent you I concentrated very strongly upon those few words and sent you something. I didnt note the date, I dont remember when it was, but its likely that it happened as I wished when you were in Benares; and then you had this experience.
But when you returned the second time, from the Himalayas, you didnt have the same flame as when you returned the first time. And I understood that this kind of difficult karma still clung to you, that it had not been dissolved. I had hoped that your contact with the mountains but in a true solitude (I dont mean that your body had to be all alone, but there should not have been all kinds of outer, superficial things) Anyway, it didnt happen. So it means that the time had not come.
|
0 1959-01-06, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
And it happened just as I was despairing of ever getting out of it. I seemed to be touching a kind of fundamental bedrock, so painful, so suffering, and full of revolt because of too much suffering. And I saw that all my efforts, all the meditations, Aspirations, mantras, were only covering up this suffering bedrock without touching it. I saw this fundamental thing in me very clearly, a poignant knot, ever ready for an absolute negation. I saw it and I said to you, Mother, only your grace can remove this. I said this to you in the temple that morning, in total despair. And then, the knot was undone. Xs action contri buted a lot, with your grace acting through him. But truly, I have traversed a veritable hell this last while.
X continues his work on me daily; it is to last 41 days in all. He told me that he wants to undo the things of several births. When it is over, he will explain it all to me. I do not know how to tell you how luminous and good this man is, he is a very great soul. He is also giving me Sanskrit lessons, and little by little, each evening, speaks to me of the Tantra.
|
0 1959-01-14, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Sweet Mother, by what Grace have you guided and protected me through all these years? There are moments when I have the vision of this Grace, bringing me to the verge of tears. I see so clearly that you are doing everything, that you are all that is good in me, my Aspiration and my strength. Me is all that is bad, all that resists, me is horribly false and falsifying. If your Grace withdraws for one second, I collapse, I am helpless.2 You alone are my strength, the source of my life, the joy and fulfillment to which I aspire.
I am at your feet, your child eternally.
|
0 1959-05-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Only someone who loves you and has the knowledge can find the true solution to the problem. X1 fulfills these conditions excellently. Go to him and simply be what you are, without blackening nor embellishing, with the sincerity and simplicity of a child. He knows your soul and its Aspiration; speak to him of your physical life and of your need for space, solitude, untamed nature, the simple and free life. He will understand and, in his wisdom, will see the best thing to do.
And what he decides will be done.
|
0 1959-10-06 - Sri Aurobindos abode, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
I understand why certain tantrics advise saying the japa in the heart center. When one applies a certain enthusiasm, when each word is said with a warmth of Aspiration, then everything changes. I could feel this difference in myself, in my own japa.
In fact, when I walk back and forth in my room, I dont cut myself off from the rest of the worldalthough it would be so much more convenient! All kinds of things come to mesuggestions, wills, Aspirations. But automatically I make a movement of offering: things come to me and just as they are about to touch my head, I turn them upwards and offer them to the Light. They dont enter into me. For example, if someone speaks to me while I am saying my japa, I hear quite well what is being said, I may even answer, but the words remain a little outside, at a certain distance from the head. And yet sometimes, there are things that insist, more defined wills that present themselves to me, so then I have to do a little work, but all that without a pause in the japa. If that happens, there is sometimes a change in the quality of my japa, and instead of being fully the power, fully the light, it is certainly something that produces results, but results more or less sure, more or less long to fructify; it becomes uncertain, as with all things of this physical world. Yet the difference between the two japas is imperceptible; its not a difference between saying the japa in a more or less mechanical way and saying it consciously, because even while I work I remain fully conscious of the japa I continue to repeat it putting the full meaning into each syllable. But nevertheless, there is a difference. One is the all-powerful japa; the other, an almost ordinary japa There is a difference in the inner attitude. Perhaps for the japa to become true, a kind of joy, an elation, a warmth of enthusiasm has to be added but especially joy. Then everything changes.
Well, it is the same thing, the same imperceptible difference, when it comes to entering the world of Truth. On one side there is the falsehood, and on the other, close by, like the lining of this one, the true life. Only a little difference in the inner quality, a little reversal, is enough to pass to the other side, into the Truth and Light.
|
0 1959-11-25, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
There is one element that remains fixed: for each type of atom, the inner organization of the elements is different, which is what creates the difference in their substance. So perhaps similarly, each individual has a different, particular way of organizing the cells of his body, and it is this particular way that persists through all the outer changes. All the rest is undone and redone, but undone in a forward thrust towards the new instead of collapsing backwards into death, and redone in a constant Aspiration to follow the progressive movement of the divine Truth.
But for that, the body the body-consciousness must first learn to widen itself. It is indispensable, for otherwise all the cells become a kind of boiling porridge under the pressure of the supramental light.
What usually happens is that when the body reaches its maximum intensity of Aspiration or of ecstasy of Love, it is unable to contain it. It becomes flat, motionless. It falls back. Things settle downyou are enriched with a new vibration, but then everything resumes its course. So you must widen yourself in order to learn to bear unflinchingly the intensities of the supramental force, to go forward always, always with the ascending movement of the divine Truth, without falling backwards into the decrepitude of the body.
That is what Sri Aurobindo means when he speaks of an intolerable ecstasy1; it is not an intolerable ecstasy: it is an unflinching ecstasy.
|
0 1960-05-16, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
In the early part of the century, I wrote Prayers and Meditations, and I too spoke of Him; but I wrote that with all my Aspiration, all my sincerity (at least with all the sincerity of the conscious parts of my being) and I locked it up in a drawer so that no one would see it. It was Sri Aurobindo who later asked me to publish it, for it could be useful If I knew then, fifty years ago, what I know now, I would have been crushed! All this shame, all this unworthiness
After all, its good to know gradually, good to have some illusionsnot for the sake of illusions but as a necessary step along the way.
|
0 1960-06-04, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
Its tamas that gives you a bad sleep. There are two kinds of bad sleep that which makes you heavy and leaden, as if the result of all your effort the day before were wasted, and that which exhausts you, as if you had spent the whole time fighting. And Ive observed that if you cut your sleep up into sections (it becomes a habit), the nights get better. In other words, you must be able to come back to your normal consciousness and your normal Aspiration at certain intervals, come back to the call of your consciousness But you must not use an alarm clock. When in trance, its not good to be jolted.
Just as you are drifting off, you can make a formation and say, I shall wake up at such-and-such time (children do it very easily).
--
'Or any word that has a power for you, a word spontaneously springing from the heart, like a prayer which sums up your Aspiration.'
Unfortunately, Mother had us cut many things from this text. We regret the fact.
|
0 1960-10-11, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
The day before yesterday, I spent the whole night looking on. I had read the passage by Sri Aurobindo in The Synthesis on supramental time (wherein past, present and future coexist in a global consciousness). While youre in it, its marvelous! You understand things perfectly. But when youre not in it Above all, theres this problem of how to keep the force of ones Aspiration, the power of progress, this power which seems so inevitableso inevitable if existence (lets simply take terrestrial existence) is to mean anything and its presence to be justified. (This ascending movement towards a progressive better that will be eternally better)How is this to be kept when you have the total vision this vision in which everything coexists. At that moment, the other becomes something like a game, an amusement, if you will. (Not everyone finds it amusing!) And when you contain all that, why allow yourself the pleasure of succession? Is this pleasure of succession, of seeing things one after the other, equal to this intensity of the will for progress? Words are foolish!
The effort to see and to understand this gripped me all night. And when I woke up this morning, I thanked the Lord; I said to Him, Obviously, if You were to keep me totally in that consciousness, I could no longer I could no longer do my work! How could I do my work? For I can only say something to people when I feel it or see it, when I see that its what must be said, but if I am simultaneously in a consciousness in which Im aware of everything that has led to that situation, everything that is going to happen, everything Im going to say, everything the others going to feel then how could I do it!
|
0 1961-01-12, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Consequently, there is only one solution: by Aspiration, concentration, interiorization and identification, to unite with the supreme Will. And that is both omnipotence and perfect freedom. Its the only omnipotence, the only freedomall the rest are approximations. You may be en route, but its not That, not the total thing.
If you make the experiment, you will come to see that this supreme freedom and this supreme power are accompanied by a total peace and an unfaltering serenity; if you notice any contradictionrevolt, disgust or something inadmissiblethis indicates that some part in You is not touched by the transformation, is still en route: something still holding on to the old consciousness, thats all.
|
0 1961-02-11, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The most violent attack came immediately after that experience [of January 24]. But of all the experiences in my life, this was the most wonderful for the simple reason that it was NOT EVEN preceded by an Aspiration, not even an Aspiration from the body it came directly as the Supreme Will, bang! (Mother bangs down her hands in an irresistible gesture) And then there was nothing, nothing but THE thing, WITHOUT ANY PERSONAL PARTICIPATION WHATSOEVER: no will, no Aspiration, not even the satisfaction of itnothing. It was. I was (in my higher consciousness) filled with wonder at the ABSOLUTENESS of the experience. It came, a thing DECREED and eternallike that (same irresistible gesture).
(silence)
|
0 1961-02-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This one is the Constant Remembrance of the Divine.1 This is Life Energy2 and Purified Life Energy.3 Then Faithfulness4: the peace of FaithfulnessFaithfulness to the Divine, of course, thats understood! This is Divine Solicitude5; this is the Aspiration for Transformation,6 and the response: see how beautiful it islike velvet! its the Promise of Realization.7 Here is Light Without Obscurity,8 and finally Realization9the first flower from the tree at Nanteuil.10
There you are.
--
And it results neither from an Aspiration nor a seeking nor an effort nor a tapasya nor anything else: it comes, bang! (same irresistible gesture) And when it goes away, something like like an imprint in the sand remainsin the consciousness. The consciousness is like a layer of sand on which the experience has left an imprint. If you stir about too much, the imprint vanishes; if you remain very still, it. But its only an imprint. And it cant be imitated. Whats marvelous is that it cant be imitated! All the rest, all the ascetic realizations, for example, can be imitated, but you cant imitate this, it is there is no equivalent.
Its like the extraordinary feeling I had in my experience that night [January 24]the individuality, even in its highest consciousness, even whats known as the atman13 and the soul, had nothing to do with it. For it comes like this (same gesture), with an absoluteness. There is NO individual participationits a decision coming from the Supreme.
Its the same thing for the rest: all your Aspiration, all your tapasya, all your efforts, all that is individualabsolutely no effect. It comes, and there it is.
There is only one thing you can doANNUL YOURSELF as much as possible. If you can annul yourself completely, then the experience is total. And if your disappearance could be constant, the experience would be constantly there but thats still far away. I dont know if all this (Mother looks at her body).
--
Formerly, when it couldnt do its work, the body had a kind of impatiencea feeling that despite all its Aspiration and goodwill to be a fit instrument, these disorders were barring the way. Even this has completely gone.
Now the body has a kind of extraordinary smile for everything. At the end of the day, with the accumulation of everything coming from the people I have seen and the work I have done, when I have to push and pull myself just to climb the stairs because my legs are like iron rods, without any will (thats the most terrible part: they dont respond to the will), even at times like these, when my arms are what pull me up the stairs (no longer my legs), the body doesnt protest, doesnt protest. Then it begins walking back and forth for japa. And after half an hour of walking, things are infinitely better (Mother makes a gesture of the Force descending into her body).
--
All our Aspirations, all our seekings, all our ascents always remind me of that flower I gave you the other day16: its something like that (Mother makes a vague, ethereal gesture), vibrating, vibrating, vibrating, very luminous, very delicate, essentially very lovely (silence) but it is not THAT (Mother again turns her hand over to indicate an abrupt reversal). It is not That.
(silence)
|
0 1961-04-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There have been moments, you know, in supreme experiences of perfect union in a wondrous Love, when I have turned towards the worldsimply turned the consciousness for a second towards the world as it is (with the Aspiration, I remember, for EVERYTHING to participate) and in that state of ecstasy, really, there were tears of burning sorrow. It happened just like that.
Theoretically, it shouldnt be that way, but in fact it is. Something will never be perfect until this accident has been abolished.
|
0 1961-04-18, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Now I know that its not necessary at allnot at all. Simply the Aspiration must be constantly like this (gesture of a rising flame). Aspiration that is, knowing what you want, wanting it. But it cannot be given a definite form; Sri Aurobindo has used certain words, we use other words, others use still other words, and all this means nothing they are simply words. But there is something beyond all words, and that for me, the simplest thing (the simplest to express) is, The Supremes Will.
And its The Supremes Will FOR THE EARTHwhich is quite a special thing. I am in a universal consciousness at the moment and the earth seems to me to be a very tiny thing, like this (Mother sketches a tiny ball in the air) in the process of being transformed. But this is from the standpoint of the Work, its another matter.
--
Actually, in these scenes from the subconscient presented during the night, there were things I had believed ill-omened in my lifeyet suddenly I saw the vibration of this Aspiration arising, with such a power and intensity EVEN THERE. Oh, I said, how mistaken we are!
And this Aspiration depends neither on the state of health nor. Its absolutely independent of all circumstances I have felt this Aspiration in the cells of my body at the very moment when things were at their most disorganized, when, from an ordinary medical standpoint, the illness was serious. The cells THEMSELVES aspire. And this Aspiration has to be everywhere.
When one is in this state, there is no need to worrynothing else matters (Mother bursts into laughter).
|
0 1961-04-29, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Of course, my mother was such an out-and-out materialist, thank God, that it was impossible to speak to her of invisible thingsshe took them as evidence of a deranged brain! Nothing counted for her but what could be touched and seen. But this was a divine grace I had no opportunity to say anything. I kept my experience to myself. But it was one of my first contacts with. I learned later that it was an entity from the past who had come back into me through the Aspiration arising from the music.
But I have rarely had an experience in churches. Rather the opposite: I have very often had the painful experience of the human effort to find solace, a divine compassion falling into very bad hands.
|
0 1961-06-20, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What I do now when X comes is take it all (gesture from below to above) and do like this (gesture of offering up), in an Aspiration and then I let it go. Then all the Immobility, the Silence, the Light, the Peace comes down from above into everything and doesnt move. But that in itself is very difficult for the body to have, very difficult: something is always vibrating and moving.
Its as if it put everything back in order, but nothing is moved.
|
0 1961-06-24, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There was an experience like that quite recently. A.s mother was illold and seriously ill. Seeing her declining, A. wrote to me: If the time has come, make it happen quicklydont let her suffer. Then I saw very clearly that there was still something in her which didnt want to go; and when I applied the Force for the best to happen she suddenly began to recover! It must have coincided with a kind of inner Aspiration in herno more fever, she was feeling well. And A. began preparing to come back here. If shes recovering, he said, theres no longer any point in my staying! The same evening she had a relapse and he sent me a telegram. Meanwhile (it was evening) I had gone upstairs to walk; suddenly The Will came (which is a very, very rare thing), The Will: Enough, now it must finishits enough as it is. Within half an hour she was dead.
These things are very interesting. They must form part of the work I have come on earth to do. Because even before encountering Theon, before knowing anything, I had experiences at night, certain types of activities looking after people who were leaving their bodiesand with a knowledge of the process; I didnt know what I was doing nor did I seek to know, yet I knew exactly what had to be done and I did it. I was around twenty.
--
I only knew about this vision later, but on my side, when he left, I saw his whole being gathered together, well united, thoroughly homogenous, in a great Aspiration, and rising, rising without dispersing, without deviating, straight up to the frontier of what Sri Aurobindo has called the higher hemisphere, there where Sri Aurobindo in his supramental action presides over earth. And he melted into that light.
Some time before his heart attack he said to his children: the gown is old, it must be thrown away.
|
0 1961-07-07, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
While walking in my room, a series of invocations or prayers have come to me2 (I didnt choose themthey were dictated to me) in which I implore the Lord to manifest his Perfection (and I am quite aware of how foolish this expression is, but it does correspond to an Aspiration).3 When I say manifest, I mean to manifest in our physical, material world Im asking for the transformation of this world. And the moment I utter one of these invocations, the sense of the particular approach it represents is there; thats why I am now able to give such a lecture on PerfectionPerfection is one of these approaches. Manifest this, I tell Him, Manifest that, manifest Your Perfection. (The series is very long and it takes me quite a while to go through it all.) Well, each time I say Manifest Your Perfection, I have an awareness of what constitutes Perfectionit is something global.
Its like the word purityone could lecture endlessly on the difference between divine purity and what people call purity. Divine purity (at the lowest level) is to admit but one influence the divine Influence (but this is at the lowest level, and already terribly distorted). Divine purity means that only the Divine existsnothing else. It is perfectly pureonly the Divine exists, nothing other than He.
|
0 1961-07-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If there werent this clear vision and constant Aspiration withinoh, its so dreary and exasperating so dull, so gray ugh!
(silence)
--
Because evidently I cant say that my experiences are the result of a mental Aspiration or will or knowledge I dont know, I dont know at all. I dont know how it should be, nor what it should be, nor anything at all. I dont know what should be done, I dont know what should not be donenothing. Its truly a blind march (gesture of groping along), in a desert riddled with all possible traps and difficulties and obstaclesall this heaped together. Eyes blindfolded, knowing nothing (same gesture of groping blindly), one plods on.
The only thing to do is to be like this (Mother turns her hands towards the Heights in a gesture of abandonment). Provided you dont fall asleep! You mustnt enter into a beatific state where you. No, we must keep moving on.
|
0 1961-07-28, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Other traditions speak of the Consciousness, the divine Consciousness, instead of Love. One even finds accounts full of imagery depicting a Being of prismatic light lying in deep sleep in the cave of the Inconscient; and this Descent awakens him to an activity which is still (how to put it?) inner, an immobile activity, an activity by radiation. Countless rays issue from his body and spread throughout the Inconscient, and little by little they awaken in each thing, in each atom, as it were, the Aspiration to Consciousness and the beginning of evolution.
I have had this experience.
--
Take the experience of Mind, for example: Mind, in the evolution of Nature, gradually emerging from its involution; well and this is a very concrete experience these initial mentalized forms, if we can call them that, were necessarily incomplete and imperfect, because Natures evolution is slow and hesitant and complicated. Thus these forms inevitably had an Aspiration towards a sort of perfection and a truly perfect mental state, and this Aspiration brought the descent of already fully conscious beings from the mental world who united with terrestrial formsthis is a very, very concrete experience. What emerges from the Inconscient in this way is an almost impersonal possibility (yes, an impersonal possibility, and perhaps not altogether universal, since its connected with the history of the earth); but anyway its a general possibility, not personal. And the Response from above is what makes it concrete, so to speak, bringing in a sort of perfection of the state and an individual mastery of the new creation. These beings in corresponding worlds (like the gods of the overmind,4 or the beings of higher regions) came upon earth as soon as the corresponding element began to evolve out of its involution. This accelerates the action, first of all, but also makes it more perfectmore perfect, more powerful, more conscious. It gives a sort of sanction to the realization. Sri Aurobindo writes of this in SavitriSavitri lives always on earth, with the soul of the earth, to make the whole earth progress as quickly as possible. Well, when the time comes and things on earth are ready, then the divine Mother incarnates with her full powerwhen things are ready. Then will come the perfection of the realization. A splendor of creation exceeding all logic! It brings in a fullness and a power completely beyond the petty shallow logic of human mentality.
People cant understand! To put oneself at the level of the general public may be all very well5 (personally I have never found it so, although its probably inevitable), but to hope that they will ever understand the splendor of the Thing. They have to live it first!
--
As for hoping to make people understand! The only thing that really matters is that they read your book with interest. Let them read it with interest; each one will imagine he has understood (and of course he will have understood!), and through (I was going to say under) their interest, well, something will be awakened in their consciousness, a kind of first Aspiration towards the need to realize thats all. If you do that, good Lord, you have done a great thing!
Make them understand! How to understand? As long as one is there [at the mind level], one does not understand. One can imagine all sorts of things, explain all sorts of things, but with a pinch of common sense, you see very well that you dont explain a thing.
|
0 1961-08-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its strange. I say strange because its due to her that I took birth in this body, that it was chosen. When she was very young she had a great Aspiration. She was exactly twenty years older than 1; she was twenty when I was born and I was her third child. The first was a son who died in Turkey when he was two months old, I thinkthey vaccinated him against smallpox and poisoned him, (laughing) god knows what it means! He died of convulsions. Next was my brother who was born in Egypt, at Alexandria, and then me, born in Paris when she was exactly twenty years old. At that time (especially since the death of her first child) she had a kind of GREAT Aspiration in her: her children had to be the best in the world. It wasnt an ambition, I dont know what it was. And what a will she had! MY mother had a formidable will, like an iron bar, utterly impervious to all outside influence. Once she had made up her mind, it was made up; even if someone had been dying before her eyes, she wouldnt have budged! And she decided: My children will be the best in the world.
One thing she did have was a sense of progress; she felt that the world was progressing and we had to be better than anything that had come before and that was sufficient.
|
0 1961-10-15, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have noticed that the true inspiration doesnt come when one is very, very anxious, nor even when you have a very intense Aspiration, but (how to put it?) when you succumb in a smile, and it all goes blank. Then theres nothing; but if you know how to curb impatience (simply delighting in His beatitude, even if ages passdelighting in His beatitude), then suddenly, when you least expect itflash! Thats IT!
This has happened to me very, very oftensuddenly, poff! And with such certainty!
|
0 1961-10-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Nor was it insignificant that fire, Agni, was the core of the Vedic mysteries: Agni, the inner flame, the soul within us (for who can deny that the soul is fire?), the innate Aspiration drawing man towards the heights; Agni, the ardent will within us that sees, always and forever, and remembers; Agni, the priest of the sacrifice, the divine worker, the envoy between earth and heaven (Rig-veda III, 3.2) he is there in the middle of his house (I.70.2). The Fathers who have divine vision set him within as a child that is to be born (IX.83.3). He is the boy suppressed in the secret cavern (V.2.1). He is as if life and the breath of our existence, he is as if our eternal child (I.66.1). O Son of the body (III.4.2), O Fire, thou art the son of heaven by the body of the earth (III.25.1). Immortal in mortals (IV.2. 1), old and outworn he grows young again and again (II.4.5). When he is born he becomes one who voices the godhead: when as life who grows in the mother he has been fashioned in the mother he becomes a gallop of wind in his movement (III.29.11). O Fire, when thou art well borne by us thou becomest the supreme growth and expansion of our being, all glory and beauty are in thy desirable hue and thy perfect vision. O Vastness, thou art the plenitude that carries us to the end of our way; thou art a multitude of riches spread out on every side (II.1.12). O Fire brilliant ocean of light in which is divine vision (III.22.2), the Flame with his hundred treasures O knower of all things born(I.59).
But the divine fire is not our exclusive privilegeAgni exists not only in man: He is the child of the waters, the child of the forests, the child of things stable and the child of things that move. Even in the stone he is there (I.70.2).
|
0 1961-12-16, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One day (Im translating the last section of The Synthesis of Yoga, The Yoga of Self-Perfectionit plunges you into bottomless gulfs) and one day (I think Ive told you this), I had a vision of the gap between not even what ought to be, because we probably havent the slightest idea of that, but between our concept of what we would like to be and what is. And it was so dreadful that the body was thrown into, oh an anguish, a horror; and along with it an intensity of Aspiration, a prayer. The gap seemed so tremendous: Is it possible?
Thats how it felt.
|
0 1962-01-09, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, at one point I wondered (I dont remember when, a few days ago): How could people have lived here, so near (but the same thing is still happening), how could human beings on earth who had an Aspiration, who had their consciousness turned towards those things, have lived that possibility, have HAD that possibility at their fingertips, without being able to take advantage of it! How could something so wonderful and unique have taken place here, and yet people had such a small and childish and superficial image of it!
Truly, I wondered, Has the time really come? Is it possible? Or will it once again be postponed?
|
0 1962-01-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And there was the sudden vision of all the error, all the incomprehension, all the ignorance, all the darkness andeven worseall the ill will in the earths consciousness, which felt responsible for the prolongation of those adverse forces and beings and offered them up in a great it was more than an Aspiration, it was a sort of holocaust, so that the adverse forces might disappear, might no longer have any reason to exist, no longer need to be there to point out all that has to change.
The adverse forces were necessitated by all these negations of the divine life. And this movement of earth consciousness towards the Supreme, the offering of all these things with such extraordinary intensity, was a kind of reparation so that those adverse forces might disappear.
|
0 1962-02-06, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Automatically, everything that exists is a natural expression of divine Joy, even the things human consciousness finds most horrifyingthis is understandable. But at the same time there is this Aspiration, so intense that its almost anguish, for a perfection of creation to come. And it does seem that this intense Aspiration and anguish in the material world is a necessary preparation for this perfection to come. Yet at the same time, whatever exists is perfect at each moment, since it is ENTIRELY the Divine. There is nothing other than the Divine. So there is simultaneously this plenitude of Divine Joy in each second, in whatever exists, and the Aspiration, the anguish and the difficulty lies in joining the two, there you have it.
Practically, you go from one to the other, or one is in front and the other behind, one active and the other passive. With the feeling of perfect joy comes an almost static state (certainly the joy of movement is also there, but all anticipation of the goal stays in the background). Then, when the Aspiration of the Becoming is there, the joy of divine perfection at each moment withdraws into a static state.
And this very going back and forth is the problem.
--
At my fullest and most intense momentsmoments when truly what exists is the universe (by universe I mean the Becoming of the Supreme) with the utmost active awareness of the Supremeat such moments I am suddenly caught by that [the static, nirvanic aspect]. Its not a matter of choosing between the two, but rather a question of priorities from the standpoint of action on the lowest level. Instinctively (the instinct of this body, this material base), the choice is Aspiration, because this being was built for action; but this cannot be taken as an absolute rule, its almost like a casual preference.
One feels that life Is this Aspiration, this anguish, while bliss leads most naturally to the nirvanic side I dont know.
But then how to help people? You can recommend neither one nor the other. And if you say both, you are plunged into this same dilemma.
|
0 1962-03-13, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have my pride, and I want the people who work with me to be content; this gives me more pleasure than anything. Of course, ideally. But one is never truly satisfied, one will never be truly satisfied; one will always go from Aspiration to Aspiration. But as a base, one should at least feel a sense of purpose in life. You said the very thing that hurts the most!
(Mother gazes at Satprem for a long time)
|
0 1962-05-31, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But to say its these particular Words exclusively would be ridiculous. What counts is the sincerity of the Aspiration, the exactness of the expression and the power; that is, the power that comes from the mantra being accepted. This is something very interesting: the mantra has been ACCEPTED by the supreme Power as an effective tool, and so it automatically contains a certain force and power.5 But it is a purely personal phenomenon (the expression is the same, but the vibrations are personal). A mantra leading one person straight to divine realization will leave another person cold and flat.
What is your experience when you say your mantra? You once told me you felt good saying it.
--
It represents what you put into ityour Aspiration, mon petit. No, to me it can represent only ONE thing. I call it the Supreme, because you have to call it something, but that Something is the farthest limit of our Aspiration, our Aspiration in every sense, in all directions, on all occasions. Something that is the supreme summit of our Aspiration, WHATEVER that Aspiration may be, in whatever direction, in whatever realmbeyond, really beyond, Something beyond any form of activity.
For me, the most concrete approach to this is through the vibration of pure Love; not love for something, a love you give or receive, but Love in itself: Love. It is something self-existent. And it is certainly the most concrete approach for me. (But it isnt exclusiveit contains everything else within itself; it doesnt exclude all the other approaches, all the other contacts.)
--
And yet I have noticed that to associate a certain state and a certain Aspiration with a certain sound helps the body. No one told me the mantra; I had begun doing japa before we met X (it had come to me when I was trying to find a means of getting the body to take part in the experience the body itself, you know: THIS). And this help was certainly given to me, because the method imposed itself very, very imperiouslywhen I heard certain Words it was like an electric shock. And then, disregarding all Sanskrit rules, I made myself a sentence; it isnt really a Sanskrit sentence, or any kind of sentence at alla phrase made up of three Words. And these three Words are full of meaning for me. (I wouldnt mention it to a Sanskritist!) They have a full, living meaning. And they have been repeated literally millions and millions of times, I am not exaggerating they surge up from the body spontaneously.
It was the first sound that came from the body when I had that last experience [April 13]. Along with the first pain, came that first soundso it must be quite well rooted.6 And it brings in exactly that vibration of eternal Life: the first thing I felt, all of a sudden, was a kind of strong calm, confident and smiling.
|
0 1962-06-30, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And thats why. How many times Durga came! She would always come, and I had my eye on her (!), because in her presence I could clearly sense that there wasnt that rapport with the Supreme (she just didnt need it, she didnt need anything). And it wasnt that something acted on her consciously, deliberately, to obtain that result: it has been a contagion. I remember how she used to come, and my Aspiration would be so intense, my inner attitude so concentrated and one day there was such a sense of power, of immensity, of ineffable bliss in the contact with the Supreme (it was a day when Durga was there), and she seemed to be taken and absorbed in it. And through that bliss she made her surrender.
Most interesting.
|
0 1962-07-14, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
They are silly, silly! They are absolutely ignorant and yet theres a flame of Aspiration suddenly awakening. And then they want to know, want to investigate, want to find, want to learn, want to. Its going like this (Mother blinks her eyes like a baby bird waking up), vibrating and searching.
Theyve managed to stay very childlike.
|
0 1962-07-18, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This experience I am describing is exactly what happened yesterday (it happens every day, but yesterday it was especially clear). And its still here I am seeing it as I saw it, its still here. Actually, it is always herealways herethough its more striking when the body is stretched out, motionless in the Yoga. The experience is slightly different when walking because that involves action. When the body walks, it acts on behalf of everything thats related to it, hence the action is vaster and more powerful. But when it is stretched out and asks the Lord to take possession of it, it really asks with all its Aspiration. And the very intensity of the Aspiration brings in the possibility of a slight emotional vibration. But it is immediately drowned in the immobile immensity of matter, which senses the Divine Descent like a leaven that makes dough rise thats it exactly, the terrestrial immensity of matter and the leavening action of the Divine Descent. The intensity of these vibrations is above and beyond anything we are used to feeling the vital seems dull and flat in comparison. And what a Wisdom! It knows how to make use of time that is, it actually changes itself into timeso as to minimize the possibilities of damage.
Its plain to see that, left to itself in its full power of transformation and progress, this flame of Aspiration, this flame of Agni would have scant consideration for the result of the process the result of the process is that fire burns. And there could be mishaps in the functioning of the organs. All the organs must undergo a transformation, but were it too rapid and too sudden, well, everything would go out of whack. The machine would simply explode. But this Wisdom doesnt come from the universal consciousness (which I dont really think is so wise!), its infinitely higher: the Supreme Wisdom. Something so wonderful! It foresees things the universal forces in their universal play would overlooka wonder!
(silence)
--
This body-consciousness has a will; it is constantly, constantly calling upon the Lords will: Lord, take possession of this, take possession of that, take. Theres no question of taking possession of the will, that was done ages ago, but: Take possession of these cells, those cells, this, that. It is the BODYS Aspiration. Well, the blow wasnt caused by this will acting in the body; the blow didnt come directly from the body, but from something that had slipped in through an unconscious element; and the body simply erased, or absorbed, digested this unconsciousness and the thing vanished without a trace!
And do you know how this body is? It immediately began wondering (I was quietly watching it all from above), What if (ifs are always idiotic but its an old bodily habit), what if the object had been sharp, would the results have been so easy to annul? (Mother laughs) Then I distinctly heard someone reply (I am putting it into words), You idiot! That wouldnt have happened in the first place! That is, the necessary protection would have been there. The protection intervenes only when necessary, not just for the fun of it. You numbskull, it said (I am translating freely), how silly can you be! It wouldnt have happened.
|
0 1962-07-25, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was a very pleasant sensation. I would sit in a little armchair made especially for me, all alone in my room, and I (I didnt know what it was, you see, not a thing, nothingmentally zero) and I had a VERY PLEASANT feeling of something very strong, very luminous, and it was here (above the head). Consciousness. And I felt, Thats what I have to live, what I have to be. Not with all those words, naturally, but (Mother makes a gesture of Aspiration Upward). Then I would pull it down, for it was it was truly my raison dtre.
That is my first memoryat five years old. Its impact was more on the ethical side than the intellectual; and yet it took an intellectual form too, since. You see, apparently I was a child like any other, except that I was hard to handle. Hard in the sense that I had no interest in food, no interest in ordinary games, no liking for going to my friends houses for snacks, because eating cake wasnt the least bit interesting! And it was impossible to punish me because I really couldnt have cared less: being deprived of dessert was rather a relief for me! And then I flatly refused to learn reading, I refused to learn. And even bathing me was very hard, because I was put in the care of an English governess, and that meant cold bathsmy brother took it in stride, but I just howled! Later it was found to be bad for me (the doctor said so), but that was much later. So you get the picture.
--
It is the individual consciousness. Aspiration is almost always an expression of the psychic being the part of us thats organized around the divine center, the small divine flame deep within human beings. You see, this divine flame exists inside each human being, and little by little, through all the incarnations and karma and so on, a being takes shape around it, which Thon called the psychic being. And when the psychic being reaches its full development, it becomes a kind of bodily or at any rate individual raiment of the soul. The soul is a portion of the Supreme the jiva is the Supreme in individual form. And since there is only one Supreme, there is only one jiva, but with millions of individual forms. This jiva begins as a divine sparkimmutable, eternal and infinite too (infinite in possibility rather than dimension). And through all the incarnations, whatever has received and responded to the divine Influence progressively crystallizes around the jiva, which becomes more and more conscious as well as more and more organized. Ultimately it becomes a completely conscious individual being, master of itself and moved exclusively by the divine Will. That is to say, an individual expression of the Supreme. This is what we call the psychic being.
Generally speaking, those who practice yoga have either a fully developed, independent psychic being which has taken birth again to do the Divines work, or else a psychic being in its last incarnation wanting to complete its development and realize itself.
--
And it was he who did it, entirely. I didnt even ask him, there was no Aspiration, nothing (there were my previous efforts; I knew it had to come, thats all). But on that day I hadnt mentioned it to him, I wasnt thinking about it, I wasnt doing anythingjust sitting there. And outwardly he seemed to be fully engrossed in his conversation about this and that and what was going to happen in the world.
Thats the real way.
|
0 1962-07-31, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Here, Ill give you an example: A. wrote to tell me, If you know how to get in touch with Agni,1 let me know, because I need him! I gave the natural reply, that whats needed is Aspiration for progress, a will for perfection, and that you kindle the fire by burning your desires. I told him this in a way I call very concrete. Well, he answered (laughing), Ohhh! Youre living in abstractions. Thats not what I want, I want a living goda personality, you see!
Thats how people are.
--
Agni: the fire of inner Aspiration. In the Vedas it is represented by a particular god.
***
|
0 1962-09-26, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo preached the integral yoga which includes everything, so one can have all the experiences. Indeed, the universe was clearly created as a field of experience. Some people prefer the short, straight and narrow paths thats their business. Others like to dawdle along the wayand thats their business! And some are drawn to have all the experiences, and thus they often wander for a long time through the overmental world. And of course, the vast majority of those who have RELIGIOUS Aspirations are thus put in touch with various deities, where they stopits enough for them.
But everything Ive just said is only one tiny part of the whole story.
|
0 1962-10-30, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are different LINES of approach. It all ultimately depends on ones Aspiration or dominant preoccupation, or on what one needs for ones work. Its as if one went STRAIGHT where one wants to go, ignoring everything else, taking no notice of itpassing through it if necessary, but without paying attention to it. And the need to classify, well it comes afterwards, if one feels like describing things, but it isnt necessary.
Its like that famous Nirvanayou can find it behind everything. Theres a psychic nirvana, a mental nirvana, even a vital nirvana. I think I already told you about the experience I had with Tagore in Japan. Tagore always used to say that as soon as he started meditating he entered Nirvana, and he asked me to meditate with him. We sat together in meditation. I was expecting to make a very steep ascent, but he simply went into his MIND, and there (what I do, you see, is tune in to the person I am meditating with, identify with him thats how I know what happens). Well, he started meditating, and everything quite rapidly came to a halt, became absolutely immobile (this he did very well), and from there he sort of fell backwards, and it was Nothingness. And he could remain in that state indefinitely! We did in fact stay like that for a rather long time; I dont remember how long, three quarters of an hour or an hour, but anyway it was long enough. I was keeping alert the whole time to see if, by chance, he would go on into something else, but there he stayedhe stayed there nice and calm, without stirring. Then he came back, his mind started up again, and that was that.
--
To have it (just to give you an idea) took me a year of exclusive concentration on finding that within myself that is, to enter into contact with the immanent God. I did nothing but that, thought of nothing but that, wanted nothing but that. There was even a rather funny instance, because I had resolved to do it (I had already been working for a very long time, of course; Madame Thon had told me about my mission on earth and all that, so you can imagine I am talking about the psychic being belonging to this present creation, this formationMo ther touches her body) anyway, it was New Years Eve and I decided: Within the coming year. I had a large, almost square studio, a bit bigger than this room, with a door leading onto a patio. I opened the little door and looked at the sky and there, just as I looked, was a shooting star. You know the tradition: if you formulate an Aspiration just as you see a shooting star, before the star disappears, it will be realized within the year. And there, just as I opened the door, was a shooting star I was totally in my Aspiration: Union with the inner Divine. And before the end of December of the following year, I had the experience.
But I was entirely concentrated on that. I was in Paris, and I did nothing else but that; when I walked down the street, I was thinking only of that. One day, as I was crossing the Boulevard Saint Michel, I was almost run over (Ive told you this), because I was thinking of nothing but thatconcentrating, concentrating like sitting in front of a closed door, and it was painful! (intense gesture to the chest) Physically painful, from the pressure. And then suddenly, for no apparent reason I was neither more concentrated nor anything elsepoof! It opened. And with that. It didnt just last for hours, it lasted for months, mon petit! It didnt leave me, that light, that dazzling light, that light and immensity. And the sense of THAT willing, THAT knowing, THAT ruling the whole life, THAT guiding everythingsince then, this sense has never left me for a minute. And always, whenever I had a decision to make, I would simply stop for a second and receive the indication from there.
|
0 1962-11-17, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yet people have fought beforepeople have fought everywhere, havent they? Since the last war they have never stopped fighting in one place or another: in Africa, in Asia, everywhere. Theyve been constantly fighting. There was always something, constantly. This whole Algerian story terrible things went on there; and all the trouble in the Congo and so forthbattles everywhere. But I dont know why (its not that I wasnt concerned with these events, they were in my consciousness), but this time two things have happened: a greater Power has descended (something very concrete, almost tangible), a great Power has descended, has been especially sent; and also a certain receptivityeverywhere, even in the Chinese (I dont mean locally: its all over the world). Is it because, materially, theres some anxiety at the idea of? If a new world war starts, its obviously going to be something unspeakable, frightful, frightfulwhole civilizations will be swallowed up. It will put a stop to life on earth in a terrible way. Is that what made people? Has this awakened some Aspiration? Possibly. Theres clearly a greater receptivity. I see this from the fact that whenever the Will spreads out (Mother makes a gesture of emanation), well, it has a more concrete and more immediate effect.
The other conflicts were really very superficial, like minor ailmentsskin diseases! Superficial things. There were some appalling horrors, utterly repugnant things, too, everywhere (I remember what happened in Algeria, I was kept informed and I knew what took place: horrible things) and yet they seemed yes, they seemed like skin diseases of the earth! They were very superficial. But then suddenly up there [in Nefa and Ladakh], oh, it became something different.
|
0 1963-03-06, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The mind always tries to make an exclusive choice or decision thats not the way. Even the totality of what we are able to imagine is very little compared to what will be. The truth is, everyone with an intense Aspiration and inner certitude will be called to realize it.
Everywhere, in all fields, always and forever, all is possible. And all that is possible WILL BE at a given momenta moment that may be short or long, but all will be.
--
If what belongs to the supramental world materialized abruptly, rather than through a slow evolution that would be something which man, as a mental being, even if his mentality, his mental domain, were brought to perfection, could call a miracle, for it is the intervention in his conscious life of something he doesnt consciously carry within him. The taste for miracles, which is very strong (much stronger in children or in hearts that have remained childlike than in highly mentalized beings), is basically the faith that the Aspiration for the Marvelous will come true, that things beyond all that we may expect of normal life will come true.
In fact, for education, people should always encourage both tendencies side by side: the thirst for the Marvelous, the seemingly unrealizable, for something that fills you with a sense of divinity, while at the same time encouraging, in the perception of the world as it is, an exact, correct and sincere observation, the abolition of all imaginings, a constant control, and a most practical and meticulous feeling for exactness in details. Both tendencies should go side by side. Generally, people kill one with the idea that its necessary in order to develop the otherwhich is totally erroneous. The two can coexist, and as knowledge grows, a moment comes when you understand that they are two aspects of the same thing, namely, a clear vision, a superior discernment. But instead of the vision and discernment being limited and narrow, they become absolutely sincere, correct, exactAND immense, embracing an entire field thats not yet part of the concrete Manifestation.
--
To see the world as it is, accurately, starkly, in the most practical and down-to-earth way, and to see the world as it can be, with the highest and freest vision, filled with hope and Aspiration and a marvelous certainty these are the two poles of discernment. All the most splendid, marvelous, powerful, expressive and total things we are able to imagine are nothing compared to what they can be; and at the same time, our minute observation of the smallest detail can never be sufficiently exact. Both things must go together. When you know this (gesture below) and you know That (gesture above), you are able to make the two meet.
This is the best possible use of the need for miracles. The need for miracles is a gesture of ignorance: Oh, I wish it were that way! Its a gesture of ignorance and impotence. On the other hand, those who tell you, You live in a world of miracles, know only the lower end of things (and quite imperfectly at that), and they are impervious to anything else.
We should turn this need for miracles into a conscious Aspiration to something something that already is, that exists, and that will be manifested WITH THE HELP of all those Aspirations: all those Aspirations are necessary, or rather, looking at it in a truer way, they are an accompanimenta pleasant accompanimentto the eternal unfolding.
Basically, people with a very strict logic tell you, Why pray? Why aspire, why ask? The Lord does what He wills and will always do what He wills. Its perfectly obvious, it goes without saying, but this fervor, Lord, manifest Yourself! gives His manifestation a more intense vibration.
Otherwise He would never have made the world as it isthere is a special power, a special joy, a special vibration in the worlds intensity of Aspiration to become again what it is.
And that is whypartly, fragmentarily whythere is evolution.
|
0 1963-03-09, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There were hosts of instances. But people are so blind, you know, so bogged down in their ordinary consciousness, that they always have ready explanations. They can always explain it away. Only those who had faith and Aspiration and something very pure in them, that is, those who really wanted to know, were aware of it.
Which means there is a difference between the miracle taking place through or in the mind, and the miracle taking place directly in the physical and vital. For instance, all those who perform miracles like levitation, moving objects, generating lights (Mother keeps silent for a while, then drops the subject). Its a field that I dont find very living, it doesnt interest me very much.2
|
0 1963-03-13, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In Savitri, the King represents the human Aspiration to discover the Earth's secret beyond all already explored spiritual knowledge.
***
|
0 1963-04-06, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But there too, a shift is taking place (what I told you once: those abrupt experiences that do not settle in but are first contacts2). After the lesson was drawn from this story, suddenly something arose in the body consciousness which isnt ONE bodys consciousness but a general body consciousnessan Aspiration, something so pure, so sweet so sweet something like an entreaty that Truth and Light may at last be manifested here, in this. Not here in this (Mother touches her own body): it was everywhere.
Then there was a contact3there was a contactand a pale blue Light, very sweet, very bright, and an Assurance.
|
0 1963-05-11, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I saw, in my case, that my mantra has the power of immortality; whatever happens, if it is uttered, its the Supreme that has the upper hand, its no longer the lower law. And the words are irrelevant, they may not have any meaningto someone else, my mantra is meaningless, but to me its full, packed with meaning. And effective, because its my cry, the intense Aspiration of my whole being.
A mantra given by a guru is only the power to realize the experience of the discoverer of the mantra. The power is automatically there, because the sound contains the experience. I saw that once in Paris, at a time when I knew nothing of India, absolutely nothing, only the usual nonsense. I didnt even know what a mantra was. I had gone to a lecture given by some fellow who was supposed to have practiced yoga for a year in the Himalayas and recounted his experience (none too interesting, either). All at once, in the course of his lecture, he uttered the sound OM. And I saw the entire room suddenly fill with light, a golden, vibrating light. I was probably the only one to notice it. I said to myself, Well! Then I didnt give it any more thought, I forgot about the story. But as it happened, the experience recurred in two or three different countries, with different people, and every time there was the sound OM, I would suddenly see the place fill with that same light. So I understood. That sound contains the vibration of thousands and thousands of years of spiritual Aspiration there is in it the entire Aspiration of men towards the Supreme. And the power is automatically there, because the experience is there.
Its the same with my mantra. When I wanted to translate the end of my mantra, Glory to You, O Lord, into Sanskrit, I asked for Nolinis help. He brought his Sanskrit translation, and when he read it to me, I immediately saw that the power was therenot because Nolini put his power into it (!), God knows he had no intention of giving me a mantra! But the power was there because my experience was there. We made a few adjustments and modifications, and thats the japa I do now I do it all the time, while sleeping, while walking, while eating, while working, all the time.1 And thats how a mantra has life: when it wells up all the time, spontaneously, like the cry of your beingthere is no need of effort or concentration: its your natural cry. Then it has full power, it is alive. It must well up from within. No guru can give you that.
|
0 1963-05-15, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Maybe it will go fast. But the question boils down to a SUFFICIENT Aspiration, sufficiently intense and effective to attract That which can transform all this: complication into Simplicity, cruelty into Love and so forth.
Its no use complaining and saying its a pity things are that way. They are the way they are. Why? When things are no longer that way, well probably know why. Or to put it differently: if we knew why, they would no longer be that way.
|
0 1963-06-22, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is a period (a period which from the human point of view may seem long, but which can certainly), a transitional period which must begin with the perception of what has to come, followed by the Aspiration, the will to become it, and then the work of transformation.
How far have we gone in that work of transformation?
|
0 1963-07-10, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Ill give you the example of what Pavitra told me yesterday: he always used to go out of his body in his Aspiration and to rise very high I told him a hundred times that he shouldnt do it, it wasnt good (for HIM; to another I would have said to do it). He never understood, and every time he meditated, brrt! he would go out of his body. Then the other day he told me, Ah, now Ive understood! I was always seeking Mother up above, till suddenly I couldnt find anything any more. So I concentrated here [in the body], and I found Mother immediately. And he added, Its because now Mother is here! (Mother laughs) I didnt explain anything, but that was exactly the point!
I didnt tell him anything, but I smiled as though he had made a discovery!
|
0 1963-07-13, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
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 rigid and with a spiritual silver light that gave a feeling of (what shall I say?) a commonplace light, I dont know how to explain something very common, nothing exceptional. It was like a cone, tapering to a pointed tip, a very pointed tip ending in a nonexistent pointa nonexistence. It wasnt very satisfying. But this time As a matter of fact, that was why I wanted to prepare the atmosphere, I wanted to see. It was good.
***
|
0 1963-07-17, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It requires no preparation, it isnt something you have to attain: its ALWAYS there. Only, it also stems from the fact that I am not here (thats so clear, so clear, it needs no reflection or observation, its such a well-established fact) I am not here for anything, anything whatsoever, any satisfaction of any sort, on any level, any pointnone of that exists any more, that has no more reality, no more existence. The only thing I still FEEL is a sort of not an Aspiration, not a will, not an adherence or enthusiasm, but something that is maybe its more like a power: to do the Lords Work. At the same time, I feel the Lord you understand, He isnt in front of me or outside of me! Thats not it, He is everywhere and He is everywhere and I am everywhere with Him. But what holds these cells together in a permanent form is that something which is at once the will and power (and something more than both) to do the Lords work. It contains something which probably is translated in peoples consciousnesses as Bliss, Ananda (I must say its an aspect of the problem I am not concerned with). Something like the intensity of a superlove as yet unmanifestits impossible to say.
Some time ago I made a discovery of that kind: someone asked me if there was any difference between Ananda and Love; I said, No. Then he said to me, But then how is it that some people feel Ananda while others feel Love? I answered him, Yes! Those who feel Ananda are those who like to receive, who have the capacity to receive, and those who feel Love are those who have the capacity to give. But its the same thing: you receive it as Ananda, you give it as Love.
|
0 1963-07-20, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It happens especially during daytime (between 12:30 and 1 oclocknot for long, a few minutes, I cant say; and between 5:30 and 6). At night its not the same, because (I think Ive told you already) as soon as I stretch out, the whole body is like a prayer. Its more than an Aspiration, its an intense need: Lord, take hold of me ENTIRELY! So there may be nothing but You, and that always brings about a result [the trance]which may last more or less long, until (how can I put it?) the moment agreed upon comes! Then when I wake up, or rather when the body emerges from that state, it knows its agreed upon, it doesnt have that anxiety. I dont know how to explain. In terms of consciousness its almost like a child: very simple, very simple. No complications, no complications whatever, very simple: to do what is to be done in the proper way while expressing the supreme Will. That is, to bring as little mixture as possible to the supreme Will (its not a question of Will: the Movement, the Vibration), as little mixture or distortion or deterioration as possible to the Vibrationwe always translate into words that are too intellectual.
But the body is docile, full of goodwill. Only I find its a little bit of a whiner (that must be particular to this one, I am sure other bodies are different), it isnt spontaneously joyful. Not that it complains, not at all, but Perhaps its due to that sort of concentration of Force of progressits not a blissful satisfaction, far from it. Its a long time since it stopped enjoying ordinary satisfactions, like the sense of taste, of smell: it doesnt enjoy any of thatit is conscious, very conscious, it can discern things very clearly, but in an entirely objective way, without deriving any pleasure from them.
|
0 1963-07-24, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And yet, for some time now and increasingly, there has been an extremely concrete Response to a kind of Aspiration (a call or prayer) in which I say to the Lord, Supreme Lord, manifest Your Love. (It comes at the end of a long invocation in which I ask Him to manifest all His aspects one after another, one after another, and it ends like that.) But then, remarkably enough, at that moment there comes a Response which is growing clearer and clearer, stronger and stronger. But Sri Aurobindo says that Truth should be established first, and that what he calls the Supramental is the supreme Truth, the Divine Truth. It corresponds to what I noticed while translating that last chapter on the perfection of the being in the Yoga of Self-Perfection: I kept thinking, But thats only the aspect of Truth; all that he expresses is the aspect of Truth; always and everywhere, its the angle of Truth; and his supramental action is an action of Truth.
I didnt know he had said it, but its written clearly here:
|
0 1963-08-03, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Physical Matter, physical substance the very elementary consciousness thats in physical substancehas been so ill-treated (since mans presence on earth, I suppose, because before man, there probably wasnt enough self-consciousness to be aware of being ill-treated; the substance wasnt conscious enough, I suppose, to make a distinction between a normal peaceful state and unfavorable conditions; but anyway, that goes back quite long time), so ill-treated that it finds it very hard to believe things can be different. That consciousness has an Aspirationan Aspiration especially for a LUMINOUS peace, something that isnt the dark peace of Unconsciousness, which it doesnt like (I dont know if it ever liked it, but it no longer does). It aspires to a luminous peace; not to a consciousness full of various things, not that: simply to a peaceful consciousness, very peaceful, very quiet, very luminous thats what it wants. Yet at the same time, it has some difficulty believing that its possible. I am experiencing it: the concrete and absolutely tangible intervention of the supreme Power, supreme Light and supreme Goodnessit [the consciousness in physical substance] has the experience of that, and every time it has a new sense of wonder, but in that sense of wonder I can see something like: Is it really possible?
It gives me the impression, you know, of a dog that has been beaten so much that it expects nothing but blows.
--
Thats becoming quite clear. For example, whenever there is no need to do anything outwardly and all activity stops, then theres rest, and there comes that thirst and Aspiration for a luminous Peace. It comes, and not only does it come, it seems to be firmly established. But if in that rest something suddenly flags and the old mental activity starts up (an activity of the mind of the cells, the most material mind), immediately that consciousness comes out of its rest with a jerk: Ah, no! Not that, not that, not that! Instantly the mental activity is stopped, and there is an Aspiration for the PresenceNot that, not that!
This morning, I had the experience twice; a very slight mental activity, and almost instantly: Ah, no, no! Not that. That consciousness prefers to act or move or do anything rather than fall into that conditionwhich it seems to regard as the Enemy.
|
0 1963-08-07, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is clearly in us the Remembrance that gives birth to the Aspiration for something divineif that werent there, latent, we could never we could not even imagine! That Aspiration couldnt exist, it would be meaningless. But still, what a long path this is.
It seems (its quite certain) that the closer you come to the other side, the more it appears the more you see the difference.
|
0 1963-08-10, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The last experience (which Ive had these last few days), in which apparently there was a hitch (it wasnt really one) was a sort of demonstration. I told you what it was, you remember: its like a purge of all the vibrations that are false vibrations, that arent the pure and simple response to the supreme Influence (all that in the cells still responds to the vibrations of falsehood, either from habit or from the people around or the food takenfifty thousand things). Then, with an Aspiration or a decision, almost a prayer for purification coming from the body, something happens which, naturally, upsets the balance; the imbalance in turn brings about a general discomfort. The form discomfort takes is habitually the same: first, pains and all kinds of sensations I need not describe; if that state goes on developing, if it is allowed to assume its full proportions, it results in the past it resulted in a faint. But this time, I followed the process for about two hours from the moment I got up: the struggle between the new balance, the new Influence that was getting established, and the resistance of all the existing elements forced to go away. That created a sort of conflict. The consciousness remained very clear the consciousness of the BODY remained very clear, very quiet, perfectly trusting. So for two hours I was able to follow the process (while going on with all my usual activities, without changing anything), until I felt, or rather was told sufficiently clearly that the Lord wanted my body to be completely immobile for a while so that He might complete His work. But I am not all alone: there are other people here to help me and watch over everything (but I dont say or explain anything to them, those are things I dont talk about I dont say what goes on, I dont say anything), so I sat there wondering, Is it really and truly indispensable? (Mother laughs) Then I felt the Lord exert a little more pressure, which heightened the intensity of the conflict, so that I had all the signs of fainting I understood (!) I stood up, let my body moan a little to make it plain it didnt feel too well (!) and I stretched out. Then I was immobile, and in that immobility, I saw the work that was being donea work that cannot be done if you go on moving about. I saw the work. It took nearly half an hour; in half an hour it was over. Which means there is really there is a fact I cannot doubt, even if all the surrounding thoughts and forces contradict it: I cannot doubt that the consciousness is increasing more and more the consciousness in the body. It is growing more and more precise, luminous, exactQUIETvery peaceful. Yet very conscious of a TREMENDOUS battle against millennial habits. Do you follow?
When it was over, I saw that even physically, bodily, there is a strength: the result is an increased strength. A very clearly increased strength.
|
0 1963-08-31, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And once more, I had that experience when the body was again moaning I say moaning, but its not that, its a kind of Aspiration so strong that it becomes like an anguish; and also that sense of incapacity. And the same Response: all at once the body is seized by a formidable power, so great that the body itself feels it could break anything! It comes like a mass. And I recalled a sentence of Sri Aurobindo in which he said, Before you can be the Lords lion, you should first be the Lords lamb,2 and it was as though I were told, Enough of being the lamb! (laughing) Now become the lion. But it doesnt last.
And I can easily see why it doesnt last! Oh, its You feel as if youre going to tear everything down!
|
0 1963-09-18, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Which means there isnt one Aspiration, not one effort that isnt useful seen from the terrestrial standpoint (from the individual standpoint, this has been obvious for a very long time), but seen from the terrestrial standpoint, there isnt one effortnot one effort towards the Better, not one Aspiration to the True that does not have terrestrial repercussions, terrestrial consequences.
A literal translation, using the words of Mother's own English translation which follows, would give:
|
0 1963-10-19, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is a constant Aspiration in the body for everything that can perfect itperfect the instrument, I mean and there is very, very little asking for Power. When Sri Aurobindo was here, there was a clear awareness of the necessity of Power, and several times I said, It is the supramental Power that will manifest first. Because, without Power, it will be impossible: the mass of opposition in the world is sufficient to swallow up everything, just as the Light was swallowed up in 60the supramental Light and Consciousness were swallowed up; it will be the same thing. But afterwards, when I had to do the whole task, I no longer insisted on this point [Power], there wasnt the sense of this necessity any more but rather the feeling of a WHOLE that has to progress together and manifest together. A kind of perfection of the Whole.
But its coming.
|
0 1963-10-26, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then I saw all kinds of thingsoh, bah! bah! An adverse organization in the most material vital to mislead unenlightened spiritual Aspirations: I encountered that last night. There was a kind of preacher teaching how to do things, and for each thing I had to contradict and explainbecause he had quite an audience: he has that audience at night, and when people wake up, they arent conscious of it, and it influences them. It results in a kind of possession. It was (oh, I see that gentleman often), its a tall, black beinghe is black, jet black but he passes himself off as a great Initiate! People dont see him as he is (they must see him in a very attractive guise), and he preaches the very things that foster disintegration. He teaches you in detail how to doa very good teacher of mischief. But I argued with him about everything, explained everything in detail, very carefully, very conscientiously, and when it was over, I offered it all to the Lordso I dont know what happened to him!
They are quite unhappy at whats going on here! (Mother laughs)
|
0 1963-11-20, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are times when one is disgusted, and thats just when one should remember this. Now, your disgust may have reasons of its own (!) But you have only to endure. You know, there is one thing, I dont know if you have savored it yet: as soon as you have a difficulty, dissatisfaction, revolt, disgustanythingfatigue, tension, discomfort, all, all that negative side (there are lots and lots and lots of such things, they take on all kinds of different colors), the immediate movementimmediateof calling the Lord and saying, Its up to You. As long as you try (instinctively you try to arrange things with your best light, your best consciousness, your best knowledge), its stupid, because that prolongs the struggle, and ultimately its not very effective. There is only one effective thing, thats to step back from whats still called me and with or without words, it doesnt matter, but above all with the flame of Aspiration, this (gesture to the heart), and something perfectly, perfectly sincere: Lord, its You; and only You can do it, You alone can do it, I cant. Its excellent, you cant imagine how excellent! For instance, someone comes and deluges you with impossible problems, wants you to make instant decisions; you have to write, you have to answer, you have to sayall of itand its like truckloads of darkness and stupidity and wrong movements and all that being dumped on you; and its dumped and dumped and dumpedyou are almost stoned to death with all that. You begin to stiffen, you get tense; then, immediately (gesture of stepping back): O Lord. You stay quiet, take a little step back (gesture of offering): Its up to you.
But you cant imagine, its wonderful! Immediately there comesclear, simple, effortlessly, without seeking for itexactly what has to be done or said or written: the whole tension stops, its over. And then, if you need paper, the paper is there; if you need a fountain pen, you find just the one you need; if you need (theres no seeking: above all dont seek, dont try to seek, youll just make another mess)its there. And thats a fact of EVERY MINUTE. You have the field of experience every second. For instance, youre dealing with a servant who doesnt do things properly or as you think they should be done, or youre dealing with a stomach that doesnt work the way youd like it to and it hurts: its the same method, there is no other. You know, at times situations get so tense that you feel as if youre about to faint, the body cant stand it any more, its so tense; or else theres a pain, something wrong, things arent sorting themselves out, and theres a tension; so immediately you stop everything: Lord, You, its up to You. At first there comes a peace, as if you were entirely outside existence, and then its gone the pain goes, the dizziness disappears. And what is to happen happens automatically. And, you see, its not in meditation, not in actions of terrestrial importance: its the field of experience you have ALL the time, without interruptionwhen you know how to put it to use. And for everything: when something hurts, for instance, when things resist or grate or howl inside there, instead of your saying, Oh, how it hurts! you call the Lord in there: Come in here, and then you stay calm, not thinking of anythingyou simply stay still in your sensation. And more than a thousand times, you know, I was almost bewildered: Look! The pain is gone! You didnt even notice how it went. So people who want to lead a special life or have a special organization to have experiences, thats quite silly the greatest possible diversity of experiences is at your disposal every minute, every minute. Only you must learn not to have a mental ambition for great things. Just the other day, I was shown in such a clear way a very small thing I had done (I, its the body speaking), a very small things that had been done by the Lord in this body (thats a long sentence!), and I was shown the terrestrial consequence of that very small thingit was visible, I mean, as my hand is visible to my eyesand the terrestrial correspondence. Then I understood.
|
0 1963-12-14, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The way the world is now physically organized, with the difference and specialization in the forms, in sexes, encourages a kind of opposition between the two poles, the union of which results in creation. So, naturally, each pole has enormous difficulty understanding the other (although it thinks and believes it does), especially understanding the pole I place underneath (gesture signifying the basis of the world), which is the effectively creative pole, that is to say, what is expressed by woman. She feels very well that without this (gesture above) the full understanding isnt there; but this, which is above, doesnt AT ALL understand the creative power of that which is belowit knows it in principle, but doesnt understand it. And there is a lack of adaptation, a sort of conflict, which shouldnt exist. It never existedneverbetween Sri Aurobindo and me, but I could see it didnt exist because he had adopted the attitude of complete surrender to the eternal Mother (the stage, in the creation, of complete surrender). I would see it, and it embarrassed me! It embarrassed me, I thought, But why does he think he has to do that (laughing), as if I couldnt understand! On the contrary, I thirst for the other attitude for identifying myself this way instead of that way (Mother presses her fist upward against her hand above): for identifying myself from below upward instead of from above downward. It was an Aspiration, which has been there almost for eternities for the universal creative Force to identify itself with the Creator. And to identify itself not through the descent of the Creator, but through the ascent of the Force the conscious ascent. But Sri Aurobindo willed it that way, so it was that way and then I was very busy with my work. For the thirty years we lived together, it went on that way, perfectly smoothly; and I kept my Aspiration quiet because I knew that it was his will. But since he left and I was obliged to do his work, so to speak, things have changed. But I didnt in the least want the Creator, because of my taking up the work, to be obliged to adapt himself to the creative Force (that wont do at all!), and my whole Aspiration has been for the creative Force to consciously BECOME the Creator. Its becoming increasingly that way. And at the last meeting [with Sri Aurobindo], for a time (not the whole time, but some time), it was that way. Then I understood; it made me understand the play of all the forces in the two elements the two polesand how they could be joined, through what process that opposition could disappear so that the total Being might exist.
Were on the way. And its growing clearer and clearer. It will be tremendously interesting. But thats for later on.
|
0 1963-12-31, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Which means that austerity, asceticism, even an intense and stern Aspiration, all sternness, all that: no action. No actionFalsehood stays put in the background. But it cannot resist the sparkling of joy. Its interesting.
(silence)
|
0 1964-01-04, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But of course, its traditional, mon petit! Thats the way of tradition: you must always have people go round in concentric circles, and there are times when you must drive them FAR AWAY to increase their Aspiration. Thats what tradition is all about I dont believe in it.
Its erudition, thats how its passed down from guru to chela [disciple], indefinitely.
|
0 1964-01-18, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There should be somewhere upon earth a place that no nation could claim as its own, a place where every human being of goodwill, sincere in his Aspiration, could live freely as a citizen of the world, obeying one single authority, that of the supreme Truth; a place of peace, concord, harmony, where all the fighting instincts of man would be used exclusively to conquer the causes of his sufferings and miseries, to surmount his weakness and ignorance, to triumph over his limitations and incapacities; a place where the needs of the spirit and the concern for progress would take precedence over the satisfaction of desires and passions, the search for pleasures and material enjoyment. In this place, children would be able to grow and develop integrally without losing contact with their souls; education would be given not with a view to passing examinations or obtaining certificates and posts, but to enrich ones existing faculties and bring forth new ones. In this place, titles and positions would be replaced by opportunities to serve and organize; everyones bodily needs would be provided for equally, and in the general organization, intellectual, moral and spiritual superiority would be expressed not by increased pleasures and powers in life, but by greater duties and responsibilities. Beauty in all its art formspainting, sculpture, music, literaturewould be accessible to all equally, the ability to share in the joys it brings being limited solely by ones capacities and not by social or financial position. For in this ideal place, money would no longer be the sovereign lord; individual worth would have a far greater importance than that of material wealth and social position. There, work would not be for earning ones living, but the means to express oneself and develop ones capacities and possibilities, while at the same time being of service to the group as a whole, which would in turn provide for everyones subsistence and field of action. In short, it would be a place where human relationships, ordinarily based almost exclusively on competition and strife, would be replaced by relationships of emulation in trying to do ones best, of collaboration and real brotherhood.
The earth is not ready to realize such an ideal, for humanity does not yet possess either the knowledge necessary to understand and adopt it or the conscious force indispensable for its execution. This is why I call it a dream.
|
0 1964-02-05, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It gave me an extraordinary intensity of Aspiration in the body. I spent a part of the night in that tension: may all those illusions disappear, may there be only something wholly true, true, true ESSENTIALLY true, not what people are in the habit of calling trueone shouldnt confuse the real with the true (in this regard the body has made great progress!). But the photo isnt there.
I thought it was perhaps the beginning of a new series of experiences.
|
0 1964-02-13, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The result is that I have piles of letters with frightful insults: Liar, hypocrite. (Mother laughs) It isnt the first time, she has those fits now and then. But after this letter, I received a sort of inner comm and to make one last attempt, and I wrote to her that it was HER SOUL that had asked me to act as I did. Because when I entrusted this work to Sujata instead of her, I had a moment of hesitation, then I went within to find out, and her soul exerted a very strong pressure for me to act in that way. I had always seen, at every minute, that her Aspiration was constantly tainted with that vanityshe always puts on an act for others and for herself. I was waiting patiently for that vanity to go, but her soul wasnt as patien thers is a very beautiful soul (thats the strange thing, you see, her soul is a very beautiful one), but at times she rejects it violently. So I wrote to tell her that now I had something serious to say to her, that it was her soul that had asked me to act in that way in order to break and conquer her egos vanity. She says, I dont want my ego, I dont want my ego but she identifies herself with it to such a degree that when she has those fits, she is the ego; when the fit is over, she clearly sees the difference. And at the end of my letter, I said, Now, it is up to you to choose between Truth and falsehoodit was a hurricane!
I am waiting till its over.
|
0 1964-02-22, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was a compressiona mechanical compression and at the same time (both things at the same time), such an intensity of Aspiration! There is in these cells an extraordinary intensity: The Truth, the Truth, the Truth1 Then, in the middle of all this, I went into a state of very deep trance, a sort of samadhi, from which I emerged five hours laterit lasted from 10 at night to 3 in the morningfive hours later, beatific, and conscious that I had been conscious all the time, but of something inexpressible. And what a light! A light, a light a fantastic light.
But this morning, the body is a bit (whats the word?) giddy.
--
Even now (Mother touches her hands and fingers), one feels not the pounding, but the Aspiration in all the cells.
(Mother goes into contemplation)
|
0 1964-02-26, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This week, you know, I should have remained quiet (meaning that I would have liked to), because the result of that intensity of Aspiration [in the body] is to give me a crystal clear and almost constant perception of the extent to which the material substance is made of Falsehood and Ignoranceas soon as the consciousness is clear, at rest, peaceful, in a luminous vision, falsities seem to come up from all sides. It isnt an active perception, in the sense that I dont try to know: these are things that PRESENT themselves to the consciousness. And then you realize what it takes to clarify all that, to transform all thatwhat tremendous power of Truth-Force! And you notice that the intensity of the Aspirationwhich hastens the transformation and brings the realization nearermay well (Mother touches her eye) yes, heres the result.
And I notice that, all around, those nearer to the center of descent are very shaken upvery. I see very few bodies around me capable of bearing it. But then, if thats how it is, necessarily the descent is so filtered and diminished that how much will get through?
|
0 1964-03-28, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But the advantage of the individuality is that you can aim a beam at precise points (same gesture like a beacon) and obtain a resultnot in a miraculous way that leaves people open-mouthed and stupid, not that; but when the Aspiration is sincere, when the will is sincere You know, what I do constantly is (gesture of offering): Lord, I cannot do it, do it for me. Lord, I cannot do it, do it for me. Well, thats what Sri Aurobindo said: if people around me do not have the direct Contact with the Lord (a contact I brought with my birth, of which I have grown more and more conscious, but which was the very source of this earthly existence), if they dont have that Contact, they can have a conscious contact with me; thats easy, because, of course, its something visible, tangible, with a real existence. So if one can be in that state of offering (not with words or sentences, but with a truly sincere feeling): No, I dont know how I can do it all by myself, how can I? Its such a formidable thing to do, how can I? How can I even discern exactly between the true movement and the untrue, or between the movement that leads to the Truth and No, I dont know I give it all to You, do it for me.
And that goes on twenty-four hours a day, and, I can say, as many thousand seconds as there are in a day, spontaneously, sincerely, absolutely (gesture of offering): Here, I give it to you. Oh, here comes a difficulty; oh, so-and-so has a difficulty; oh, these circumstances are bad, oh Here, here, here, I cannot sort it out with the knowledge I havedo what needs to be done; do what needs to be done, I give it to You. Its a gesture of every minute, every second.
|
0 1964-08-08, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its like a continuation but it didnt come as a continuation: its the experience that came back. As if something in the consciousness of THE EARTH felt an urgent and irrevocable need for this change for the change, for the new creation. As if the consciousness of the earth The Aspiration grows so intense, you know, so acute, so constant, so concentratedunder pressure that something has to burst.
So these are poor words. The experience translates itself into words at a given moment: first, there is the intensity of the experience, then spontaneouslyspontaneouslyit takes the form of words, so I note them down. But the words are thin and flat, theyre poor. But its like when you are about to come into contact with your psychic being and you feel the egos obstruction; there comes a point when you push and push to get through, its so acute that you feel as if everything is going to burst. And in fact something does burst.
|
0 1964-09-16, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its a very widespread tendency, which probably comes from an old suggestion, or perhaps from a poverty, an incapacity: to reduce and reducereduce ones needs, reduce ones activities, reduce ones words, reduce ones food, reduce ones active life, and it all becomes so cramped! In the Aspiration not to make any mistakes, you eliminate the opportunities of making them thats no cure.
But the other path is far, far more difficult.
--
That was the idea, I think, of all the apostles of renunciation: eliminate all that comes from outside or from below, so that if something from above manifests, you will be in a fit state to receive it. But from the collective point of view, its a process that may take thousands of years! From the individual point of view, its possible; but then the Aspiration to receive the true impulse should be kept intactnot the Aspiration to total liberation, but the Aspiration to the ACTIVE identification with the Supreme, in other words, to want only what He wants, to do only what He wants, to exist only through Him, in Him.
So the method of renunciation may be tried, but its a method for someone who wants to cut himself off from others. And can there be an integrality in that case? It doesnt seem possible to me.
--
(Mother smiles) Human nature is such that laziness has taken the place of Aspiration (not for everyone, but still fairly generally), and license or libertinism has taken the place of freedom. Which would tend to prove that the human species must go through a period of brutal handling before it can be ready to get away more sincerely from the slavery to activity.
The first movement is indeed like this: At last, to find the place where I can concentrate, find myself, live truly without having to bother about material things. This is the first Aspiration (its even on this basis that the disciplesat least in the beginningwere chosen), but it doesnt last! Things become easy, so you let yourself go. There are no moral restraints, so you do stupid things.
But it cannot even be said it was a mistake in recruitingit would be tempting to believe this, but its not true, because the recruiting was done on the basis of a rather precise and clear inner sign. Its probably the difficulty of keeping the inner attitude unalloyed. Thats exactly what Sri Aurobindo wanted and attempted; he used to say, If I can find a hundred people, it will be enough for my purpose.
--
Yes, Ive noticed that in the extreme difficulty of the worlds external conditions, the Aspiration is far more intense.
Isnt it!
|
0 1964-09-23, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
So then, if around this you build something that corresponds to your own Aspirationcertain sounds or words that FOR YOU evoke a soul state then its very good.
All that is traditional benefits from the power of tradition, that goes without saying, but its necessarily very limitedpersonally, it gives me the feeling of something shriveled and withered, as if all the juice it could contain had been squeezed out (!) Except if, spontaneously, the sounds correspond to a soul state in you.
--
There is a whole part of the most material consciousness, the utterly physical consciousness (precisely the one that participates in incalculable, minuscule activity of every day) which, of course, is very hard to bear. In ordinary life, its tolerable, its bearable because you take interest in it and sometimes pleasureall that life on the surface that makes you you see a pretty thing, it gives you pleasure; you have something tasty in your mouth, it gives you pleasure; anyway, all these little pleasures that are so futile, but help people bear existence. Those who dont have the inner consciousness and the contact with whats behind all that wouldnt be able to live if they didnt have little pleasures. So a host of tiny little problems crop up, problems of material existence, which explain perfectly well that those who no longer had any desire, and therefore no longer took any pleasure in anything, had one single idea: Whats the use of it all! And indeed, if we didnt have the feeling that all that must be borne because it leads to something else of an altogether different nature and expression, it would be so insipid and puerile, so petty that it would become quite unbearable. Thats certainly what explains the Aspiration for Nirvana and the flight from this world.
So there is this problem, a problem of every second, which I must solve every second by the corresponding attitude that leads to the True Thing; and at the same time, there is the other attitude of acceptance of all that is for instance, of what leads to disintegration: the acceptance of disintegration, defeat, decomposition, weakening, decayall things that, naturally, to the ordinary man, are detestable and against which he reacts violently. But since you are told that everything is the expression of the divine Will and must be accepted as the divine Will, there comes this problem, which crops up almost constantly and every minute: if you accept those things as the expression of the divine Will, quite naturally things will follow their habitual course towards disintegration, but what is the TRUE ATTITUDE that can give you that perfect equanimity in all circumstances, and at the same time give a maximum of force and power and will to the Perfection that must be realized?
--
Its not even that I have the feeling of the years going bythere is nothing like that, its not that! Its the problem of living from second to second, from minute to minute. I dont at all think, Oh, the years are going by , its a long time since all that has been over. Its not that, its the easy path of passive acceptance, which evidently leads (evidently, I mean not through reasoning, but THROUGH EXPERIENCE), which leads to increased decay; or else, that intensity of Aspiration for the Perfection that must manifest, for all that must be, an Aspiration which keeps everything at a standstill in that expectation. Its the opposition between these two attitudes.
The problem is made worse by the fact that the goodwill of the cells (a necessarily ignorant goodwill) doesnt know if one attitude is better than the other, if it should choose between the two, if both should be accepted they dont know! And as it isnt mentalized or formulated or with words, its very difficult. Oh, as soon as the words are there all that has been said comes back, and its over. Its not that, its not that anymore. Even if strong sensations or a vital force come up, its not a problem anymore. The problem is only HERE, in this (Mother strikes her body).
|
0 1964-10-07, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And then (Mother points to her own body), this seems to be the lesson for these aggregates (bodies, you know, seem to me to be simply aggregates). And as long as there is, behind, a will to keep this together for some reason or other, it stays together, but These last few days (yesterday or the day before), there was this: a sort of completely decentralized consciousness (I am always referring to the physical consciousness, of course, not at all to the higher consciousness), a decentralized consciousness that happened to be here, there, there, in this body, that body (in what people call this person and that person, but that notion doesnt quite exist anymore), and then there was a kind of intervention of a universal consciousness in the cells, as though it were asking these cells what their reason was for wanting to retain this combination (if we may say so) or this aggregate while in fact making them understand or feel the difficulties that come, for example, from the number of years, wear and tear, external difficultiesfrom all the deterioration caused by friction, wear and tear. But they seemed to be perfectly indifferent to that! The response of the cells was interesting enough, in the sense that they seemed to attach importance ONLY TO THE CAPACITY TO REMAIN IN CONSCIOUS CONTACT WITH THE HIGHER FORCE. It was like an Aspiration (not formulated in words, naturally), and like a what in English they call yearning, a longing for that Contact with the divine Force, the Force of Harmony, the Force of Truth and the Force of Love, and [the cells response was] that because of that, they valued the present combination.
It was an altogether different point of view.
|
0 1964-10-10, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
How many times, you know, it comes, it swells up like a tide, like a rising wave, that Aspiration of all, all the material being, of all the cells, towards the Supreme: All depends on Youall depends on You. A sense of total helplessness and total incapacity, which in a second can be transformed through an Intervention into a total Wisdom.
And its the cells that feel this the thought has said it says all sorts of things, the earth is full of (when you see it in its totality, its really interesting!), the earth is full of all the human imaginings (which have been turned into statements of facts), even the most fantastic, the most contradictory, the most unexpectedits full of all that, it lives on that, it swarms with thatand the result is that the material world is convinced that all by itself, it can do nothing! Nothing. Nothing, nothing but that: that inextricable and apparently senseless jumble, which is nothing, which is an unbridled imagination in comparison with what can be.
--
Whats odd, too, is that this conviction, this certitude is necessarily expressed in altogether different actions according to the person: its the SAME THING taking on different colorations in the Aspiration of different consciousnesses.
For instance, I saw recently a sort of exhibition or procession of all the possible theories of humanity explaining the creation (the world, life, existence). All those conceptions came before me one after another, from the seemingly most primitive and most ignorant to the most scientific and they were all (smiling) on the same plane of incomprehension but ALL had the same RIGHT to express the true Aspiration that was behind. And it was miraculous! Even the faith of the savage, even the most primitive religions and most ignorant convictions had behind them the same right to express that Aspiration. It was wonderful. And then the sense of the superiority of intelligence fell away completely, instantly.
It is the same thing for those oppositions, those contradictions that are called violent and vulgar between the intellectual (and especially scientific) progress of the human species and, by contrast, the apparently foolish stupidity of those who react against conventions1; well, that feeling of inferiority or superiority that you find among so-called reasonable beings, all of that disappeared instantly in a perception of THE WHOLE, in which EVERYTHINGeverythingwas the result of the same Pressure (downward gesture) towards progress. Its like a pressure exerted on Matter (same gesture) to draw the response out of it. And whatever form that response may take, its part of the general Action.
|
0 1964-10-24a, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And it made me understand that one of the most considerable obstacles is that deviation of Aspiration into a thirst for something. But who doesnt deviate? You see, I always start by looking at myself and at all that I know of this beings conscious life (thats my first observation), and all the images come; well, the self-offering, the perfectly pure Aspiration that doesnt expect any resultabsolutely free from the slightest idea of result the Aspiration in its essential purity thats not frequent. Its not frequent.
Now the conditions are totally different, but I see the mass of Aspirations, of approaches, and I always compare with my attitude towards Sri Aurobindo at that time, when it was he who, to me, represented the Intermediary; well, I understand I understand that the absolutely pure thing, that is, free of all mixture with the ego consciousness (its the ego consciousness), free of all mixture with the ego consciousness, is its still rare.
And its this mixture with the ego consciousness (I am speaking here not from the personal, but from the general standpoint) that, when the words were written, was swept away by something as powerful as a hurricane, without the violence of a hurricanescattered, dissolved, swept away! All those things that were pressing, against which I constantly had to strive in order to move onswept away! And they didnt come back completely.
--
Basically, thats always what men ask of religions; the God of religion is a god who must do them favors: I believe in You, therefore You must do this for me (it isnt formulated so bluntly, but it is like that), It isnt the Aspiration to be guided on the path in order to do exactly what should be done for the Transformation to take place. And thats what I was clearly told: It MUST NOT be miraculous powers. The power of the Help is there, fully, of course, but the miraculous power that does things without their being the result of a progress achieved, that must not be.
(Mother goes on copying her note)
|
0 1964-11-12, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
As a matter of fact, it was after I spoke to him (I mentioned it to him as a sort of dizzy spell) that I was able to perceive precisely those routes. I wondered if it wasnt the projection on a magnifying screen of phenomena taking place between different brain cells? Because those sorts of dizzy spells always follow (today there hasnt been anything at all), they always follow a moment or a day of intense Aspiration for the transformation of the brain. It may be that. You know, all those brain cells in there are hitched together, and if those hitchings are disturbed, generally people become deranged; and it gave me the impression of a magnifying projection enabling me to follow the connections established between certain brain cells, so that the functioning may not be the automatic, semiconscious functioning of the old state anymore and the brain may truly become the instrument of the higher Force. Because the formula of my Aspiration is always, Lord, take possession of this brain, and its always after this intense Aspiration that those kinds of phenomena occur. So it is to prepare the brain to be the direct expression of the higher Force.
This is what I have learned these last few days.
|
0 1964-11-14, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I was read a letter from a young Italian boy, fourteen or fifteen years old, who had remarkable experiences on silence, how he obtains silence and what goes on inside himtruly remarkable. I told you also that I had received a letter from England and the analogy with Zs experiences, with merely the nuance that spontaneous sincerity gives. Then, there are here a few people who hadnt budged for years: suddenly they are on the move, theyre beginning to have experiences. But whats really interesting is that those who have experiences are for the most part Westerners, particularly Europeans, as though their past of negation had intensified the Aspiration and prepared something in their receptivityit struck me. Not the Americans the Americans are still as frivolous as children (Mother laughs). But the Indians obviously they are ahead, but they arent where they ought to be: its as if humanity had followed a curve and those who are (or were, rather) at the summit go down again, and then they have to climb up again the Indians are climbing up again. The others, the Westerners, seem to have a past that was squeezed, that was as if compressed, and which has burst all of a sudden.
***
|
0 1964-11-21, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But you get a feeling that even Aspiration I cant say it disappears in that nonexistence, but theres nothing, theres almost nothing left.
Mon petit, thats because what you call Aspiration is a movement of your psychic consciousness, mentally formulated and supported by the vital but it ISNT YOUR BODY. And its only if you are very attentive to the vibration of the cells, if you are accustomed to observing them and feeling them that you can see. Well, I dont know, but I cant complain about my bodys cells. You know, it isnt a perception, it isnt a sensation, it is a LIVED FAITH in the existence of the Supreme aloneyou know, a faith that its the only Reality and the only Existence. Just that, and everything seems to swell up, as if all these cells were swelling up with such joy! Only, it doesnt take the form of a feeling, not even of a sensation, even less of a thought; so if you arent very attentive, you dont notice it. But, for instance, when I repeat the mantra, its repeated by that famous physical mind, which is so stupid (the mantra is the only thing that can keep a rein on it), and now it has become so identified that the mantra is its whole life, it is like a pulsation of its being; but then when I come to the invocation (there is a series of invocations: each one has its own effect on the body), when I come to Manifest Your Love, I see a sort of twinkling of a golden light, which represents an intense joy in all the cells.
It isnt easy to observe, you must be very, very, very detached from the movement of thought, otherwise you dont notice it. But if you see it, you see that even those cells are there waiting for the Thing.
|
0 1964-11-25, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Afterwards, for the rest of the day, it was as if the body were asking, or were encouraged to ask (usually, it doesnt ask, it doesnt even ask for health or anything), and for the first time yesterday in the afternoon, it seemed to be saying, with a sort of Aspiration almost not formulated in words, but with the feeling and impression: Am I not going to be ready for You to live in these cells? For these cells to be You? Words spoil it because they give a somewhat brutal and hard precision, but it was as if the cells were saying, Never will we have that marvelous Peace. It was a peace, but a peace full of creative power, and so rich, containing an infinite power, rich with joy; and it gave the body the courage to say, We will be THAT only if You are here, and You alone.
Sri Aurobindo wrote, Every event (like every moment of life) will be a marvel when it is the marvelous Whole that lives that lives in the body. This was really like the expression of what the body felt. And it is its ONLY raison dtrethere is no other, all the rest It went through every disgust, every disdain, every indifference, to the point where it asked, But how can we live? What for? Why, why do we exist, why were we created? Why? All that is nothing! And strangely, there was a sort of memory of the eons of time during which people lived in this ignorance of the why and in a sort of bewilderment. That so much time could have been spent to find the only thing the only thing that exists! And why all that, why? All that, centuries of absurd sensations. It was curious: like a slow memory of a futile and useless lifeabsurd and so painful! Why all that in order to find THAT?
|
0 1964-11-28, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It begins with something he calls Aspirationoh, its beautiful! I have rarely heard something with so pure and so beautiful an inspiration. All of a sudden, a sound comes, which is exactly the sound you hear up above. And it isnt too mixed (the fault I find with all classical music is all the accompaniment which is there to give more substance, but which spoils the purity of the inspiration: to me, its padding), well, with Sunil, the padding isnt there. He doesnt claim to be making music, of course, and the padding isnt there, so its truly beautiful.
I have decided not to play this year for January 1st. Even last year, I very much hesitated to play because I was absolutely conscious of the inadequacy the poorness and inadequacyof the physical instrument; but there was a sort of reasonable wisdom which knew how a refusal to play would be interpreted [by the disciples], so I playedwithout satisfaction, and it wasnt worth much. But the music I heard yesterday was so much THAT, SO much what I would like to play, that I said to myself, Well, now it would be unreasonable to want to keep in a personal manifestation something that has a much better means of expression [Sunil]. So I have decided to say No for January 1st. But I will see if Sunil couldnt prepare something on the theme of next years message, something that would be recorded and played for everyone, in an anonymous wayno need to say, Its by this or that person, its music, thats all.
--
Mon petit, I would have to play with two or three people present who had an Aspirationa conscious and trusting Aspirationtowards the Sound. For instance, when I played for you and Sujata, it was much better. If I were all alone, it could be good although if I am all alone, theres a risk that I might go off elsewhere (which easily happens to me)! But if I am with someone who finds it tedious or has no trust, or who is bored stiff (assuming boredom makes you go stiff!), or who wonders when it will be over, or else who begins to criticize, What does that music mean? It makes no sense, then
Yes, it isnt favorable.
|
0 1964-12-02, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Basically, in the being, its the vital that has difficulty; it is the most impulsive part and has the greatest difficulty in changing its way of being. And its always the vital that feels free, encouraged and more alive during travels, because it has an opportunity to manifest freely in a new environment in which everything has to be learned: reactions, adaptations, etc. On the contrary, in the routine of a life that has nothing particularly exciting, it strongly feels (I mean, if it has goodwill and an Aspiration for progress), it strongly feels its inadequacies and desires, its reactions, repulsions, attractions, etc. When one doesnt have that intense will to progress, it feels imprisoned, disgusted, crushed the whole habitual refrain of revolt.
(silence)
|
0 1964-12-07, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What this mornings music expressed was a sort of ascent of Aspiration, like a conquest, and then it suddenly climaxed in a dazzling flash of lightan explosion. An explosion of light. And the explosion of light CASCADED over the world. It was very fine (!)
I still see it, but I can no longer hear it.
But thats how it will be: first the salute, Salute to You, O Light. You understand, the Light is there, like this: it announces itself. And we salute it. Then the whole Aspiration rises in conquest of this Light through successive ascents; that is, one sound rises, climbs, and establishes itself; then another climbs and establishes itself. And then, when we have come before the Light, it makes a sort of explosion, like a bomb exploding, an explosion of light. And afterwards, it falls back onto the worldwith sparkles.
And then, I would like at the end the great calm of the Truth.
--
The organ is fine for Aspiration.
The explosion of light? I dont know which instrument.
And for Aspiration, a few human voices, too.
But dont try to imitate what Ive just played: its worthless! You will do something as I said: first the salutewere happy to see You, you understand: Salute to You, O Light! Salute to You, O Truth!
You play the ascent in stages, accompanied by and finishing off with a gust of Aspiration: a soaring, a great soaring. Then, we touch the Light, it makes an explosion. We touch the Truth, we touch the Light. That will have to be very beautiful. Then that Light falls back onto the world in a rain, and its joyous, light, very graceful (gesture like a waterfall). And then the world becomes blissful under the Truthvery calm and blissful.
What time is it?
|
0 1965-02-19, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I put represents because the word is always a symbolic form of something infinitely greater than it. Its one of the things one should feel: it is like a means of contact. A means of contact that you make more and more effective, first through the sincerity of the concentration, of the Aspiration, then through habit, through use, while taking care when you use the mantra always to remain in contact with That which is beyond it. And it makes a kind of concentration, as if the word were being charged with force, increasingly charged like a battery, but a battery that can take an indefinite charge. So I wrote (it seemed more exact to me), The first word represents It represents:
the supreme invocation
In other words, the Highest you can attain in your Aspiration and in your invocation the purest, the highest. The purest, I mean, to be exclusively under the influence of the Supreme. So I wrote:
the supreme invocation
--
the Aspiration
Its not exactly what one asks for, it is The only word, really, is Aspiration. Its infinitely more than hope: there is the certainty that things will be that way, but one never forgets that THAT is what one wants. And I add:
The first word represents:
--
the Aspiration,
what the manifestation must
|
0 1965-03-20, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I was telling Pavitra a few days ago: all those physical disorders of the body, those disorders in the functioning or even organic disorders, suddenly (naturally, the constant state is one of Aspiration: an intense, continuous, conscious Aspiration) and suddenlysuddenlyan almost stupefying Response: all disorder disappears, not only inside but around (around, sometimes over a rather vast extent), and everything becomes automatically organized, harmonized, without the least effort, and it starts (Mother draws the great waves of the eternal Movement) moving within an extraordinary progressive harmony; then, with no apparent reason, without anything having changed in the consciousness and any outer circumstances making a difference, pfft! it reverts to what it was before: disorder, conflict, chaos, things that grate. And then, as you arent conscious of the why, you dont have the key!
I told him, thats why people who very much tried to find, but in vain, spoke of Gods Will; but that (Mother shakes her head) that seems to be irreconcilable with, as I said, the knowledge you have when you have passed beyond the Mind. The Mind can say that to itself in order to give itself peace, but its thoroughly, thoroughly unsatisfying, because it postulates an unacceptable arbitrariness, which is felt as contrary to the Truth. But then, how do you explain those kinds of reversals? Naturally, others, like Buddha, spoke about Ignorance; they said, You are ignorant; you think you know, but you are ignorant. But the key he gave isnt satisfying, either. Because when you have taken care to establish down to the cells of the body an apparently unshakable equanimity, how can you accept the ignorance factor?
--
You know, problems of illness, problems of possession (vital and mental possession), problems of egos that refuse to yield (and this results in circumstances which, humanly, are described in the ordinary way: such and such a thing has happened to so-and-so but thats not how it comes into the consciousness), well, if you look at things in a sufficiently general way, those problems REMAIN problems. There is indeed something, but a something that is still elusive (elusive in its essence): it has to do with feeling, with sensation, with perception, also with Aspirationit has to do with all that, and it is what we habitually call divine Love (that is, essential Love, that which is expressed by Love and seems to be beyond the Manifestation and Nonmanifestation, which, naturally, becomes Love in the Manifestation). And That would be the ALL-POWERFUL expression. In other words, That is what would have the power to transform into divine consciousness and substance all the chaos we now call world.
There was the experience of That [the experience of the great pulsations], but it was an experience (how can I put it?) of a drop that would be an infinite, or of a second that would be an eternity. While the experience is there, there is absolute certitude; but outwardly, everything starts up again as it was one minute beforeThat (gesture of pulsation for a second), puff! everything is changed; then everything starts up again, with perhaps a slight change thats perceptible only to a consciousness (perceptible to the consciousness, but not concretely perceptible), and with, generally, violent reactions in the Disorder: something that revolts.
--
You see, all of a sudden, through the intensity of the Aspiration, of that sort of thirst for the Thing, contact is madecontact is made; it isnt even a contact between two different things, it is That which is all. But it is in Time that the Thing is expressed, and then it doesnt last, so much so that even the resulting effect doesnt seem to be able to last. Although there is something there that contradicts: the effect is lasting, but imperceptible as long as it isnt general; so immediately its a translation into the world of Time, Space, and so on.
Whereas That is beyond Time and Space. When you have gone from the Creation to Noncreation (which do not follow each other, they are concomitant), if you go beyond, you encounter this something which, I dont know why, I call Love. Probably because the vibration of true Love (what I call divine Love, which is at work in the world) bears the closest resemblance to That. It is something absolutely inexpressible, which belongs neither to receiving nor to giving, neither to uniting nor to absorbing, nothing like all that. Its something very particular.
--
And its rather strange: all these cells have in their Aspiration an Ananda of Light, of Truth, but that doesnt satisfy them completely, that is, they still have a sensation of helplessness. Of course, its all the Darkness, all the Falsehood, all the Disorder, all the Disharmony of the world that you constantly absorb every time you brea the (not to speak of all that you absorb with food, and all the rest the worst of all that you absorb mentally through contact with others, mentally and vitally). And all that has to be changed, transformed, constantly. Well, the cells feel their helplessness to face the work if That, that Vibration, isnt there. They find that Vibration irresistible, they find its the only irresistible one.
Naturally, there is a progress (a work that can be noted, discerned) in the consciousness of the cells, in their receptivity and their resistance to Disorder; but its just a progress, meaning that the possibility, and even the recurrence of disorder, decomposition, disharmony, wrong functioning, none of that is conquered at all, not at all. There is a growing feeling of being the docile instrument of the supreme Will, to such a point that the cells feel that whatever they may be asked to do they can do, but there is at the same time the very clear perception that the field of what is asked of them is still very limitedvery limited and that they would be unable to do better or more. And thats what gives weight to the notion of wear and tear, of agingnot that they feel like that, but in material fact, what is asked of them is very limited.
|
0 1965-03-24, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After perfect stillness, there is the movement of inner Aspiration (I am always referring to the Aspiration of the cells I am using words to describe something wordless, but there is no other way to express oneself), the surrender, that is to say, the SPONTANEOUS AND TOTAL acceptance of the supreme Will (which is unknown to us). Does the total Will want things to go this way or that way, that is, towards the disintegration of certain elements or towards? And then again, there are endless nuances: there is the passage from one height to another (I am speaking of cellular realizations, of course, dont forget that), I mean that you have a certain inner equilibrium, an equilibrium of movement, of life, and its understood that in order to go from one movement to a higher movement, there is almost always a descent, then a new ascent there is a transition. So does the shock received impel you to go down in order to climb up again, or does it impel you do go down in order to abandon old movements? Because there are cellular ways of being that have to disappear in order to give way to others; there are others that climb down in order to climb up again with a higher harmony and organization. This is the second point. And you should wait and see WITHOUT POSTULATING IN ADVANCE what has to be. There is especially, of course, the desire: the desire to be comfortable, the desire to be in peace and all that that must cease absolutely and disappear. You must be absolutely without any reaction, like this (gesture of immobile offering Upward, palms open). And then, when you are like that (you, meaning the cells), after a while the perception comes of the category the movement belongs to, and you just have to follow the perception, whether it is that something must disappear and be replaced by something else (which one doesnt know yet), or whether it is that something must be transformed.
And so forth. And its like that all the time.
--
To get over all that. And the only way to do it is for all, every one of the cells, every second, to be (gesture of immobile offering Upward) in an adoration, an Aspirationan adoration, an Aspiration, an adoration, an Aspiration. And nothing else. Then, after a time, there is joy, too, and then it ends with blissful trust. When that trust is established, everything will be fine. But its much easier said than done. Only, for the moment, I am convinced that it is the only way, there is no other.
There. Give your hands.
|
0 1965-03-27, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont believe that the impression of being light is a good impression. Because both the so-called lightness and the so-called heaviness have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the yoga and the Transformation. All those are human sensations. The truth is quite different from and quite independent of those things. The truth, of course, is the cells conscious Aspiration to the Supreme; it is the only thing that can actually transform the body; and it is very, very independent of the domain of sensations.
On the contrary, its good for the nerves to calm down, and I think that when the nerves streng then, their first movement is to calm down, and that gives the impression of a heaviness, almost the impression of a tamas, but its a sort of quiet stability, which is necessary. There. Thats how I see it.
|
0 1965-05-08, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It has been a revolution in the atmosphere, thats why I am telling you about it. Because all the experiences described [in Savitri] are precisely the experiences I have. So then, suddenly, in the body.. I was over there in the music room, and H. was reading to me; then when she had finished reading, all of a sudden the body sat up straight in an Aspiration and a prayer of such intensity! It was a dreadful anguish, you know: See, the whole experience is here [in Mother], complete, total, perfect, and because this thing [the body] has lived too long, it no longer has the power of expression. And it said, But why, Lord? Why, why do You take away from me the power of expression because this has lived too long? It was a sort of revolution in the bodys consciousness.
Things have been much better since, much better. There has been a decisive change.
You see, it was the exact description of the bodys present state, yet it constantly feels fragile, in a precarious balance. And then, with all its Aspiration, it said, But WHY? Why? See, the experience is all therewhy isnt it expressed?
As always (laughing), I had the feeling that the Lord was laughing and saying to me, But since such is your will, it will be that way! Meaning simply: its you who CHOSE to be like that.
|
0 1965-05-19, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
So then, the surgeon gentleman will tell you, Well operate, (laughing) and the gentleman who isnt a surgeon will want to give injections. No, to make it easier for you to read or work, you can get the right lenses; and then my own remedy is to sit very stillvery stillwith your elbows on a table and your eyes in your palms and then if you can have in your heart an Aspiration and tell the Lord, Lord, take possession of Your domain, enter Your kingdom here, do a little cleaning, like that even formulating the thing in a very childlike manner (the Lord isnt a pontiff, he doesnt like ceremonies: he likes sincerity), here, like this (gesture to the heart), something that says, Oh oh, that really wants thats all. Tell him like that, Come here, come, enter my eyes, come, do come, look through these eyes. Its much stronger than all the rest.
Only, its very good to get lenses to make your work easier in the meantime. But, for that, you dont need a pontiff; you need a man with goodwill who knows how to choose lenses.
|
0 1965-06-02, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, listen, it was Y.s birthday the other day. I told her to come. She came: her face was exactly like her monkeys! She sat down in front of me, we exchanged a few words, then I concentrated and closed my eyes, and then I opened my eyesshe had the face of the ideal madonna! So beautiful! And as I had seen the monkey (the monkey wasnt ugly, but it was a monkey, of course), and then that, Ah! it struck me, I thought, What wonderful plasticity. A face oh, a truly beautiful face, perfectly harmonious and pure, with such a lovely Aspirationoh, a beautiful face! Then I looked a few times: it was no longer one or the other, it was it was something (what she usually is, I mean), and it was behind the veil. But those two visions were without the veil.
And for me thats how it is, I dont see people, I no longer see (but that has been going on for a long time), I no longer see the way people do, the way they are used to seeing. At times someone tells me, Have you noticed, so-and-so is like this or like that? I answer, No, I havent seen anything. And at other times I see things no one else sees! Its a much more complete development than simply switching from one vision to the other.
|
0 1965-06-14, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I discovered what was true in it; thats what was interesting: I tried and tried to find, and suddenly I felt that Aspiration towards the immutable, immutable peace. Well, it was upside down: only immutable peace can give you eternal existence. There, it was all upside down, the idea was to cease existence in order to find immutable peace. But its immutable peace one is after and thats what compels the cessation of existence, in order to allow the transformation to take place.
And love, which is unconditioned: it doesnt depend on whether you are loved or not, whether you are intelligent or not, whether you are wicked or not that goes without saying. But it was put in a ridiculous way. But it goes without saying, love is unconditioned, otherwise it isnt love, its what I call bargaining: I give you my affection so you give me yours; I am nice to you so you are nice to me! Thats how people understand it, but its stupid, its meaningless. Thats something I understood when I was quite small, I used to say, No! You may wish others to be nice to you if you are nice to them, but that has nothing to do with love, no, nothing, absolutely nothing. The very essence of love is unconditioned.
--
We are putting together (what can I call it?) a set of rules (oh, thats an ugly word) for admission to the Ashram. Yes! Not that if you accept the rules youre admitted, its not that, but when someone is admitted, we tell him, But, you know, here is (when he is potentially admitted), here is what you are committing yourself to by becoming a member of the Ashram. Because requests for admission are pouring in like locusts, and at least ninety-nine times out of a hundred, its from people who want to come here to be comfortable and rest and do nothingone in a hundred comes because he has a spiritual Aspiration (oh, and even then its mixed). So they shouldnt tell us afterwards (because weve had such experiences), Oh, but I didnt know it was that way, with the excuse that they hadnt been told. For instance, I didnt know we werent allowed to (Mother questions herself for a moment) What isnt allowed? (Then, laughing, she points to Satprem:) Smoking isnt allowed. And drinking alcohol isnt allowed, being married isnt allowed, except nominally, and so on. And then you have to work, and all your desires arent automatically satisfied. So they send me letters, But you told me that (oh, things I never said, naturally), at such-and-such a date (you understand, sufficiently far back for me not to remember!), you told me that And from what they write I see very clearly what I said and how they turned it upside down. So now well prepare a paper that well give them to read, and well ask them, Have you clearly understood? And when they have said theyve clearly understood and have signed, at least well keep the paper, and when they start being a nuisance, we can show it to them and tell them, Beg your pardon, we told you this wasnt a (whats the word?) an Eden where you can stay without doing anything and where your bread is buttered on both sides!
So I put as first condition (I wrote it in English): the sole aim of life is to dedicate oneself to the divine realization (I didnt put it in these terms, but thats the idea). You must first (you may deceive yourself, but that doesnt make any difference), first be convinced that this is what you want and you want this aloneprimo. Then Nolini told me that the second condition should be that my absolute authority had to be recognized. I said, Not like that!, we should put that Sri Aurobindos absolute authority is recognized (we can add [laughing], represented by me, because he cannot speak, of course, except to meto me he speaks very clearly, but others dont hear!). Then there are many other things, I dont remember, and finally a last paragraph that goes like this (Mother looks for a note). Previously, I remember, Sri Aurobindo had also put together a little paper to give people, but its outdated (it was about not quarreling with the police! And what else, I dont rememberits outdated). But I didnt want to put prohibitions in, because prohibitions first of all, its an encouragement to revolt, always, and then there is a good proportion of characters who, when they are forbidden to do something, immediately feel an urge to do itthey might not even have thought of it otherwise, but they just have to be told about it to Ah, but I do as I like. All right.
|
0 1965-07-07, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont know for others but for a very long time in life when there is an illness (some illness of any kind) automatically the cells forget everything, all their sadhana and everything, and it is only slowly when you get out of the illness that the cells begin to remember. And then, my ambition was (I remember that, it was long ago, many years ago), my ambition was that the cells should remember when being illwhich is absurd because it would have been better to aspire to have no illness! But for a time it was like that. The first time that the cells remembered, oh, I was very happy. But now, it is the opposite; that is, as soon as the disorder comes, the cells first first they got a little anxious: Oh, we are so bad that we are still catching illnesses that was a period; and then, afterwards there was the impression: Oh, You want to teach us a lesson, we have something to learn that was already much better: a kind of eagerness. And now there is an intense joy and a kind of power; a power that comes, a power of Aspiration and a power of realization that comes with the sense: We are winning a victory, we are winning a new victory.
That has been my condition over the last few days.
|
0 1965-07-10, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There are three states, we could say: the state of Harmony that is the one we reach towards all the time, and sometimes we catch it for a few seconds, then everything works out as if by miracle; then the usual state of Disorder, in which we are constantly on the verge of something unpleasant, in a precarious balance; and when the disorder grows more visible, there is what they call an illness, but it isnt real. You see, we think the body is in good health, that its balanced, and that something is introduced from outside, which causes you to fall ill, but its not like that! We are ALWAYS off balance, the body is always off balance (more or less), and it is something else, above, a Will or a Consciousness, that holds it up and makes it work. So if we can call on that Will that Will for Harmony and if we can have the Flame within, that Flame of Aspiration, and make contact, we emerge from so-called illness, which is unreal, an unreal and false sensation and just one way of being of the general Disorder, and we enter into Harmony, and then everything is fine. Last night I experienced this again, and thats why I can assert with certainty: all sensations are false.
But when there are obvious external signs, bleeding, for instance [hemoptysis]?
--
Only, the Flame must be there the Flame within, the flame of Aspiration and the flame of faith; and then the something that truly wants it to stop. You understand, whether things are this way or that, there is no need for me to present them to my thought and for my thought to accept them; because thats a very dangerous game: when you seek equanimity, you say to yourself, Well, if this and that happens, what will my reaction be? And you go on with the little game, till you say, Its all the same to me. It is a very dangerous game. Its still a way of circling around the goal instead of heading straight for it.
There is only one thing: a sort of flamea sort of flame that burns all this falsehood.
|
0 1965-07-21, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Isnt it! I am quite astonished. I noticed it yesterday or the day before. I wasnt well, anyway things werent pleasant, and all of a sudden, here was all this mind saying a prayer. A prayer you know how I used to say prayers before, in Prayers and Meditations: it was the Mind saying prayers; it would have experiences and say prayers; well, here we are, now its the experience of all the cells: an intense Aspiration, and suddenly all this starts expressing it in words.
I noted it.
--
There is still a bit of friction, but anyway its better. Just before you came You know, there are two, three of them hurling at me everyones demands, the work to be done, the answers to be given, the checks to be signed; its quite a task you are harassed, mauled as though by claws. And there is this fatigue I feel every day, always, and because of which I need to be left absolutely undisturbed (you seem to be clawed); and I saw it was because all the work this body is made to do doesnt come from That to which it aspiresit doesnt come from up above: it comes from here, from all around, and thats why it grates, as if something were being ground. Then, very consciously, this mind called on that Aspiration and on equanimity, on cellular equality: Well, this is the time to be in equality, and instantly a sort of quiet immobility was established, and things were better, I was able to go to the end.
I feel as if the tail of the solution had been caught.1 Now, naturally, we must work it out.
--
Everything that was mental I remember very clearly the state I was in when I wrote those Prayers and Meditations, especially when I wrote them here (all those I wrote here in 1914): it seems to me cold and dry yes, dry, lifeless. Its luminous, its lovely, pleasant, but its cold, lifeless. Whereas this Aspiration here [in the cellular mind], oh, it has a powera power of realizationquite an extraordinary power. If this becomes organized, it will be possible to do something. There is an accumulated power there.
(silence)
|
0 1965-08-04, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But the Aspiration always was to receive the true thing. And it comes, you reach a point when it comes clearlyclearly, very clearly for everything, even for the very small things of everyday life: Do this, do that.
Yes, thats what is needed.
|
0 1965-08-07, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It followed a long curve. It began with a deep disgust for its [the material minds] habitual activity; I started catching (not now: its been going on for weeks), catching all its routine and almost automatic activities I have said it several times: this material mind is defeatist, always pessimistic, meddlesome, grumbling, disgruntled, lacking in faith, lacking in trust. Even when it tends to be joyful and content, something comes and says, Ah, stop it, because youll get another knock. That sort of thing. It went on for weeks, and a continuous, constant work. It always ended in the offering. There was a beginning of progress when No, first I should tell all that happened before. To begin with, the japa, the mantra, for instance, was taken as a discipline; then from the state of discipline it changed into a state of satisfaction (but still with the sense of a duty to be done); then from that it changed into a sort of state of constant satisfaction, with the desire (not desire, but a will or an Aspiration) for it to be more frequent, more constant, more exclusive. Then there was a sort of repugnance to and rejection of all that comes and disturbs, mixed with a sense of duty towards work, people and so on, and all that made a muddle and a great confusion. And it always ended in the transfer to the Supreme along with the Aspiration for things to change. A long process of development.
Recently there was a sort of will for equality towards activities that had been tolerated or accepted only as an effect of the consecration and in obedience to the supreme Will. And then, all of a sudden they became something very positive, with a sense of freedom and a spontaneity of state, and a beginning of understanding of the attitude with which the action must be done. All this came very, very progressively. And then this morning, there was the experience.
|
0 1965-08-21, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Because for two days (I mean two days without stop), there was a constant Aspiration: How will this new world be when it becomes material here? How will this new world be? And that put me so deep inside that I was I wasnt far away, but there was that blanket of fog between me and the world as it is.
It was still here today.
|
0 1965-08-31, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The most difficult part is in the nerves, because they are so habituated to that ordinary conscious will that when it stops and you want the direct Action from the highest height, they seem to become mad. Yesterday morning I had that experience, which lasted for more than an hour, and it was difficult; but it taught me many thingsmany things. And all this is what we may call the transfer of power: it is the old power that withdraws. But then, until the body adapts to the new power, there is a period which is, well, critical. As all the cells are in a state of conscious Aspiration, its going relatively fast, but still the minutes are long.
But there is increasingly a sort of certitude in the cells that everything that happens is with a view to this transformation and this transfer of the directing power. And at the very moment when things are materially painful (not even physically: materially painful), the cells keep that certitude. And so they withstand, they endure the suffering without being depressed or affected in the least, with that certitude that it is to prepare for the transformation, that it is even the process of transformation and of the transfer of the directing power. As I said, its in the nerves that the experience is the most painful (naturally, since they are the most sensitive cells, those with the sharpest sensation). But they have a very great receptivity, and very spontaneous, a spontaneously strong receptivity and effortlessto the harmonious physical vibration (which is very rare, but still it exists in some individuals), and that physical vibration what we could call a physical FORCE, a harmonious physical vibration (spontaneously harmonious, of course, without the need for mental interventionlike the vibrations of a flower, for instance; there are physical vibrations that are like that, that carry in themselves a harmonious force), and the nerves are extremely sensitive and receptive to that vibration, which immediately puts them right again.
|
0 1965-10-10, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Naturally, if the consciousness is warped, it must first be set right, but I am talking about enlightened consciousnesses that live in the Truth, that have Aspiration and that wonder why this intensity of Aspiration produces such poor resultsnow I know. The poor result is because they dont attach enough importance to those very small things that belong to the subconscious mechanism and because of which in thought you are free, in sentiment you are free, even in impulse you are free, and physically you are a slave.
One must undo all that, undo it, undo it.
|
0 1965-10-20, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its the egoistic distortion of Aspiration.
That is to say, a petty self engrossment that wants satisfactions. I am telling you bluntly because its no use making sentences.
--
I see clearly, you know. Its a distortion of Aspiration. In your consciousness your most material consciousness there is a feeling that it is an Aspiration, and, as you say, a frustrated Aspiration, and you havent understood that its because its a distorted Aspiration that you dont feel the response, but the response is therenot only the response, but an action.
I am speaking of an experience that would an experience that is like a warmth in the heartif I saw him, if at least I had the experience, yes, of seeing him
|
0 1965-11-13, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Bringing that and keeping it. Holding it, learning to hold it. Its fantastic! And then it becomes just a question of receptivity, thats all. And the receptivity must be in proportion to the goodwill (thats what the old experience is saying for the moment, I have no proof), the receptivity must be in proportion to the goodwill or to the Aspiration (but the two are very similar), to this something that wants something else. People who are very content, very satisfied and (this is an interesting illustration) and who have realized a harmony in life (some people have realized a harmony in this life: everything appears so harmonious, so comfortable, they succeed in everything they do, everything that happens to them is), I think those still have a long way to go before they can receive.
That [vibration] has nothing, but nothing to do with that whole path, that long, long, long path one has walked to prepare oneself, and with such blows, oh! THAT (gesture like a burst of light), and all the rest no longer matters.
|
0 1965-11-23, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Pulling down is always an egoistic movement. Its a distortion of Aspiration. True Aspiration involves a givinga self-givingwhile pulling down is wanting for oneself. Even if you have in your thought a vaster Aspiration the earth, the universeit makes no difference, those are mental activities.
(long silence)
--
And thats why its so difficult to know how one should be. Because in thought you can be in the same constant state, even in Aspiration you can be in the same constant state, in the general goodwill, even in surrender to the Divine, it all can be the same thing, in the same stateits in here (Mother touches her body), and this makes the whole difference. I can very well conceive that there may be people in whom this opposition persists in the mind and the vital, but there its so obvious. But I am talking of something absolutely material. Some people say and think, How come? I have such goodwill, such a desire to do the right thing, and then nothing works, everything jarswhy? I am so good (!) and yet things dont respond. Or those who say, Oh, I have made my surrender, I have such goodwill, I have an Aspiration, I want nothing but the Truth and the Good, and yet I am ill all the timewhy am I ill? And naturally, one small step more, and you begin to doubt the Justice that rules the world, and so on. Then you fall into a hole. But thats not it, thats not what I mean. Its much simpler and much more difficult at the same time, because it isnt blatant, it isnt evident, its not an opposition from which you can choose, its truly, totally and integrally leaving the entire responsibility to the Lord.
Of all things, this is the most difficult for manits far easier for the plant and even for the animal, far easier. But for man its very difficult. Because there was a whole period in the evolution when in order to progress he had to take on the responsibility for himself. So the habit has formed, it has taken root in the being.
|
0 1965-11-27, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And then, the Flame When the Flame lights up, everything becomes different. But this Flame is something totally different; its totally different from religious feeling, religious Aspiration, religious worship (all that is very fine, its the summit of what man can do and its very fine, its excellent for humanity), but this Flame, the Flame of transformation, is something else. Oh, I remember now that Sri Aurobindo reminded me of something I had written in Japan (which is printed in Prayers and Meditations), and I had never understood what I had written. I always tried to understand and asked myself, What the devil did I mean? I have no idea. It had come like that and I had written it directly. It was about a child and it read, Do not come too near him because you will get burnt. (I dont remember the words at all.) And I always wondered, Whats this child I am referring to? And why should one take care not to come too near him??5 And suddenly, only yesterday or the day before, I understood; suddenly he showed me, he told me, Its this: the child is the beginning of the new creation, it is still in its infancy, so dont touch it if you dont want to be burntbecause it burns.
(silence)
|
0 1966-01-22, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Recently (for some time), there was that same difficulty of the body, which isnt limited and shut inside a shell as is generally the case, and which freely receives not even with the feeling of receivingwhich HAS the vibrations of everything around it; and then, when everything around it is, mentally or morally, closed, unwilling to understand, its a bit difficult, which means that the elements that come have to be transformed. Its a sort of totalitya very manifold and unsteady totalityrepresenting your field of consciousness and action and on which you must work constantly to reestablish a harmony (a minimum of harmony), and when something around you goes wrong according to the ordinary idea, it makes the work a bit difficult. Its subtle, persistent, and obstinate at the same time. I remember, last night when I stretched out on my bed, there was in the body an Aspiration for Harmony, for Light, for a sort of smiling peace; the body aspired above all for harmony because of all those things that grate and scrape. And the experience was probably the result of that Aspiration: I went there and met a pink and light-blue Purani (!)what a blue! The pretty, very pretty light blue of Sri Aurobindo.
Only, I have noticed that in this bodys life, Ive never had the same experience twice I may have the same type of experience to a higher degree or to a much vaster degree, but never identically the same. And I dont retain the experience: I am constantly, constantly (gesture forward), constantly forging ahead; you know, the work of transformation of the consciousness is so rapid, it must be done so fast that you dont have time to enjoy or dwell upon an experience or draw long-lasting satisfaction from it, its impossible. It comes powerfully, very powerfully, it changes everything, then something else comes. Its the same thing with the transformation of the cells: all kinds of little disorders come, but to the consciousness they are clearly disorders related to the transformation, so you see to that particular point, you want order to be restored; at the same time, something knows full well that the disorder came to make the transition from the ordinary automatic functioning to the conscious functioning under the direct Direction and the direct Influence of the Supreme. And the body itself knows this (still, its no fun to have a pain here or a pain there, or this or that being disorganized, but it KNOWS). And when that point has reached a certain stage of transformation, you move on to another point, then on to another, and on to another again. So nothing is done, no work is definitively done until everything is ready. So you have to do the same work again, but on a higher or a vaster level, or with more intensity or in greater detail (it depends on the case), until EVERYTHING has been brought to a homogeneous point and is ready in the same way.
|
0 1966-01-31, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If you must do it, its better to do it, and to do it with this idea, with this Aspiration for a whole state of consciousness to be expressed in order to go away into the past, not to keep clinging to your present consciousness.
Cant it be also a means to make a truth descend, a truth-force, as the book on Sri Aurobindo was, but in another way?
|
0 1966-02-19, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Now, to tell you the truth, we are on the upward curve again. I think we have really reached the bottom of incoherence, absurdity and ugliness the taste for the ugly and the unsightly, the dirty, the offensive. We have, I think, reached rock bottom. If its taken in the right way (and I think there are people who have taken it in the right way), it can lead you straight to the Yoga, straight. That is, you feel a sort of very deep detachment from all the things of this world, a very intense need to find something else, an imperious need to find something truly beautiful, truly fresh, truly good so, quite naturally, it leads you to a spiritual Aspiration. And those horrors seem to have divided people: a minority who were ready have risen very high; a majority who werent ready have gone down very low. Those are now wallowing in mud, and thats why we cant get out of it for the moment; and if it goes on, we will be moving towards a new war, and this time it will really be the end of this civilization I am not saying the end of the world, because nothing can be the end of the world, but the end of this civilization, which means we will have to build another. You may tell me that it will be very good, for this civilization is on the decline, its rotting away; but still, there were in it some beautiful things that deserved to be preserved, and it would be a great pity if all that disappeared. But if there is a new war, I can tell you that it will all disappear. For men are very clever creatures, and they have found the way to destroy everything. And they will use it, because whats the use of spending billions to make certain bombs if they arent to be used? Whats the use of discovering that a city can be destroyed in a few minutes if not to destroy it! One wants to see the fruit of ones efforts! If there is a war, thats what will happen.
Quite appropriate. Well publish it in the next Bulletin.
|
0 1966-02-26, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Whats interesting is that now that this mind of the cells has been organized, it appears to be going with dizzying speed through the process of human mental development all over again, in order to reach the key, precisely. There is of course the sense that the state we are in is a false unreality, but there is a sort of need or Aspiration to find, not a mental or moral why, nothing of the sort, but a HOWhow it got twisted this way (Mother bends her wrist in one direction), in order to straighten it out (gesture in the opposite direction).
The pure sensation has the experience of the two vibrations [the false and the true, the twisted and the straight vibrations], but the transition from one to the other is still a mystery. Its a mystery, because it cannot be explained: neither when it goes this way (gesture to the false direction) nor when it goes that way (gesture to the true direction).
|
0 1966-03-09, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And the body always says yes, it does like this (gesture of surrender). No choice, no preference, no Aspiration, even: a total, complete surrender. So then, things of that sort come to me; yesterday, all day long, it was: A dead person living on earth. With the perception (not a very pronounced perception yet, but clear enough) of a vast difference between the way of life [of this body] and that of other people, of all the others, the people who talk to me, the people with whom I live. It isnt clear-cut yet, or sharp or very precise, but its very clearvery clear, very perceptible. Its another way of life.
One would tend to say that its not a gain from the standpoint of consciousness, since things become blurred. I dont know, is that way of being a gain?
|
0 1966-04-16, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
So, naturally, there is constantly in all the cells the Aspiration, the intense will for there to remain nothing but That.
And all that denies That or counters It, weakens It or dims It, becomes painful. Yes, painfulnot painful with a moral or psychological or material suffering its a strange thing, its not a physical pain: its a pain which is more material than physical, it is a sort of suffocation.
|
0 1966-05-22, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its a very, very widespread state in all those who not who do the yoga, but for whom the yoga is done. And its done (how can I put it?) almost without their knowledgeall that puts them in a fit state to do it is, first, Aspiration, and then, trust. Those are the two things: the faith, the trust that the divine Consciousness is at work, and then the Aspiration for transformation. Thats all thats needed. And the work is done. But that work implies, in fact, not a loss of equilibrium but a change of equilibrium. A change of balance. And in order to go from one equilibrium to the other, well, one must stay very calm.
But the difficulty you are referring to is something I have every minute.
|
0 1966-05-25, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Youll see, there comes a point when you can tolerate yourself and life only if you take the attitude that the Lord is everything. See, that Lord, how many things He possesses: He plays with all thatHe plays, He plays at changing the positions. And then, when you see it, that whole, you feel the limitless marvel, and that whatever the object of the most marvelous Aspiration, its all quite possible and will even be surpassed. Then you are consoled. Otherwise, this existence is inconsolable. But that way, it becomes charming. One day, I will tell you.
When you have the sense of the unreality of life the unreality of lifecompared with a reality thats certainly found beyond, but at the same time WITHIN life, then ah, yes, THAT is true at lastTHAT is true at last and deserves to be true. That is the realization of all possible splendors, all possible marvels, all, yes, all possible felicities, all possible beauties that, yes, otherwise
|
0 1966-06-02, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When I lie down on my bed at night, there is an offering of all the cells, which regularly surrender as completely as they can, with an Aspiration not only for union but for fusion: let there remain nothing but the Divine. Its regular, every day, every single day. And for some time, these cells or this body consciousness (but it isnt organized as a consciousness: its like a collective consciousness of the cells), it seemed to be complaining a little, to be saying, But we dont feel much. We do feel (they cant say they dont feel: they feel protected, supported), but still They are like children, they were complaining that it wasnt spectacular: It HAS to be marvelous. (Mother laughs) Ah, very well, then! So two nights ago, they were in that state when I went to bed. I didnt move from the bed till about two in the morning. At two in the morning I got up, and I suddenly noticed that all the cells, the whole body (but it really is a cellular consciousness, not a body consciousness; it isnt the consciousness of this or that person: theres no person, its the consciousness of a cellular aggregate), that consciousness felt bathed in and at the same time shot through by a MATERIAL power of a fan-tas-tic velocity bearing no relation to the velocity of light, none at all: the velocity of light is something slow and unhurried in comparison. Fantastic, fantastic! Something that must be like the movement of the centers out there (Mother gestures towards faraway galactic space). It was so awesome! I remained quite peaceful, still, I sat quite peaceful; but still, peaceful as I could be, it was so awesome, as when you are carried away by a movement and are going so fast that you cant breathe. A sort of discomfort. Not that I couldnt breathe, that wasnt the point, but the cells felt suffocated, it was so awesome. And at the same time with a sensation of power, a power that nothing, nothing whatsoever can resist in any way. So I had been pulled out of my bed (I noticed it) so that the BODY consciousness (mark the difference: it wasnt the cells consciousness, it was the bodys consciousness) would teach the cells how to surrender and tell them, There is only one way: a total surrender, then you will no longer have that sensation of suffocation. And there was a slight concentration, like a little lesson. It was very interesting: a little lesson, how it should be done, what should be done, how to abandon oneself entirely. And when I saw it had been understood, I went back to bed. And then, from that time (it was two, two: twenty) till quarter to five, I was in that Movement without a single break! And the peculiar thing was that when I got up, there was in that consciousness (which is both cellular and a bit corporeal) the sense of Ananda [divine joy] in everything the body did: getting up, walking, washing its eyes, brushing its teeth. For the first time in my life I felt the Ananda (a quite impersonal Ananda), an Ananda in those movements. And with the feeling, Ah, thats how the Lord enjoys Himself.
Its no longer in the foreground (it was in the foreground for an hour or two to make me understand), now its a bit further in the background. But, you understand, previously the body used to feel that its whole existence was based on the Will, the surrender to the supreme Will, and endurance. If it was asked, Do you find life pleasant?, it didnt dare to say no, because but it didnt find it pleasant. Life wasnt for its own pleasure and it didnt understand how it could give pleasure. There was a concentration of will in a surrender striving to be as perfectpainstakingly perfectas possible, and a sense of endurance: holding on and holding out. That was the basis of its existence. Then, when there were transitional periods which are always difficult, like, for instance, switching from one habit to another, not in the sense of changing habits but of switching from one support to another, from one impulsion to another (what I call the transfer of power), its always difficult, it occurs periodically (not regularly but periodically) and always when the body has gathered enough energy for its endurance to be more complete; then the new transition comes, and its difficult. There was that will and that endurance, and also, Let Your Will be done, and Let me serve You as You want me to, as I should serve You, let me belong to You as You want me to, and also, Let there remain nothing but You, let the sense of the person disappear (it had indeed disappeared to a considerable extent). And there was this sudden revelation: instead of that base of enduranceholding on at any costinstead of that, a sort of joy, a very peaceful but very smiling joy, very smiling, very sweet, very smiling, very charmingcharming! So innocent, something so pure and so lovely: the joy which is in all things, in everything we do, everything, absolutely everything. I was shown last night: everything, but everything, there isnt one vibration that isnt a vibration of joy.
|
0 1966-06-08, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The Aspiration in the cellular consciousness to the perfect sincerity of the consecration.
And the lived experienceintensely lived that only that absolute sincerity of the consecration allows existence.
|
0 1966-06-25, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
At that time I could have answered you in detail; now I dont exactly remember. But the best thing is, when you go to bed, a slight concentration with the will to remain conscious. Just that. A sort of Aspiration to remain conscious.
Yet I never go to sleep just anyhow, I always go to sleep after a meditation.
--
At that time, when I was deep in occultism, I could have told you in detail, now I dont remember. But I know (thats one thing I still know): an Aspiration. An Aspiration for the thing You know, when you want to wake up at a precise time and you say to yourself, I want to wake up at such and such a time, it works very well; well, its the same principle. Instead of asking for a precise time, you ask to remember, to remain consciousto remember what has happened. It can act. And also, as I have always said, not to wake up abruptly, that is, not to leap from ones bed, to stay quite still for a while. It happens to me even now: if I wake up and get up abruptly, its after a time, when I enter my concentration again, that the memory comes back.
These two things are enough, they should do.
|
0 1966-07-09, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then, added to this is the vision of the action of the Grace that comes and mitigates the results wherever possible, that is to say, wherever its accepted. And thats what explains that the Aspiration, the faith, the complete trust of the human, terrestrial element, have a power of harmonization, because they allow the Grace to come and mend the consequences of blind resistance.
Its a clear, very clear vision, clear even in the details.
|
0 1966-07-27, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Only, to the body consciousness it seems long. Up above, of course, there is a smile, but for the body And strangely enough, there isnt in the body that joy of the memory of the experience. You have the joy of the memory of the experiences up above, but here, its not like that! Its not that. The body might say, Its no use for me to remember: I want to have the thing. Because wherever the mind comes in, the memory is charming, but here, its not like that. Its not like that: on the contrary, it intensifies the need to be, the Aspiration, the need. And life looks like something so stupid, false, artificial, meaningless, without Whats all this nonsense we constantly live in! And yet, when That was there, nothing was destroyed, everything remained, but it was something else altogether.
Later (Mother seems about to say something, then stops her self) later.
|
0 1966-08-03, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When the mind is active, or rather, as long as the mind is active, when you have dedicated your life and are fully convinced that its your only raison dtre, you tend to imagine that if you work for the Divine, the whole being participates, and if you aspire to progress, the whole being participates. You are satisfied once all contradiction has disappeared either in the vital or in the mind, and once everything is in agreement and harmonious. You think you have won a victory. But then, now now that its the cells of the body that want and aspire, they have been forced to note that suffering, difficulty, opposition, complication, all that is only to make them be wholly, completely, totally and CONSTANTLY in their Aspiration.
Its extremely interesting, really very interesting.
--
But to be able to observe (this is something being worked out on a parallel line), to observe exactly what goes on in this cellular realm, one must be perfectly free from and independent of other human beings influence. And this is extremely difficult because of that habit of mixture. Its the sensitiveness of the cells which has difficulty. So constant care must be taken to fasten all that sensitiveness on to the Aspiration for the Supreme alone; thats the only way, the solution. You have to do that constantly, every time you feel the influence of others contact. In ordinary life, of course, to get rid of influences you cut off the contact; well, that movement of withdrawal, recoil, isolation, all those psychological movements (through material isolation in the physical; in the vital, in the psychic, in the mind, everywhere, it always consists in cutting oneself off, in separating oneself), all that is false; its contrary to the truth. The truth is to (outspread gesture) to feel the union. And yet, for the cellular work of cellular transformation, an isolation must be reached that isnt a contradiction of the essential unity. And thats a little difficult; it makes for a very delicate, very painstaking, very microscopic work which somewhat complicates matters. But its possible, for instance, to touch someone, to take someones hand, and for union to be achieved only in the deeper truth, while outwardly there is just a bringing together of cells.
The work is very intensive, very intensive indeed.
|
0 1966-08-06, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I have seen several of those boys who told me, Ah, but you can see: people are becoming automatons, they do things mechanically, they lose their Aspiration.
Which means they are still too tamasic not to need the pressure of life and of lifes difficulties. We want to give them a possibility I know, that was the idea I had: to give those who have an Aspiration the possibility to be concerned only with thatand they fall asleep.
But you noted the same fact for the body, too! You said that if there werent illnesses, difficulties
|
0 1966-08-10, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After Satprem had left, Mother remained silent for a long time, then turned to Sujata and told her, "Strange, very strange, I've never seen a lotus bud bowing down." Then, as Sujata looked at her without understanding, Mother added, "The heart lotus is always turned upward; it's the Aspiration. Here, it bows down towards the earth."
***
|
0 1966-08-31, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yet another thing. There is an intense and constant Aspiration for Union. It always begins with self-giving the spontaneous self-giving to the Supreme. But then, there is, mixed into it (how can I express it?) the expectation (is it an expectation? Its almost just a noticing) its not an anxiety for, but rather an expectation, yes, of the result. In other words, in that great will and Aspiration for the manifestation of Harmony, of Love in the Truth, in that thirst of the whole, entire being for That which is the source of that Harmony, to the movement of Aspiration is added the perception (its more than the perception: its the expectation), the expectation of the result, and then, it gets warped (same twisting gesture).
And what I am saying now isnt at all something I see, its something I lived during my morning walk at 4:30. There were different successive experiences [which Mother has just described], and then, a very clear, very keen perception of the point at which the true experience (same twisting gesture) gets falsified. And its not something violent, theres nothing dramatic to it, nothing at all, but its clearly the difference between the Infinite and Eternal, the All-Powerful [being turned] into the individuality the individual limitation. And for the ordinary consciousness, the usual consciousness that is to say, the limited, individual consciousness that experience itself is marvelous, but you are the recipient, you are the one who experiences. Thats the point, its the difference between the [pure] experience and, all of a sudden, the one who experiences. And then, with that the one who experiences, its over, everything is distorted. Everything is distorted, but not dramatically, you understand, not like that, no. Its the difference between Truth and falsehood. Its a falsehood (how can I explain?) its the difference between life and death; its the difference between Reality and illusion. And the one IS, while the other remembers having been, or is a witness.
|
0 1966-09-07, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I say its amusing, but I know, its like that all the timeall the time, all the time, for everything. I am in a state of (what should I call it?) of contemplative stillness, with that sort of constant Aspiration for for the Perfection we want to have: That which we want to bring down into this world. Thats all. And then, from every side, from just everywhere, all kinds of things come (gesture of communication): I am suddenly thinking of that, or I suddenly have an answer to this, or I suddenly And when the work is over, I immediately see: this (gesture to the forehead) has remained quiet, still, not even interested. Its like a transmittera receiver-transmitterin a telephone set. And I simply transmit. But I dont even have the curiosity to know why this or that came. Thats how it is: it goes out and comes; the answer goes out, the transmission, then the answer. And everything remains quiet (gesture to the forehead). So I know how things happen, but as I dont say to myself, Oh, this or that or this is the reason, when the outward proof comes [such as this Talk about money], its amusing!
Its a strange thing. The state of consciousness of the bodys cells is a sort of keen, constant thirst for what must be: the vibration of Harmony, of Consciousness, of Light, Beauty, Purity. It isnt even expressed in words, but its an Aspiration, and nothing but that. Nothing but that, nothing else. And then, [in that silent Aspiration] things come like that, from every side. And the rather peculiar thing is that there are also pains, discomforts, appearances of illnessand it all comes from outside. And with always the same answer (gesture of Descent): put the divine Consciousness put the divine Consciousness, on everything. The Consciousness that contains the Peace, the Light, the Force.
In that letter which he never sent, Satprem ingenuously tried to make the secretaries understand that these conversations with Mother might have import for the whole world, and that if Mother was an hour late for her conversations with Satprem and tired by a heap of trifles and petty personal matters, the atmosphere was not conducive for her to recapture the thread of her experience. But Satprem clearly saw the uselessness of stressing these obvious facts and saw that he would have quite simply been assumed to be indulging in "self-promotion." So be it. (This footnote was written in 1966.)
|
0 1966-09-17, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And its not me! Me, where is the me? Its not this, in any case (Mother pinches the skin of her hand), poor thispoor this! It keeps on with its Aspiration, and it has the sense all at once of its incapacity, its misery, its powerlessness to express what it should express, and its unworthiness to be an instrument of the Divine. At the same time, it has, first, a sort of increasing certitude of (how can I put it?) the magnanimity of the divine Presence, which is so marvelous in its effects in spite of the almost total imbecility of all this (Mother points to her own body); all this is really cast in, outwardly cast in stupidity, but with the ardor of such an intense and constant Aspiration, with something touching in its humility and trust, and with the sense of its powerlessness and at the same time of this marvelous Presence there, ready and willing to actif It is allowed to. All that is translated as a sort of film review of all of the bodys difficulties, all its powerlessness, all its incapacities, all its darknesses, its all shown as if on a screen, in order to be dissolved. And then one is a spectator of the dissolution by the Light. Its fantastic.
And the feeling of hanging from such a slender thread, the thread not of faith, its not faith: its a certitude, but at the same time an Aspiration, and it feelsit feels there is something so new, so young, in an absolutely rotten atmosphere of disbelief, stupidity, bad will. So thats how it is, a slender thread, and its a miracle if
(silence)
|
0 1966-09-21, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then, seeing all this, the imminence of the catastrophe, there was a sort of call or Aspiration to bring down something that could at least neutralize that error. And it came, an answer I cant say I heard it with my ears, but it was so clear, so strong and precise that it was indisputable. I am obliged to translate it into words; if I translate it into words, I may say something like this: Thats why you have created Auroville.
And with the clear vision that Auroville was a center of force and creation, with (how can I explain?) a seed of truth, and that if it could sprout and develop, the very movement of its growth would be a reaction against the catastrophic consequences of the error of armament.
--
Besides, even quite outwardly, that fight between India and Pakistan1 was clearly (how can I put it? The words that come to me are English) initiated and driven, that is to say, set in motion by and under the impulsion of the forces of Truth that wanted to create a great Asian Federation with the power to counterbalance Red China and its movement. It was a federation that, as a matter of fact, needed the return of Pakistan and all those regions, and which includes Nepal, Tibet, also Burma, and in the south, Ceylon. A great federation with each country having its autonomous development, perfectly free, but which would be united in a common single Aspiration for peace and fight against the invasion of forces of dissolution. That was very clear, it was willed and its the intervention of this United Nations that stopped everything.2
I am not saying anything officially; because I have said and always repeat that politics is in complete Falsehood, based on Falsehood, and I am not dealing with it, meaning that I am not in politics, I dont want to be but that doesnt stop me from seeing clearly! People have come and asked me (from every side, by the way) for my opinion, view or advice; I said, No, I dont deal in politics. You see, all diplomacy is absolutely based on a DELIBERATE Falsehood. As long as it is like that, theres no hope: the inspirations will always come from the wrong side; inspirations, impulsions, ideas, everything will always come from the wrong sidewhich means the inescapable blunder, for everyone. A few rare individuals feel that and are aware of it, and they are half desperate because nobody listens to them.
--
Now I know, I remember, this whole experience came after I saw a book that was published quite recently in India, in English, which they entitled The Roll of Honour, and in which there is a photo and a short biography of all those who died in the fight against the British, for Indias freedom. There were photos everywhere, lots of them (some were only photos the police took after they had just been killed and were lying on the ground). And it all brought a certain atmosphere: the atmosphere of those disinterested goodwilled people who meet with a tragic fate. It had the same impression on me as the horrors of the Germans during the war over there. These things are obviously under the direct influence of certain adverse forces, but we know that the adverse forces are, so to say, permitted to workthrough the sense of horror, in factin order to hasten the awakening of consciousness. So then, that experience, which was very strong and was very like the one I had when I saw the photographs of German atrocities in France, put me in contact with the vision of the human, terrestrial, modern error (its modern: it began these last one thousand years and has become more and more acute in the last hundred years), with the Aspiration to counterbalance that: How to do it? What is to be done? And the answer: Thats why you have created Auroville.
There is a perception of forces the forces that act directly in events, material events, which are illusory and deceptive. For instance, the man who fought for his countrys freedom, who has just been assassinated because he is a rebel, and who looks defeated, lying there on the edge of the roadhe is the real victor. Thats how it is, it clearly shows the kind of relationship between the truth and the expression. Then, if you enter the consciousness in which you perceive the play of forces and see the world in that light, its very interesting. And thats how, when I was in that state, I was told, clearly shown (its inexpressible because it isnt with words, but these are facts): Thats why you have created Auroville. Its the same thing as with that photo.3
|
0 1966-09-28, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I am referring here to physical suffering, because all the other kinds of sufferingvital, mental, emotive sufferingarise from a wrong functioning of the mind, and those we can easily rank them in the Falsehood, thats all. But physical suffering is to me like a child being beaten, because here in Matter, Falsehood turned into ignorance, which means there is no bad willthere is no bad will in Matter, everything is inertia and ignorance: total ignorance of the Truth, ignorance of the Origin, ignorance of the Possibility, even ignorance of what needs to be done so as not to suffer materially. This ignorance is everywhere in the cells, and only the experience and the experience of what, in this rudimentary consciousness, is translated as sufferingcan awaken, arouse the need to know and be cured, and the Aspiration to be transformed.
This has become a certitude because the Aspiration has been born in all these cells, and its growing more and more intense and is surprised at the resistance. But they have observed that when something is upset in the functioning (which means that instead of being supple, spontaneous, natural, the functioning becomes a painful effort, a struggle with something that takes on the appearance of a bad will but is only a reluctance devoid of understanding), at such times the intensity of the Aspiration, of the call, grows tenfold: it becomes constant. The difficulty is to keep up this state of intensity; generally it all falls back into, I cant say drowsiness, but its a sort of slackening: you take things easy. And its only when the inner disorder becomes hard to bear that the intensity grows and becomes permanent. For hourshourswithout flagging, the call, the Aspiration, the will to unite with the Divine, to become the Divine, is kept up at its peakwhy? Because there was whats outwardly called a physical disorder, a suffering. Otherwise, when there isnt any suffering, there is now and then an upsurge, then it flags and falls back; then at some other time, another upsurge It never ends! It lasts for eternities. If we want things to go fast (fast relatively to the rhythm of our lives), the whiplash is necessary. I am convinced of this, because as soon as you are in your inner being, you treat this with contempt (for yourself).
But then, when that true Compassion of divine Love comes and you see all those things that look so horrible, so abnormal, so absurd, that great pain over all beings and even over things Then there was born in this physical being the Aspiration to relieve, to cure, to make all that disappear. There is something in Love in its Origin that is constantly expressed by the intervention of the Grace; a force, a sweetness, something like a vibration of solace, spread everywhere, but which an enlightened consciousness can direct, concentrate on certain points. And thats just where I saw the true use one could make of thought: thought is used as a channel to carry the vibration from place to place, wherever its necessary. This force, this vibration of sweetness is there over the world in a static way, pressing to be received, but its an impersonal action, and thoughtenlightened thought, surrendered thought, the thought that is nothing more than an instrument, that no longer tries to set things in motion, that is satisfied with being moved by the higher Consciousness thought is used as an intermediary to make contact, to build a connection and allow this impersonal Force to act wherever its necessary, on precise points.
(silence)
--
If, when the transformative action creates a suffering, there is in what suffers the necessary Aspiration and opening, the remedy is absorbed at the same time, and the effect is total, complete: the transformation, along with the action necessary to obtain it, and at the same time the cure of the false sensation caused by the resistance. And the suffering is replaced by something unknown on this earth, but which has to do with joy, ease, trust, and security. Its a supersensation, in perfect peace, and clearly the only thing that can be eternal.
This analysis expresses very imperfectly what we could call the content of the Ananda.
I think its something that has been felt, experienced (partially and very fleetingly) through all ages, but which is beginning to be concentrated and almost concretized on earth. But physical Matter in its cellular form has, we cant say a fear or an anxiety, but a sort of apprehension of new vibrations, and that apprehension naturally takes away from the cells their receptivity and takes on the appearance of a discomfort (its not a suffering but a discomfort). But when that apprehension is counterbalanced and cured by Aspiration and the will for total surrender and the act of total surrender, then that sort of apprehension having disappeared, there comes supreme ease.
All this is like microscopic studies of the phenomena of consciousness independent of mental intervention. The need to use words to express ourselves brings in that mental intervention, but in the experience it doesnt exist. And its very interesting because the pure experience holds a content of truth, of reality, which disappears as soon as the mind intervenes. There is a flavor of true reality which totally eludes expression for that reason. Its the same difference as between an individual and his portrait, between a fact and the story told about it. Thats how it is. But its far more subtle.
|
0 1966-10-08, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont know. Belief in the Divine? You thirst for a certain perfection, perhaps even to surpass yourself, to reach something higher than what is; when you are a philanthropist, you have an Aspiration for mankind to be better, less unhappy and miserable, all kinds of things like thatyou can practice a yoga for that, but thats not believing. To believe is to have the faith that there cannot be a world without the Divine, thats what it is; the faith that the very existence of the world is proof of the Divine. And precisely not a belief, not something you thought over or were taught, none of all that: a faith. The faith which is a lived knowledge (not a learned knowledge) that the existence of the world is sufficient proof of the Divinewithout the Divine, no world. And its so obvious, of course, that you feel one has to be a bit stupid to think otherwise! And the Divine, not in the sense of raison dtre, goal, culmination, not all that: the world as it is is proof of the Divine. Because it IS the Divine in a certain aspect (a distorted enough aspect, but still).
To me its even stronger than that: when I look at a rose like the one I gave you, this thing which holds such a concentration of spontaneous beauty (not fabricated: a spontaneous beauty, a blossoming), you only have to see that and youre sure the Divine exists, its a certitude. You cant disbelieve, its impossible. Its like those peopleits fantastic!those people who have studied Nature, studied really in depth how everything works and occurs and exists: how can they study sincerely, carefully and painstakingly without being absolutely convinced that the Divine is there? We call it the Divine the Divine is quite tiny! (Mother laughs) To me, the existence is undeniable proof that there is nothing but THAT something we cannot name, cannot define, cannot describe, but which we can feel and BECOME more and more. A something which is more perfect than all perfections, more beautiful than all beauties, more wonderful than all wonders, which even a totality of all that is cannot expressand only THAT exists. And its not a something floating in nothingness: there is nothing but That.
|
0 1966-11-15, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sometimes, when its tired or something isnt quite all right or (that always comes from a contact with outside; afterwards I see, I know what the cause was, but while its happening there is simply a discomfort or a disorganization), then, oh, its exactly like a childs trusting abandon in something which is everywhere, around it, inside it, there, like this (enveloping gesture). And the bodys Aspiration is just, May That alone exist. All the rest oof! its nothing at all, a nuisance. May That alone exist. If That alone existed, what a marvelous world this would be!
Thats how it feels. All the rest is either a bother or deeply ridiculous. Oh, often its so ridiculous! At any rate, so flimsy, so dry, like a bad performance. And what becomes quite comical, truly amusing and comical is (Mother puffs up her cheeks) when the ego swells up! Oh, then! The egos that assert themselves, that come and tell you, I want this, I dont want that, I have decided that Oh, mon petit, thats the big fun! And they dont in the least see that they are puppets.
|
0 1967-01-18, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The mind will be transformed quite naturally, effortlessly; its not the same as with this body. But for the moment, it cant be used. It can be used only through Aspiration, like this (gesture open to the above), a constant Aspiration the constancy of Aspiration and receptivity to let the forces and the light come through.
There. So well meet again on Saturday.
|
0 1967-01-21, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The body was in the habit of fulfilling its functions automatically, as something natural, which means that for it, the question of their importance or usefulness did not arise: it didnt have that mental vision, for instance, or vital vision of things, of whats important or interesting and what isnt. That didnt exist. But now that the cells are becoming conscious, they seem to step back (Mother makes a gesture of stepping back): they look at themselves, they begin to watch themselves act, and they very much wonder, Whats the use of all this? And then, an Aspiration: How? How should things truly be? Whats our function, our usefulness, our basis? Yes, what should be our basis and our standard of life? To express it mentally again, we could say, How will we be when we are divine? What will be the difference? Whats the divine way of being? And there, what speaks is that whole kind of physical base which is entirely made up of thousands of small things absolutely indifferent in themselves, whose raison dtre is only as a whole, as a totality, like a support to another action, but which in themselves seem devoid of any meaning. And then, its again the same thing: a sort of receptivity, of silent opening to let oneself be permeated, and a very subtle perception of a way of being that would be luminous, harmonious.
That way of being is still quite indefinable; but in this search there is a constant perception (which translates itself in vision) of a multicoloured light, of all the coloursall the colours not in layers but as though (stippling gesture) a combination of dots, of all the colours. Two years ago (a little more than two years, I dont remember), when I met the Tantrics, when I came into contact with them, I started seeing that light, and I thought it was the tantric light, the tantric way of seeing the material world. But now, I see it constantly, associated with everything, and it seems to be what we might call a perception of true Matter. All possible colours are combined without being mixed together (same stippling gesture), and combined in luminous dots. Everything is as though made up of this. And it seems to be the true mode of being I am not yet sure, but in any case its a far more conscious mode of being.
|
0 1967-02-18, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Once, very long ago, when Sri Aurobindo was telling me about himself, that is, of his childhood, his education, I put the question to him, I asked him, Why am I, as an individual being, so mediocre? I can do anything; all that I have tried to do I have done, but never in a superior way: always like this (gesture to an average level). Then he answered me (at the time I took it as a kindness or commiseration), Thats because it gives great supplenessa great suppleness and a vast scope; because those who have perfection are concentrated and specialized. As I said, I took it simply like a caress to comfort a child. But now I realize that the most important thing is not to have any fixity: nothing should be set, definitive, like the sense of a perfection in the realization that puts a total stop to the forward march. The sense of incapacity (with the meaning I said of mediocrity, of something by no means exceptional) leaves you in a sort of expectation (gesture of Aspiration upward) of something better. And then, the most important thing is supplenesssuppleness, suppleness. Suppleness and breadth: reject nothing as useless or bad or inferiornothing; set nothing up as really superior and beautifulnothing. Remain ever open, ever open.
The ideal is to have this suppleness and receptivity and surrender, that is, so total an acceptance of the Influence that no matter what comes the instrument adapts itself instantly to express it naturally, spontaneously and effortlessly. With everything, of course: with the plastic arts, with music, with writing.
|
0 1967-02-25, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its beautiful, this Nature! I find it more beautiful than animals. From the point of view of consciousness, its obviously more limited; a plant doesnt have the consciousness an animal hasthey have this Aspiration towards the light, but the consciousness isnt precise. But from the point of view of material organization its incomparable. Take a tree like this one (the coconut tree under Mothers window), I see it all the time, this tree, its wonderful! And how it struggles, how it works, how it produces
From the point of view of beauty, I mean material harmony, the Mind has spoilt things a lot, quite a lot (at least thats my impression).
|
0 1967-03-02, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It may have one ambition (its expressed as an Aspiration, at any rate): the possibility of making this unreality of suffering felt everywhere. When the possibility is glimpsed of transmitting everywhere the unreality of suffering, there is a joythere is a light, a joy in the body. That makes it happy. So the Consciousness above says, Thats how it is, thats how it will be. There.
Mother is referring to the Playground Talk (Questions and Answers) of May 14, 1951, on "chance," in which she said in particular: "Unless the event is the result of the divine Will expressed without admixture, it is the work of what we call 'chance.' In the ordinary world, everything is the rule of chance, except, now and then, an occurrence whose cause is indiscernible to the multitude of men, but discernible to one who is in contact with the divine Will. Only this escapes the rule of chance."
|
0 1967-04-03, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When I came back from That (it lasted long enough for me to have the full experience of itfull, total), there were many things I then understood. One, for instance, which I had noticed with Sri Aurobindo for all the small details of life, well all things as they are on earthmere nothings; when I went to him with an inner vision and said to him, This is how I see that (I would say it to him with words or not), it would AUTOMATICALLY become true, it would become real: things that were neither in my hands nor in his nor And it wasnt that we would take a decision: it was automatic. I noticed this several times and found it wonderful. It so happens that in a few psychological cases, that is, when it has to do with individual consciousness, since quite recently (it hasnt been like that very long), when someone is sincere (one must be sincere) and expresses an Aspiration, for instance, a hope, or a vision of how he or she should be, I have seen this same phenomenon occur: it automatically becomes true.
Its not very frequent yet, but it has happened. And now I understand how it happens.
|
0 1967-04-19, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
As for me, I understood that you could already give the child ideas, Aspirations, tendencies (I didnt know how that was possible), but she doesnt say anything leading to that.
Theres only one thing, she says somewhere that during the first few weeks, for the child the separation is painful, and so the physical contact is necessary the touch the contact with the skin to give the child the taste of life and the understanding of physical life.1 Thats possible. But nowadays doctors say, The last thing you should do is touch your childput it in a cradle. You should not touch it because that will deform it. It runs quite counter to her theories. Of course, she may be right to a certain extent, its possible. But anyway, its a very small detail, its nothing. I expected a lot and have been somewhat disappointed.
|
0 1967-04-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Sri Aurobindo always said that the most important, but also the most difficult thing, is to know how to keep ones BALANCE IN INTENSITY. To have the intensity of Aspiration, the intensity of effort, the intensity of the march forward, while at the same time keeping ones balance the balance of perfect peace. Thats the ideal condition. But its difficult.
(silence)
|
0 1967-04-27, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I told you about that experience (which has been growing increasingly concrete and constant) of the Vibration of Harmony (a higher harmony expressing the essential Consciousness in its aspect of love and harmony and, as it draws nearer to the manifestation, of order and organization), and of the nearly constant and general vibration of disorder, disharmony, conflictin reality, Matters resistance to this Action. The two vibrations are like this (Mother slips the fingers of her right hand between those of the left), as if they interpenetrated each other and a simple movement of consciousness sent you to one side or the other, or rather, the Aspiration, the will for realization, put you into contact with the Vibration of Harmony, and the SLIGHTEST slackening made you lapse into the other. It has become constant. And then, on the 24th, right from morning there was a constant Aspiration, a constant will for the triumph of the Vibration of Harmony. Then I sat down at my table as I always do, about five or ten minutes before it began. And instantly, with a puissancea puissance capable of crushing an elephantthis Vibration of Harmony came down like that, massive to the point that the body lost the sense of its existence altogether: it became That, it was conscious of nothing but That. And the first quarter of an hour literally flashed by in a second. Then, there were three people in the room; one of the three, or maybe all three, felt a malaise (nothing surprising!), and that woke me up: I saw the light (I burn a candle on my table) and I saw the time, but it wasnt me something saw. Then there was a sort of pacifying action on the place, and thengone again. And one second later, the call of the end!1
Its the first time that has happened to my body. It always used to remain conscious. Sri Aurobindo, too, told me the same thing, that he never, ever, had samadhi in his body. Neither did I: I always, always, always used to remain conscious. While that only the Force remained, there was nothing left but the Force at work: there was a concentration here, a concentration on the whole country, and a concentration on the whole earth. And all that was conscious, like that (vast gesture above the head), at work. But something massive, as powerful as an elephantenough to crush you.
--
Its nothing, and it has given me an opportunity to see that all the cells everywhere, even those that according to the old habit should be in discomfort because of the cold, are all in a blissful Aspiration of transformation. And they truly and spontaneously feel that whats happening to them is for it all to move a little faster. So they are very happy.
But things should move still faster; that is, all these things such as colds and so on, should pass off very quicklycome in and go out.
|
0 1967-05-03, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Then, quite recently, when I began doing the yoga in the cells, lo and behold, they started seeing! But then what a caravanserai! And it kept going and coming, and seeing and seeing, constantly, all the time. I would open my eyes: instead of seeing material things, I would see the physical things behind them. Oh! Then I said, I understand! It was the Aspiration of Ignorance, now I understand: people who dont see are blessed! Because I always used to say, My visions arent concrete, they are subjective visions since they are inner visions; they are subjective visions, not concrete ones I want concrete visions, I want to see the material world as it is; not in its deceptive appearanceAS IT IS. When I started seeing, I said, No thanks! We are blessed not to see.
But thats not what I am asking.
--
You understand, I dont want to say anything that encourages the vanity of the ego, if there is any. But your contact with the Light is unusual; for you it has become something quite natural. But the truth is, its exceptional. So you see people who dont have this realization at all but who enjoy the contact with the Light, precisely because for them its something marvellous and new And so you are deprived (its Sri Aurobindo speaking to me), deprived of the pleasures they have. But you should know that its because you have been given a much higher realization. Only, with Aspiration, with opening, with self-giving, can you contact something really new. And then you will have the shock of the new.
This is his answer.
|
0 1967-05-24, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Once, Amrita told me too that for him it was something simply unthinkable. So I answered him, No! That way doesnt help. Just think that the Divine is everything (to the fullest possible extent, of course), everything we want to become in our highest, most enlightened Aspiration. All that we want to become thats the Divine. He was so happy! He told me, Oh, that way it becomes easy!
But when you look at itwhen you emerge from mental activity and look at the experience you have, you wonder, How to say it? How to explain it? The nearest, most accessible, is this: into that something we aspire to become, we instinctively, spontaneously put everything we want to exist, all the most marvellous things we can imagine, all the objects of an intense (and ignorant) Aspiration, all of that. And with all that, you draw near something and In fact, you dont get the contact through thought; you get the contact through something IDENTICAL in the being, which is awakened by the intensity of the Aspiration. So, as soon as you have got for yourself, be it for one second, this contactthis fusion theres no more need to explain: its something that imposes itself in an absolute way, and that is outside and beyond all explanation.
But to get there, everyone puts into it all that makes it easier to lead him there.
And when you have the experience, at the time of this fusion, this junction, to the consciousness its obvious that the identical alone can know the identical, and that consequently its proof that That is there (Mother points to the heart centre). Its a proof that That is there. And through the effort of Aspiration, It awakens.
When I was given the question, it was just as if that person were saying to me, Yes, yes, thats all very fine, but after all, what IS the Divine! So I read his letter, and there was that total silence, of everything, and a sort of SINGLE gazea single gaze encompassing everythingwhich wanted to see I remained like that, looking, until the words came. Then I wrote: Here is ONE answer there could be a hundred which would be just as good.
And at the same time, when there was that look at the something which had to be defined, there was a great silence everywhere and a great Aspiration (gesture like a rising flame), and all the forms that that Aspiration has taken. It was very interesting. The history of the Aspiration of the earth towards the marvellous Unknown we want to become.
And each oneeach one who was destined to effect the junctionbelieves in his simplicity that the bridge he has walked is the only one. The result: religions, philosophies, dogmas, creedsbattle.
|
0 1967-05-26, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The Grace works for the realisation of your Aspiration and everything is arranged to gain the most prompt, the quickest realisationso there is nothing to fear.
Fear comes from insincerity. If you want a comfortable life, agreeable circumstances, etc., and you put conditions and restrictions, then you can fear.
|
0 1967-05-27, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But she has a great sincerity in her Aspiration
Shes left. And this morning, before leaving, she sent me the flower Light without Obscurity.1
|
0 1967-06-14, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If, for this wear and tear, this deterioration (which comes from the Inconscient and is the result of the RESISTANCE of the Inconscient), if for this we can substitute the Aspiration for progress and transformation (not with words the vibration) That experience has been given to me several times. For example, suppose there is something which goes wrong, there is a pain somewhere, something disorganized that no longer works properly; if there is the vision and conception in the faith (faith and consecration to the Supreme) that its deliberate, that the Supreme has allowed it to be (how can I express it? All words are meaningless), has allowed or willed it, or wanted it to be, because to Him it seems the best way to transform the thing, to have it make the necessary progress, if the cells that are somewhat disorganized and sick, as they say, are able to feel this then straight away it takes a marvellous turn for the betterimmediately, in five minutes, ten minutes. I could give concrete, precise examples, with all the details. So that means bringing the two extremes into contact, we could say. And if that can become the normal life of the elements which make up this outer form, then there is no reason why No, there is no need to die, no need whatsoever. There comes a point when death loses all meaning.
And one learns in the smallest detail, in the little cell or the faint sensation (and when it comes down to feelings, there is something which is the embryo of thoughtoh, then), the taste for drama. Ah, then everything is explained.
|
0 1967-06-21, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But purposely, for the sake of the work, the future is not revealed. So your question cannot be answered. Thus for everyone the wisest is to open oneself as much as possible to the force that is pressing for manifestation, to keep sincerely an ardent Aspiration and an unshaken faith and wait patiently for the result.
(July 27, 1967)
|
0 1967-06-30, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But now I remember what it was this morning: it was about physical health and balance; because it was like an answer to a sort of call (or prayer or Aspiration, anyway, as you like) that I had yesterday evening, and in the night it was as if I was being shown the mechanism to restore harmony in the bodys functioning.
And I made a special concentration for you, which continued this morning. Now I remember.
|
0 1967-07-05, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
For instance, that relationship of simplicity (like that of a child) in which you very simply ask for the thing you feel the need for, but without mental complications; without explanations, without justifications, without all that useless farragosimply, Oh, I would like You have, for instance, quite a special feeling towards someone or something and you would like that someone or something to be perfectly harmonious, happy (which physically is expressed by good health or favourable circumstances), and so, spontaneously, simply, you say, Oh! (you pray), Oh, may it be like that! And it happens. Then the thought (the general human thought): This has happened, therefore its the expression of the Truth. And it becomes a principle: This is true, this is the way things should be. But up above, in that Consciousness that global Consciousness in that total Harmony, those things in themselves, in their material expression (good health, favourable circumstances) are of no more than minor importance, so to say, of almost nonexistent importance: things may be this way or that or this (they may be a hundred different ways), without its making any difference to the Harmony; but this particular way is chosen because of the simple, pure, candid beauty of the Aspiration that is lovely, that is powerful in its simplicity. And, you know, without mental complication, without hypocrisy of any sort, without pretence of any sort: very simply, but from a luminous, pure, loving heart, without any egoism, just like that. So thats a lovely light which has its place; and because of it, things may be this way or that (good health, favourable circumstances), it doesnt matter, its unimportant. Human beings attach importance only to the external form, to what has manifested; they say, Oh, this is true, since it isand its a passing breath of air. But the cause of it, its origin has a place in that total, universal Harmony: a disinterested goodwill, love devoid of egoism, trust that doesnt argue or reason, simplicityingenious simplicity for which evil doesnt exist.4 If we could catch hold of that and keep it That trust for which evil doesnt existnot trust in what takes place here: trust up above, in that all-powerful principle of Harmony.
(long silence, then Mother repeats this prayer:)
|
0 1967-07-08, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I said, Well, thats what you should do with your past: burn it with the fire of Aspiration. Otherwise, you always remain hitched and fastened, a slave everywhere, with millstones around our necks.
But I tell you, later I realized that if I didnt burn my papers myself, the others kept the pieces! There were things on which I had written To be destroyed if I were to leave this body, Destroy without opening. Then I realized I couldnt trust anyone! So I destroyed them myself.
|
0 1967-07-15, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is someone here, whose name is S., a man over forty (oh, no, much older than that, I think he is approaching fifty), and he learned French, but so energetically that he writes French really remarkably. He regularly sends me questions in French, and because of the care with which he writes, I reply. The other day, he wrote to me (I forget his exact words, but it was very well put) that he had just realized that Aspiration for progress and the result of the Aspiration were both the divine Grace, the effect of the divine Grace. So I thought, Well, let me see if he knows French well enough to have a sense of humour. And I replied this:
One could say humorously that we are all divine but scarcely know it, and it is just what in us does not know it or is unaware of being divine that we call ourselves!
--
Two or three days ago (this is part of the same field), I saw a baby girl who was born in America just while we were having the meditation here of 4.5.67. That child was born in America (of an Indian mother and an Indian father; the father was here, the mother there), and they brought her to me: a baby no bigger than this, microscopic! Her eyes were closed, a tiny thing: a little over two months old. The child was sleeping in her mothers arms, carried by her mother, her eyes closed, naturally. Andplop!they put her in my lap without warninga tiny little thing like this. At first I stayed put, giving her time to adapt to the new vibration. She began stirring as if something was waking her up, probably the difference in the atmosphere. Then (gesture of descent) I immediately put the consciousness: the Consciousness, the Presence. And the child opened her two arms like this (gesture like a Christ with arms outstretched), she opened her eyes and lookedsuch eyes! Magnificent with light, with consciousness, it was magnificent! It lasted maybe a minute, not more, not even that long. Then she seemed to give a start, so I withdrew the Force because (laughing) I became wary. And she started wriggling and But that look and that gesturea gesture of (same gesture like a Christ), with such Aspiration, such light! It was magnificent.
I dont know who is there? Well know one day. It gave me the impression of being a force or a principle rather than a person; it didnt have that that cramped character of personality.
The eyes were magnificent, with such consciousness! With the joy of conscious Aspirationit was magnificent. Then, afterwards, there was almost a sort of convulsion (it was too much, of course), so I withdrew the Force.
The matter (of the child) was of good quality, not heavy, only not very strong, not strong enough to bear that.
|
0 1967-07-19, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It is the action of a perfectly conscious Aspiration, increasingly constant, and the Response which brings the immediate result of that Aspiration. But its still a completely new fieldnew from that total, integral angle. Formerly, everything going on in the body (I dont mean this one, I mean it in a general way) was a reflection and an effect of the Thing, while now, it is the Thing itself. But the millennial habit of being otherwise is so strong that the impression is Its like (the comparison is poor, but anyway), like stretching a rubber band; so as long as you keep it stretched (gesture of effort, pulling on Matter), the effect is there; but if the tension ceases, even for a second (gesture of abrupt flattening), it falls back out of habit. Which compels you to constant tension. But it wont always be like that. It is the transition from one habit to another; once the other movement is established, then it will be natural, this constant tension wont be necessary.
Well see how much time it takes.
|
0 1967-07-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The grey is the grey of spiritual light, spiritual Aspiration; the red is the ruby red of the physical; and that emerald green 3
The shapes were defined, but not fixed. They were like clearly defined groups of light, but not fixed (they were plastic), and organizing themselves like this (same gesture of a kaleidoscope).
|
0 1967-07-29, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
To be clear, I should tell the whole thing. Yesterday I had an opportunity to speak to someone about this constant presence of Sri Aurobindo, here, who sees, says, does, all the time. Then, after I had spoken, I wondered, How is it that this brain Because, I think I told you, when Sri Aurobindo left his body, several times, several days in a row, I stood near his bed for one or two hours, and I feltMATERIALLY feltwhat came out of his body enter mine. To such a point that I remember having said, Well, if anyone denies afterlife, I have proof it exists. So I thought, Why does this brain (Mothers) go on working according to its usual routine now that the consciousness of the Presence is constant? Then this morning I had this experience, and while having the experience, I felt, This is how Sri Aurobindo used to see! (Laughing) That must be it! And for some time I have noticed that as soon as, for this body or for other bodies, for events, for as soon as something is formulated (its neither a desire nor an Aspiration, but something like the living perception of a possibility that SHOULD be realizedit comes sometimes), it gets done! It gets done automatically and immediately. So this morning, for, oh, half an hour, the impression was so charming, so pleasant: Ah, there we are! THIS IS HOW we should see things!
Afterwards I had to be busy with other things, but its there. And the question was, Why? Why isnt there in this brain the capacity to perceive and transcribe things as he had it?
|
0 1967-08-02, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Thats how it is. Day after day, almost hour after hour, as the Power comes back You remember, I once said it had gone completely,1 and that was true, it had gone completely in order to leave the body absolutely to itself, for its conversion, we could say; but once there had been in this body consciousness the same Aspiration and the same ardour of consciousness (with a far greater steadiness than in any other part of the being; there are no fluctuations as there are in the vital and mind, its very steady), once that was established (through kinds of pulsations, not distant from one another, first on one detail, then spreading out and becoming generalized), since then the Power has been I can say it has been coming back. But at each stage of that return, all the old difficulties appear to be waking up again,2 they seem to spring up again (they had completely fallen asleep, you understand), and each time, this body consciousness feels a sort of surprise, at once astonished and distressed that the presence of the divine Power, the divine Consciousness, the Truth-Consciousness, should give rise to all those difficulties, which are essentially difficulties of ignorance and inertia the incapacity to receive. And it comes back as memories, like that (gesture from below), like a snake rearing its head. And every time, everything in the physical consciousness has the same call, Why? How can these things be when You are there! Thats the astonishing thing: Since You are there, how can these things be?
Till now, in the majority of cases, this has signalled a conversion, a transformation, an illumination (depending on the case), but this case we were just talking about (the Tantric apprentice) came precisely as a result of that return of the Power (I knew it; he told me yesterday, but I knew it when he had his revolt). And all that came was just all the old revolts, all the old movements, which were previously so strong, so widespread, so ESTABLISHED, and had been as though halted in their expression by the withdrawal of the Power. So everyone was slumbering in his condition. Then, as soon as the Force started coming back and working again, it all woke up.
|
0 1967-08-26, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You know, I had an experience of this sort quite a long time ago (a very long time), when I was still in France, in Paris. There was a student friend in the studio (because I studied in a painting studio for a long time), she was a very good painter, we were close friends, and I started telling her about the Cosmic Review and Thons teaching. She belonged to a Catholic family of archbishops, even cardinals, anyway it was And she was extremely interested and wholly convinced: she felt a liberation of the spirit and Aspiration. Then, after I had Sri Aurobindos teaching, I passed it on to her, and there she was really quite taken. But she often told me, As long as I am awake, everything is fine, but in my sleep Ill suddenly wake up in a dreadful panic: and if the Catholic teaching is true, then Ill go to hell! And so, a torture. And she would tell me, When I am wide awake, I see how ridiculous it is
But all those who were baptized and went for a time to confession are part of an inner, a whole psychological entity, and its VERY DIFFICULT to break free of it; they are bound to a wholethere is there is an invisible Church, and all those people are in its grip. To break free of it, one must be a vital hero. A true hero, you understand. Because its very strong. I saw that all religions have in that way kinds of congregations in the invisible; but the Christian one is the strongest of them all from a terrestrial standpoint. Its much stronger than that of the Buddhists, much stronger than that of the Chinese, much stronger than the ancient Hindu religionsits the strongest. And naturally stronger than the more recent religions, too the strongest. And when you are baptized, you are bound. If you dont go to mass and have never been to confession, with a little vital energy you can get out of it, but those who have gone to confessionespecially confession and when you take communion, when you are given Christ to eat (another frightful thing).
|
0 1967-09-16, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Have you heard about the latest decision? In the church, the priest always used to turn his back to the faithful while officiating: he would face the deity and turn his back to the faithful (the original idea was certainly that he represented the faithfuls Aspiration and prayer: he addressed himself to the Divine). Now the Pope has said, Turn your altars around, face the public and represent the Divine. Its interesting. They are doing it here now, and the comical part is that theyve asked U. to do the work of turning the altars around. Thats how I know it, its U. who told me; they have asked him to go to all the churches here and turn the altars around. Its a big job because they are embedded.
(silence)
--
When I read her letter and learned the whole story, as always I did like this (gesture of immobile offering upward), and then the TRUE thing came (not at all what she thinks or what the Pope thinks, but the TRUE thing): an essential unity that will manifest on earth, but not just for this particular religion for ALL religions, all the religions that were manifestations of a (let us say, to understand each other clearly), an Avatar, that is, something that was sent down from above, that came to earth to bring a message, and a religion came out of it (I am not talking about all the forms of superstition and ignorance). Those religions are destined to go back to their Origin and form a complex unity, complete, total, that is to say, the essence of all human Aspirations for the unknown Divine. And that has not only been sanctioned: it EXISTS. In other words, its ready to descend.
In egoistic and limited human consciousnesses, it finds expression in this or that person, or it finds expression in the Pope who, naturally, would like to.3 Thats his whole raison dtre, otherwise he would just be one little man among many others. In other words, there is the whole motivation of human egoism that is there. Thats what distorts everything. But there is a something (which they talk about without knowing what they talk about), a something ready to manifest. And at the same time I seem to be told, Dont worry, be in peace, you dont need to do anything: it WILL BE, and as usual you will spontaneously say what you need to say, without knowing it. There.
|
0 1967-10-19, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You know, an ardent faith, a psychic Aspiration, a fervour, a self-giving, instead of being forever turned in on oneself, turned in on oneself. A self-giving, thats what is needed to save the world!
(silence)
--
This is a time of extremes, even extremes in the downright material. Did I tell you both the other day that I had received the first flower of a plant which visibly was supramental powera flower like this (gesture), a hibiscus? And yesterday there was the first flower of another plant, also a hibiscus, this big, snow-white, with such a colour at the centre! An indefinable colour, it cant be described. Its golden pink, but so beautiful that you wonder how such colours can be physical. A flower this big (gesture, about fifteen centimetres), the first flower was yesterday. And that was VISIBLY (it expressed itself, you know) the Victory of Love, the Power of Love. Its as if all this physical Nature were, oh, like this (gesture of intense Aspiration), tryingshe tries, and there is a Response. They are blessed not to have a mind.
It was beautiful. It doesnt keep, otherwise I would have kept it to show it to you. How beautiful it was! Like this (same gesture of ardent Aspiration): a thirst, a thirst for the Divine, a thirst for the Divine. All those mental ratiocinations and mental complications, it all goes round and round in circles. Yes, it does bring about whats now happening: a sordid conflict, really sordid, between Falsehood and Truth.
And the government is rotten. People whose tactics and principle of action are falsehood: to deceive and deceive and deceive. And naturally, to deceive themselves.
|
0 1967-10-21, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It must be a phase. I dont know how long that phase will last, but it must be a phase because its obviously a transitional state. And then, when there is that inner Aspiration, oh! I have seen the cells, Ive seen them saying like this, Oh, will there be a possibility to be You effortlessly? Then there comes such a marvellous Response! For a few seconds its (blissful gesture), then the old routine starts up again.
But the great difficulty is mental observation: the observing mind (not a personal mind: an observing Mind), and that makes things much more difficult. If one can keep the mind busy, its easier. Because the mind is something extremely hard, dry, positive, phew! and logical, reasonableits dreadful. Dreadful. And yet, to put things at their best, the general waves are full (especially now, in our time) full of doubtsuch a foul and obstinate doubt! They treat all this as fantastic imagination.
|
0 1967-11-08, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Ah, yesterday I saw ex-Brother A. He came to see me (he had asked, so I called him). He came in, gave me a bunch of flowers, sat down on the floor and looked at me; we looked at each other for at least five minutes. Then I smiled, and he made a big pranam, then got up and went away. I found him very receptive, very receptive and very sincere in his Aspiration to find himself, to find his soul. Very fine and concentrated, very fine. I was quite satisfied. Anyhow he behaved very well. It was very peaceful and receptive.
Then at one point, I smiled like that (I dont know why), and he got up and left. It was good.
|
0 1967-11-15, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
None of the mental Aspirations are satisfied with that.
Its a very obscure work.
|
0 1967-11-22, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, but one can see how, in the mind, the Aspiration sustains itself, how it lives by itself. In the heart too, one can see how the Aspiration lives. But in the body? How can one awaken that Aspiration in the body?
But good Lord! its fully awakened! It has been for months in me! So it means theyve felt it, they are feeling it.
--
Otherwise, it would be hopeless! If this matter, which began as Even a stone is already an organization; it was certainly worse than a stone: the inert, absolute Inconscient. Then, little by little, little by little, it awakens. One can see it, you know, one sees it: one just has to open ones eyes to see it. Well, the same thing is now taking place: for the animal to become a man, it didnt take anything more than the infusion of a consciousnessa mental consciousness and now, its the awakening of that consciousness which was there, deep down, in the very depths. The mind has withdrawn, the vital has withdrawn, everything has withdrawn; when I was supposedly ill, the mind had gone away, the vital had gone away, and the body was left to itselfpurposely. And thats why, its precisely because the vital and mind had gone that it looked like a very serious illness. And then, in the body left to itself, the cells little by little started awakening to the consciousness (gesture of a rising Aspiration); once those two had gone, the consciousness which had been infused into the body THROUGH the vital (from the mind to the vital and from the vital to the body) started slowly, slowly emerging. It began with that burst of Love right at the top, from the extreme, supreme altitude; then, little by little, little by little, it came down to the body. Then that sort of physical mind, that is, something totally and completely idiotic going round and round in circles, forever repeating the same thing over and over again, became clear little by little and grew conscious, organized, then fell silent. And then in that silence, the Aspiration expressed itself in prayers.
(silence)
--
I mean that when I am shaving in front of the mirror, if, within myself I dont apply the mantra or an Aspiration from the heart, well, its an inert chunk shaving, and on top of it the physical mind keeps running. But if I apply a mantra or a mental will
No! Its THE BODY that ends up saying the mantra spontaneously! So spontaneously that even if you happen to be thinking of something else, your body will be saying the mantra. Dont you have that experience?
--
Yes, I understand. I understand. Well, perhaps that is what Sri Aurobindo meant when he said to me, Your body is at present the only one on earth that can do this work. I thought it was a kindness on his part. But its true that it was cut off, I knew it I saw itcut off, the states of being were sent away: Go away, you are not wanted anymore. Then the body had to rebuild a life for itself. And instead of having to go through all those states of being as it did before, through successive awakenings (gesture of ascent from degree to degree, in the way of the yogis of old), right to the top, the topmost beyond the form, now its no longer that at all, the body no longer needs anything of all that, it simply has (gesture of a rising Aspiration opening out like a flower). Something within opened and developed, which caused that idiotic mind to become organized and capable of falling silent in an Aspiration. And then then there was the direct Contact, without intermediaries the direct contact. That it now has constantly. Constantly, constantly, constantly, the direct contact. And its THE BODY: it doesnt go through all kinds of things and states of being, not at all, its direct.
But once that has been done (this is something Sri Aurobindo had said), once ONE body has done it, it has the capacity of passing it on to others; and I tell you, there is now (I am not saying in its totality and in detail, probably not), but here and there (scattered gesture to show various points on earth) people suddenly get one experience or another. Some of them (the majority) get frightened, so naturally it goes away that is because they werent prepared enough within (if its not the little routine of every minute, always the same, they get frightened), and once they get frightened its over, it means they will need years of preparation for the experience to recur. But still, some arent; frightened; suddenly, an experience: Ah! something wholly new, wholly unexpected, which they had never thought of.
|
0 1967-11-29, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But the strange thing was that this time, on the 24th, when I went to the balcony, it was someone (and that happens to me now and then, more and more frequently) someone looking on from a sort of plane of eternity, with, mingled in it, a great benevolence (something like benevolence, I dont know how to express it), but with an absolute calm, almost indifference, and the two are together looking on like that (Mother draws waves far away below), as though it were seen from far away, far above, far (how should I put it?) seen from such an eternal vision. That was what my body felt when I went out for the balcony. So the body said, But I have to aspire, there must be an Aspiration for the Force to descend on all these people! And That was like that (sovereign gesture above), oh, so benevolent, but with a sort of indifference the indifference of eternity, I dont know how to explain it. And the body feels it all as something making use of it.
Thats why I find these photos interesting, its to objectify the state.
|
0 1967-12-06, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The experience was so acute! So acute. Then I said (among the people there, there was Purani, and as I said people who are on earth), I told them, On earth, there is that intensity of Aspiration, but here life is so easy, so easy! Look at all your activities and all that, oh, it has no zest, because there isnt that intense need to live for the Divine. And it was so strong that for hours in the morning it was like that (gesture of intense Aspiration). Life anywhereanywhere, in any part of the world (of the universe) and in any conditions, even the easiest and harmonious, is not worth living without this intensity of Aspiration, of the NEED to be divine.
Its the first time.
In the past, when I went to all those regions, there were always very interesting things; and in the subtle physical, as a rule I was always with Sri Aurobindo I was with Sri Aurobindo, but he withdrew to a part of his domain and I remained with all the others: they had an easy life, you know, carefree, and all they did seemed so meaningless. Why? Why all that, why keep oneself busy, why do all those things if its not for this Aspiration, if its not for this need to be and become the Divine?
But its the first time, and it lingered on: for hours this morning, I was like this (gesture of intense Aspiration).
There.
--
Does the transformation not demand a very high degree of Aspiration, surrender and receptivity?
I replied:
The transformation demands a total and integral consecration. But is that not the Aspiration of every sincere sadhak?
Total means
|
0 1967-12-16, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its true: the same idea (its not an idea), the same Aspiration, the same need, depending on the state you are in and according to your state of consciousness (or, for ordinary people, their turn of mind), you approach from one side or the other.
I dont at all remember what I wrote. As usual its a call to the Truth.1
--
But the best part is that its true! Its true, it is like that. Every time that there is (its more than an Aspiration, much more than a will, in English they call it an urge) a thirst to let Divine Love express itself completely, totally, everywhere, the base, the favourable ground is the Truth.
Sri Aurobindo said it, of course. He said it, he wrote it in black and white (I forget the exact words): The pure divine love can manifest safely only in a in a ground (its not ground ) of Truth. I dont remember now. If we wanted to put it poetically, wed say, in a land of Truth.
--
1) May the Truth be your master and your guide. 2) We aspire to the Truth and its triumph in our being and our activities. 3) May Aspiration to the Truth be the motive power of our efforts. 4) O Truth, we want to be guided by you. May your reign come upon earth.
December 16, 1967
|
0 1967-12-20, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I take the simplest and most concrete things like, for instance, brushing ones teeth; its extremely flexible and things are done, not out of habit but by a sort of choice based on personal experience and routine, so there is no necessity for a special concentration (the real purpose of routine is to avoid the need for a special concentration: things can be done almost automatically). But that automatism is very flexible, very plastic, because depending, as I said, on the intensity of the concentration, the time varies the time varies: you can (you can know by looking at your watch before and after), you can certainly reduce the time by more than half, yet things are done in exactly the same way. Thats right: you dont do away with anything, you do everything in the same way. To make sure, you can, for instance, count the number of times you brush your teeth or the number of times you rinse your mouth I am DELIBERATELY taking the most banal thing, because in other activities there is a natural suppleness that allows you to spread yourself and concentrate (and so its easier to understand with such things). But it works in the same way with the most concrete and banal things too. And there isnt any Oh, I wont do this today or I am neglecting thattheres none of that, nothing at all: everything is done in the same way, BUT with a sort of concentration and constant call the constant call is always there. The constant call which might find a material expression in saying the mantra, but its not even that: its the SENSE, the sense of the call, of the Aspirationits above all a call. A call. You know, when the mind wants to make sentences, it says, Lord, take possession of Your kingdom. For certain things, I remember, when there are certain disorders, something wrong (and with the perception of a consciousness that has become very sharp, you can see when that disorder is the natural origin of an illness, for example, or of something very serious), with the call, the concentration and the response [the disorder is dissolved]. Its almost a surrender, because its an uncalculating self-giving: the damaged spot opens to the Influence, not with an idea of getting cured, but like this (gesture like a flower opening out), simply like this, unconditionally that is the most potent gesture.
But the interesting part is that formulating it in words makes it sound artificialits much more sincere, much truer, much more spontaneous than anything expressed or expressible by the mind. No formula can render the sinceritysimplicity, sincerity, spontaneity, something uncalculatingof the material movement. There was a time when expressing or formulating caused a very unpleasant sensation, like putting something artificial on something spontaneously true; and that unpleasantness was cured only, to begin with, by a higher knowledge that all that is formulated must be surpassed. For instance, every experience expressed or described CALLS FOR a new progress, a new experience. In other words, it hastens the movement. That has been a consolation, because in fact, with the old sensation of something very stable and solid and immobile because of inertia (a past inertia, which is now being transformed but has left marks), because of that inertia there is a tendency to prefer things to be solid; so there is a thrill at being forced to No, no! No rest, no halt, go on!farther and farther and farther on When an experience has been very fruitful and highly pleasant, let us say, when its had a great force and a great effect, the first movement is to say, We wont talk about that, well keep it. Then after comes, Well say it in order to go farther onto go farther on, ever farther, ever farther.
There is a stability in the resolve and in the Aspiration, a stability that can be found nowhere as much as here (Mother strikes the ground). Thats a characteristic of Matter. And you know, when it has given itself and has faith, it becomes so stable, so constant, and the joy, that sort of widening, of luminous expansionit becomes such a perpetual need that in no other part of the being has it ever been like that. Its something ESTABLISHED. And established effortlessly, established spontaneously, naturally, normally. So we can foresee that when this Matter will become truly divinetruly divineits manifestation will be infinitely more complete, more perfect in the details, and more stable than anywhere else.
***
|
0 1968-01-12, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is a key in the relationship between man and woman, but not in their sexual relations. The so-called left-hand Tantrics (of the Vama Marga) are to true Tantrism what Boccaccios tales are to Christianity, or what the sodden Roman Bacchus is to Dionysos of the Greek mysteries. I know Tantrism, to say the least. As for the Cathars, whom I hold in the highest esteem, it would be doing them little honor to believe that they followed a sort of yoga of sexuality. Through my own experience I have often had the feeling of reliving the Cathars experience, and I see plainly that if some of them attempted to mix sexual relations into the true relationship between man and woman, they soon realized their error. It is a dead-end road, or rather its only end is to show you that it leads you nowhere forward. The Cathars were too sincere and conscious men to persist in a burdening experience. For ultimately, and that is the crux of the matter, the sexual experience in its very nature (whether or not there is backward flow or whatever its mode) automatically fastens you again to the old animal vibrations there is nothing you can do about it: however much love you may put into it, the very function is tied to millennia of animality. It is as if you wanted to plunge into a swamp without stirring up any mudit cannot be done, the milieu is like that. And when one knows how much transparency, clarification and inner stillness it takes to slowly rise to a higher consciousness, or to allow a higher light to enter our waters without being instantly darkened, one fails to see how sexual activity can help you attain that still limpidity in which things can start happening??? The union, the oneness of two beings, the true and complete meeting of two beings does not take place at that level or through those means. That is all I can say. But I have seen that in the silent tranquillity of two beings who have the same Aspiration, who have overcome the difficult transition, something quite unique slowly takes place, of which one can have no inkling as long as one is still stuck in the struggles of the flesh, to use a preachers language! I think the Cathars experience begins after that transition. After it, the man-woman couple assumes its true meaning, its effectiveness, if I may say so. Sex is only a first mode of meeting, the first device invented by Nature to break the shell of individual egosafterwards, one grows and discovers something else, not through inhibition or repression, but because something different and infinitely richer takes over. Those who are so eager to preserve sex and to mystify it in order to move on to the second stage of evolution are very much like children clinging to their scootersit isnt more serious than that. There is nothing in it to do a yoga with, nothing also to be indignant about or raise ones eyebrows at. So I have nothing to criticize, I am merely observing and putting things in their place. All depends on the stage one has reached. As for those who want to use sex for such and such a sublime or not-so-sublime reason, well, let them have their experience. As Mother told me on the very same subject no later than yesterday, To tell the truth, the Lord makes use of everything. One is always on the way towards something. One is always on the way, through any means, but what is necessary is, as much as possible, to keep ones lucidity and not to deceive oneself.
I will try to find one or two passages from Sri Aurobindo to give you his point of view.
|
0 1968-02-03, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother, I have often wondered about something. Its not a question, its a state when I meditate: very often I dont at all feel like repeating a mantra, I dont at all feel like having anything at all, I feel inclined to let myself flow blissfully into a sort of dissolution, really like a dissolution, a complete transparency, in which nothing moves anymore. And when I reach that point, something in me always takes over and says no. Because I also feel the need to keep up Aspiration, the life of Aspiration; because even the life of Aspiration disappears in that state.
Yes, I know that.
--
In my life, I have been given so many, so many experiences, as proof that EVERYTHING is possible. For instance, when I was twenty-two, one night, after an experience I had in the night (I forget the details of it) at the time women wore dresses that exactly touched the ground, just touched it without resting on it (gesture of skimming the ground), and in my experience at night, I had grown tallin the morning, there was one inch between the dress and the ground! Which means that the body had grown one inch WITH THE NIGHTS EXPERIENCE. You see, in the nights experience I had grown tall (I dont remember the details), and in the morning And Ive been given that material verification for many such experiences, so as to be sure, so the body may be convinced without having to repeat the experiences over and over again. So it KNOWS, it knows there is nothing impossible, it knows impossible doesnt mean anything. But it doesnt depend on an individual will, you understand. The Consciousness which rules things is a marvel of wisdom, patience, compassion, endurance. When there is destruction or disorder, it means its absolutely unavoidable, absolutelybecause matters resistance in the individual or in things is so strong that it quite naturally brings about disorder or destruction. But that doesnt form part of the Action, the supreme Action, which is a marvel. The body has understood that; it has understood, it is patient. Only, from time to time (how can I put it?) There are people whom I prevent from dyingseveral people. I dont yet have the consciousness, the conscious power to cure them, but the possibility is there and I maintain it above them. That is to say, its not all-powerful in the sense that a certain receptivity, a certain response, a certain attitude are necessary which arent always there (human natures are very fluctuating, there are ups and downs and more ups and downs, and that makes the work very difficult), but at times, during a down spell, when a being suffers or sags, there is something in the consciousness [of Mother], a compassion (how can I explain that?) Affliction and all those movements are movements of weakness, but that is something at once very strong and very sweet, almost like sorrow, and the whole, entire consciousness in the body rises like a prayer and an Aspirationa pure prayer: Why are things still in this pitiful state, why? Why? And it instantly has an effect [in the sick person]. Unfortunately, the effect doesnt last; it doesnt last because certain conditions in others are still necessary. But its wonderful, you know! Its something so wonderful. And it makes one understand the necessity of a presence on this side, a presence capable of feeling, understanding still IN THE OTHER WAY, so the suffering of others may be a reality. And that also is taken into account, that also means time is needed, patience is needed. Now the body knows ittheres no longer any impatience; there is only, now and then, that sort of sorrow, especially when beings are full of Aspiration, goodwill, faith, and in spite of it this suffering is still there, clinging. That on one side, and on the other, one thing: there is still a sort of horror and reprobation of acts of cruelty, of THE cruelty; thats And then, there is this awesome Poweryou feel, you can feel that a mere nothing, a simple little movement would, oh, bring about a catastrophe. So you have to keep that still, still, still so what happens may always be the best.
Now stupidity, imbecility, ignorance, all those things are looked at with a patience which waits for them to grow. But bad will and crueltyespecially viciousness, cruelty, what LOVES to cause suffering thats still difficult, one still has to keep a hold on oneself. In figurative language (not language, but a way of being), its Kali that wants to strike, and I have to tell her, Keep still, keep still. But thats a human transcription. All those gods, all those beings are real, they exist, but its a transcription. True truth is beyond all that.
--
Satprem notes that it is not anguish, but rather a sensation that the life of Aspiration is more important than the dissolution.
Mahasaraswati, the universal Mother in her aspect of knowledge and perfection in work.
|
0 1968-02-20, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I wouldnt be able to say what they think; some people, for instance, can tell you very well, This or that is what you are thinking, but I couldnt. All that is mental is quite foreign to me. But I could say very clearly what is their state of receptivity, of goodwill and Aspiration and automatically, without trying to know it, simply from what is created in the atmosphere.
(silence)
--
The ascending triangle is the creations Aspiration; the descending triangle is the Divines response. And the junction of the two makes the square of the manifestation. It was there, in front of you, very clearly written.
It corresponds to your inner state. (Laughing) Its good!
|
0 1968-03-02, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But just this (Mother points to the cover) is terribly aggressive. Instead of Aspiration blossoming out (Mother opens her arms upward)
Its like the blade of a guillotine.
You see, the Aspiration of flowers blossoms out; with Nature, it rises and widens as much as it can to receive. This (Mother points to the review = I) is like a knife. Its quite symbolic.
Ive never said anything.
|
0 1968-03-23, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Satprem read Mother the end of the Playground Talk of June 3, 1953, about Karma: "In all religions, when people said that [the consequences of Karma were strict] and gave such absolute rules, as for me, I think it was to take the place of Nature and pull people's strings.... So then they panic, they get terrified...they should just go to the next floor up. What should be given them is the key to open the door. The staircase has a door, and it needs a key. The key is a sufficiently sincere Aspiration or a sufficiently intense prayer.... In both there is a magic power, one must know how to use it.... Some detest prayer (if they went to the bottom of their hearts, they would see it's out of pride). And there are those who have no Aspiration, who try but can't aspire that's because they don't have the flame of will, they don't have the flame of humility. Both are needed: to change one's Karma, one must have a very great humility and a very great will.")
When did I say that?
|
0 1968-04-24, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In the spiritual order of things, the higher we project our view and our Aspiration, the greater the Truth that seeks to descend upon us, because it is already there within us and calls for its release from the covering that conceals it in manifested Nature.
Sri Aurobindo
|
0 1968-05-04, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There wasnt even one attempt of struggle or anything, nothing; quite simply (same gesture with open arms), an Aspiration and self-giving.
Its not yet over, but I intended to talk about it only once it was fully over, but because of this [the question of the Popes abdication], I see it has hastened thingshastened and concentrated.
|
0 1968-05-18, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It all came so spontaneously and naturally that I felt as if it was THERE. Now that youve read it back to me (laughing), I realize its not there! But it came so spontaneously: I sat there, reading those four notes, and it came one after another. Especially Abhijits, this completely objective, or anyway completely detached vision of the phenomenon: Circulation stops As if you were looking at a small instrument or tool (Mother gestures as if fingering a small object), and you remarked, Oh, its stopped now thats why it no longer works. Like that. In other words, none of those uncertainties or anxieties or Aspirations. All that was emotions, sentiments, psychological phenomenait was all completely absent. A very simple little contraption (same fingering gesture) which you look at as you would a machine, and the machine stops because it no longer goes like that. There. And as a result, this body was completely detached from all human anguishfrom everything: not only from anguish, but from the habit, the whole human formation about deathit was all gone. As if I were all the way up above, like that, and looking all the way downhup! it went away.
Its what we might express as perfect detachment from the phenomenon.
|
0 1968-07-03, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But her soul is one, intense in her Aspiration towards the spiritual truth, the essential unity of the creation and the divine origin of life, and by uniting with this Aspiration the whole country can recover a unity that has never ceased to exist for the superior mentality.
My handwriting has become quite bad. Its not me who wrote this, I dont remember it at allit doesnt evoke any memory in me.
|
0 1968-09-11, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You will see that your whole conception and notion [of heaven and hell] is based on one thing, an entity you call God, and a world you call his creation, which, to your mind, are two different thingsone having made the other, the latter being subjected to the former and the expression of what the former made. Well, thats the initial error. But if you could feel deep down that there is no division between that something you call God and that something you call the creation; if you thought, Its exactly the same thing, if you could FEEL that what you call God (which is perhaps a mere word), what you call God suffers when you suffer, is ignorant when you are ignorant, and it is through this whole creation that he finds himself again little by little, step by step, unites with himself, realizes himself, expresses himself, and its not at all something he willed arbitrarily and made autocratically, but it is the growing, increasingly developing expression of a consciousness that objectifies itself to itself Then, instead of being like a little child who kneels down, folds his hands and says, God, I implore You, make me a good boy, let me not cause my mother any sorrow (thats very easy and, well, I cant say its bad!), instead of lighting a candle and kneeling before it with folded hands, light a flame in your heart and have a great Aspiration for something more beautiful, truer, nobler, better than anything I know; I ask that tomorrow I begin knowing all those things and begin doing all that I cannot doand every day a little more. Then, if you objectify a little, if for some reason you have been put in presence of a lot of misery in the world, if you have unhappy friends or suffering parents or difficultiesanything then you ask that the entire consciousness may rise TOGETHER towards that perfection which must manifest, that all this ignorance which has made the world so unhappy may be changed into enlightened knowledge, that all that bad will may be illumined and transformed into benevolence. And how lovely those prayers would be!
I remember that during those classes, on certain days I knew it was the psychic that spoke, and on other days it was only the mind. And that day, I remember, the psychic presence was very strong.
|
0 1968-09-21, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its like this: the body is absolutely convinced that there is only one Willone Consciousness, one Will. Consequently, whatever happens is part of that Consciousness and that Will. Thats how it is, you understand. So it cant get angry. It has one spontaneous tendency: let the Aspiration be more intense, the surrender more complete, the trust more total. It gets formulated like this: ThatThat which is everything and is oneis nevertheless, despite all appearances, it is nevertheless the Supreme Goodness, the Supreme Beauty, the Supreme Harmony everything reaches out towards That. That is it. And we too reach out towards That. There, thats the bodys philosophy. But not in the manner of the other parts of the being: quite spontaneous, and with a sort of indisputability.
(silence)
|
0 1968-11-16, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I saw it twice, and both times it was when I was calling the Lord so He might act; for some reason I was calling the Lord onto someone or for something, and the body was like this (gesture of Aspiration or call). And once I saw it behind someone. It was like (Mother clenches her two fists) like condensed Power.
Two cases (but one was especially clear) in which things didnt seem to be as they should have been; there seemed to be a disorder to set right, and as always, I was making contactsimply making contact.1 And that was when I felt it became that Power. I didnt say anythingdidnt say a word, didnt make a gesture, didnt say anything and the circumstance changed. It wasnt here: it was something physically happening elsewhere. And it was changed in that way. There was another case in which it was someones will and thought that needed to be changed but that I dont know, I havent any news yet, I dont know.
|
0 1968-12-21, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
So its constantly pushing, pushing like that to catch hold of the secret; you feel youre about to find it, and then Then theres a sort of lull in the Aspiration: peace, peace, peace. You know, once or twice, the impression: Ah! Its going to be understood (understood, that is, LIVED; its not understood with the thoughtlived), and then (gesture of eluding). And a Peace coming down.
But the impression: It will be for tomorrow. But tomorrow what tomorrow?Not tomorrow on our scale.
|
0 1968-12-25, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And then You know that from every side Ive been trying to get Sri Aurobindo published [in France], in particular The Human Cycle. At last I got a letter from a certain J. B., who writes: For a long time now, a publisher (F.) has been asking me to create a collection in his publishing house. I thought of a few books, mostly foreign ones, grouped around a title such as Towards the spiritual mutation and focused on the present researches, individual and clumsy, often dangerous, but sincere and undertaken in a spirit quite different from that of the former generation, the spirit of a certain youth I am in contact with. The idea is to show these young people that their attempts and Aspirations are legitimate, even if they have discovered them through drugs, since in many cases drugs alone have been able to unmoor them from the Cartesian rationalist bedrock, to put before them experiences that, at least, are positive, and to offer them directions and models. In other words, the aspect of amateurism and exoticism found in Z [another publisher] would be replaced here by a practical and technical side, wide open to all spiritual researches, whatever they may be, to all duly controlled metapsychical experiments, serious psychedelic experiments (I have T. Leary in mind, for instance), new theologies Naturally, there would be room, a major place, for the Oriental endeavor. In sum, it would involve all researches and attempts to crack open that sort of corset within which the Western mind has been going in circles for such a long time. That does not in the least rule out, on the contrary, certain scientific worksof pure sciencein which, out of intrinsic necessity, this Cartesianism has already been singularly shaken. Of course, all that would make for quite an ill-assorted backdrop for Sri Aurobindos thought, a backdrop you will regard as unworthy of it. The planned Collection might be called Spiritual Adventures.
We can try.
|
0 1969-02-05, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Last night, I knew I was doing it every night, but during the night There was (but then, in the body, yesterday in the waking state) a sort of Aspiration to know what the functioning would be, the action in the superman consciousness. I said, Having this consciousness around oneself [like a rampart] is very fine, but one must also know what changes there will be in the bodys functioning, in the work, in ones workings. So then, this experience [of the figures] was like an answer to make me learn a little the future way. But whats strange is that I did it exactly as they now do with those big electric machines, with all kinds of levers (gesture like a control panel in a power plant), I did it in that way, moving things and Only, I think I must have been a little taller than I am. I dont know. In any case, I would place the objects (same gesture like a moving puzzle) They werent objects, they were something but it had a fixed formit was fixed and there was a sort of store (not a storeroom, I dont know how to put it), a store from where I drew things, which I would put and arrange like that. The arrangement was continuous in its whole, but with changes in the details.
If I remembered exactly, it would be very interesting.
|
0 1969-02-08, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Each one will have to provide work for the collectivity according to his possibilities and Aspirationsnever to get money, but to serve the collectivity. In exchange, each one will receive what he needs to live. Giving everyone the same thing is out of question, everyone will receive what his real nature requires. Of course, that will be very difficult to determine, and there will have to be at the center of Auroville a gathering of sages
(Mother smiles)
--
An integral goodwill, a constant Aspiration to know the Truth and submit oneself to it.
A plasticity sufficient to face the demands of the work and a ceaseless will for progress so as to progress forever towards the ultimate Truth.
|
0 1969-02-15, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It came effortlessly, and it left simply because I was too busy. It doesnt come at willwhat comes at will is what we might call a copy: it looks like it, but its not THE Thing. The Thing There is something wholly independent of our Aspiration, our will, our effort wholly independent. And this something appears to be absolutely all-powerful, in the sense that none of the bodys difficulties exists. At such times, everything disappears. Aspiration, concentration, effort no use at all. And its the DIVINE SENSE, you understand, thats what having the divine sense means. During these few hours (three or four hours), I understood in an absolute way what having the divine consciousness in the body means. And then, this body, that body, that other body (gesture here and there, all around Mother), it doesnt matter: it moved about from one body to another, quite free and independent, aware of the limitations or the possibilities of each bodyabsolutely wonderful, I had never, ever had this experience before. Absolutely wonderful. It left because I was so busy that and it didnt leave because it had just come to show how it is thats not it: its because life and the organization of life (gesture like a truckload being dumped) engulf you.
I know its there (gesture in the background), I know it is, but But thats a transformation as I understand it! And clearly, in people it could express itselfnot something vague, clearlyin this man, in that woman, in (same gesture here and there), quite clearly. And with a Smile!
The cells themselves were saying their effort to be transformed, and there was a Calm. (How can I explain this?) The body was saying its Aspiration and will to prepare itself, and, not asking but striving to be what it should be; all that always with this question (its not the body that asks it, its the environment, those around the world, as if the world were asking the question): Will it continue, or will it have to dissolve? The body is like this (gesture of abandon, hands open upward), it says, What You will, Lord. But then, it knows the question is decided, and One doesnt want to tell itit accepts. It doesnt lose patience, it accepts, it says, Very well, it will be as You will. But That which knows and That which doesnt answer is something that cant be expressed. It is yes, I think the only word that can describe the sensation it gives is an Absolutean Absolute. Absolute. Thats the sensation: of being in the presence of the Absolute. The Absolute: absolute Knowledge, absolute Will, absolute Power Nothing, nothing can resist. And then this Absolute (theres this sensation, concrete) is so merciful! But if we compare it with all that we regard as goodness, mercy ugh! thats nothing at all. Its THE Mercy with the absolute power and its not Wisdom, not Knowledge, its It has nothing to do with our process. And That is everywhere, its everywhere. Its the bodys experience. And to That it has given itself entirely, totally, without asking anythinganything. A single Aspiration (same gesture, hands open upward), To be capable of being That, what That wills, of serving Thatnot even serving, of BEING That.
But that state, which lasted for several hours never had this body, in the ninety-one years its been on earth, felt such happiness: freedom, absolute power, and no limits (gesture here and there and everywhere), no limits, no impossibilities, nothing. It was all other bodies were itself. There was no difference, it was only a play of the consciousness (gesture like a great Rhythm) moving about.
|
0 1969-03-19, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Conversation of 15 February 1969: "There is something wholly independent of our Aspiration, our will, our effort... wholly independent. And this something appears to be absolutely all-powerful."
***
|
0 1969-04-09, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And this Consciousness can explain wonderfully (not with words: by making you have experiences one side by side with the other). For example, many people say they cant realize the difference between an Aspiration, a spiritual effort, and a desire; for them the two are hard to tell apart in the sensation; this Consciousness explains it, and shows you, gives you the one and the other, and the differencewonderful! Wonderfully exact. Now the body KNOWS, it knows perfectly well the difference and its a huge differencebetween Aspiration or effort, the vibration that makes you become a thing or obtain a thing, and desire. Now the body knows. It knows. It has had such a demonstration in every detail with food. For a very long time the body has been quite indifferent to food (thats probably the reason), but it has been given a demonstration with one thing, the relationship with that thing; it has been shown how desire is and how the harmony is that makes the thing beneficent. So as to understand clearly, it has also been shown how total indifference isnt good eitherits not like that, neither desire nor total indifference, neither this nor that, but like this (Mother seems to follow a tiny vibration with her fingertip): in a certain way, with a certain vibration, the thing you take is neutral (that is, it cant harm you, its neutral); if you take the same thing with a certain vibration, its beneficent; and then, the body is shown how vibrations of desire are disastrousall of it in detail. Tiny little things, but so clear, so precise! It takes place while youre eating, so its perfectly concrete.
Its a mentor, this Consciousness. It knows, mon petit! It knows loads of things that men dont know!
|
0 1969-04-16, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother, I am I wasdeep in this Pop world, and to come here, all I had to do was to decide to come. And all Ive been able to see or learn since I came here is great joys and confirmations of the Aspiration I had before. But there are many like me, who go round in circles and rebel
Yes.
--
Since then, the body has been full of an intensity of vibration, of Aspiration, of And a tremendous will to get rid of all possible falsehood, all of it.
(silence)
|
0 1969-04-23, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, it was someone who wrote to me I dont remember, it was about consecration. But I remember that when I answered, I looked, and I saw (what should I call it?) the curve, but its not exactly a curve. You understand, consecration, self-giving, surrender (not submission), all that still implies a separate self giving itself. And I sawin fact, I saw in the bodys experience that the body is on the verge of its just in an intermediary state, because all the parts havent exactly reached the same stage (I dont know why, but thats how it is). So I might say (but this is a simplification), I could say that overall, the bodys self-giving is total, the consecration almost total in the sense that theres everywhere an active collaboration, but with an intense Aspiration, and at times a moment when it goes like this (gesture expressing a swelling in the cells). I dont know what happens, its something going on in the cells, and then theres no self-giving anymore or anything neither a consecration nor listening to the command: its a state, a state of intense vibration, with at the same time a sense of all-powerfulness, even in here (Mother pinches the skin of her hands), in this old thing, and a luminous all-powerfulness, always with this something in the line of goodness, of benevolence, but much above that (those things look like ridiculous distortions). It goes like this (same gesture of swelling), and static, that is, with the sense of eternity in the cells.
It doesnt lastit lasts for a few minutes at the most; yes, a few minutes, but it comes back. It comes back. its something COMPLETELY new for the body.
All the timeconstantly, all the timethere is the warmth, the sweetness and happiness of a complete self-giving, with an Aspiration: To BE, to be You, not to exist anymore. But theres still a sense of its the joy of giving oneself. Its like that, constant. And when the consciousness isnt active, that is, when I dont speak or dont listen or automatically the body repeats the mantra like that, constantly like that; thats the constant state, day and night, continually. But now and thennow and thentheres a sort of fusion (I dont know what happens), and even that whole joyful Aspiration, that whole fervor is transformed into a state which is, or seems, perfectly still, because I dont know what it is: its not stillness, not eternity I dont know, its something, a something that is Power, Light, and really a Love which doesnt give itself and does not receive; a Love which something (I use this word for lack of others), something like that, but its That, its a vibration which is That, a vibration of Power, Light and Love (those are the three words I must use to translate), which is IN this, in the body, everywhere. Everywhere. To such a point that when you leave that state, you wonder (laughing) if you still have the same shape! Thats how it is, you understand.
Its newit began two days ago.
|
0 1969-05-03, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And it did that thing (it was the first time it happened to me) You see, I was asked, What is the condition one should be in to fully receive this Consciousness? So I was here, sitting like this, and the person was sitting where you are (a little more to the side), and I saw with my open eyes the Consciousness (not this consciousness: the Supreme Consciousness) come down (gesture like a column of light before Mother) That, mon petit, it cant be described. I was like this (eyes wide open), and I saw it come (same gesture like a column) and settle down on the wooden floor like that, about this size (gesture: about five feet wide). All the rest was as usual (Mother shows the furniture, her bed, which she could see as usual), and there was that which I saw with these very eyes. Then this Consciousness took my consciousness (revolving gesture starting from Mothers left side, going through the column of light in front of Mother, and returning on the right side): I didnt see anything [i.e., any shadow]. I wondered whether it had gone through the column (yet I FELT it while going through). And then, so I would understand clearly it took the consciousness of the person sitting there and made it go through [the column of light], and I saw a slight form, I saw a blue form in the place of the head. That was a weakness. For a long while I saw, I looked, then it went away all of a sudden. You know, its so independent of ones will, Aspiration, movements of consciousnessof everything. And like this: visible for this bodyon its scale, you understand. Fantastic!
This body was accustomed to having experiences under the psychics influence, in its adoration for the Supreme Conscious Truthin adoration. Its whole joy was there, it was fully satisfied. But since that time, it has had experienceswhich the other parts of the being had IN THEIR OWN WAY, but now this way this physical way is so concrete! So concrete and tangible. The body can say, I have SEEN the Supreme Consciousness, like people in the past who said, I have seen God.This body doesnt believe in God it believes in something much better than God! (laughter)
|
0 1969-05-17, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I can say (and it was almost like a surprise, I mean I didnt know it), I can say that the consciousness that came out of Pavitras body was a consciousness without egowithout ego. Without SENSE of ego. There was a clear will to merge, a will with an intensity of Aspiration, it was fantastic! Fantastic.7
But by individuality, I dont mean an ego: I mean the something thats identical through all lives, the one thing that progresses through all lives. The something that remains the same and pursues its development.
|
0 1969-06-04, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
After you left [last time], I looked a good deal, the whole day long. There is the sense that it [the glorified body] would be a wonderful solution. When you said it, something all of a sudden became concrete.2 But with no personal sense in it. The body doesnt in the least, in the least, have either the ambition or the desire or even the Aspiration to become that [the glorified body], but there was only a sort of joy at the possibility that that may be that THAT MAY BEwith anyone, anywhere, anyhow: that that may be. And I looked very, very attentively: not for a minute did it have the idea, It should be this (Mother pinches the skin of her hand), you understand? It was, May that incarnation, that manifestation BEnot with the choice of one person or another, one place or another, no, none of that was there: it was the THING IN ITSELF which was a wonderful solution. And thats all.
Then the consciousness started observing: if there is nothing in this body even aspiring to be that, it shows thats not its work. Then came this extraordinary Smile (I dont know how to explain), like that, which passed by and said (to put it in a quite childish manner), Thats not your business! And thats all. And it was over, I didnt concern myself with it anymore. Not your business, in the sense, Its none of your concern; whether its like this or like that, its not your business. Thats all.
--
Its sense of an individual, that is, separate existence would appear to be closely, indissolubly linked to suffering (I am talking about physical suffering, nothing moralphysical suffering). So then, if the body has one Aspiration, that is to melt to melt not into the whole, but to melt into into the something we call the Divine, and which is everything the true whole instead of the false whole. But I cant explain.
The body clearly mustnt be preoccupied with anything; it mustnt be preoccupied with anything, neither this way nor that, neither with progress nor with dissolutionnot preoccupied with anything. The state (not the state it aspires to, its not that, because it doesnt have any Aspiration), the state that seems to be willed for it (I dont know how to explain) ispeace, a receptive peace, thats all.
(long silence)
|
0 1969-06-25, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And I saw that he had put something into her (which was fine, by the way; it wasnt at all a bad thing, it was fine), and for several days, I did the work to see what could be adapted without upsetting the childs consciousness too much, and to drive out what was too strong. The work was interesting, and I did it successfully, so it gave the little girl a sort of trust in me (naturally I didnt say anything to her, no one has ever said anything to her), but it gave her a rather exceptional trust (she was very small, a tiny thing). Since then, for that reason, I have taken interest in this child. Because there really is an Aspiration in herit has created an Aspiration in her being. And thats why I decided to help her, and why Ive told you about it. She had some stuff (he was rather sensitive, your Sannyasin, he felt she was receptive). If he had asked me before, I would have told him, For heavens sake dont do that, its not something to be done!He might have upset the childs whole life. But at the time, he had some semblance of trust in me: he came to me and said, Now this should be taken out (Mother laughs)
But the child knows nothing, she mustnt know.
|
0 1969-08-16, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
When one is assailed by the vision of this disorder and this confusion, there is only one thing to do, its to go into the consciousness in which one knows that there is only ONE Being, ONE Consciousness, ONE Powerthere is only ONE Onenessand all those things take place within this Oneness. And that all our petty vision, our petty knowledge, our petty judgments, our petty all of it is nothing, its microscopic in comparison with the Consciousness that rules over the Whole. And then, if one has in the least the sense of why separate individualities exist, maybe its only to enable Aspiration the existence of Aspiration, of this movement, this movement of self-giving and surrender, of trust and FAITH. The faith that there lies the raison dtre of the makeup of individuals, and the Aspiration to become THAT in all ones intensity and all ones sincerity Thats the only thing needed.
Thats the only thing needed, the ONLY thing; the only thing that subsists. All the rest phantasmagoria.
|
0 1969-08-23, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You know that the [presidential] elections have taken place, and that there were three candidates. Among the three, one1 had seemed to me the most apt to give India her true place among the nations of the earth I was immediately told that it was phantasmagoric and quite impossible. I didnt insist. They told me, Here are the three candidates (I told you last time), so I had only one solution, only one way, that was to concentrateconcentrate with an Aspiration and ask for the best to happen for the country. Thats the message I sent to Delhi; I said to them, I have received the assurance that what would happen would be the best for the country (in the present conditions). Thus there was one man of worth and no chance; another man, very old,2 and a third man,3 upright and capable, with some qualities, but a little behind the times, that is to say, clinging to the past, and quite appalled by the decisions Indira had made.4 So officially, he was against her way of governing. That man sent me his photos, asking for my blessings; I wrote, Blessings on one of the photos,5 gave it to L. and told him (you know that he left for Delhi), While you are there, if you see the possibility, meet that man and give him the photo, saying, Here, Mother sends you her blessings, but she warns you that she stands behind Indiras way of acting. I dont know what happened, but on the day of the election I was like that, with No active thought, simply, The best for the country, the best for the country and its the old one who made it!6 Not only did he make it, he also sent me a telegram to thank me! So you understand, it precisely shows where things stand. Thats how it is.
Actively, outwardly, I would never have been able to say, Choose this man. I only said, The best for the country. I dont know why or how, because because, mon petit, our human consciousness is SO SMALL! Even when we identify with the general Consciousness, we feel so small, so microscopic in comparison with the true, all-containing Consciousness. We cant contain all! Even, even when we identify with this Consciousness, we become like this (gesture showing emptiness at the forehead level), absolutely silent and still, with only a luminous Vibration, IMMENSE, you know, infinite, and an infinite power, too, but (same gesture to the forehead) no translation of any sort, nothing like a thought. So then, if we want to intervene between That and circumstances, we are OBLIGED to make mistakes, we cant do otherwise! So the only way is to stay like this (still gesture, turned upward). Thats why I am like this, silent. You told me, I dont understand your way of acting in Auroville: its nothing but that. Its because our thought limits, opposeseven, even the vastest consciousness, you understand, is only a TERRESTRIAL consciousness, a terrestrial consciousness, and its very small. Very small. And very small especially from the point of view of consequences, of the sequence of circumstances (Mother draws a curve), of how this will bring about thatwe dont see. So one must be like this (gesture turned upward), and simply let this Consciousness act. And there was the result: it is the third man who made it. I found it quite amusing. Quite amusing. I thought, There you are!
|
0 1969-10-01, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Now these cells are wondering how one can continue to exist without this movement of adoration. Theyre like this, everywhere (gesture of intense Aspiration), everywhere. Its very interesting.
All those difficulties one has with the inner development when one deals with the vital and the mind, the return of old things and all that, here [in the body] its over, its not like that.
|
0 1969-10-18, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
For me, the difficulty I very often come up against, is a need of activity in the Aspiration, too.
Yes, yes.
--
Yes, but then the Aspiration comes.
I feel the need of activity in the Aspiration.
Yes, its to counteract inertia. Its because we still have a legacy of inertia.
But then, whats to be done in that case? Let everything spread out, or else persist in this active Aspiration, which is really intense?
Its hard to say because I am convinced that everyone has his own path, but for this body, the path is to have that active Aspiration.
To have active Aspiration? Yes, but then its not that stillness anymore.
It has found the way, it has understood how it can be done.
--
Yes, they are together. Thats what it has managed to get: a complete stillness and an INTENSE Aspiration. And its when stillness is left without Aspiration that it falls into a dreadful anguish which instantly wakes it up. Thats it, you understand: an INTENSE Aspiration. And its absolutely still, still within, as if all the cells grew still. That must be it: what we call intense Aspiration must be the supramental vibration. It must be the divine Vibration, the true divine vibration. I have often said that to myself.
But if even for five minutes the body falls into the state of inertiastillness without Aspirationits woken up by an anguish as if it were about to die! To that point, you understand. For it, stillness is Yes, it feels that the highest vibration, the vibration of the true Consciousness, is SO INTENSE that its its the equivalent of the inertia of stillnesswith an intensity thats not perceptible (for us). That intensity is so great that, for us, its the equivalent of inertia.
Thats what is now being established.
|
0 1969-10-25, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The state now is such that when the body FEELS ITSELF (feels itself, that is to say, is aware of being a body), INSTANTLY theres a discomfort, whatever the condition. Even when it feels in a state of adoration or Aspiration or its accompanied by discomfort. And only when theres no more awareness at all of its separate existence does it feel comfortable. So then, the normal state is silence, stillness, but (the image isnt correcthow can I explain?), you see, the Presence, its not that it flows through, but when it radiates like this (gesture), radiates through an activity, then everything is fine and theres no more at all the sensation of this [the body] through which: this through which the Divine flowsthere isnt. Its like this (immutable gesture), still and nonexistent, without any self-awareness, aware only of the Divine Action, like that. Then everything is fine. And the minute theres even a slight impression of the Thing flowing through, discomfort comes. You understand, it has become a very acute state.
See, I might say (it sounds like literature) that in a certain state, in that state in which it no longer feels itself and only the awareness of the Divine remains, theres the sense of an Immortality, of Eternity; and if theres the least sensation of something in which the Divine manifests, it absolutely becomes the sense of deathyou instantly become mortal again. And acute, you know, acute like that. But then, its very subtle, because the sensation (sensation or perception or feeling) of I has completely disappeared, all the time, all the timereally so, completely; its the something, the something which is still a little different, and that becomes terribly painful the body is perfectly at case only when it no longer feels itself.
|
0 1969-11-08, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And there is a part, the part of the body most in contact with outside (Mother touches the region of the mouth and throat), this part, this center which is in contact with outside, all this oh, its difficult, very difficult. Now and then with an Aspiration, there is a beginning of change, and then it causes a sort of catastrophe! Choking and coughing and horrible. Then I am obliged to calm things down and wait. It has to take time. The organism wouldnt have the power to withstand the disorder that creates.
Moreover, Sri Aurobindo told me straight out, he said to me, We cant hope it will take less than two years.
--
I told you that I did what Sri Aurobindo had done, that is, being absolutely passive, with the Aspirationliving ONLY in the Aspiration to unite with and manifest the Divine: the ONLY occupation. But then, I saw that life was getting more and more disorganized!3 So I decided that on certain points, what I saw as being the true thing, I would impose. And I must say that the Power is really powerful! (Mother laughs) See the result!4 I decided. I was expecting more resistance, but there was none. Well see if now it continues5
***
|
0 1969-11-15, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Now its spontaneous attitude, whatever may happen (whether good, bad, difficult, anything), instantly: an Aspiration, a call, an expression of trust, which isnt put into words but is really May Your Will be done and luminously. And I have the impression things are moving fastthey MUST move fast.
(silence)
--
Well, I dont know The Aspiration to bring down somethingin writing since I have nothing elsecwhich would help this new world.
Yes, that would be good.
|
0 1969-11-22, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This morning, I remembered what I told you last Wednesday (not remembered what I said: remembered the STATE I told you about). And then, the body was like this (gesture of intense Aspiration), oh, saying, This Consciousness, this Consciousness, this Consciousness It wanted it, you know, intensely, and there was such a clear perception of what prevents it from being there. What prevents is a concentric vibration, a sort of concentric vibration, meaning that instead of being like this (Mother opens her arms), in an infinite Eternity, things are seen in relation to oneself. Thats what prevents.
(silence)
|
0 1969-12-13, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its the only solution, theres no other. All the rest is Aspirations, conceptions, hopes its still the superman, but not the supramental. Its a higher humanity that tries to lift its whole humanity upward, but its useless. Its useless.
The image is very clear of all this humanity clinging and climbing, striving to catch like that, but actually not giving itselfit wants to take! And that wont do. It has to nullify itself. Then something else can come, can take its place.
|
0 1970-01-10, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I told him that, on the practical level, we could begin with a moment of silence, gathered together, try to make a complete blank, and in that blank, with everyones Aspiration, bring down the signs for the beginning. But all of us united and together, especially the more spiritually advanced the Indians.
R. agreed entirely. He said we should really do that.
--
But Paolo told me one tiling which I felt to be correct. He said, Well build this Center, well put all our heart and Aspiration into it, into this Center
Yes, yes.
|
0 1970-01-17, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(To understand which Auroville and above all which AuroviliansMo ther is referring to here, it must be said that almost all the first newcomers, with a few remarkable exceptions, made up a rather heterogeneous group seeking holidays of sorts on an exotic Riviera and dragging behind themselves a number of unsatisfactory habits. That is what Aurovilles enemies later based themselves on to spread all kinds of mischief. It took a few years for the situation to settle and change completely, and for most of the undesirable elements to go away on their own, while fresh newcomers brought a truer Aspiration.)
What else do you have?
|
0 1970-03-14, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I remembered the time when Sri Aurobindo was here. You see, the inner part of the being used to enter into a consciousness that felt and saw things according to the higher consciousness they were quite different; then, when Sri Aurobindo fell ill, in fact, when there were all those things, first that accident (he broke his leg2) then the body, the BODY used to say constantly, Those are dreams, those are dreams, its not for us; for us bodies, this is how it is. (gesture underground) It was frightful. Then all that left. It left completely after so many yearsall those years of effortit left: the body itself would feel the divine Presence, and its impression was that everything necessarily had to change. So then, these last few days, that formation which had left (a terrestrial formation, of all mankind, which means that those who have the vision or perception of, or even just the Aspiration to, that higher Truth, when they come back into the [material] Fact, they are in front of this dreadfully painful thing, this perpetual negation by all circumstances), that formation, from which the body had completely freed itself, came back. It came back, but when it came back, when the body saw it, it saw it AS ONE SEES A FALSEHOOD. And I understood how much it had changed, because when it saw the formation, its impression it looked at it with a smile and the impression: ah, an old formation now devoid of truth. It was an extraordinary experience: that thing, its time is over. Its time is over. And this Pressure of the Consciousness is a pressure for things as they wereso miserable and so petty and so obscure and so apparently inescapable at the same timeall of it was (Mother gestures above her shoulder) behind, like an antiquated past. So then, I really sawsaw, understood that the work of this Consciousness (which is PITILESS, its not concerned whether its difficult or not, probably not even much concerned about apparent damage) is for the normal state to cease to be this thing which is so heavy, so obscure, so uglyso lowand for the dawn to come you know, something dawning on the horizon: a new Consciousness. That something truer and more luminous.
What Sri Aurobindo says here about diseases is just the point: the power of habit, of all constructions, of what appears inescapable and irrevocable in diseases. With all that, experiences seem to multiply in order to show in order for one to learn that its simply a question of attitude the attitude of going beyond beyond this mental prison humanity has locked itself in, and of breathing up above.
|
0 1970-03-18, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A very intense Aspiration.
***
|
0 1970-05-02, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
It was two or three days ago, it came imperatively like that, in connection with some business. They have gatherings in Auroville, at Aspiration; I think its meditations, or something of the sort, I dont know. One of them came and put my photo; so another rushed to his room and came back with a cross! And he said, Well, if you put a photo of Mother, Ill put my cross. They told me that story. They told me, because the one who put the cross had come to see me with the others (they come once a week, a few of them, four or five), but I didnt know. He came and sat in front of me. I found him a rather inquisitorial air (I didnt know anything, you understand), and after they left I asked who he was. Then they told me he is a Catholic, and they told me the story.1
Afterwards there came a whole series of things. But I must say theres literally an invasion there (at different places in Auroville) because its not watched over, some plots of land are free, and at the center especially, some people have settled there, and there are constantly people who come and settle without asking for permission. So there was a thought to have a badge for those who are really Aurovilians (Mother shows a specimen of badge). For a few days already theyve been thinking of organizing that: during the first year they will have a sort of identity card, and afterwards, if things are fine at the end of the year, youre given the badge.
|
0 1970-05-13, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But does it depend on the psychic or on an Aspiration in the body?
My own impression (its an impression more than a certainty) is that there is a more subtle part (thats where Sri Aurobindo is [Mother raises her right hand slightly]), a part that depends on the above, that is to say, the higher consciousness and the psychic; then there is a part that tries to take form in the body (gesture of connection between the two or of descent of the one into the other), that is, a way of being of the cells that would be the beginning of a new body, but thats when it happens, its a bizarre sensation. A bizarre sensation. The very body feels as if its dying something, it doesnt know what it is. And its rather hard to bear. Its only a state of intense faith that enables you to bear it. As if the one were being changed into the other. As if what is were trying to change into something else. But thats its hard to bear. You really have to be in a state of intense faith to go through the thing; it expresses itself as something resembling something wholly new, so it resembles a discomfort.
|
0 1970-05-23, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The only thing is that everything, every second (Mother opens her hands in a gesture of offering, with a blissful smile) what still feels separate, oh, rushes with an Aspiration to be a little more plastic.
(silence)
|
0 1970-06-03, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yesterday we started a work for Auroville, that is to say, were basically trying to give people from Aspiration an idea, simply, of what Aurovilians want: why they are here and what they want. Because it appears that in fact theyve no idea about it. Each one of them came expecting something, but all that isnt coordinated, its not clear. So R. asked me to clearly express important points. I thought it would be better to do it with the people so as to know what they themselves want, and to have them make an effort to find out. Otherwise So we started yesterday (Mother takes out a piece of paper).
Yesterday I asked C. [a resident of Aspiration], But why does one live in Auroville? So he gave me the first paragraph:
TO BE A TRUE AUROVILLIAN
|
0 1970-07-04, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I noticed that if, on the trouble spot, one can establish that peacea total peace, you know, the peace of perfect surrender: abdicate all preoccupation, all Aspiration, all, all like this (same vast, immutable gesture), then it helps restore order.
(Mother takes Satprems hands)
--
I had, countless times, the experience that when the body can catch hold of that attitude (completely, I mean, even beyond the Aspiration to union or to transformation: THIS WAY [same vast gesture]), its almost miraculous, instantaneous. But with a wrong movement it comes back. Its not established permanentlyhow do you manage to do that? I dont know. Probably there should no longer be anywhere the presence of the possibility of a wrong movement. But thats difficult.
You breathe, you eat, you and its the Divine.
|
0 1970-07-11, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
O my unique Love which sprang from my heart and filled it so much that it made my life blossom. O my Lord of unique Love who has given himself to me wholly and by the Grace-Light has transmuted me. My Love that has entered and unified with me in my heart, so as to transform my body into a golden body. The skin has become supple, the influx of the nervous current all over the body is vibrating, with pauses in between; the bones have become pliable and plastic in their nature; the soft muscles have become truly loosened; the blood has become condensed within; the semen has become concentrated into a single drop and confined in the chest; the petals of the brain2 have blossomed or expanded; amrita [nectar of immortality] is welling up into springs all over the body and filling it up; the luminous forehead perspires; the luminous face brightens up; the breath full of peace becomes cool and refreshing; the inner smile beams up; the hair stands on end; tears of joy flow down towards the feet; the mouth vibrates into the passionate calling [of the Divine]; the ear tubes ring with the sense of musically humming sound; the body has become cool; the soft chest moves; the hands join [as in prayer]; the legs revolve or spin round; the mind melts sweetly, the intelligence becomes full of light; the will becomes full of joy and harmony; the individuality has enlarged itself everywhere; the heart has blossomed into the universality of feeling so as to be felt by the world outwardly; the whole knowledge-body has become blissful; even the spiritual egoism of the senses has gone away; the senses (tattva) have been replaced wholly by the truth (sattva), the truth-principle or truth-substance which alone prevails now uniquely; attachment to objects of the senses and to things of the world has dissolved away, and only the Aspiration and will towards the illimitable Grace grows and intensifies.3
And how long did he live like this?
|
0 1970-07-22, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother holds out to Satprem a garl and of Aspiration)
Would you like?
|
0 1970-11-07, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I have read a lot and heard about past and future lives, but I strongly feel that it is in this very life that we must realise our highest Aspirations, as if it were the last chance given us. For me, allusions to other lives are intangible and academic rather than a help and a hope. It is not that I do not believe in reincarnation, but that thought recurs to my mind very often. Mother, is it a narrowness of vision on my part, or what?
The knowledge of past lives is interesting for a knowledge of ones nature and the mastery of ones imperfections. But to tell the truth, it has no crucial importance and it is far more important to concentrate on the future, on the consciousness we must acquire and the development of the nature, which is almost limitless for those who know how to do it.
|
0 1971-01-27, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its splendid. I personally have the feeling there is a close and invisible connection between Americas Aspiration, as it is now, and the book. I have the feeling thats where the center of transformation will be. The European countries are old.
Old, thats right.
Theyve lost the enthusiasm that makes you act without thinking about consequences. Theyre constantly weighing the consequences of everything they do. In America theres an Aspiration. Thats where the push will be, thats where (pointing to the manuscript) the bomb must go off! (laughter)
On the Way to Supermanhood.
|
0 1971-02-21, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Let the Matrimandir be the living symbol of Aurovilles Aspiration for the Divine.
***
|
0 1971-03-03, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I think I see the most exact thing to say is their condition, the state theyre in. And then, of course, there are those who are closed, so to say, who, for me, dont see, who are totally in the outer consciousness; and there are those who are openthere are some certain children are remarkable, its as if they were wide open (gesture like a flower to the sun) and ready to absorb. Its especially peoples receptivity that I see, the condition theyre in: those who come with Aspiration, those who come with curiosity, those who come out of a kind of obligation, and then those who are thirsty for lightthere arent too many, but there are several children. Today I saw one, he was so sweet! His father lives at the lake, he bought some property at the lake; he lives there with his wife and children, and it was the birthday of one of the childrenoh! (Mother opens her eyes wide) wonderful!
And I see only that. Not what they think or say (all that seems superficial and uninteresting): only the state of receptivity they are in. Thats what I see above all.
--
You know, I am forever struggling with people whove come here to be comfortable and free to do what they like, so I tell them, The world is big, you can go. No soul, no Aspiration, nothing. I am counting on your book very much.
Has T. [the English translator] finished her translation?
--
But the flame, the flame of Aspiration (Mother shakes her head), not many bring it to me.
Provided they are what they call comfortable, thats all they wantand free to do some nonsense they wouldnt do in the world! While you feel you could hasten the comingyou COULD hasten it if you were if you were a conqueror!
--
No, but those who are different are very few in numberat least among those I see, I dont know. Naturally there are those who are closethose who are close, who live only for that; of course, I am not speaking of them. Theyre all right, I think. From time to time I receive a real call for help, really an Aspiration that, yes, when thats there, its very good, its of very good quality. Otherwise.
I could scold myself, because I set a bad example: I shouldnt have such a worn-out body, but its as if. At night, for instance, I dont sleep, but I go into a very deep repose; and then everything that isnt well (Mother touches her swollen cheek) worsens. Its only when I concentrate here that it starts to get better; when I leave the body to its own peace it still isnt on the right sideit shouldnt be like that. I know that the greatest difficulty for people is my agethey all think: Oh, shes old, shes old, shes old. And so I. As a fact I am younger than they! (laughter)
|
0 1971-04-14, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
These last few days, ALL the old notions have collapsed, all the old reactions have collapsed, it was. And then, and then what? What? Thats it, you see, nothing is left, nothing, nothing only (Mother clenches her fists), only a willa will, an Aspiration, a compelling need: oh, the reign of the Divine must come, it must!
(silence)
To have the sense of ones inferiority and incapacity, and in that Aspiration let the Divine alone exist.
(silence)
|
0 1971-05-15, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And thats what I said to. N.S.2 sent U. expressly to ask me what she should do, because Indira doesnt listen to her at all anymorenot at alland she seems to be completely well, anyway, as though submerged by a hostile formation.3 So I replied that I personally have only one hope (Mother clenches her fists in front of her as though clinging to something): Let the Divine Will be done, and All those who are capable of helping the contact and hastening the reception of that Will here must put all their consciousness and Aspiration into it. Thats what I replied. And this (indicating the article), from the standpoint of action, is the last chancenot that people listen very much, but it creates a current of force.
(silence)
|
0 1971-05-22, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Just a few days ago, the disaster seemed to be closing in. And so, at that moment, it was as if my whole being whats the word? (Mother clenches her fists), were, yes, you can call it an Aspiration for the true Victorynot the one sought by this side or that side or the true Victory. ALL the difficulties seemed to have been as though a light shone: the possibility of Victory. Its still not miraculous, but the intervention its the intervention of the Supreme Wisdomwill it concretize? Well see. It seems, it seems to be coming like this (gesture at a certain height, her two palms turned downward), as a possibility.
Yes, its recent, quite recent. I cant say because it didnt come abruptly, but its a matter of days.
|
0 1971-06-02, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All, we must be all Aspiration, intense, intense and constant.
***
|
0 1971-07-10, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The experience in the body is very interesting. All so-called moral, intellectual, psychological suffering, in other words, the suffering of the consciousness that is not purely material, seems childish to the body. Yesterday, it had (what shall I say? I dont know how to explain it). It doesnt feel things in relation to itself, it feels things (silence) IN others, but with a general consciousness, not a personal one; and it has such a horror of physical suffering, that is to say illnesses, accidents, that it wondered why, why the world exists like that.1 It then understood why some people dont want to have a body anymore (that always seemed absurd before), it understood why. It was such an intense experience! It had an Aspiration, something like a prayer, but its not a prayer: May the world change! May the world change. It HAS to changeor else disappear. The idea of disappearing had not come before, it seemed it used to think that the world was moving towards a harmonious perfection; but, you see, its long the length of time is terrible! There was an Aspiration of incredible intensity for the transformation. Everything looks so dreadful because because the transformation must, MUST take place. That anyone can be satisfied with a world like this is impossibleits impossible to a physical consciousness that is conscious of the Divine. Its impossible, it absolutely has to change. And that was so vivid I was gripped by it all night and all day, even while seeing people, with such an intensity: it must change, it must change.
The being, the inner consciousness can say and be conscious that that suffering is unreal, but the physical consciousness cantit cant, it HAS to change. Its not a matter of merging with a consciousness, leaving this physical consciousness to disappear: it has to change, it has to change. I cant put it into words, I cant say it.
|
0 1971-07-17, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Not clinging to what one thinks of the Divine, not even to what one feels of the Divine to an Aspiration an Aspiration as sincere as possible. And cling to that.
(silence)
|
0 1971-07-21, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We could say: nothing knowsanywhere or anybody; but there are those who aspire (how shall I put it?), who have the will, the inclination, the Aspiration, the need to knowto know and to beand then all those who dont care who go along or just live their little-big lifewhe ther its a head of state or a street cleaner makes no difference. Its the same thing, the vibrations are the same. I dont know how to explain it. I am saying it awkwardly.
No. I understand.
|
0 1971-08-04, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All those who want to collaborate for the progress of humanity and for Indias luminous destiny must unite in a clairvoyant Aspiration and in an illumined work.
(Mother gives up, Satprem makes the recording in her place)
|
0 1971-08-28, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You asked me the other day (your question has stayed with me), you asked me: when I am silent and motionless like this, what is happening? In point of fact its an attempt (I cant say an Aspiration, I cant say effort the word in English is urge): the truth as it is. Thats it. Thats it. Not trying to know or understand it (it is all one to me): to beto beto be. And then. (Mother has a smile full of sweetness.)
(silence)
|
0 1971-09-04, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
People arent ready, mon petit! Every day I discover. Those who are left to their freedom are worthless. They have the most vulgar consciousness, its dreadfulno Aspiration, no need for perfection, nothing at all.
As for me I this body does what it can. It cant do much. It tries it tries not to create any resistance. From time to timefrom time to timetheres something, a marvel, which lasts for a few seconds. But its (Mother nods her head). Either we have to manage to make this body more plastic so it can be transformed, or else it will be for another life.
|
0 1971-09-08, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Once Sujata made me understand what I feel when I am near you; she said, It feels as if the body were made to pray when one is near you. Well, thats what I feel, a power which seems to seize all the parts of the body and I dont know, fill them with an intense Aspiration.
Yes, but thats also what my body feels.
|
0 1971-10-20, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
One must rely on the Divine and yet do some enabling sadhana the Divine gives the fruit not by the measure of the sadhana but by the measure of the souls sincerity and its Aspiration. Also, worrying does no good I shall be this, I shall be that, what shall I be? Say: I am ready to be not what I want but what the Divine wants me to be,all the rest should go on that base.
April 13, 1935
|
0 1971-12-08, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
1) Ardent Aspiration.
2) Progressive abolition of the ego.
|
0 1971-12-29b, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The fastest way for me was (how shall I put it?) the growing sense of my own nonentitynonexistence. To feel I could do nothing, knew nothing, wanted nothing; but then the WHOLE being filled with its not even an Aspiration now, its like this (gesture of surrender, hands open), an inescapable fact: Without the Divine, nothing, nothing I am nothing, I understand nothing, I can do nothing. Without the Divine, nothing. To be like this (same gesture, hands open). And then a Peace a luminous Peace and so powerful! And when I am quiet (I saw it again very interestingly, because before when I gave a meditation to X, there was still an effort, an effort to meditate, an effort to), while this time (Mother sharply lowers her hands), it was compelling. A compelling Presencecompelling. Extraordinary. In fact I wondered what the meditation would be like, if it was going to be like beforenot at all, its like this (Mother sharply lowers her hands).
So, its going well.
|
0 1972-01-12, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Mother later ordered the list of the twelve powers or "qualities" in the following sequence: Sincerity, Humility, Gratitude, Perseverance, Aspiration, Receptivity, Progress, Courage, Goodness, Generosity, Equanimity, Peace.
The experience of joining the vision of the whole together with the vision of all the details.
|
0 1972-01-19, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
5) Aspiration
6) Receptivity
|
0 1972-03-08, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Its like a slackening of Aspiration, of tension.
Yes, exactly.
|
0 1972-03-29a, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In your reply to the Swedish magazine, you emphasize, The major obstacle to tolerance is not agnosticism but Manichaeism. That is also why religions will never be able to unite humanity, because they have remained Manichaean in their principle, because they are founded on morality, on a sense of good and evil, necessarily varying from one country to the next. Religions will not reconcile men with one another any more than they have reconciled men with themselves, or reconciled their Aspiration to be with their need for action and for the same reasons, for in both cases they have dug an abyss between an ideal good, a being they have relegated to heaven, and an evil, a becoming, which reigns supreme in a world where all is vanity. I would like to quote here a passage from Sri Aurobindos Essays on the Gita which throws a clear light on the problem: To put away the responsibility for all that seems to us evil or terrible on the shoulders of a semi-omnipotent Devil, or to put it aside as part of Nature, making an unbridgeable opposition between world-nature and God-Nature, as if Nature were independent of God, or to throw the responsibility on man and his sins, as if he had a preponderant voice in the making of this world or could create anything against the will of God, are clumsily comfortable devices in which the religious thought of India has never taken refuge. We have to look courageously in the face of the reality and see that it is God and none else who has made this world in his being and that so he has made it. We have to see that Nature devouring her children, Time eating up the lives of creatures, Death universal and ineluctable and the violence of the Rudra forces in man and Nature are also the supreme Godhead in one of his cosmic figures. We have to see that God the bountiful and prodigal creator, God the helpful, strong and benignant preserver is also God the devourer and destroyer. The torment of the couch of pain and evil on which we are racked is his touch as much as happiness and sweetness and pleasure. It is only when we see with the eye of the complete union and feel this truth in the depths of our being that we can entirely discover behind that mask too the calm and beautiful face of the all-blissful Godhead and in this touch that tests our imperfection the touch of the friend and builder of the spirit in man. The discords of the worlds are Gods discords and it is only by accepting and proceeding through them that we can arrive at the greater concords of his supreme harmony.2 I believe that the characters of your books would not be seeking sacrifice and death so intensely if they did not feel the side of light and joy behind the mask of darkness in which they so passionately lose themselves.
Sri Aurobindo has constantly stressed that, through progressive evolutionary cycles, humanity must go beyond the purely ethical and religious stage, just as it must go beyond the infrarational and rational stage, in order to reach a new spiritual and suprarational ageotherwise we will simply remain doomed to the upheavals, conflicts and bloody sacrifices that shake our times, for living according to a code of morality is always a tragedy, as one of the characters in Hope notes.
|
0 1972-03-29b, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
My body has asked for (it is in a constant state of Aspiration, you know), it has asked for. It feels (I dont know how to explain it), it feels the complete Presence of the Divine, I mean in all things, everywhere, all the time, as if it were at once enveloped and permeated by itand it asked for something even more concrete. Then, a kind of Consciousness answered me that the body wasnt given a more complete perception because it would still feel like (what shall I say?) fusing into the Divine, and then the cells would (gesture of explosion). So the body would lose its form.
Oh, I see!
|
0 1972-04-02a, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Suddenly Sri Aurobindo beckons me from the adjoining chamber which is His. He too is lying on a cot. I draw near Him. He puts two fingers (index and middle) on my right palm, and says, You have to carry faith and Aspiration during one thousand years.
Satprem and I come out from the Mothers chamber and take the passage leading to the left (exit) door to announce to the world that THE MOTHER IS ALIVE.
|
0 1972-04-02b, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(To N. and U.:) You and you, you must agree. You are here for that. You have come to this place at this time for that. We must give to the world the example of what must be, not petty egoistic movements, but an Aspiration towards the manifestation of Truth. Voil.
(silence)
|
0 1972-04-04, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
We must strive for Order, Harmony, Beauty and collective Aspirationall the things which for the moment are not there. We must you see, being the organizers, our task is to set the example of what we want others to do. We must rise above personal reactions, be exclusively attuned to the divine Will and be the docile instruments of the divine Willwe must be impersonal, without any personal reaction.
We must be in all sincerity. What the Divine wantslet it be. Thats all. If we can be that, then we are as we ought to be, and THAT is what we must become. For the rest for all the rest, we do the best we can.
|
0 1972-04-06, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Then Sujata relates the dream she had on Sunday in which she and Satprem saw Sri Aurobindo and Mother in a room at the end of a footbridge. The dream had to do with the physical transformation of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. While Mother was talking to Satprem, Sri Aurobindo called Sujata and, placing two fingers in the palm of her right hand, said, You will have to carry faith and Aspiration during one thousand years. After listening to Sujata, Mother remains silent. Sujata tries to comment on her dream.)
The thousand years are over. And now the transformation is accomplished .
|
0 1972-05-04, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Strange feeling. Since last night, a strange impression that the Divine has become (how to formulate it?) like a golden Force pressing down like this (gesture of pressure on the earth). They alone, who by their Aspiration are able to pass through to the Divine Origin, will escape catastrophes.
There was a catastrophe in Madras: one of our best cars was in a very serious accident.
Only those who have an Aspiration, a sincere and unconditional Aspiration towards the Divine, only they will escape they will stand in a golden glory.
Extremely interesting.1
|
0 1972-05-06, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
This gives an idea of the change brought about in the world by the supramental Descent. Things that were insignificant are becoming quite categorical: a small mistake becomes categorical in its consequences while a little sincerity, a true little Aspiration becomes miraculous in its results. The values are intensified in people. Even materially, the least little error has huge consequences, while the slightest sincerity of Aspiration has extraordinary results.
The values are intensified, they stand out more.
Mother, you speak of mistake, of error I dont know, maybe its a fallacy, but I have a stronger and stronger notion that mistakes, errors, all that is unreal. It doesnt work that way. Theyre only a means, as it were. Yes, a means of widening the scope of our Aspiration.
Yes, thats perfectly correct.
They cause painmistakes, errors are basically pain, which is the means of awakening some Aspiration in the deeper recesses of our being.
Yes, quite true. The overall perception is that everything is everything is meant to lead to the conscious ascent of the world. It is consciousness evolving towards divinity. And perfectly true at that: what we perceive as mistakes stems entirely from an ordinary human conceptionwholly and entirely.
|
0 1972-07-19, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The Perfection, the Power, the Knowledge we must become, thats all. Call it what you like, it doesnt matter to me. Thats the Aspiration we must have. We must get out of this mire, this stupidity, this unconsciousness, this disgusting defeatism that crushes us because we allow ourselves to be crushed.
And we fear. We fear for its life (Mother touches the skin of her hands), for this thing, as if it were precious, because we want to stay conscious. But lets unite with the Supreme Consciousness, and well stay conscious forever! Thats IT, thats exactly it.
|
0 1972-11-11, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Beyond all preferences and limitations, there is a ground of mutual understanding where all can meet and find their harmony: it is the Aspiration for a divine consciousness.1
(With a charming smile) Nothing to ask?
|
0 1972-12-02, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Satprem hands Mother a garl and of Aspiration)
Oh, how nice it smells!
|
0 1973-02-08, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Normally it takes an entire lifetime, or even several lives in some cases. But here, in the present conditions, you can do it in a few months. Those who have an ardent Aspiration can do it in a few MONTHS.
(Mother remains concentrated for a few moments)
|
0 1973-03-14, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
They all mean the same thing, but they use different words, and the words clash. Personally, I know they have very similar Aspirations, but each one speaks in his own language, and the languages are at cross-purposes, so they quarrel over nothing. Thats the situation!
I think the best would be for everybody to keep quiet for a while.
|
02.01 - Metaphysical Thought and the Supreme Truth, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Knowledge - the Knowledge by which we become what we know. To pass from the external to a direct and intimate inner consciousness; to widen consciousness out of the limits of the ego and the body; to heighten it by an inner will and Aspiration and opening to the Light till it passes in its ascent beyond Mind; to bring down a descent of the supramental Divine through selfgiving and surrender with a consequent transformation of mind, life and body - this is the integral way to the Truth.1 It is this that we call the Truth here and aim at in our Yoga.
|
02.01 - The World War, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
When man was a dweller of the forest,a jungle man,akin to his forbear the ape, his character was wild and savage, his motives and impulsions crude, violent, egoistic, almost wholly imbedded in, what we call, the lower vital level; the light of the higher intellect and intelligence had not entered into them. Today there is an uprush of similar forces to possess and throw man back to a similar condition. This new order asks only one thing of man, namely, to be strong and powerful, that is to say, fierce, ruthless, cruel and regimented. Regimentation can be said to be the very characteristic of the order, the regimentation of a pack of wild dogs or wolves. A particular country, nation or raceit is Germany in Europe and, in her wake, Japan in Asiais to be the sovereign nation or master race (Herrenvolk); the rest of mankindo ther countries and peoplesshould be pushed back to the status of servants and slaves, mere hewers of wood and drawers of water. What the helots were in ancient times, what the serfs were in the mediaeval ages, and what the subject peoples were under the worst forms of modern imperialism, even so will be the entire mankind under the new overlordship, or something still worse. For whatever might have been the external conditions in those ages and systems, the upward Aspirations of man were never doubted or questioned they were fully respected and honoured. The New Order has pulled all that down and cast them to the winds. Furthermore in the new regime, it is not merely the slaves that suffer in a degraded condition, the masters also, as individuals, fare no better. The individual here has no respect, no freedom or personal value. This society or community of the masters even will be like a bee-hive or an ant-hill; the individuals are merely functional units, they are but screws and bolts and nuts and wheels in a huge relentless machinery. The higher and inner realities, the spontaneous inspirations and self-creations of a free soulart, poetry, literaturesweetness and light the good and the beautifulare to be banished for ever; they are to be regarded as things of luxury which enervate the heart, diminish the life-force, distort Nature's own virility. Man perhaps would be the worshipper of Science, but of that Science which brings a tyrannical mastery over material Nature, which serves to pile up tools and instruments, arms and armaments, in order to ensure a dire efficiency and a grim order in practical life.
Those that have stood against this Dark Force and its over-shadowing menaceeven though perhaps not wholly by choice or free-will, but mostly compelled by circumstancesyet, because of the stand they have taken, now bear the fate of the world on their shoulders, carry the whole future of humanity in their march. It is of course agreed that to have stood against the Asura does not mean that one has become sura, divine or godlike; but to be able to remain human, human instruments of the Divine, however frail, is sufficient for the purpose, that ensures safety from the great calamity. The rule of life of the Asura implies the end of progress, the arrest of all evolution; it means even a reversal for man. The Asura is a fixed type of being. He does not change, his is a hardened mould, a settled immutable form of a particular consciousness, a definite pattern of qualities and activitiesgunakarma. Asura-nature means a fundamental ego-centricism, violent and concentrated self-will. Change is possible for the human being; he can go downward, but he can move upward too, if he chooses. In the Puranas a distinction has been made between the domain of enjoyment and the domain of action. Man is the domain of action par excellence; by him and through him evolve new and fresh lines of activity and impulsion. The domain of enjoyment, on the other hand, is where we reap the fruits of our past Karma; it is the result of an accumulated drive of all that we have done, of all the movements we have initiated and carried out. It is a status of being where there is only enjoyment, not of becoming where there can be development and new creation. It is a condition of gestation, as it were; there is no new Karma, no initiative or change in the stuff of the consciousness. The Asuras are bhogamaya purusha, beings of enjoyment; their domain is a cumulus of enjoyings. They cannot strike out a fresh line of activity, put forth a new mode of energy that can work out a growth or transformation of nature. Their consciousness is an immutable entity. The Asuras do not mend, they can only end. Man can certainly acquire or imbibe Asuric force or Asura-like qualities and impulsions; externally he can often act very much like the Asura; and yet there is a difference. Along with the dross that soils and obscures human nature, there is something more, a clarity that opens to a higher light, an inner core of noble metal which does not submit to any inferior influence. There is this something More in man which always inspires and enables him to break away from the Asuric nature. Moreover, though there may be an outer resemblance between the Asuric qualities of man and the Asuric qualities of the Asura, there is an intrinsic different, a difference in tone and temper, in rhythm and vibration, proceeding as they do, from different sources. However cruel, hard, selfish, egocentric man may be, he knows, he admitsat times, if hot always, at heart, if not openly, subconsciously, if not wholly consciously that such is not the ideal way, that these qualities are not qualifications, they are unworthy elements and have to be discarded. But the Asura is ruthless, because he regards ruthlessness as the right thing, as the perfect thing, it is an integral part of his swabhava and swadharma, his law of being and his highest good. Violence is the ornament of his character.
|
02.02 - Lines of the Descent of Consciousness, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We have, till now, spoken of the evolution of consciousness as a movement of ascension, consisting of a double process of sublimation and integration. But ascension itself is only one line of a yet another larger double process. For along with the visible movement of ascent, there is a hidden movement of descent. The ascent represents the pressure from below, the force of buoyancy exerted by the involved and secreted consciousness. But the mere drive from below is not sufficient all by itself to bring out or establish the higher status. The higher status itself has to descend in order to be manifest. The urge from below is an Aspiration, a yearning to move ever upward and forward; but the precise goal, the status to be arrived at is not given there. The more or less vague and groping surge from below is canalised, if assumes a definite figure and shape, assumes a local habitation and a name when the higher descends at the crucial moment, takes the lower at its peak-tide and fixes upon it its own norm and form. We have said that all the levels of consciousness have been createdloosened outby a first Descent; but in the line of the first Descent the only level that stands in front at the outset is Matter all the other levels are created no doubt but remain invisible in the background, behind the gross veil of Matter. Each status stands confined, as it were, to its own region and bides its time when each will be summoned to concretise itself in Matter. Thus Life was already there on the plane of Life even when it did not manifest itself in Matter, when mere Matter, dead Matter was the only apparent reality on the material plane. When Matter was stirred and churned sufficiently so as to reach a certain tension and saturation, when it was raised to a certain degree of maturity, as it were, then Life appeared: Life appeared, not because that was the inevitable and unavoidable result of the churning, but because Life descended from its own level to the level of Matter and took Matter up in its embrace. The churning, the development in Matter was only the occasion, the condition precedent. For, however much one may shake or churn Matter, whatever change one may create in it by a shuffling and reshuffling of its elements, one can never produce Life by that alone. A new and unforeseen factor makes its appearance, precisely because it comes from elsewhere. It is true all the planes are imbedded, submerged, involved in the complex of Matter; but, in point of fact, all planes are involved in every other plane. The appearance or manifestation of a new plane is certainly prepared, made ready to the last the last but onedegree by the urge of the inner, the latent mode of consciousness that is to be; still the actualisation, the bursting forth happens only when the thing that has to manifest itself descends, the actual form and pattern can be imprinted and established by that alone. Thus, again, when Life attains a certain level of growth and maturity, a certain tension and orientationa definite vector, so to say, in the mathematical languagewhen it has, for example, sufficiently organised itself as a vehicle of the psychic element of consciousness, then it buds forth into Mind, but only when the Mind has descended upon it and into it. As in the previous stage, here also Life cannot produce Mind, cannot develop into Mind by any amount of mechanical or chemical operations within itself, by any amount of permutation and combination or commutation and culture of its constituent elements, unless it is seized on by Mind itself. After the Mind, the next higher grade of consciousness shall come by the same method and process, viz. first by an uplifting of the mental consciousnessa certain widening and deepening and katharsis of the mental consciousness and then by a descent, gradual or sudden, of the level or levels that lie above it.
This, then, is the nature of creation and its process. First, there is an Involution, a gradual foreshorteninga disintegration and concretisation, an exclusive concentration and self-oblivion of consciousness by which the various levels of diminishing consciousness are brought forth from the plenary light of the one supreme Spirit, all the levels down to the complete eclipse in the unconsciousness of the multiple and disintegrate Matter. Next, there is an Evolution, that is to say, embodiment in Matter of all these successive states, appearing one by one from the down most to the topmost; Matter incarnates, all other states contri bute to the incarnation and uphold it, the higher always transforming the lower in a new degree of consciousness.
--
All the ancient legends about a principle and a personalityof Denial and Ignorance, of an Everlasting Nayrefer to this fact of a descending consciousness, a Fall. The Vedantic my, spoken of sometimes as the Dark Mother, seems to be the personification of the lower Overmind, Jehovah and Satan of the Hebrews, Olympians and Titans of the Greeks, Ahriman and Ahura Mazda of old Iran, the sons of Diti and Aditi the Indian Puranas speak of, are powers and personalities of consciousness when it has descended entirely into the mind and the vital where the division is complete. These lower reaches have completely lost the unitary consciousness; still there are beings even here that have succeeded in maintaining it as a memory or an Aspiration, although in a general way the living reality of the oneness is absent. It is significant that the term asura which came to mean in classical and mythological ages a + sura, not-god, the Titan, had originally a different connotation and etymology, asu + ra, one having force or strength, and was used as a general attri bute of all the gods. The degradation in the sense of the word is a pointer to the spiritual Fall: Satan was once Lucifer, the bringer or bearer of light. We may mention in this connection that these beings of which we are speaking, dwelling in unseen worlds, are of two broad categories(1) beings that are native to each plane and immutably confined and bound to that plane, and (2) those that extend their existence through many or all planes and assume on each plane the norm and form appropriate to that plane. But this is a problem of individual destiny with which we are not concerned at present.
We were speaking of the descent into the Vital, the domain of dynamism, desire and hunger. The Vital is also the field of some strong creative Powers who follow, or are in secret contact with the line of unitary consciousness, who are open to influences from a deeper or higher or subtler consciousness. Along with the demons there is also a line of daimona, guardian angels, in the hierarchy of vital beings. Much of what is known as aesthetic or artistic creation derives its spirit from this sphere. Many of the gods of beauty and delight are denizens of this heaven. Gandharvas and Kinnaras are here, Dionysus and even Apollo perhaps (at least in their mythological aspectin their occult reality they properly belong to the Overmind which is the own home of the gods), many of the angels, seraphs and cherubs dwell here. In fact, the mythological heaven for the most part can be located in this region.
--
Thus naturally there appear gradations of the human personality; as the consciousness in the human being rises higher and higher, the psychic centre organises a higher and higher a richer, wider, deeper personality. The first great conversion, the first turning of the human personality to a new mode of life and living, that is to say, living even externally according to the inner truth and reality, the first attempt at a conscious harmonisation of the psychic consciousness with its surface agents and vehicles is what is known as spiritual initiation. This may happen and it does happen even when man lives in his normal mental consciousness. But there is the possibility of growth and evolution and transformation of personality in higher and a higher spiritual degree through the upper reaches of the higher Mind, the varying degrees of the Overmind and finally the Supermind. These are the spheres, the fields, even the continents of the personality, but the stuff, the substance of the personality, the inner nucleus of consciousness-force is formed, first, by the flaming Aspiration, the upward drive within the developing and increasing psychic being itself, and secondly, by the descent, to a greater and greater degree, of the original Being from which it emanated. The final coalescence of the fully and integrally developed psychic being with the supreme splendour of its very source, the Jivatman, occurs in the Supermind. When this happens the supramental personality becomes incarnate in the physical body: Matter in the material plane is transformed into a radiant substance made of pure consciousness, the human personality becomes a living form of the Divine. Thus the wheel comes full circle: creation returns to the point from which it started but with an added significance, a new fulfilment.
The mystery of rebirth in the evolution of the human personality is nothing but the mystery of the developing psyche. At first this psyche or soul is truly a being: no bigger than the thumb it is the hardly audible still small voice. The experiences of lifesweet or bitter, happy or unhappy, good or bad, howsoever they may appear to the outward eye and perceptionall the dialectics of a terrestrial existence contri bute to the growth and development of the psychic consciousness. Each span of life means a special degree or mode of growth necessitated by the inner demand and drive of the divine Individual seated within the heart. The whole end in view of this secret soul is to move always towards and be united again with its Oversoul, its original and high archetype in the Divine Consciousness: the entire course of its earthly evolution is chalked out and patterned by the exact need of its growth. Whatever happens in each particular life, all the currents of all the lives converge and coalesce, and serve the psychic consciousness to swell in volume and intensity and be one with the Divine Consciousness. Or, in a different imagery, one can say that the multifarious experiences of various lives are as fuel to the Inner Firethis Psychic Agni which is just a spark or a thin tongue at the outset of the human evolutionary course; but with the addition of fuel from life to life this Fire flames up, indeed, becomes ultimately a conflagration that bums and purifies the entire outer vehicle and transforms it into radiant mattera fit receptacle, incarnation of the supernal Light. The mounting Fire (the consciousness-energy secreted in the earth-bound heart of Matter) finally flares up, discloses itself in its full amplitude and calls and attracts into it the incandescent supramental Solar Sphere which is the type and pattern it has to embody and express. This is the marriage of Heaven and Earth, of which the mystics all over the earth in all ages spoke and sangto which the Vedic Rishi refers when he declares:
|
02.02 - Rishi Dirghatama, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Here are some more of his Aspirations, the questions that trouble him, the riddles whose solution he needs most. He calls upon the world and asks:
Tell me where is the end of this earth? Tell me where is the nodus of this universe? Tell me what is the meaning of the energy-flow from the energetic steed?
|
02.06 - Boris Pasternak, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Pasternak's tragedy runs on the same line. Progress and welfare of the group, of humanity at large is an imperative necessity and the collective personality does move in that direction. But it moves over the sufferings, over the corpses of individuals composing the collectivity. The individuals, in one sense, are indeed the foci, the conscious centres that direct and impel the onward march, but they have something in them which is over and above the dynamism of physical revolution. There is an inner Aspiration and preoccupation whose object is other than outer or general progress and welfare. There is a more intimate quest. The conflict is there. The human individual, in one part of his being, is independent and separate from the society in which he lives and in another he is in solidarity with the rest.
The freedom of the individual is a double-edged swordit is a help to progress, it is also a bar. Individuals, great individuals, are the spearhead of progressive movements. They initiate new and advanced beginnings. But if freedom means whims and caprices, too great a stress on personal likes and dislikes, then that brings about a deviation in the straight path, or rather, obstacles in the forward march. And the advancing time-spirit or world-spirit has to push them and cast away. There is also the other side of the shield. Collectivity, like the individual, may also be a help as well as a bar. It means the enlargement and diffusion of the individual's gain, a sharing in wide' commonalty, an element or asset of human progress; it may also hamstring, for it is normally conservative and averse to movement and progress.
|
02.08 - Jules Supervielle, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
His poetry is very characteristic and adds almost a new vein to the spirit and manner of French poetry. He has bypassed the rational and emotional tradition of his adopted country, brought in a mystic way of vision characteristic of the East. This mysticism is not however the normal spiritual way but a kind of oblique sight into what is hidden behind the appearance. By the oblique way I mean the sideway to enter into the secret of things, a passage opening through the side. The mystic vision has different ways of approachone may look at the thing straight, face to face, being level with it with a penetrating gaze, piercing a direct entry into the secrets behind. This frontal gaze is also the normal human way of knowing and understanding, the scientific way. It becomes mystic when it penetrates sufficiently behind and strikes a secret source of another light and sight, that is, the inner sight of the soul. The normal vision which I said is the scientist's vision, stops short at a certain distance and so does not possess the key to the secret knowledge. But an aspiring vision can stretch itself, drill into the surface obstacle confronting it, and make its contact with the hidden ray behind. There is also another mystic way, not a gaze inward but a gaze upward. The human intelligence and the higher brain consciousness seeks a greater and intenser light, a vaster knowledge and leaps upward as it were. There develops a penetrating gaze towards heights up and above, to such a vision the mystery of the spirit slowly reveals itself. That is Vedantic mysticism. There is a look downward also below the life-formation and one enters into contact with forces and beings and creatures of another type, a portion of which is named Hell or Hades in Europe, and in India Ptl and rastal. But here we are speaking of another way, not a frontal or straight movement, but as I said, splitting the side and entering into it, something like opening the shell of a mother of pearl and finding the pearl inside. There is a descriptive mystic: the suprasensuous experience is presented in images and feeling forms. That is the romantic way. There is an explanatory mysticism: the suprasensuous is set in intellectual or mental terms, making it somewhat clear to the normal understanding. That is I suppose classical mysticism. All these are more or less direct ways, straight approaches to the mystic reality. But the oblique is differentit is a seeking of the mind and an apprehension of the senses that are allusive, indirect, that move through contraries and negations, that point to a different direction in order just to suggest the objective aimed at. The Vedantic (and the Scientific too) is the straight, direct, rectilinear gaze the Vedantin says, May I look at the Sun with a transfixed gaze'; whether he looks upward or inward or downward. But the modem mystic is of a different mould. He has not that clear absolute vision, he has the apprehension of an aspiring consciousness. His is not religious poetry for that matter, but it is an Aspiration and a yearning to perceive and seize truth and reality that eludes the senses, but seems to be still there. We shall understand better by taking a poem of his as example. Thus:
Alter Ego
|
02.10 - Independence and its Sanction, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The lead Sri Aurobindo gave in this connection has not, sad to say, sufficiently attracted the attention of our people. Indeed what he suggested was exactly, under the circumstances, the best way to acquire the necessary fitness, organised strength, capacity, the might and consequently the rightjust the sanction, in other words, that can uphold a demand. We are always ignoring the broad fact that we have not the wherewithal to fight the British, even if it is found necessary to do so for our purpose. A revolution, meaning a chaos and confusion, is not the best means to drive out the "die-hard Imperialism" as we choose to call it. Nor can cunning or expediency or legal jugglery be of any avail, nor work that is perfunctory, desultory, scampy. The force that can compel a change in the British has got to be of a different character: neither emotional excitement nor anger nor spite nor a philosophical or moral vindication of our cause can be an adequate lever. We declare it is a war: well then, we will have to arm ourselves as in war. That is to say, we must comm and a strength that is calm, collected, poised, organisedobjectively acquired and marshalled, not simply subjectively thought out or taken for granted. That alone can be the imperative sanction to all our claims and demands, our wishes and Aspirations.
Precisely, the present war brings to our door the opportunity most suited to the acquisition and development of this power and strength. The very things the Indian temperament once had in abundance but now lacks most and has to recoverdiscipline, organization, impersonality and objectivity in work, hard and patient labour, skill of execution in minute detailsqualities by virtue of which power is not only acquired, but maintained and fosteredare now made more easily available. These qualities cannot be mastered and developed with such facility and swiftness as under the pressure of the demands of a war. This does not mean that we have got to be militarists. But the world is such that if we wish to live and prosper we must know how to make use of the materials and conditions that are given to us. Many good things are imbedded among bad ones, and wisdom and commonsense do not advise us to throw out the baby with the bath-water. That is another matter, however.
|
02.10 - Two Mystic Poems in Modern Bengali, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
There is a call for all the parts of the being to precipitate to the very foundation of the being, coalesce and evoke a wild and weird, doleful and discordant symphonya painful cry. Unrealised dreams, that had faded into oblivion, are now like possessed beings and hang like bats on darkling branches:they are about to begin their phantom dance. Even so, the body, the material precipitate into which they gather, gives them a basic unity. These elements with their ardour and zeal kindle a common Fire. There is a divine Flame, Agni, burning within the flesh, burning brighter and brighter, making the bones whiter and whiter, as it were the purificatory Flame,Pvaka, of which the Vedic Rishis spoke, Master of the House, ghapati, dwelling in the inner heart of the human being, impelling it to rise to purer and larger Truth. But here our modern poet replaces the Heart by the Liver and makes of this organ the central altar of human Aspiration and inspiration. We may remember in this connection that the French poet Baudelaire gave a similar high position and functionto the other collateral organ, the spleen. The modern Bengali poet considers that man's consciousness, even his poetic inspiration, is soaked in the secretion of that bilious organ. For man's destiny here upon earth is not delight but grief, not sweetness but gall and bitterness; there is no consolation, no satisfaction here; there is only thirst, no generosity but narrowness, no consideration for others, but a huge sinister egoism.
The cry of our poet is a cry literally deprifundis, a deep cavernous voice surging, spectral and yet sirenlike, out of the unfathomed underground abysses.
|
02.11 - New World-Conditions, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
International co-operation has become a thing of immediate necessity, of practical utility. We met in San Francisco, not out of the spirit of sheer idealism or altruism but because we were forced to it. Circumstances have come to such a pass that even local needs, natural Aspirations can be best met and served in and through international understanding. It is the solution of international problems, the amelioration of international relations first that would more easily lead to the solution of national problems than the other way round, which was perhaps the normal direction of the world-forces even a decade or two ago. Such world-organisations as the UNRRA or even the Red Cross, although they do not go deep enough into the root problems and are not powerful enough to mould or control world-forces, appearing more or less as charitable institutions, are still concrete expressions of an urgent immediate demand for mutuality and solidarity among the nations, even between warring nations.
The relation between India and Britain is peculiar and has an especial significance. It is not enough to say that Britain is the imperialist overlord and India the subject underling. The two stand for two world-forces and their relation is symbolic. The difficulty that will be solved between them will be a world-difficulty solved; what they achieve in common will be a world-achievement. India means nations in bondage aspiring to be free, peoples living in conditions of want and weakness and internecine quarrel, still struggling towards a harmonious and prosperous organised life; she is the cry of the down-trodden demanding her share of earth's air and lightlife-room. Britain represents the other side, the free people, organised, strong and successful. Neither America nor Russia fills this role. America is young; she has a wonderful grasp over life's externals; none can compare or compete with her in the ordering and marshalling of an efficient pattern of life, but what escapes her is the more abiding and deeper truth of life and living. Russia started to create on totally new foundations, indeed the outer aspect here has changed very much. But the forces that ruled Russia's past do not seem to have changed to the same extent. In spite of the rise of the proletariate, in spite of all local autonomies, it is doubtful if the true breath of freedom is blowing over the country, if the country is creating out of a deeper soul-vision. Life movement in either of these two countries seems to have a rigid mould; that is because they seek to build or reform, that is to say, fabricate life, in other words, they impose upon life a pattern conceived by notions and prejudgments, even perhaps idio-syncracies. The British are more amenable to change, precisely because they do not force a change and do not know they are changing. The British Empire is more loosely formed, its units have more freedom than is the case with other Empires built upon the pattern of the extremely centralised Roman Empire. Truly it has the spirit of a commonwealth. The spirit of decentralisation and federation that is increasing today and has seized even old-world Empires the Dutch, the French, the Russianhas come largely from the British example. Therefore, the unravelling of the Britain and India tangle would mean the solution of a world-problem. These two countries have been put together precisely because the solution is possible here and an ideal solution for all others to profit by.
|
03.01 - The Evolution of Consciousness, #The Integral Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Life, of conscious mind first in animal life and then fully in conscious and thinking man, the highest present achievement of evolutionary Nature. The achievement of mental being is at present her highest and tends to be regarded as her final work; but it is possible to conceive a still further step of the evolution: Nature may have in view beyond the imperfect mind of man a consciousness that passes out of the mind's ignorance and possesses truth as its inherent right and nature. There is a truth-consciousness as it is called in the Veda, a supermind, as I have termed it, possessing Knowledge, not having to seek after it and constantly miss it. In one of the Upanishads a being of knowledge is stated to be the next step above the mental being; into that the soul has to rise and through it to attain the perfect bliss of spiritual existence. If that could be achieved as the next evolutionary step of Nature here, then she would be fulfilled and we could conceive of the perfection of life even here, its attainment of a full spiritual living even in this body or it may be in a perfected body. We could even speak of a divine life on earth; our human dream of perfectibility would be accomplished and at the same time the Aspiration to a heaven on earth common to several religions and spiritual seers and thinkers.
The ascent of the human soul to the supreme Spirit is that soul's highest aim and necessity, for that is the supreme reality; but there can be too the descent of the Spirit and its powers into the world and that would justify the existence of the material world also, give a meaning, a divine purpose to the creation and solve its riddle. East and West could be reconciled in the pursuit of the highest and largest ideal, Spirit embrace Matter and Matter find its own true reality and the hidden Reality in all things in the Spirit.
|
03.01 - The New Year Initiation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
One starts on the path of sadhana with an almost entire unconsciousness it is so in all evolutionary process. A goal is there, vague and indistinct, far off. Within him also the sadhaka feels an equally indefinite and indefinable urge, he seems to move without any fixed aim or purpose, with an urge simply to move and move on. This is what he feels as a yearning, as an Aspirationcaraivete, as the Upanishad says. Then step by step as he progresses, his consciousness grows luminous, the aim also begins to take a clear and definite shape. The mind is able slowly to understand and grasp what it wants, the heart's yearning and attraction also begin to be transparent, quiet but deep. Still this cannot be called a change of nature, let alone transformation. Then only will our nature consent really to change when we become, when even our sense-organs become subject to our inner consciousness, when our actions and activities are inspired, guided and formed by the power and influence of this inner light.
In the beginning, the sadhaka finds himself a divided personalityin his heart there is the awakening of Aspiration, the divine touch, but with all its outward impulses, the physical consciousness remains subject to the control of old fixed habits under the sway of the lower nature. Ordinarily, man is an unconscious sinner, that is to say, he has no sense of the sins he commits. But he becomes a conscious sinner when he: reaches the level of which we are speaking. The conflicts, fears, agonies, compunctions in this stage have perhaps been nowhere more evident than in the life of the Christian seeker. In this state we know what to do but cannot do it the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. We want to do the right thing, we try to do it again and again, yet we fail every time. It is not that we fail only in respect of the movements of our heart and mind, in practice also we commit the same stupidities time and again. These stupiditiesand their name is legionare lust, anger, greed, ignorance, vanity, envy, distrust, disobedience, revolt; repentance, constant repentance and earnest supplication for the divine grace that is the remedy, says the devout Christian.
But we, for ourselves, do not give any such supreme place to repentance. For, after all, it is a lower impulse, a vital impulse: as we call it; it does not allow the memory of the sin to be: forgotten; rather by dwelling upon it constantly, it keeps it alive, makes the impression of the sin all the more lurid. And not unoften does it lead to luxuriating in sinfulness Behind the sense of repentance is this consciousness, this idea that man is, by nature, corrupt, his sin is original. That is why the: Christian seeker has accepted sorrow and suffering, abasement and mortification as the indispensable conditions of his sadhana This calls to our mind a witty remark of Anatole France, that prince of humorists, that one could not be a lover of Christ unless one sinned the more one sinned, the more: could one grow in righteousness; the more the repentance, in other words, the more the divine grace.
--
The scope of this New Year Prayer does not limit itself only to our individual sadhanait embraces also the collective consciousness which is specially the field of its application. It is the muffled voice of entire humanity in its secret Aspiration that is given expression here. It is by the power of this mantra, protected by this invulnerable armour,if we choose to accept it as such,that the collective life of man will attain its fulfilment. We have often stated that the outstanding feature of the modern world is that it has become a Kurukshetra of Gods and Titans. It is no doubt an eternal truth of creation, this conflict between the divine and the anti-divine, and it has been going on in the heart of humanity since its advent upon earth. In the inner life of the world this is a fact of the utmost importance, its most significant principle and mystery. Still it must be said that never in the annals of the physical world has this truth taken such momentous proportions as in the grim present. It is pregnant with all good and evil that may make or mar human destiny in the near future. Whether man will transcend his half-animal state and rise to the full height of his manhood, nay even to the godhead in him, or descend back to the level of his gross brute naturethis is the problem of problems which is being dealt with and solved in the course of the mighty holocaust of the present World War.
In her last year's message1 the Mother gave a clear warning that we must have no more hesitation, that we must renounce one side, free ourselves from all its influence and embrace the other side without hesitation, without reservation. At the decisive moment in the life of the world and of mankind, one must definitely, irrevocably choose one's loyalty. It will not do to say, like the over-wise and the over-liberal, that both sides the Allies and the Axis Powersare equalequally right or equally wrong and that we can afford to be outside or above the prejudices or interests of either. There is no room today for a neutral. He who pretends to be a neutral is an enemy to the cause of truth. Whoever is Dot with us is against us.
--
Today at the beginning of the New Year we have to bear in mind what aim, what purpose inspired us to enter into this tremendous terrible work, what force, what strength has been leading us to victory. They who consider themselves as collaborators in the progressive evolution of Nature must constantly realise the truth that if victory has come within the range of possibility, it has done so in just proportion to their sincerity, by the magic grace of the Mahashakti, the grace which the Aspiration of their inner consciousness has called down. And what is now but possible will grow into the actual if we keep moving along the path we have so far followed. Otherwise, if we falter, fail and break faith, if we relapse into the old accustomed track, if under pressure of past habits, under the temptation of immediate selfish gain, under the sway of narrow parochial egoism, we suppress or maim the wider consciousness of our inner being or deny it in one way or another, then surely we shall wheel back and fall into the clutches of those very hostile powers which it has been our determined effort to overthrow. Even if we gain an outward victory it will be a disastrous, moral and spiritual defeat. That will mean a tragic reversalto be compelled to begin again from the very beginning. Nature will not be baulked of her aim. Another travail she will have to undergo and that will be far more agonising and terrible.
But we do not expect such a catastrophe. We have hope and confidence that the secret urge of Nature, the force of the Mahashakti will save man, individually and collectively, from ignorance and foolishness, vouchsafe to him genuine good sense and the true inspiration.
|
03.02 - Aspects of Modernism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The scientific spirit, in one word, is rationalisationrationalisation of Mind as well as of Life. With regard to Mind, rationalisation means to get knowledge exclusively on the data of the senses; it is the formulation, in laws and principles, of facts observed by the physical organs, these laws and principles being the categories of the arranging, classifying, generalising faculty, called reason; its methodology also demands that the laws are to be as few as possible embracing as many facts as possible. Rationalisation of life means the government of life in accordance with these laws, so that the wastage in natural life due to the diversity and disparity off acts may be eliminated, at least minimised, and all movements of life ordered and organised in view of a single and constant purpose (which is perhaps the enhancement of the value of life). This rationalisation means further, in effect, mechanisation or efficiency, as its protagonists would prefer to call it. However, mechanistic efficiency, whether in the matter of knowledge or of lifeof mind or of morals was the motto of the early period of the gospel of science, the age of Huxley and Haeckel, of Bentham and the Mills. The formula no longer holds good either in the field of pure knowledge or in its application to life; it does not embody the Aspiration and outlook of the contemporary mind, in spite of such inveterate rationalists as Russell and Wells or even Shaw (in Back to Methuselah, for example), who seem to be already becoming an anachronism in the present age.
The contemporary urge is not towards rationalisation, but rather towards irrationalisation. Orthodox science itself is taking greater and greater cognisance today of the irrational movements of nature, even of physical nature. Intuition and instinct are now welcomed as surer and truer instruments of knowledge and action than reason.
|
03.03 - A Stainless Steel Frame, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
In the old worldnot so old however, for the landslide started in fact with the First World Warevil there was and abundantly in man and in man's society, but it was not accepted as virtue or even as an acceptable or inevitable thing. It was tolerated, suffered, and generally with a heavy heart. Indeed the heart was sound, it was the flesh only that was weak. There was an idealism, an Aspiration and although one could not always live up to it, yet one did not deny it or spurn it; one endeavoured as best one could, even though in leisure hours, in the inner mind and consciousness at least, to obey and follow its dictates. It is the Nazi theory of life that broughtto the very forefront and installed in the consciousness ofman Evil as Good, Falsehood as Truth. That is pragmatism with a vengeance. Whatever leads to success, to worldly success, that is to say, brings you wealth, prosperity, power to rule over men and things, enriches you in your possessionvittena, as the Upanishad terms it that is Good, that is Truth. All the rest are mental conceptions, notions, abstractions, day-dreams meant to delude you, take you away from the road to your fulfilment and achievement. That is how we have listened to the voice of Mephistopheles and sold away our soul.
The government of a country is, as we know, the steel frame that holds together the life of its people: it is that that gives the primary stability and security, scope and free play to all its activities. In India it was the pride of the British that they built up such a frame; and although that frame sometimes seemed almost to throttle the nation in its firm and rigid grip, still today we are constrained to recognise that it was indeed a great achievement: Pax Britannica was in fact a very efficient reality. The withdrawal of the power that was behind us has left the frame very shaky; and our national government is trying hard to set it up again, streng thening, reinforcing, riveting wherever and however necessary. But the misfortune is that the steel has got rusted and worn out from inside.
--
What is needed then is an army of souls: individuals, either separately or in groups, who have contacted their inmost reality, their divinity, in some way or othermen with a new consciousness and Aspiration, a new life and realisation. They will live in the midst of the general degeneration and disintegration, not aloof and immured in their privacy of purity, but take part in the normal activities of everyday life, still acting from the height and depth of the pure consciousness prove by their very living that one can be in the world and yet not of it, doing what is necessary for the maintenance and enhancement of life and yet not stooping to the questionable ways that are supposed to be necessary and inevitable. In other words, they will disprove that safety and success and prosperity in life can be had only if one follows the lead of Evil, if one sells one's soul. On the contrary, by living out one's divine essence one will have conquered the worldihaiva tairjitam. At every moment, in all circumstances one follows the voice of the highest in oneself. If it is that and no other inferior echo, then one becomes fearless and immortal and all-conquering.
Such souls living and moving among men with little faith and in circumstances adverse and obscure will forge precisely the new steel frame, the stainless-steel frame upon which the new society will be securely based.
|
03.05 - The Spiritual Genius of India, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Was not Europe also in her theocratic and mediaeval ages as largely spiritual and as fundamentally religious as India? Churches and cathedrals and monasteries grew like mushrooms in every nook and corner, in all the countries of Europe; it was the clergy who, with their almost unbounded influence and power, moulded and guided the life and Aspiration of the people; devotion to God and love of prayer and pilgrimage were as much in the nature of the average European of those times as they are in any Indian of today; every family considered it a duty and an honour to rear up one child at least to be consecrated to the service of God and the Church. The internal as well as the external life of the men of mediaeval Europe was steeped through and through in a religious atmosphere.
The whole world, in fact, was more or less religious in the early stages of its evolution; for it is characteristic of the primitive nature of man to be god-fearing and addicted to religious rite and ceremony. And Europe too, when she entered on a new cycle of life and began to reconstruct herself after the ruin of the Grco-Latin culture, started with the religion of the Christ and experimented with it during a long period of time. But that is what wasTroja fuit. Europe has outgrown her nonage and for a century and a half, since the mighty upheaval of the French Revolution, she has been rapidly shaking off the last vestiges of her mediaevalism. Today she stands clean shorn of all superstition, which she only euphemistically calls religion or spirituality. Not Theology but Science, not Revelation but Reason, not Magic but Logic, not Fiction but Fact, governs her thoughts and guides her activities. Only India, in part under the stress of her own conservative nature, in part under compelling circumstances, still clings to her things of the past, darknesses that have been discarded by the modern illumination. Indian spirituality is nothing but consolidated mediaevalism; it has its companion shibboleth in the cry, "Back to the village" or "Back to the bullock-cart"! One of the main reasons, if not the one reason why India has today no place in the comity of nations, why she is not in the vanguard of civilisation, is precisely this obstinate atavism, this persistent survival of a spirit subversive of all that is modern and progressive.
--
It is not so much a question of concrete realisation, of attainment and achievement arrived at by the Indian people in their work-a-day life, but primarily and above all a question of ultimate valuation, of what they hold as the supreme ideal, of what they cherish in their heart of hearts, and of the extent to which that standard has obtained general currency among them. It is not a fact with which we are concerned, but the force behind the fact, and the special nature and purpose of that force. It is the power that we discover in the general atmosphere, or that emerges in the stress and rhythm of the cultural life of the people, in the level of its inner consciousness, in the expression of its highest and most wide-spread Aspirations, in the particular stamp of its soul.
The psychological atmosphere in India is of a luminous tenuity. Here, it appears, the veil between this world and the other has so thinned away that the two meet and interpenetrate easily and freely; immersed in one, you can at the same time ba the in the other. Owing to the cumulative effect of the sadhana of her saints and sages who appeared in countless number down countless ages, or, perhaps, owing to the grace of a descent into her consciousness, or some immanence there, of the breath and light of a Superior World, India has developed and possesses, already prepared, a magnetic field, a luminous zone of spiritual consciousness; and to enter into it the Indian has only to turn aside, to go round a corner, to take one step forward. However thick and hard the crust of the Ignorance may lie upon the Indian soul, once that soul awakes and is upon the path, it finds itself on a familiar ground; it is in a domain which it has the impression of having frequented often and anon and for long.
|
03.10 - Hamlet: A Crisis of the Evolving Soul, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Hamlet is the third stage; it is a vision of sattva-guna and a creation attempted by that vision. The human consciousness that was imprisoned in the vital mind, is released here into the higher or pure mind. The soul escapes from its sheath of sheer hunger and desire and egoism and self-aggrandisementyearns for light, more light. Lear is a dark mass of unconsciousness, crude and violent, even like the naked and raging elements into whose arms he is thrown; Macbeth is the beginning of consciousness in which one is conscious of one's own self alone, and keenly and deliberately attached to it,here light has dawned, but a lurid light. Hamlet is consciousness that is seeking to transcend the barrier of the little self and its narrow and vulgar appetites and impulses. Man here comes into touch with something that is impersonal, other-regarding, afar; he has grown interests that are not merely mundane, utilitarian, pragmatic, self-centred, but abstract, metaphysical, beyond the individual's own and immediate concern: he has now ideals and Aspirationshe is a seeker of the true, the good, the beautiful. He has been initiated into the divinedaivanature. Culture, refinement, sensibility, understandingall the graces of a truly rational being make Hamlet the very flower of an evolving humanity.
Over against the personality of Hamlet stands another which represents false height, the wrong perfection, the counterfeit ideal. Polonius is humanity arrested in its path of straight development and deviated into a cut-de-sac of self-conceit and surface urbanity, apparent cleverness and success and pretentious and copy-book morality. When one has outgrown the barbarian, one runs the risk of becoming a snob or philistine. It is a side table-land, as it were, on mid-heights, the standard perhaps of a commoner humanity, but which the younger ideal has to transcend or avoid or even to destroy, so that it may find itself and live its own life. To the philistine too the mere biological man is a taboo, but he seeks to confine human nature into a scheme of codes and maxims and lifeless injunctions and prohibitions. He is also the man of Reason but without the higher inflatus, the living and creative Something More the poetry, the vision, the dream that would transfigure the merely pragmatic, practical, worldly wise the bourgeoisinto the princely aristocratic idealist, elevate the drab terre terre To-day into the glory of a soaring To-morrow.
|
03.11 - True Humility, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
It is not by repeating mea culpa ad infinitum that one can show one's true humility. In owning too much and too often one's sins, one may be just on the wrong side of virtue. There lurks a strain of vanity in self-maceration: the sinner in an overdose of self-pity almost feels himself saintly. Certainly, one must stand before oneself face to face, not hide or minimise or explain away one's errors and lapses, all one's omissions and commissions. But one need not brood over them, merely repenting and repining. One sees steadily, without flinching, what one actually is and then resolutely and sincerely takes to the ways and means of changing it, becoming what one has to be. A fall, the discovery of a new frailty should be an occasion not to chastise and punish yourself, thus to depress yourself and harden your nature, but to enthuse you with a fresh resolution, to rekindle your Aspiration so that you may take another step forward. And, naturally, this you must do not with the sense that you can succeed or move forward by any inherent capacity of yoursyour failures are there always as standing eye-openers to you. No, it is not your self but the Divine Self that will come to your succour and lift you up tameva ea vute tanum swam to him alone it unveils its own body. That is the humility to be learnt. But it does not mean that you are to remain merely passive, inert you cannot but be that if you are only a weeping willow a dead-weight upon the force of Grace that would carry you up. Rather you should throw your weight, whatever it is, on the side of the Divine. An atmosphere of alacrity and happiness and goodwill goes a long way to the redemption and regeneration of the consciousness. This is demanded of you; the rest is the work of the Divine. It is under such conditions that the Divine's help becomes all the more speedy and effective. Otherwise, mere contrition and lamentation and self-torture mean, as I have said, a ballast, a burden upon the force of progress and purification; as Sri Krishna says in the Gita, by oppressing oneself one oppresses only the Divine within. Humility, in order to be true and sincere, need not be sour and dour in appearance or go about in sack-cloth and ashes. On the contrary, it can be smiling and buoyant: and it is so, because it is at ease, knowing that things will be donesome things naturally will be undone tooquietly, quickly, if necessary, and inevitably, provided the right consciousness, the right will within is maintained. The humble consciousness does not, of course, take credit for what is being done for it, nor does it concentrate wholly or chiefly on its utter futility and smallness. It feels small or helpless not in the sense as when one one feels weak and miserable and almost undone, but as a child feels, naturally and innocently, in the lap of it mother: only I perhaps it is more awake and self-conscious than the child mentality.
Humility is unreservedly humble, as it envisages the immensity of the labour the Divine has undertaken, sees the Grace, infinite and inscrutable, working miracles every moment: and it is full of gratitude and thanksgiving and quiet trust and hopefulness. Certainly, it means self-forgetfulness and selflessness, as it cannot co-exist with the sense of personal worth and merit, with any appreciation of one's own tapasya and achievement, even as it thrives ill upon self-abasement and self-denigration, for if one is rajasic, the other is tamasic egoismegoism, in any case. Absolute nullity of the egoistic self is the condition needed, but anything less than that, any lowering of the consciousness beyond this zero point means reaffirming the ego in a wrong direction. True humility has an unostentatious quietness, as it has a living and secret contact with the divine consciousness.
|
03.12 - TagorePoet and Seer, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The miracle that Tagore has done is this: he has brought out the very soul of the raceits soul of lyric fervour and grace, of intuitive luminosity and poignant sensibility, of beauty and harmony and delicacy. It is this that he has made living and vibrant, raised almost to the highest pitch and amplitude in various modes in the utterance of his nation. What he always expresses, in all his creations, is one aspect or another, a rhythm or a note of the soul movement. It is always a cry of the soul, a profound experience in the inner heart that wells out in the multifarious cadences of his poems. It is the same motif that finds a local habitation and a name in his short stories, perfect gems, masterpieces among world's masterpieces of art. In his dramas and novels it is the same element that has found a wider canvas for a more detailed and graphic notation of its play and movement. I would even include his essays (and certainly his memoirs) within the sweep of the same master-note. An essay by Rabindranath is as characteristic of the poet as any lyric poem of his. This is not to say that the essays are devoid of a solid intellectual content, a close-knit logical argument, an acute and penetrating thought movement, nor is it that his novels or dramas are mere lyrics drawn out arid thinned, lacking in the essential elements of a plot and action and character. What I mean is that over and above these factors which Tagores art possesses to a considerable degree, there is an imponderable element, a flavour, a breath from elsewhere that suffuses the entire creation, something that can be characterised only as the soul-element. It is this presence that makes whatever the poet touches not only living and graceful but instinct with something that belongs to the world of gods, something celestial and divine, something that meets and satisfies man's deepest longing and Aspiration.
I have been laying special stress upon this aspect of Tagore's genius, because humanity is in great need of it today, because all has gone wrong with the modern world since it lost touch with its soul and was beguiled into a path lighted by false glimmers and will-o'-the-wisps, hires of a superficial and infra-human consciousness, or into the by-ways and backwashes and aberrations of a sophisticated intellectualism.
|
03.14 - From the Known to the Unknown?, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
That is why it is said constantly by the ancient sages that the truth cannot be found by much inquiry and much study, the truth is found only when it condescends to reveal itself to the inquirer. The true truth is not at our beck and call, you cannot get it as and when you like, it does not wait comfortably just at the terminus of your investigations and argumentations. This does not mean, however, that we remain helpless and hopeless until the manna falls from heaven. No, something lies in our power, a spontaneous and natural faculty, to create at least favourable conditions for the light to descend and appear. A quiet awaiting in the being, calm concentration and Aspiration, a sincere opening are some of the conditions under which it is easier for the unknownxto reveal its identity.
It is not a blunder and it need not lead inevitably to a catastrophe if, for example, a child were given its first education not through his mother tongue, but through what is termed a foreign language. Would it, for that matter, harm a child invariably and necessarily, if he did not confine himself within the walls of his school in the midst of the known and the familiar, if he were to stir out and venture into wildshow otherwise would Alice discover her Wonderland? A foreign tongue, a foreign atmosphere would often interest a child more than things known and familiar. The very distance and imprecision and even the peculiar difficulties exert a charm and evoke greater attention in the child. This is not to say that familiarity breeds contempt, but that unfamiliarity does not repel but attracts also.
|
03.17 - The Souls Odyssey, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Man, in his terrestrial body, although fallen, because shrouded and diverted from his central being of light and fire, is yet not, as I have said, wholly forsaken and cut adrift. He always carries within him that radiant core through all the peregrinations of earthly sojourn. And though the frontal consciousness, the physical memory has no contact with it, there is a stream of inner consciousness that continues to maintain the link. That is the silver lining to the dark cloud that envelops and engulfs our normal life. And that is why at timesnot unoften there occurs a crack, a fissure in the crust of our earthly nature of ignorance and a tongue of flame leaps outone or other perhaps of the seven sisters of which the Upanishad speaks. And then a mere man becomes a saint, a seer, a poet, a prophet, a hero. This is the flaming godhead whom we cherish within, Agni, the leader of our progressive life, the great Sacrifice, the child whom we nourish, birth after birth, by all that we experience and do and achieve. To live normally and naturally in that fiery elementlike the legendary Salamanderto mould one's consciousness and being, one's substance and constitution, even the entire cellular organisation into the radiant truth is the goal of man's highest Aspiration, the ultimate end of Nature's evolutionary urge and the cycle of rebirth.
Wordsworth: Ode on the Intimations of Immortality
|
04.01 - The Birth and Childhood of the Flame, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Her Aspiration called high destiny down;
A silent warrior paced in her city of strength
|
04.01 - The March of Civilisation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We are familiar with the phrase "Augustan Age": it is in reference to a particular period in a nation's history when its creative power is at its highest both in respect of quantity and quality, especially in the domain of art and literature, for it is here that the soul of a people finds expression most easily and spontaneously. Indeed, if we look at the panorama that the course of human evolution unfolds, we see epochs of high light in various countries spread out as towering beacons or soaring peaks bathed in sunlight dominating the flat plains or darksome valleys of the usual normal periods. Take the Augustan Age itself which has given the name: it is a very crucial and one of the earlier outflowerings of the human genius on a considerable scale. We know of the appearance of individuals on the stage of life each with a special mission and role in various ages and various countries. They are great men of action, great men of thought, creative artists or spiritual and religious teachers. In India we call them Vibhutis (we can include the AvatarasDivine Incarnationsalso in the category). Even so, there is a collective manifestation too, an upsurge in which a whole race or nation takes part and is carried and raised to a higher level of living and achievement. There is a tide in the affairs not only of men, but of peoples also: and masses, large collectivities live on the crest of their consciousness, feeling and thinking deeply and nobly, acting and creating powerfully, with breadth of vision and intensity of Aspiration, spreading all around something that is new and not too common, a happy guest come from elsewhere.
Ancient Greece, the fountainhead of European civilisationof the world culture reigning today, one can almost sayfound itself epitomised in the Periclean Age. The lightgrace, harmony, sweet reasonableness that was Greece, reached its highest and largest, its most characteristic growth in that period. Earlier, at the very beginning of her life cycle, there came indeed Homer and no later creation reached a higher or even as high a status of creative power: but it was a solitary peak, it was perhaps an announcement, not the realisation of the national glory. Pericles stood as the guardian, the representative, the emblem and nucleus of a nation-wide efflorescence. Not to speak of the great names associated with the age, even the common peoplemore than what was normally so characteristic of Greecefelt the tide that was moving high and shared in that elevated sweep of life, of thought and creative activity. Greece withdrew. The stage was made clear for Rome. Julius Caesar carried the Roman genius to its sublimest summit: but it remained for his great nephew to consolidate and give expression to that genius in its most characteristic manner and lent his name to a characteristic high-water mark of human civilisation.
Greece and Rome may be taken to represent two types of culture. And accordingly we can distinguish two types of elevation or crest-formation of human consciousness one of light, the other of power. In certain movements one feels the intrusion, the expression of light, that is to say, the play of intelligence, understanding, knowledge, a fresh outlook and consideration of the world and things, a revaluation in other terms and categories of a new consciousness. The greatest, at least, the most representative movement of this kind is that of the Renaissance. It was really a New Illumination: a flood of light poured upon the mind and intellect and understanding of the period. There was a brightness, a brilliance, a happy agility and keenness in the movements of the brain. A largeness of vision, a curious sensibility, a wide and alert consciousness: these are some of the fundamental characteristics of this remarkable New Birth. It is the birth of what has been known as the scientific outlook, in the- broadest sense: it is the threshold of the modern epoch of humanity. All the modern European languages leaped into maturity, as it were, each attaining its definitive form and full-blooded individuality. Art and literature flooded in their magnificent creativeness all nations and peoples of the whole continent. The Romantic Revival, starting somewhere about the beginning of the nineteenth century, is another outstanding example of a similar phenomenon, of the descent of light into human consciousness. The light that descended into human consciousness at the time of the Renaissance captured the higher mind and intelligence the Ray touched as it were the frontal lobe of the brain; the later descent touched the heart, the feelings and emotive sensibility, it evoked more vibrant, living and powerful perceptions, created varied and dynamic sense-complexes, new idealisms and Aspirations. The manifestation of Power, the descent or inrush of forcemighty and terriblehas been well recognised and experienced in the great French Revolution. A violence came out from somewhere and seized man and society: man was thrown out of his gear, society broken to pieces. There came a change in the very character and even nature of man: and society had to be built upon other foundations. The past was gone. Divasa gatah. Something very similar has happened again more recently, in Russia. The French Revolution brought in the bourgeois culture, the Russian Revolution has rung in the Proletariate.
In modern India, the movement that led her up to Independence was at a crucial moment a mighty evocation of both Light and Power. It had not perhaps initially the magnitude, the manifest scope or scale of either the Renaissance or the Great Revolutions we mention. But it carried a deeper import, its echo far-reaching into the future of humanity. For it meant nothing less than the spiritual awakening of India and therefore the spiritual regeneration of the whole world: it is the harbinger of the new epoch in human civilisation.
--
Not only in extension but the growth or evolution has progressed in another direction. There has not only been a quantitative but also a qualitative development. Culture movements have grown in intent, in depth or elevation, in the meaning and significance of the consciousness involved. And they have converged towards a single aim and purpose. That purpose is not only the establishment of the global consciousness, but the expression and embodiment of the highest, the supreme consciousness. The process here too, as in the domain of extension, is one of graduation, advance by stages. The light, the light of awakening consciousness first touches the more easily accessible parts of human nature, the higher domains that are not too much involved in the gross material or animal nature. It is the realm of thoughts and ideas, of idealism, imagination and Aspiration: it is man's mind, which is the least heavily weighted or ballasted by a downward gravitational pull and the most buoyant and supple the Ariel in him. It is his head that first receives the glow of the morning sun.
If we look at Europe once again and cast a glance at its origins, we find at the source the Grco-Roman culture. It was pre-eminently a culture based upon the powers of mind and reason: it included a strong and balanced body (both body natural and body politic) under the aegis of mens sana (a sound mind). The light that was Greece was at its zenith a power of the higher mind and intelligence, intuitively dynamic in one the earlierphase through Plato, Pythagoras, Heraclitus and the mystic philosophers, and discursively and scientifically rational through the Aristotelian tradition. The practical and robust Roman did not indulge in the loftier and subtler activities of the higher or intuitive mind; his was applied intelligence and its characteristic turn found expression in law and order and governance. Virgil was a representative poet of the race; finely sensitive and yet very self-consciousearth-bound and mind-boundas a creative artist: a clear and careful intelligence with an idealistic imagination that is yet sober and fancy-free is the very hall mark of his poetic genius. In the post-Roman age this bias for mental consciousness or the play of reason and intellectual understanding moved towards the superficial and more formal faculties of the brain ending in what is called scholasticism: it meant stagnation and decadence. It is out of this slough that the Renaissance raised the mind of Europe and bathed it with a new light. That movement gave to the mind a wider scope, an alert curiosity, a keener understanding; it is, as I have said, the beginning of that modern mentality which is known as the scientific outlook, that is to say, study of facts and induction from given data, observation and experience and experiment instead of the other scholastic standpoint which goes by a priori theorising and abstraction and deduction and dogmatism.
--
This knowledge remained at the outset scattered, hidden, confined to a few, a company of adepts: it had almost no direct contact with the main current of life. Its religious aspect too was so altered and popularised as to represent and serve the secular life. The systematisation and propagation of that knowledgeat least the Aspiration for that knowledgewas attempted on an effective scale in the Hebrew Old Testament. But then a good amount of externalities, of the Inferior Knowledge was mixed up with the inner urge and the soul perception. The Christ with his New Testament came precisely with the mission of cleaning the Augean stables, in place of the dross and coverings, the false and deformed godheads, to instal something of the purest ray of the inner consciousness, the unalloyed urge of the soul, the demand of our spiritual personality. The Church sought to build up society on that basis, attempting a fusion of the spiritual and the temporal power, so that instead of a profane secular world, a mundane or worldly world, there maybe established God's own world, the City of God.
The drive towards the building of Heaven upon earth and with earth, the materialisation of the Spirit on a cosmic scale, the remodelling of the whole human society in spiritual terms was the secret inspiring the other Semitic Revelation, that of Mohammed. The Arab Master sought to bring down and establish and express in life-force what the Rabi of Bethlehem saw and felt in the inner heartone was a lover, the other a servant warrior of God.
|
04.02 - The Growth of the Flame, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
To lift to it their Aspiration's cry,
And though she drew their souls into her vast
|
04.03 - The Eternal East and West, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
And yet mankind has always sought for an integral, an all comprehending fulfilment, a truth and a realisation that would go round his entire existence. Man has always aspired, in the midst of the transience and imperfection that the world is, for something stable and perfect, in the heart of disharmony for some core of perfect harmony. He termed it God, Atman, Summum Bonum and he sought it sometimes, as he thought necessary, even at the cost of the world and the life, if it is to be found elsewhere. Man aspired also always to find this habitation of his made somewhat better. Dissatisfied with his present state, he sought to mould it, remake it, put into it something which his Aspiration and inspiration called the True, the Beautiful, the Good. There was always this double Aspiration in man, one of ascent and the other of descent, one vertical and the other horizontal, one leading up and beyondtotally beyond, in its extreme urge the other probing into the mystery locked up there below, releasing the power to reform or recreate the world, although he was not always sure whether it was a power of mind or of matter.
This double Aspiration has found its expression and symbol in the East and the West, each concentrating on one line, sometimes even to the neglect or denial of the other. But this division or incompatibility need not be there and must not be there. A new conception of the Spirit and a new conception of Matter are gaining ground more and more, moving towards a true synthesis of the two, making for the creation of a new world and a new human type.
The East is no longer the traditional East of the poet who viewed it as eternally static and meditative, drowned in an "eyeless muse" away and aloof from earth and world. Even if it had and has still in its essential nature a nostalgia for the transcendence, yet it seeks today more and more for a hold upon the physical realities: it seems to remember again what the Upanishadic Rishi sought the Rishi being asked whether he came for the mundane wealth of a thousand heads of cattle, with golden rings round their horns, or for the knowledge of the Transcendent Reality, replied that he had come for both. And the hidebound materialist West, the positivist scientific West, finds this day many fissures and loopholes in the solid Laplacian scheme; as it dives down and enters into the secrecies of even the most material things, curious mysteries surge up and its eyes demand another look and another vision than those to which the mere senses have accustomed them. Physical Scientists bending towards or being compelled to bend towards metaphysics and even mysticism are no longer an anomaly in the scientific world.
--
We say then, symbolically at least, if not literally, that the West is looking to the East for this revelation towards which it is groping or moving in its own way: the secret spirit-consciousness that is alive in and through the material cosmos, that alone gives its total sense and significance. And the secret spirit must embody itself here below in material life, the status must be made supremely dynamic the transcendent consciousness, even while maintaining its transcendence, has to deploy its immanence in things of the earth and earthly existence. That is what the West brings to the East; that is what the Scientific and materialist look and labour offer to be integrated into the Aspiration and realisation of the East.
So then we say that the East starts from the summit and surveys reality from above downwards, while the West starts from below and works upward. The two complementary movements can be described in several other graphic terms. Instead of a movement from the summit to the base and of another from the base to the apex, that is to say, a movement of ascent and of descent, we can speak of a movement from within outward and of that from outside inward, that is to say, from the centre to the periphery and from the periphery to the centre; we can speak also of a movement of contraction, withdrawal or concentration and a movement of expansion; and expression and diffusion. Again, we can refer to a vertical movement and a horizontal movement. All however express the same truth. We postulate one reality, take our stand upon that and work our way towards the other; the two together form the total reality and together can they give the integral life fulfilment.
--
The marriage of Heaven and Earth, of even Heaven and Hell, is a very ancient dream. It is an Aspiration ingrained in existence. It is a prophecy that shall be fulfilled and is being worked out every moment.
II
|
04.04 - A Global Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We say then that the fraternity and unity of mankind has been a constant dream and Aspiration, a settled ideal. And in the circumstances of today it is becoming more and mace evident that the idea is a secret fact of existence and that there is an overwhelming urge in Nature to bring it out and establish it as a manifest and concrete reality. If we review the history of mankind once again, not measuring it by its centuries but by its millenniums, not by its apparent habits and outward forms but by inner forces and attitudes, we shall discover that it is the story of the unfoldment of a collective fulfilment, of an ascension in grades of consciousness towards an ever higher and vaster truth and reality.
Viewed as a progressive growth of consciousness and transformation of nature, man's advance has been marked out in a few very definite stages. The first was the purely animal manPasuwhen man lived merely as a physical being, concerned solely about his body. Then came the Pisacha, the man of vital urges in their crudest form, the man of ignorant passions and dark instincts who has been imaged in the popular mind as the ghoul. At the next stage, with a further release of the consciousness, when the larger vital impulses come into play man becomes the Rakshasa, the demon. Egoistic hunger for possession, enjoyment, enlarged and increased appetite are his characteristics. Next came the Asura, the Titan, the egoistic mental man in his earlier avatar seeking to emerge out of the purely vital nature. Ambition and pride are his guiding spirit. Prometheus is his prototype. There are still two higher types which have been established in the human consciousness and in the world atmosphere as dynamic ideals, if not as common concrete facts of the material world. The first is the ethical man, who seeks to govern his life according to some principles of light and purity, such, for example, as unselfishness, altruism, chivalry, self-abnegation, rectitude, truthfulness etc. He is the Sattwic man, as known in India. There is also a still higher category, where consciousness endeavours to go beyond mind, enters into the consciousness of the Spirit; then we have the spiritual man, the saint and the sage. Beyond lie the supra-mental domains formed of the consciousness of the gods.
|
04.04 - Evolution of the Spiritual Consciousness, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Indeed, the tradition in the domain of spiritual discipline seems to have been always to realise once again what has already been realised by others, to rediscover what has already been discovered, to re-establish ancient truths. Others have gone before on the Path, we have only to follow. The teaching, the realisation is handed down uninterruptedly through millenniums from Master to disciple. In other words, the idea is that the fundamental spiritual realisation remains the same always and everywhere: the name and the form only vary according to the age and the surroundings. The one reality is called variously, says the Veda. Who can say when was the first dawn! The present dawn has followed the track of the infinite series that has gone by and is the first of the I infinite series that is to come. So sings Rishi Kanwa. For the core of spiritual realisation is to possess the consciousness, attain the status of the Spirit. This Spirit may be called God by the theist or Nihil by the Negativist or Brahman (the One) by the Positivist (spiritual). But the essential experience of a cosmic and transcendental reality does not differ very much. So it is declared that there is only one goal and aim, and there are, at the most, certain broad principles, clear pathways which one has to follow if one is to move in the right direction, advance smoothly and attain infallibly: but these have been well marked out, surveyed and charted and do not admit of serious alterations and deviations. The spiritual Aspiration is a very definite and unitary movement and its fulfilment is also a definite and invariable status of the consciousness. The spiritual is a typal domain, one may say, there is no room here for sudden unforeseen variation or growth or evolution.
Is it so in fact? For, if one admits and accepts the evolutionary character of human nature and consciousness, the outlook becomes somewhat different. According to this view, human civilisation is seen as moving through progressive stages: man at the outset was centrally lodged in and occupied with his body consciousness, he was an annamaya purua; then he raised himself and centred in the vital consciousness and so became fundamentally a prnamaya purua; next he climbed into the mental consciousness and became a maomaya purua; from that level again he has been attempting to go further beyond. On each plane the normal life is planned according to the central character, the lawdharmaof that plane. One can have the religious or spiritual experience on each of these planes, representing various degrees of growth and evolution according to the plane to which it is attached. It is therefore that the Tantra refers to three gradations of spiritual seekers and accordingly three types or lines of spiritual discipline: the animal (pau bhva), the heroic (vra bhva) and the godly or divine (deva bhva). The classification is not merely typal but also hierarchical and evolutionary in character.
|
04.05 - The Immortal Nation, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A race dies out altogether or continues to lead a superficial mechanical existence, that is to say, vegetates as an inchoate mass, when it knows to live only in its body, confined only to the demands of the barest physical necessities. The life of a race gains a meaning and a new vitality when a higher light and Aspiration inspire and move its spirit; when a deeper and finer sensibility, a nobler ambition stir its affections, when a superior intelligence and understanding illumine its mental horizon, its lease of life is increased by that and also its power of recuperation and renewal. And the further it enters into these basic constants of existence the greater that power of rejuvenation. 1
We may compare with profit perhaps in this regard the life of an individual person with that of a people or nation. Even as an individual has a soul beyond his body and mind, a spiritual personality behind his apparent name and form, a nation too has a soul apart from its political, economic and cultural life. As in the individual, in the aggregate too a spiritual principle seeks to express and incarnate itself. It is this immortal reality in the individual man that reincarnates in life after life surviving apparent death and disintegration. But only those individuals that live consciously a soul-life, express to some extent at least the soul's light in and through the external personality of a mind and body and vitality and maintain a true individuality and a strong and durable formation through the lives; otherwise, the soul is there no doubt, but in its own world, exerts only a very indirect influence and the rest of the personality, the dynamic members disintegrate and are taken up into the general earth atmosphere. Something of the same kind is likely to happen in the case of collective groups too. A nation like India that hitched her wagon of life to a star the supreme spiritual realityis bound to regain her life always through whatever calamities and catastrophes might befall her.
|
04.06 - Evolution of the Spiritual Consciousness, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Indeed, the tradition in the domain of spiritual discipline seems to have been always to realise once again what has already been realised by others, to rediscover what has already been discovered, to re-establish ancient truths. Others have gone before on the Path, we have only to follow. The teaching, the realisation is handed down uninterruptedly through millenniums from Master to disciple. In other words, the idea is that the fundamental spiritual realisation remains the same always and everywhere: the name and the form only vary according to the age and the surroundings. The one Reality is called variously, says the Veda. Who can say when was the first dawn! The present dawn has followed the track of the infinite series that has gone by and is the first of the infinite series that is to come. So sings Rishi Kanwa. For the core of spiritual realisation is to possess the consciousness, attain the status of the Spirit. This Spirit may be called God by the theist or Nihil by the Negativist or Brahman (the One) by the Positivist (spiritual). But the essential experience, of a cosmic and transcendental reality, does not differ very much. So it is declared that there is only one goal and aim, and there are, at the most, certain broad principles, clear pathways which one has to follow if one is to move in the right direction, advance smoothly and attain infallibly: but these have been well marked out, surveyed and charted and do not admit of serious alterations and deviations. The spiritual Aspiration is a very definite and unitary movement and its fulfilment is also a definite and invariable status of the consciousness. The spiritual is a type domain, one may say, there is no room here for sudden unforeseen variation or growth or evolution.
Is it so in fact? For if one admits and accepts the evolutionary character of human nature and consciousness, the outlook becomes somewhat different. According to this view, human civilisation is seen as moving through progressive stages: man at the outset was centrally lodged in and occupied with his body consciousness, he was an annamaya purua; then he raised himself and was centred in the vital consciousness and so became fundamentally a pramaya purua ; next the climbed into the mental consciousness and became the manomaya purua; from that level again he has been attempting to go further beyond. On each plane the normal life is planned' according to the central character, the lawdharmaof that plane. One can have the religious or spiritual experience on each of these planes, representing various degrees of grow and evolution according to the plane to which it is attached. It is therefore that the Tantra refers to three gradations of spiritual seekers and accordingly three types or lines of spiritual discipline: the animal (pau bhva) the heroic (Vra bhva) and the godly or divine (deva bhva). The classification is not merely typal but also hierarchical and evolutionary in character.
|